Pre-diabetic ? about Sugar/Carbs

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Crystal_LDee
Crystal_LDee Posts: 17 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi,
I was just told by my doc that I am pre-diabetic. For anyone else that is or are diabetic....how many grams of sugar & carbs should I set up on here? Right now mfp is showing I can have up to 57g Sugar & Carbs 191, but that seems really off to me. Bare with me...no I am not very knowledgeable about all this stuff, but I have been trying to research all day & want to learn more. Thanks
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Replies

  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Part of your confusion is the difference between carbohydrates and sugar. Actually, sugars are a type of carbohydrates. So when you're having sugar, you're also having carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are a macro-type nutrient found in many foods, along side the macros called proteins and fats.

    As a pre-diabetic, you're trying to avoid becoming diabetic. Your blood-sugar numbers are generally rising but you're creating most of the insulin needed to manage them. So tracking sugars to avoid spikes is not necessary for you at this stage.

    If you're overweight, then lowering your weight and increasing your activity are the most effective ways to avoid diabetes. Lowering your calories in order to reduce your body fat is your first and highest priority.

    Now, here's where you care about carbohydrates and sugar: most processed food is higher in carbohydrates and added sugar and much higher in calories than nutritionally effective food. These foods provide a lot of energy (calories) but little other nutrition or bulk. Your body needs proteins and fats for the calories and for the essential acids and fats that only real food can provide. Carbohydrates -- especially carbohydrates that are high in sugar -- provide little other nutrition and require minimal processing by the body before it is stored as fat.

    So, by limiting your carbohydrates to less than 191g, you're encouraging the eating of foods higher in the more beneficial proteins and fats. By limiting your sugars to 57g, you're encouraging the eating of carbohydrates that are natural or encouraging consuming more proteins/fat instead of sugar/carbs. (There is another topic about good fats and bad fats that you should research on another day -- this is a lot to take in.)

    191g of carbs sounds good. Some people even like less but MFP says 191g, we'll go with it. It's 50% of your calories -- that's what I've been doing too and I've lost 76 lbs. in 152 days doing it. I was diabetic and taking insulin -- that's all gone now.

    57g of sugars sound good. That's high enough to allow for the occasional sweet indulgence without permitting an all-chocolate diet.

    Now -- you can look at these daily or weekly (daily average over the week) to the same result. If you have too many carbs or sugars on one day, you can make it up the next day to no ill effect. Actual diabetics cannot do that, but you may.
  • Crystal_LDee
    Crystal_LDee Posts: 17 Member
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    Thank you so very much for your help.....this was very helpful! :)
  • JoyeII
    JoyeII Posts: 240 Member
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    Did you have another post with this same topic that was deleted? I swear I answered this question.
  • Crystal_LDee
    Crystal_LDee Posts: 17 Member
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    Sorry, when I posted I did it in both boards because wasn't sure where it best fit.
  • shenejm
    shenejm Posts: 16 Member
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    @funchords Indeed very helpful information ! Thank you!
  • MaxPower0102
    MaxPower0102 Posts: 2,654 Member
    edited December 2014
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    American Heart Association recommends 25g of sugar per day for women and 38g for men. Try it one day and see how almost impossible this is. I try to keep my carbs between 80 and 100. If you pay attention to your carbs, the sugars will fall into place.

    I don't plan on doing these numbers forever, but I am making these changes until my fasting glucose gets down into the double digits. I have made tremendous progress so far, and am almost there.
  • daxazo
    daxazo Posts: 37 Member
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    Talk to your doctor or schedule an appointment with a dietician. I'm pre-diabetic. I try to stay under 50 net carbs (carbs minus fiber) per day, and no sugar, except trace amounts here and there, or fruit.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I am a diabetic in remission, was pre-diabetic for years, and diabetic for years (controlled with Metformin and diet). I'll give you a few pointers to get you going in the right direction, and don't expect to absorb all this information all at once. You'll need more training and the guidance from a dietitian. These pointers set me off on a good path and were easy to remember.
    1. Start with a good breakfast. Every day, at the same time of day. With protein. Get a routine going.
    2. Never let yourself get too hungry, and have snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon to tide you over. The goal is balance; never too hungry or too full. I have a stash in my desk drawer and my purse for emergencies.
    3. Aim to have your dinner plate look like the picture below. This will give you sustained energy through your day.

