Pre-diabetes treatment, diet, and diference in diabetes type?

[LazyMoose]

Glucose went up again into pre-range at 106 last week, was mid 90's last fall. I exercise, don't drink soda, have balanced diet and am in  good shape weight-wise low BMI, so I'm lost as to what to do next in order to keep my fasting glucose under 100. My A1C was 5.7 My fasting glucose for the last two years is between 95 and 108, was tested about 6,7 times.

Doc just says good exercise and diet. I do that!

1)What is a simple recommended diet to keep blood sugar low?

I eat vary basic, would like to keep this as simple as possible. My diet is pretty much poultry for meat / protein, veggies , fruit. The only sugar I intake is in granola bars. I stopped eating potatoes last year. No white rice, only brown or American wild rice.

I have had Autoimmune Hashimoto hypothyroid for at least 20 years, that is enough - on natural thyroid for that and doing OK.. Doc says diabetes is very possible based on my health facts. I will do what ever is needed to avoid diabetes, but ran out of ideas. I plan to start cinnamon and holy basil - known to lower glucose in many people.

2) What / how do you know what Type of diabetes your pre-diabetes is? 1 or 2, I dont quite understand the difference.

thank you in advance for helping me keeping this under control!

[LazyMoose]

Sally , I'm not able to PM you.

I'm blocked!.........?

I did 'eons' ago on the thyroid forum, it worked in the past.

LM

[WaveRider]

You shouldn't need an Rx for test test strips as they are not drugs. They may be kept behind a counter or in a locked display case to prevent theft but I've never seen/heard of a need for an Rx. If in doubt talk to your local pharmacist.

As far as meters go, I use the J&J OneTouch UltraMini [last rated #1 by Consumer Reports for consistent accuracy]. You can obtain a FREE OneTouch by filling out the questionnaire on the link below. Comes with a five day supply of lancets and strips. Wait period is approx 6 weeks.
https://www.onetouchdiabetes.com/offers

[LazyMoose]

I dont know all these specific diabetes terms...........lol

I was looking at these meters, wide variety in cost, even at walmart. I thought these still required a prescription to purchase the strips?

thanks

[WaveRider]

"Will an endo do this 'preprandial' test willingly on a pre-diabetic patient?:
Preprandial means before a meal. This is something you can do at home with a home glucose test meter. Your local pharmacy/drug store usually stocks them OTC. Read the instructions carefully.

"How many foods do I need to do this test on?"
Mostly those that "may" raise your glucose levels - fruits, starches, simple carbs. I started a food log journal for each meal, including snacks, marked my test results next to each entry, and used a process of elimination.

Read all ingredient labels carefully.The name of the game is test, test, test & more testing. Also included in your regimen is taking care of your Thyroid by restricting foods that conflict/interact with your medication. Exercising daily, eating a proper nutrition and maintaining proper weight all helps to balance your blood glucose levels.

[LazyMoose]

'to slow absorption of glucose entering your blood stream' - never knew about the 'speed' of absorbion of glucose.

Doctors never explain anything anymore. I am very well versed on thyroid after years of suffering on the wrong med for my situation and now I get to learn more new info that was never explained to me before about glucose. Doc just said 'eat a health diet and exercise' - how vague! And that is clearly not working for me as good as I need it to.

I had a sugar load (drink) test in '09. Test  glucose, drink syrup, test glucose 2 hours later. I passed.

Again I eat a lot, even if I haven't worked out in days, so this will be a challenge to get filled up. If snacks need a cooler or oven, convenience is out the window.

Will an endo do this 'preprandial' test willingly on a pre-diabetic patient? How many foods do I need to do this test on?

thanks

[LazyMoose]

Sal, thanks for the test info. Its amassing doctors don't tell us this stuff (at least not mine), its thyroid all over again.!

I've always ate like a horse, just tried to eat for the most part 'natural' non processed foods. Never counted carbs.

I will have a few questions for you I'm sure.

[Super_sally888]

I generally snack on plain nuts.  I also eat heaps of veges, eggs, cheese.

Lower carb fruits.

Experiment.  Read labels.

[WaveRider]

I'm not a carb counter either but do understand the difference between simple and complex carbs. The former I avoid at all cost. But then there are certain complex carbs that does my body no-good too, like fruits.

"Two bannas every morning for last 5 years, very convienient, good 'filler' and possasium, so thats bad? Bummer."

You misunderstood the replies to your post. No one said fruit is bad. What was said is eat fruits with other foods to slow absorption of glucose entering your blood stream. I suggest testing preprandial [b4 eating] to get a baseline level, then postprandial [after eating]. The postprandial goal is <141 mg/dl, optimum <121 mg/dl. Testing is the only way you're going to know what you can and cannot consume. A majority T2 diabetics - the lucky ones - can tolerate fruits, some diabetics like myself & Asok cannot.

Studies now show that cinnamon doesn't lower glucose levels, but has been known to regulate blood pressure. I can vouch for the latter. Haven't heard about holy basil helping lower glucose levels. I've heard holy basil might be safe when used for short periods of time, up to four weeks. However, it is unknown if long-term use is safe.

[LazyMoose]

I,ve never had to count carbs. I was allways physically active and look like I'm in good shape - so I assumed I just burned carbs up, as I've never had weight chalanges. Even with hypothyroid I was lucky. I dont fit the diabetes 'type' from the outside, an eye opener. Makes one wonder about the chemicals modern man consumes in food, plastic ware ect.

Two bannas everymorning for last 5 years, very convienient, good 'filler' and possasium, so thats bad? Bummer.

I seriously dont know know how to eat and get filled up without carbs or fruit - thats what I eat insted of cookies and chips, snacks ect. Cant eat a steak and carrots for ever meal if you know what I mean.

This will be challanging. I am going to experment with cinamon and holy basil to lower glucose as well.

[asok475]

Just to second waverider. I have eliminated all fruits too. I just love big Delicious apples and those big oranges. (sigh and double sigh!) My a1c dropped from 7.7& in Sept to 6.3%l
lasy week.

[WaveRider]

1)What is a simple recommended diet to keep blood sugar low?

You're on the right track just need a little more work. Simple carbs are your worse enemy, avoid them at all cost. And, hoo-boy, are those granola bars loaded with sugar. Read ingredient labels carefully and convert those carb sugars to refined sugar using this simple formula; every 7 grams listed equals one heaping Tablespoon of refined sugar. Also, watch your starchy foods as they turn into sugar.

When eating fruit, eat them with other foods to slow the absorption of fructose [fruit sugar]. You will have to test after eating to see which ones you can tolerate and/or ones you cannot. I use to be able to eat melons and berries. However, my body changed two years ago where I couldn't tolerate melons, then last year berries joined the list. All fruits are are now on my forbidden list of foods [sigh].

[Super_sally888]

Hi Lazy Moose,

I skip over here and now and again from the thyroid forum.

Prediabetes is usually seen as a precursor to type 2 type diabetes, which is not the autoimmune type.  

Type 2 diabetes, was known as adult onset type, has a strong genetic component and is often associated with insulin resistance.  This forces the pancreas to work harder and eventually it can't produce enough insulin.

Type 1 is autoimmune type.  This happens when the insulin producing cells of the pancreas are attacked by antibodies which destroy them.  eventually there are not enough left to produce insulin and then diabetes results.

IN typical type 1, the onset of diabetes may be pretty rapid.  However, in adults, this immune type diabetes may have a much slower onset.  It can also be called type 1.5.

Of course this is grossly oversimplified.

How to know for sure?   Test for antibodies:  ANTIGAD pannel.
However, antibodies won't always be seen even in Type 1.

Test C-Peptide.  typically it will be very high in type 2 (if excess insulin is being produced) and very very low if no / not much insulin is being produced.  However, again anything in the quite wide normal range won't really say much.

Diet wise, I've found that a very low carb diet helps tremendously.  I now eat a diet of about 50 - 70 g of carb/day carefully spread out.  My sugars have normalised on this.  but I'll be high if I eat eve 1/2 cup of rice.

PM me if you want some more resources.

Best regards