Pre diabetic. Need help regarding nutrician

KathieSwenson

Hi everyone I'm new to this so bare with me. I'm diagnosis as prediaetic and have been put on victoza. My problem is I have no way to know what to eat. I'm supposedly supposed to go through nutrician counseling with my physicians office but they haven't said anything to me and my next appointment is in may! I need help. I'm have been a high carbohydrate eater for years that even when I try to manage my intake I still get way to much of it. Sodas are gone except for an occasional one. Can you please help me with links and suggestions. Please message me if you can help! I would be very appreciative. I don't even know where to start Thanks. KAt

agentscully514

As a pre-diabetic, your body cannot handle sugar and carbs. You will need to go on a low carb diet. there are many books, websites, and MFP resources about it, and your nutritionist can help. There is far too much information for someone to sum up in a post, though.

agentscully514

I just saw your appointment is in May. that is frustrating.

In a nutshell, you will have to pretty much cut out sugar, flour, and refined carbs.

South Beach Diet is actually a good place to start learning about how to do low carb. It is pretty easy to live with and pretty healthy.

Thriceshy

Hi everyone I'm new to this so bare with me. I'm diagnosis as prediaetic and have been put on victoza. My problem is I have no way to know what to eat. I'm supposedly supposed to go through nutrician counseling with my physicians office but they haven't said anything to me and my next appointment is in may! I need help. I'm have been a high carbohydrate eater for years that even when I try to manage my intake I still get way to much of it. Sodas are gone except for an occasional one. Can you please help me with links and suggestions. Please message me if you can help! I would be very appreciative. I don't even know where to start Thanks. KAt

Okay, I'll give it to you the way my docs gave it to me. I've dragged my A1c down to 5.4, and my blood sugar is routinely good these days. I've also lost a bit of weight following these rules.

While you won't have to completely cut out sugar, flour, etc., you will need to learn to limit them. It's not as hard as it seems. Set up your daily food diary to monitor carbs. I don't even bother tracking sugar, it's not the point. I track carbs and fiber (and fat and sodium). I was advised to limit my carbs to no more than fifty per meal, and no more than 15 per snack. Some docs say sixty per meal, some say 45. Get out on the web and research 'effective carbs" and "net carbs." It's important for you to understand the effects fiber has on your carb load.

What worked for me is making it about the numbers. If I want something (like last night's steak sandwich on a crusty ciabatta roll), I have to have the carbs at THAT meal to accommodate it. Do not think that you can save up carbs like you can calories--you can't. You can't skip lunch and then have 100 carbs for dinner. What you can do is hollow out that roll so you half the amount of bread you're eating. You can choose a whole grain ciabatta roll, then hollow it out for even better results. You can make sure that your meals include a lot of fiber, which knocks back the effective carbs.

The single most important/helpful thing for me? Planning my meals in advance--sometimes two and three days laid out in advance so I know what I can have and when. If things change, then I can go in and shuffle/juggle to make it work. I am always aware of what I'm eating and how it should affect my blood sugar.

Have I cut out any foods entirely? Yes--white rice and fast food french fries. Fast food itself, for the most part. If I do have a burger from, say, Carl's Jr., I bring it home, ditch the buns, and replace them with toasted, low carb bread like Pepperidge Farms light oat or Sara Lee Delightful 7 grain. Knocks off a gang of calories and better than halves the carbs. If I want fries, I carefully weigh the potatoes, then carve them up into slices, spice them, and bake them in the oven.

Always measure--don't "eyeball" portions. Test your blood sugar faithfully--I test after sleeping and after dinner most days. It gives you a feel for how foods affect you, and gives you feedback on how you're doing.

Exercise. Seriously, not a lot is as effective as exercise when it comes to getting type 2 under control, both long term and short. In fact, so long as you're not spilling protein, exercise can keep you from sugar spiking if you've eaten too many carbs. Recently, I ate 90+ carbs at one meal, which normally would throw my blood sugar up in the 180s or so. After eating, I jumped on the bike for 40 minutes. Blood sugar 2 hours pp? 86. So long as you're not in trouble, exercise is a good way to lower your blood sugar, and you should definitely talk to your doctor about starting a routine. Drink a lot of water. Skip fruit juices, they're empty carbs--eat the fruit instead. If you want something sweet, make a smoothie with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, frozen fruit, and bananas. Add some milled flax, if you want. If you want chocolate, you can have it, but make sure you have the spare carbs at that moment for it. If not, wait until you do. You can do that.