    Balanced-plate.gif

    BTW, all of funchord's direction is very good.
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
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    As a prediabetic, as soon as I lowered my carb calories (overall) to 35% with 35% protein and 30% fats, I started to lose weight. Now that I'm in my 4th month I've lowered carbs even further to be 30% with fats and protein both 35%. Balance each snack and meal with equal - ish protein and your blood sugars will be better controlled (lower spiking and dipping).

    This was kind of hard (being asian) for the first two or three weeks, but when I really tried to hit my macros (this carb/fat/protein split), I found that I could do it and it wasn't so hard anymore. You really do have to ween yourself off of the carbs as quickly (down to a reasonable amount), so your body can adjust to your new eating standard (notice, I didn't use the word DIET). As pre- or diabetic, we aren't processing carbs as well as non diabetics and non-pre-diabetics so cutting down on this macro will help your weight loss goals and achievements.

    Research Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load as well. This will guide you to better food choices in the carb group.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    I am a diabetic in remission, was pre-diabetic for years, and diabetic for years (controlled with Metformin and diet). I'll give you a few pointers to get you going in the right direction, and don't expect to absorb all this information all at once. You'll need more training and the guidance from a dietitian. These pointers set me off on a good path and were easy to remember.
    1. Start with a good breakfast. Every day, at the same time of day. With protein. Get a routine going.
    2. Never let yourself get too hungry, and have snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon to tide you over. The goal is balance; never too hungry or too full. I have a stash in my desk drawer and my purse for emergencies.
    3. Aim to have your dinner plate look like the picture below. This will give you sustained energy through your day.

    Balanced-plate.gif

    BTW, all of funchord's direction is very good.

    That's a useful image.
    and I agree funchord's info was useful, and user-friendly.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Shouldn't your doctor have given you this information?
  • richardheath
    richardheath Posts: 1,276 Member
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    Actually, I am going to disagree with funchord's info to some extent. I think tracking your blood sugar right now is a good idea. Learning how different meals affect you 2 hours post prandial (take a reading 2 hours after the first bite) will help you learn just how many carbs you can eat at a time, in a given meal-context. Your Dr should be able to get you a glucose meter through your insurance, or I've found they are almost as cheap just through Amazon. Your Dr should also be able to help you with diet, or refer you to a diabetes specialist.

    Also - make sure you have the Dr check your A1c regularly.

    I eat what I call moderate carbs, and while I rarely eat things with lots of added sugar, I can occasionally. Cut out sugar-sweetened drinks like coke, sweet tea etc if you currently drink them. And exercise is very important too - at least a walk daily.
  • blukitten
    blukitten Posts: 922 Member
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    Hello and thank you for posting this question as I am finding the info valuable as well. However, I am not pre or diabetic but instead have PCOS (affects insulin and is like insulin resistance) and hypothyroid. My doc wants me to limit my carbs to 30g a day which I am still working on but have managed to hit 60g a day and is what I currently have my macros set to. I have lost 42 lbs doing this and continue to lose.

    I have found that my weight is directly related to the carbs I take in- for example the last couple of days I have gone over my carbs- but only over my cals (which create quite a deficit for me) by like maybe 100 so I should still be in a deficit and losing. However, I have gained 5lbs because I have been going over my carbs. So now I have found out that if I pay attention to my carb intake- that's all I really have to track.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    When I was diagnosed my doctor gave me the breakfast speech and the plate speech. The rest I learned later with the referral to the dietitian. Family doctors simply do not have the time to get all the information to you at once. You can't absorb it all at once anyways.

    Lots of glucometer companies offer their testers for free when you buy the tester strips. You can find coupons, deals online.

    Richard, I hear you. I went in to intensive diarizing and testing mode for a few months after diagnosis, and learned to recognize the signs of too much sugar (and hidden sugar, carbohydrate) intake. Some foods I was more sensitive than to others. White rice hit me like a ton of bricks. One slice of pizza good, two pushing it, and three pushed me right off the edge.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    When I was diagnosed my doctor gave me the breakfast speech and the plate speech. The rest I learned later with the referral to the dietitian. Family doctors simply do not have the time to get all the information to you at once. You can't absorb it all at once anyways.

    Lots of glucometer companies offer their testers for free when you buy the tester strips. You can find coupons, deals online.

