Just found out I'm pre-diabetic what do I eat?
Options
Replies
-
cwolfman13 wrote: »My doctor said to come back in 6 months for another test, and to exercise and watch my carbs. I'm 5 foot 4 and 205 pounds, so I'm sure my weight (obviously from a bad diet) is the direct cause.
I know to avoid sugar, but can you suggest a breakfast and lunch to have? I'm just lost right now.
I had pre-diabetic blood work when I started. It's not an actual diagnosis of anything...ie you don't have a disease. It's just a wake up call. Really, the biggest thing is losing weight and regular exercise. I didn't do low carb or anything like that...in fact, if anything my carbs increased because I started eating a lot more plants...veg, fruit, legumes, lentils, oats, etc.
The cause of pre-diabetes and ultimately diabetes isn't "carbs"...the number one factor is being over weight/over fat and lacking physical movement.
I did "clean up" my diet quite a bit...like I said, lots more plant based foods, and then more lean proteins and such. But I'd say the number one factor in getting my numbers in the optimal range was losing 40 Lbs and establishing a habit of regular exercise.
Did you lose the weight by eating cleaner? I have 60 pounds to lose and I find that to be overwhelming at my age (46).
@luvmakidz - 46 is a youngin! I know people that have climbed MT Everest older than you! You can do it!3 -
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a little over 3 years ago and follow a low fat plant based diet. I would recommend you check out masteringdiabetes.org, they have a lot of great into about nutrition and diabetes.2
-
youngmomtaz wrote: »MY focus would be on protein, fruit and veg. And while you are doing that get in to see a registered dietician who can tell you what you should be eating, and how much. That is what they train for, your doc should have referred you.
Unfortunately I did not receive a referral, and won't be able to see a RD. Hoping to gather as much info as I can to improve my health.
If it were my diagnosis and doctor, I would not accept a lame "watch my carbs" and would insist on a referral to an RD, but the others are right - you can get this under control by losing weight and exercising.1 -
I recently went through the exact same thing! 6 months ago my A1C was at 6.0 (pre-diabetes) and my doctor told me if I lost weight it should get back to normal. I’m female, 5’7” and was 182. He scheduled me to be retested 6 months later.
Fast forward to today… I lost 22 lbs, now down to 160. Well, this morning I got my new blood test results and my A1C dropped from 6.0 to 5.5! I attribute it to losing a bit of weight and moving around more.
I didn’t do anything extreme as I knew I wouldn’t keep it up. I walk about 30 minutes on most days (sometimes 45 if it’s nice out): I start with a 20 minute walk after lunch, then a quick 10 minute walk after dinner. As winter approached I knew I wouldn’t feel like going out in the cold darkness for my post-dinner walk (Ottawa, Canada here) so about a month ago I bought an inexpensive “manual” treadmill from Walmart for my 10 minute evening walk. It has a slight incline and it’s definitely more of a workout that walking on pavement. I set it up by the living room where I can still see the TV so sometimes I’ll hop on during commercials. (I know, not up to Better Homes and Gardens standards, but at least this way it won't end up as a clothes rack.)
I switched my meals around so I eat my larger meal at lunch - I find that by doing that I’m not as hungry at the evening meal and I end up eating less. (My husband tried it but he ends up eating a large lunch AND large dinner so that doesn't work for everyone.)
I eat 3 meals spaced throughout the day, starting with oats and fruit for breakfast around 9:30am, dinner-for-lunch around 1:30pm and lunch-for-dinner around 6:30pm. I love carbs so instead of trying to cut them out I just try to keep to my calorie count of 1,220 a day (which automatically cuts down on the amount of carbs anyways), although most days I end up in the 1,300-1,400 range. Frankly I think at 1,220 I would lose too fast and would be hungry so I’m quite happy at the higher range, even though it means weight loss is a bit slower. I stay away from pre-packaged foods as much as possible and never had much of a sweet tooth so I rarely use the sugar bowl and not big on desserts.
I wish you all the best. I wanted to share this because it's encouraging that you don’t always need to go extremes to get good results!
5 -
You are over-weight, so that should be your main and secondary focus. Learn to count calories and eat at a deficit. That sounds easy, but that is really all you need to do. It is not easy of course. Activity helps.
Then when you get to your target weight and your blood sugar is still high, start to think about changing to eating complex carbs over sugary carbs. But really, worry about your weight first.
1 -
The Newcastle study shows type 2 insulin insensitivity is caused by excessive fat around liver and pancreas, so if you lose some belly fat it might take you out of the risk group. I reversed my own diabetes diagnosis by losing some weight and have been off medication for a few years. I went from an hba1c of 10+ to 4.5.
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/#publicinformation
Exercise, especially HIIT depletes glycogen in of your muscles which when replenished in turn pulls glucose out of your blood.
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/high-intensity-interval-training.html
You can also google more conventional simple carb management by googling glycemic index.0 -
If you want to try conventional simple carb management, you can buy a blood glucose test kit in drugstores. The kind where you prick your finger to test where your blood sugar is. Get the pharmacist to show you how to use it. Keep track of what foods (and how much of it) raises your post prandial blood glucose to an unnacceptable level. It's been a long time since I have done this, so ask the pharmacist for advice where you should be trying to keep your blood glucose and how long after eating you should test.
Oh, you can reduce the glycemic index of starchy foods such as pasta and rice by thoroughly cooling after cooking and reheating.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/guide-to-diabetes/enjoy-food/carbohydrates-and-diabetes/carbs-and-cooking1
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 392 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 926 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions