Pre Diabetic - what to do

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

My mate revered his pre diabetic state by using the book "The Diabetes Code". The basic gist is ditch sugar and most processed carbs and do intermittent fasting I think.

Also get yourself into a sport/the gym.

[jwo]

Thanks for all responses etc. Yes booze too - whilst not a heavy drinker, think I’ll reduce it. Certainly want to reduce weight and keep eye on the carbs etc. Just need to be considered and conscious or what, and why I’m doing it..

I’ve been doing a fair amount of research and seem to have a better understanding of not only changes I can make but also dangers of it being ignored.

[Guv10]

MC Bodge said:

You may live a long, healthy, able and pleasant life, but the odds of it are not good.

It has to be worth trying to make a change?

Thank you for this, it's just what I needed to hear. It shocked me when I first read it but appriciate the honesty!

Small changes are clearly going to be the key for me. As i'm quite heavily over weight do you think losing say 20kg would drop the blood sugars or is it going to be more about what kind of foods I eat?

[Phil.]

Guv10 said:

Thank you for this, it's just what I needed to hear. It shocked me when I first read it but appriciate the honesty!

Small changes are clearly going to be the key for me. As i'm quite heavily over weight do you think losing say 20kg would drop the blood sugars or is it going to be more about what kind of foods I eat?

Lowering carbs and losing weight go hand in hand. Basically your liver and pancreas are swamped in fat and unable to balance your insulin and blood sugar needs.

Lower your carbs (a lot), move more and your fat will decrease allowing your organs to function. It’s not easy though. Small steps.

Ultimately it’s a change of lifestyle which is normal to feel scared about at the beginning. Then you start to feel good

Get the Cronometer app (it’s free) put in everything you eat in a day (be honest) and check the carbs. Try keeping them below 50g per day initially to lose weight.

https://cronometer.com/

Also consider a Keto diet (meat, eggs and veg) which will immediately reduce carbs.

[PomBstard]

Like a few others here, I was also pre-diabetic a few years ago. I can't remember the number for glucose, but I also had high cholesterol, high blood lipids, and my blood pressure wasn't the greatest. From the outside you couldn't tell.

I ditched carbs and much processed food. Ate only fruit, veg, nuts, lean meat/fish and low-sugar anything else. I didn't worry about the fat content, just the sugar. I also managed fasting on a 5:2 basis and fasting for at least 12 hours every day, and started more exercise, including cycling early morning before eating. I cut down on beer, and made sure the stuff I had was really nice!

It took about 3 months for levels to come back in range, and I lost about 5-6kg in the process.

Much of it was a change of lifestyle, which continues today, although I've slipped a bit during the last 12 months which has put about 5kg back on, and have just started back on the strict version of this again.

You'll find what works for you, which is important as it needs to be something you can do every day to make it easy. It will take about a month though for you to stop looking at cake...

[MC Bodge]

Guv10 said:

MC Bodge said:

You may live a long, healthy, able and pleasant life, but the odds of it are not good.

It has to be worth trying to make a change?

Thank you for this, it's just what I needed to hear. It shocked me when I first read it but appriciate the honesty!

Small changes are clearly going to be the key for me. As i'm quite heavily over weight do you think losing say 20kg would drop the blood sugars or is it going to be more about what kind of foods I eat?

I was trying to be direct, rather than just sound rude.

Poor physical condition has become normalised in our society, and our peers may be similar, but it doesn’t make it any less of a problem for individuals.

A lot of younger people do appear to be in denial about what their habits and lifestyle could mean for their health as thet get older.

-Look at the many older people with multiple *avoidable* health problems and mobility issues. Would anybody look forward to being like that if they could prevent it?

From your 40s onwards, the differences between people with different lifestyle habits becomes increasingly apparent.

As above, a good diet (and regularly moving your body as it should, starting gently and increasing as your fitness improves and weight reduces) will lead to improved health and weight loss. The two are, of course, very closely linked.

