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I am not a doctor - certainly not an endocrinologist - but in my opinion "Pre-Diabetes" should be replaced with the term "EARLY DIABETES"
I know ... I have it. It runs in my family. Both my parents were diabetic later in life and my older brother has it and takes Metformin for it. My last A1c score was 6.3, so now I have a Glucometer and I'm checking my blood sugars every day. I'm doing everything in my power to postpone my full blown diabetic state by going to the gym, watching my diet, testing my blood, not being in denial about my status, etc.
Type 2 Diabetes is merciful because most people can, with effort, control it.
Remember: Carbs are the enemy. Limit your carb intact. Have the steak, not the potato. Have the grilled chicken, forget the rice. Stay away from the bread, the pasta, the sweets ...
I am not a doctor - certainly not an endocrinologist - but in my opinion "Pre-Diabetes" should be replaced with the term "EARLY DIABETES"
I know ... I have it. It runs in my family. Both my parents were diabetic later in life and my older brother has it and takes Metformin for it. My last A1c score was 6.3, so now I have a Glucometer and I'm checking my blood sugars every day. I'm doing everything in my power to postpone my full blown diabetic state by going to the gym, watching my diet, testing my blood, not being in denial about my status, etc.
Type 2 Diabetes is merciful because most people can, with effort, control it.
Remember: Carbs are the enemy. Limit your carb intact. Have the steak, not the potato. Have the grilled chicken, forget the rice. Stay away from the bread, the pasta, the sweets ...
I have trouble with the term prediabetes as well...I might write a longer post about it sometime.
I have mixed feelings though about what the best dietary approach should be for someone with diabetes. I've tried the very low carb diets and in the long term I have found they aren't really sustainable. I know there are many that won't agree, but I don't think it is a failure to eat some carbs, and if necessary take medication to do so.
Essentially it is readings from 100-126 using a glucose meter. The A1C readings are considered a more reliable indicator.
I've been checking my readings for years and do take metformin. I would be regarded as pre-diabetes as it was about 104 this morning. But then some days it will be below 100 even in the 90s.
The reason it is so important is that it can do very nasty things like affecting your eyesight. I don't know that to be a fact but I've had very serious problems affecting my eyesight requiring surgery. Right now, I'm OK and am typing this without any glasses and do not require glasses to drive. But I do use readers for reading newspapers and the like.
Don't neglect it. Keep daily readings on your glucose every morning and if necessary two hours after eating. Keep your weight under control and just don't eat anything that you don't have to with any appreciable sugar. I have found that white bread is perhaps the worst offender. There are many books about this subject. If you are anywhere near pre-diabetes or into diabetes, get on it and expect it to be a life long issue. But it can be managed and you can live a normal life.
I have mixed feelings though about what the best dietary approach should be for someone with diabetes. I've tried the very low carb diets and in the long term I have found they aren't really sustainable. I know there are many that won't agree, but I don't think it is a failure to eat some carbs, and if necessary take medication to do so.
I agree with you.
I do not believe in a "zero carb" diet. You gotta have some. I think it is wise just to cut down on them. I permit myself one bagel a week ... and yet bagels are the absolutely worst form of bread a person can have when it comes to carbs.
There are folks on sites likes Diabetes Forum Discusses Support, Treatment, Symptoms, News and Diets For Diabetics that freak out if their morning reading is over 100, for example. They are fanatics. It's up to us to do what we can to control our blood sugars. My aunt had Type 2 diabetes and lived to be 92 (passed away just a year ago) - but she got it late in life, so I'm just trying to postpone it as long as possible.
OP, lifestyle changes, including increased exercise and reduced intake or elimination of the unhealthy carbs like sugar and white bread, with a concomitant increase in consumption of whole fruits and veggies, can make a significant difference and help a prediabetic condition from progressing to diabetes.
Here's a very entertaining video which tracks the lives and struggles of six insulin dependent people over a period of 30 days. They agreed, under a doctor's supervision, to live together and consume a raw food vegan diet.
I'm not suggesting that a raw food diet will cure someone's diabetes, but the verifiable improvements in this small group were really fascinating, and underscore the importance of a healthy diet for blood sugar control, improved blood pressure...
Some people are unable/unwilling to make a total switch, but even if you eat meat, just throwing away the junk in your diet, while eating more fruits and vegetables, should help.
It's almost needless to say, but no one should go off his meds and make the radical changes in diet that these people did, without a doctor's okay and close monitoring.
Type II diabetes is almost entirely due to too much body fat and especially, too many dietary carbs in relation to your activity level. It no doubt has a genetic "constitutional" component, and that you can do nothing about. If your Hgb A1c is high you must get skinny. Cut the complex carbs..pasta, bread, chips, Tostitos, et al, and no alcoholic beverages ever. Sugar sweetened drinks are a double no-no Chances are, you haven't dug ditches for a living and you are now paying the price for modern living which is woefully sedentary. So many fat - or just "doughy-looking" 25 - 30 yr old men tell you all you need to know. Wasn't the case 50 yrs ago. In those days, people in that age group, including men, were thin as a rail and it took til 45 for them to get the pudge.
Not too many people are aware that pasta and like foodstuffs (often called "comfort foods" ) were designed for people who needed the energy to dig ditches 10 hours a day, six days a week, lift heavy stuff all day, wash clothes on a washboard, and routinely walked long distances. People are blind to this fact and that's why there are so many diabetic people today. It's important to note that a half hour "workout' four days a week is NO SUBSTITUTE for the physically exertional occupations that people had 50+ yrs ago. It is NO SUBSTITUTE! Don't kid yourself, and eat accordingly.
One other point: people with a serum glucose of upper 90's to low 100's (up to 110) and consistently so, are probably not "pre-diabetic." If that's you, your doctor will rag you - possibly for no good reason; maybe so,but maybe not. Get a glucometer and check your blood sugar yourself, often. If your fasting never goes above 110 and comes up the same tiime after time, you're probably all right, although your doctor will likely tell you otherwise - because the normal range has been driven down in recent years - most likely pharmaceutically driven. Some people just have bodies that keep their sugar around 100 and it means nothing. A real diabetic of any type characteristically has relatively wide swings in blood sugar, and that's where Hgb A1c comes in.
Last edited by TwinbrookNine; 09-28-2013 at 10:54 AM..
fasting blood sugar is the last reading to go and by the time that gets bad you've probably had elevated post meal readings for a very long time. Type 2 comes from eating too many carbs over too short a period of time (high glycemic load) which harms beta cells over time. Don't rely on a confirmed diagnosis since doctors will often tell you your a1c of 5.7% is 'fine' and will not take your seriously unless you hit some magic number the ADA puts out. These levels are too lax and any post meal blood sugar spikes over 150 mg/dl one hour after meals and especially 2 hours after meals require action on your part to reduce the amount of simple carbs during your meals to keep levels down.
If you are spiking to the high 100's after every meal you are gradually making your condition worse and will eventually have full fledged type 2 diabetes. Now I know people don't want to give up their carbs and don't think it's fair they can't eat like everyone else. Hey life's not fair. You have high elevated post meal readings, you MUST take measures to keep them down. High post meal readings I believe are often a cause or arteriosclerosis and plaque buildup in the arteries.... more specifically, people who are insulin resistant and have super high insulin levels after a high carb meal, also known as 'metabolic syndrome' are at a high risk for heart problems. High blood sugar with no insulin (think type 1 diabetes) is not as huge a cause for alarm from a heart standpoint.
You need to know if your high sugars are caused by beta cell malfunction, or insulin resistance, by having fasting and post meal INSULIN levels checked, not just blood glucose levels.
Although some people have a naturally high fasting blood sugar, a typical normal person's fasting blood sugar is in the 80's mg/dl. If you are fasting in the 90's mg/dl, your have a much higher chance of already having high post meal spikes, and it would be worth investing in a blood sugar tester from amazon and doing your own post meal testing. The 'trueresult' brand is best bang for buck.
As far as diet goes, I eat a lot of saturated fat, protein, and low glycemic index carbs (like black beans, salsa, etc.) and my cholesterol levels are rock stable low and I'm much healthier than I'd be following the standard american diet of high simple carbs and spiking my sugars every meal. Triglycerides usually are around 50 mg/dl in me, and total cholesterol around 135.. HDL 70, LDL 65 and VLDL very low. Stick with saturated and monounsaturated fats (butter, coconut oil, canola oil, Safflower , macadamia) and avoid polyunsaturated fats (soybean oil, corn, sunflower, cottonseed)
Here's the latest (short video) from nutritionfacts.org, a free website run by medical nutritionist and researcher, Dr. Michael Greger, who advocates a low fat/plant-based diet.
He explains how consuming too much fat can lead to prediabetes and diabetes.
Also, although he advocates eating fresh fruits/vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains and legumes, he is very much against the consumption of sugary drinks, candies, pastries and other processed foods.
I am not a doctor - certainly not an endocrinologist - but in my opinion "Pre-Diabetes" should be replaced with the term "EARLY DIABETES"
I know ... I have it. It runs in my family. Both my parents were diabetic later in life and my older brother has it and takes Metformin for it. My last A1c score was 6.3, so now I have a Glucometer and I'm checking my blood sugars every day. I'm doing everything in my power to postpone my full blown diabetic state by going to the gym, watching my diet, testing my blood, not being in denial about my status, etc.
Type 2 Diabetes is merciful because most people can, with effort, control it.
Remember: Carbs are the enemy. Limit your carb intact. Have the steak, not the potato. Have the grilled chicken, forget the rice. Stay away from the bread, the pasta, the sweets ...
I agree. To me it's like being kind of pregnant. The term has just come into use recently. Before it was called early Type II. Treatment for so called "pre-diabetes" is exactly the same as Type II without meds.
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