Prediabetic

So your weight is fine? If so, then just lowering your carb intake would lower it.

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I was prediabetic before my weight loss and a healthier diet and exercise put me in the normal zone within a few months. With my diet, I boosted my healthy fat intake and upped my protein while lowering my carbs a bit (particularly the white starchy stuff like rice, potatoes and bread). Once I reached my weight loss goal and started maintaining, I eased up on the carb restriction a bit and can maintain a healthy blood sugar level, even eating a donut or two a week

I just cut back on my sugar intake (30 grams/day, natural and added) and upped my protein and fiber. Eighty pounds later, not prediabetic anymore.

The advice you got from nvmomketo is outstanding. Certainly an LCHF eating plan has demonstrated the ability to help reverse your bio markers of diabetes.

Also, a bit of caution with the blood glucose reading. You didn't mention when it was taken. Fasted? Or not? Time of day? Several factors will change it. The blood glucose test is like taking a photograph. It's the reading at that very moment in time.

A better reading is the A1c test. It provides a composite reading of what your average glucose is like over a couple of months.

billsrule2015 wrote: »

I had it done while I fastes at 7:00 AM.

FYI - I would STRONGLY encourage you to get an HbA1c test done (as fruttibiscotti mentioned) in addition to the fasting blood glucose test you had done. Unfortunately the FPG (fasting plasma glucose) test is simply a BAD screening for diabetes/pre-diabetes for several reasons:

• It's the LAST thing to go. While fasting your body has HOURS to achieve homeostasis, so elevated plasma glucose slowly goes down while fasting. Even people with full-blown diabetes are not always detected by FPG testing until months or years after they have the disease.
  
• It can be deceiving. The longer you fast, the more likely your liver is to dump a large amount of glucose into the system. As we awaken we get secretions of both glucose and certain hormones, so depending on when those hit and when you're tested, there's huge deviations in 'normal' fasting plasma glucose levels.

HbA1c is a longer-term (~3 month) look at your plasma glucose levels. It's a MUCH more accurate look at where you actual blood glucose levels have been. It's slowly being accepted as the standard screening test for diabetes/pre-diabetes by more and more physicians in more and more countries. It's cheap, it's fast and it's accurate.

If you want to know how you're really doing, get one asap. If your particular physician thinks the FPG is fine ... ensure they see THIS LINK - that's the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists position statement on use of HbA1c for the diagnosis of diabetes.

billsrule2015 wrote: »

I am wondering if anyone has sustained a low carb, high fat lifestyle, or is it too hard? I know Atkins worked for me in the past, But I got too bored And overwhelmed with lack of choices and being Italian, I quit.

I've been doing it for six full years now. I'm not as "low" as many people - but that's because I tend to exercise nearly obsessively. The more you look into recipes and vary your diet, the easier I find it is.

You can find whole grain pastas that have lower carbs -- and you can reduce portion sizes on the pasta, have more veggies and sauce and protein and good fat. I just had a small amount of pasta with meatless meatballs, spicy marinara, and some spinach for lunch -- and it was as satisfying as if I'd had a big plate of pasta. You can change your taste buds to be satisfied with less. Part of it for me is: eat small amounts of good tasting things, really taste them and enjoy them, and go back later for a little more if I really want it (usually I don't).

If it were me and I were 389, I'd check with the doctor before starting an exercise program. I started at 265 and am now 185, and my doctor told me to focus on the calorie reduction rather than the exercise. I lost most of it with just walking. The weight loss is going to take you time (at a pound and a half a week, from 389 to 250 should take about a year and three quarters) -- be patient and don't try to rush it. You're in it for the long haul.

Atkins was a bit protein rich for me, too -- I'm on blood pressure meds and was getting fairly frequent gout attacks on Atkins. I've done what I'd call a reduced carb diet instead: small amounts of whole grains, drastically reduce sugars and refined carbs, more veggies and fruits, reasonable amounts of protein, good fats like olive oil.

Look at it this way: you're probably going to be making changes you need to live with for the rest of your life. It's not just about weight loss. Are you really going to be able to keep up weight lifting forever? If you give up pasta will you be able to do so for the rest of your life?

This article might be helpful -- it says one study found that prediabetics who lost 5-7% of their body weight (20-27 lbs in your case) reduced their chances of getting diabetes by 58%:

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/prediabetes-diagnosis-what-to-do#1

So you might see positive results from losing weight faster than you think. Hopefully you're discussing this all with your doctor(s) in addition to looking for ideas from folks online.

Diet and exercise is the key. I turned around my borderline diabetes in a couple of months with walking, 2 personal training sessions per week, and about 25 lbs weight loss. I was still 125 lbs overweight, but the changes were enough to get the glucose under control. (Have successfully lost that other 125 now.)

billsrule2015 wrote: »

vingogly wrote: »

You can find whole grain pastas that have lower carbs -- and you can reduce portion sizes on the pasta, have more veggies and sauce and protein and good fat. I just had a small amount of pasta with meatless meatballs, spicy marinara, and some spinach for lunch -- and it was as satisfying as if I'd had a big plate of pasta. You can change your taste buds to be satisfied with less. Part of it for me is: eat small amounts of good tasting things, really taste them and enjoy them, and go back later for a little more if I really want it (usually I don't).

If it were me and I were 389, I'd check with the doctor before starting an exercise program. I started at 265 and am now 185, and my doctor told me to focus on the calorie reduction rather than the exercise. I lost most of it with just walking. The weight loss is going to take you time (at a pound and a half a week, from 389 to 250 should take about a year and three quarters) -- be patient and don't try to rush it. You're in it for the long haul.

Atkins was a bit protein rich for me, too -- I'm on blood pressure meds and was getting fairly frequent gout attacks on Atkins. I've done what I'd call a reduced carb diet instead: small amounts of whole grains, drastically reduce sugars and refined carbs, more veggies and fruits, reasonable amounts of protein, good fats like olive oil.

Look at it this way: you're probably going to be making changes you need to live with for the rest of your life. It's not just about weight loss. Are you really going to be able to keep up weight lifting forever? If you give up pasta will you be able to do so for the rest of your life?

This article might be helpful -- it says one study found that prediabetics who lost 5-7% of their body weight (20-27 lbs in your case) reduced their chances of getting diabetes by 58%:

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/prediabetes-diagnosis-what-to-do#1

So you might see positive results from losing weight faster than you think. Hopefully you're discussing this all with your doctor(s) in addition to looking for ideas from folks online.

Very good points! I need to think of this as a long-term goal and stick with reducing carbs and sugar. I have spoken to my Dr. And he feels a lower carb diet would suit me best. I am an "O"'blood type, so I am a meat eater.

The "blood type diet" is pseudoscience (woo). There is no scientific merit to it.