[NorthDave]

PomBstard said:

I ditched carbs and much processed food. Ate only fruit, veg, nuts, lean meat/fish and low-sugar anything else. I didn't worry about the fat content, just the sugar. I also managed fasting on a 5:2 basis and fasting for at least 12 hours every day, and started more exercise, including cycling early morning before eating.

For me the fasting is the important bit here - it gives the body time to sort itself out and is easy to do. I read about it a few years ago and realised I had never been hungry before. Its all in the mind so it is very easy to miss breakfast and lunch a couple of days a week if you are busy. I did 5:2 (even 4:3 or 3:4) a few years ago and the weight dropped off. I think it is more than just minimising calories, I think the break gives your body time to recover.

I have been reading about 24/48/72 hour fasts and really fancy trying it but struggle to miss dinner. I will give it a go at some point though!

[PomBstard]

NorthDave said:

PomBstard said:

I ditched carbs and much processed food. Ate only fruit, veg, nuts, lean meat/fish and low-sugar anything else. I didn't worry about the fat content, just the sugar. I also managed fasting on a 5:2 basis and fasting for at least 12 hours every day, and started more exercise, including cycling early morning before eating.

For me the fasting is the important bit here - it gives the body time to sort itself out and is easy to do. I read about it a few years ago and realised I had never been hungry before. Its all in the mind so it is very easy to miss breakfast and lunch a couple of days a week if you are busy. I did 5:2 (even 4:3 or 3:4) a few years ago and the weight dropped off. I think it is more than just minimising calories, I think the break gives your body time to recover.

I have been reading about 24/48/72 hour fasts and really fancy trying it but struggle to miss dinner. I will give it a go at some point though!

For me it was getting the 12-hour fast in every day that was the big thing. No more little snacks in the evening, or a quick bite of something before heading out on the bike in the morning. No more food after about 8pm, and no brekkie until after 8am. Realising that I could get up at 5am, have a coffee (black, natch) and then ride for 2-3 hours with no problem was also quietly revelationary.

Lastly, I've discovered flavoured/fruit tea, or variations thereof. Constantly having something to hand that tastes good and keeps me hydrated keeps the need to snack away. I've usually got about 4 or 5 different flavours to hand, and just keep going through them throughout the day.

[NorthDave]

PomBstard said:

For me it was getting the 12-hour fast in every day that was the big thing. No more little snacks in the evening, or a quick bite of something before heading out on the bike in the morning. No more food after about 8pm, and no brekkie until after 8am. Realising that I could get up at 5am, have a coffee (black, natch) and then ride for 2-3 hours with no problem was also quietly revelationary.

Lastly, I've discovered flavoured/fruit tea, or variations thereof. Constantly having something to hand that tastes good and keeps me hydrated keeps the need to snack away. I've usually got about 4 or 5 different flavours to hand, and just keep going through them throughout the day.

Fasted exercise seems a great way to lose weight for me. I struggle now on longer rides (and when mates want to go out later) due to not liking having eaten beforehand.

I dont like breakfast so always wait for lunch anyway - on the odd day I just skip lunch and wait for dinner. I much prefer it to traditional dieting and it seems to work for me too.

[drmike37]

As above, if you're serious and have the staying power look at Fast 800.

Long term, you need to work out why you're eating too much and not exercising. This may throw up an answer you don't expect/want to hear.....

[NorthDave]

drmike37 said:

As above, if you're serious and have the staying power look at Fast 800.

Long term, you need to work out why you're eating too much and not exercising. This may throw up an answer you don't expect/want to hear.....

How would someone work out why they routinely eat too much? I'm asking for a friend! :-)

[drmike37]

NorthDave said:

How would someone work out why they routinely eat too much? I'm asking for a friend! :-)

It’s often comfort eating. (It is for me). You have to try and work out why you need the comfort and sort that out. I don’t pretend to know the answers, if I did I’d be wearing smaller trousers.

[Vasco]

NorthDave said:

drmike37 said:

As above, if you're serious and have the staying power look at Fast 800.

Long term, you need to work out why you're eating too much and not exercising. This may throw up an answer you don't expect/want to hear.....