    Richard, I hear you. I went in to intensive diarizing and testing mode for a few months after diagnosis, and learned to recognize the signs of too much sugar (and hidden sugar, carbohydrate) intake. Some foods I was more sensitive than to others. White rice hit me like a ton of bricks. One slice of pizza good, two pushing it, and three pushed me right off the edge.

    How about brown and wild rice (is wild rice actually rice?)?
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I equate various foods as having a different energy "burn". Sugar is jet fuel. Protein is diesel. The burn rate on brown rice feels very good, much slower than white rice. Wild rice is a grass not a rice, but it also has a very nice slow burn.
  • Crystal_LDee
    Crystal_LDee Posts: 17 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Thank you so much for all the responses and valuable info. I was just at the doctors yesterday and found all this out. My doc is giving me 4 months and then I have to return to have blood work done. At that time she said that if my results aren't better we will have to speak about meds & going to see a dietician. I told her I was using this site & she said she liked this site and to track my chol/sodium/sugar/fiber/carbs.
    Again, I appreciate the info. :)
  • karyabc
    karyabc Posts: 830 Member
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    funchords wrote: »
    Part of your confusion is the difference between carbohydrates and sugar. Actually, sugars are a type of carbohydrates. So when you're having sugar, you're also having carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are a macro-type nutrient found in many foods, along side the macros called proteins and fats.

    As a pre-diabetic, you're trying to avoid becoming diabetic. Your blood-sugar numbers are generally rising but you're creating most of the insulin needed to manage them. So tracking sugars to avoid spikes is not necessary for you at this stage.

    If you're overweight, then lowering your weight and increasing your activity are the most effective ways to avoid diabetes. Lowering your calories in order to reduce your body fat is your first and highest priority.

    Now, here's where you care about carbohydrates and sugar: most processed food is higher in carbohydrates and added sugar and much higher in calories than nutritionally effective food. These foods provide a lot of energy (calories) but little other nutrition or bulk. Your body needs proteins and fats for the calories and for the essential acids and fats that only real food can provide. Carbohydrates -- especially carbohydrates that are high in sugar -- provide little other nutrition and require minimal processing by the body before it is stored as fat.

    So, by limiting your carbohydrates to less than 191g, you're encouraging the eating of foods higher in the more beneficial proteins and fats. By limiting your sugars to 57g, you're encouraging the eating of carbohydrates that are natural or encouraging consuming more proteins/fat instead of sugar/carbs. (There is another topic about good fats and bad fats that you should research on another day -- this is a lot to take in.)

    191g of carbs sounds good. Some people even like less but MFP says 191g, we'll go with it. It's 50% of your calories -- that's what I've been doing too and I've lost 76 lbs. in 152 days doing it. I was diabetic and taking insulin -- that's all gone now.

    57g of sugars sound good. That's high enough to allow for the occasional sweet indulgence without permitting an all-chocolate diet.

    Now -- you can look at these daily or weekly (daily average over the week) to the same result. If you have too many carbs or sugars on one day, you can make it up the next day to no ill effect. Actual diabetics cannot do that, but you may.


    This! everything here is pure perfection and well said, now my best advise it's not freak out. being pre-diabetic means that your doctor found glucose levels that puts you in a category with a higher chance for you in the future to maybe develop diabetes mellitus, but you have nothing now and your pancreas works just fine, you don't by any means need to control your intake of sugar/carbs so strictly , but with a overall healthier eating habits like everyone has advise you plus maybe even some exercise if you want, i can tell you that in your next appointment everything will be fine or look better.

    Good luck :)
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Yes, I was able to postpone diabetes diagnosis for years by eating like a diabetic.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Sabine_Stroehm wrote: »
    jgnatca wrote: »
    When I was diagnosed my doctor gave me the breakfast speech and the plate speech. The rest I learned later with the referral to the dietitian. Family doctors simply do not have the time to get all the information to you at once. You can't absorb it all at once anyways.

    Lots of glucometer companies offer their testers for free when you buy the tester strips. You can find coupons, deals online.

    Richard, I hear you. I went in to intensive diarizing and testing mode for a few months after diagnosis, and learned to recognize the signs of too much sugar (and hidden sugar, carbohydrate) intake. Some foods I was more sensitive than to others. White rice hit me like a ton of bricks. One slice of pizza good, two pushing it, and three pushed me right off the edge.

    How about brown and wild rice (is wild rice actually rice?)?

    Technically, wild rice is a "grass" rather than a "grain.
    The carbs for wild rice are a little less and the protein is a little more.

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