Understand, your routine will be different from mine, as your needs may be different. But the general idea should hold--watch your carbs, change your favorites, increase veggies and fiber, decrease sugar and "white" foods, and exercise. Those things should help you.

Feel free to email me. You need to make changes you can live with, and it is totally possible to live with this without having to starve or deny yourself. Do your research, learn new ways of preparing old favorites so you're still happy and satisfied while taking care of yourself. It's totally doable.

Kris

Soozie1978

Thriceshy has excellent advice~Think healthy proteins, limit the fat intake, too. That means baked or grilled instead of fried, and a little olive oil instead of a lot of butter, at least for me. Experiment with herbs and spices to kick up your food flavor a notch. You should also remember that drinking water will help "wash" the extra sugars out of your body., so Drink up! Carry water or flavored water with you at all times and drink, drink, drink. Try to avoid diet sodas as a replacement for your soda habit. That's a whole other topic.

Some things your nutritionist may tell you in time but that will help you to get started.
1. Everything you eat will eventually turn into sugar to be absorbed into your bloodstream, except for the fiber that passes through to help eliminate wastes.
2. Different foods turn to sugar at a different rate, so it is important to eat well balanced meals from all food groups so your blood sugar level can remain constant since your body no longer processes it as efficiently.
3. Eat small meals frequently - 5 or 6 a day. You can have 3 meals and 3 snacks, spreading your calories out to keep a steady supply to your body.
4. Choose your foods wisely. If you can eat nuts, yogurt, hummus, or other protein sources, they make good, portable snacks.
5. Plan your menus ahead so you always know what/when you can eat. Try not to let yourself get to the point you are so low on blood sugar that you grab anything handy and eat too much.
6. If you are still hungry and you don't have low blood sugar, eat veggies! Avoid too many carrots because they are starchy, but celery, cucumber, sugar snap peas, and other crunchy veggies can satisfy cravings to "crunch" something.
7.Check out the sugar content of fruits - you can eat a whole cup of blueberries or strawberries for the same sugar load as 10 grapes!
8. Always carry something in your purse to eat. I keep granola bars (lower carb) or bags of nuts in mine. Then I'm less tempted to swing into Micky D's.
9. If you are going out to eat, try to pull up an online menu and plan what to order before you go. You can check calories/carbs on a lot of sites, or try them on MFP. Then you aren't as tempted by foods while you are hungry and looking at a menu with all the smells around you.

Take baby steps. You are important and you deserve to be healthy. Try to look at it as somethng nice you can do for yourself. You will soon be feeling better and have more energy. Your skin will improve. You will start seeing so many benefits!

Thriceshy

Yay, Soozie!

I forgot about the "low glycemic" foods and combinations--it's a heck of a good way to keep sugar from spiking! I've also traded out some foods for others--like my tuna sandwiches are on lavash bread now, which is lower calorie and lower carbs, and makes great wraps. Tastier than the usual flat breads, at least to me. I've been using Dreamfields pasta for a while now, and, though some say it doesn't work for them, it keeps my blood sugar in a decent range, though I am careful to have only 2 ounces, cut it with julienned veggies, and have it with a serving of protein. I also use olive oil instead of butter, low fat mayo instead of regular, and try to make my veggies fresh instead of prepackaged whenever I have the time (saves me a lot of sodium when I do it that way).

The great thing about watching the carbs and planning meals in advance is that I don't feel like I'm starving. I don't feel like I'm denied or suffering, which makes me happy with what I'm eating. First time in my life I've "dieted" and not felt like it's something I'm only doing until I reach a goal. I'm eating tastier, better foods than I ever did, and I'm making every meal and snack count--I don't waste my time eating things that are just "eh" anymore. It's got to be great, or it's not worth it to me.

Kris

KathieSwenson

Thank you everyone. That really helped. I found a really good diabetic cookbook at Hastings last night I may just go get it. Sounds like the best plan for me is starting now controlling it and not letting it get any worse! Thanks !