How would someone work out why they routinely eat too much? I'm asking for a friend! :-)

Only eat when you are actually feeling hungry!

Simples....

Many people just eat, drink, eat, drink .......for no good reason.

[Evoluzione]

mikiec said:

Pretty solid plan, a few thoughts:
Booze, seems rarely mentioned but basically pure sugar, had at the worst time (pre bed) and the calories add up quickly. If you are a regular drinker just cutting out booze will make a huge difference.
Stress and sleep. If these are issues they will be contributing to your health problem so include improving these in your plan
Food & exercise- everyone has a opinion, which will usually be based on what works for them. Thing is what works for them might not work for you so be prepared to change/ try something different. I’d strongly recommend Ted Naimen - pretty straightforward and not as dogmatic as some of the others. Find him on Twitter or he has an ebook.

Booze is not pure sugar, it's dependent on which drink you are talking about. There is no sugar in Gin, Vodka, wine etc.
Drink is made from using sugar to turn it into alcohol, there isn't any left after that!

[mikiec]

Evoluzione said:

Booze is not pure sugar, it's dependent on which drink you are talking about. There is no sugar in Gin, Vodka, wine etc.
Drink is made from using sugar to turn it into alcohol, there isn't any left after that!

There are still calories in gin, vodka and wine and those calories aren’t fat or protein.

[Phil.]

mikiec said:

Evoluzione said:

Booze is not pure sugar, it's dependent on which drink you are talking about. There is no sugar in Gin, Vodka, wine etc.
Drink is made from using sugar to turn it into alcohol, there isn't any left after that!

There are still calories in gin, vodka and wine and those calories aren’t fat or protein.

There’s also sugar in wine. It varies in amount dependent on the wine but wine is not zero sugar like spirits are.

[23.7]

Phil. said:

mikiec said:

Evoluzione said:

Booze is not pure sugar, it's dependent on which drink you are talking about. There is no sugar in Gin, Vodka, wine etc.
Drink is made from using sugar to turn it into alcohol, there isn't any left after that!

There are still calories in gin, vodka and wine and those calories aren’t fat or protein.

There’s also sugar in wine. It varies in amount dependent on the wine but wine is not zero sugar like spirits are.

Booze is a funny one, as a T1, nsulin is req for carbs, but beer is regarded as a 1/2 insulin dose, wine and spirits zero. Whilst the liver and kidneys are processing alcohol (essentially a poison) , they're not processing the carbs properly.

[Evoluzione]

mikiec said:

Evoluzione said:

Booze is not pure sugar, it's dependent on which drink you are talking about. There is no sugar in Gin, Vodka, wine etc.
Drink is made from using sugar to turn it into alcohol, there isn't any left after that!

There are still calories in gin, vodka and wine and those calories aren’t fat or protein.

Calories aren't an issue.
They aren't pure sugar either. As the chap above says sugars and alcohol are complex. Complex is actually the key word, complex sugars and carbs are T2 friendly.

[mikiec]

Evoluzione said:

Calories aren't an issue.
They aren't pure sugar either. As the chap above says sugars and alcohol are complex. Complex is actually the key word, complex sugars and carbs are T2 friendly.

T2 diabetes is largely an obesity related problem, that would make calories an issue.

[VR99]

For those of you who have reduced or even fully cut out starchy carbs, how did you find a happy medium?

WFH has been really sh*t on my fitness and weight, lot of my previous self control ( never great to be honest!) went out the window, long work hours and sleep deprivation (self inflicted due to phone/netflix etc) haven't helped.

Many years back I experimented with significantly reducing carbs...it worked but was too extreme and had a 'PoW' look to my face, v gaunt and went from looking fat to 'skinny fat' as the extreme reduction in both carbs and also daily calories lost me muscle too. In hindsight realise I went far too low on calories.
Not sure what to substitute carbs with? Not keen on simply swapping in fried or fatty foods as 'fillers'. Obviously Avacado is fine for example but I have a slight lactose intolerance so chugging loads of extra dairy to satiate myself won't be a viable option either.