Diabetes

[Linda0818]

Well, it was bound to happen. I was told yesterday at my normal doctor checkup that I have "prediabetes." Which I suspected on my own because I have a blood sugar monitor that I use occasionally and lately my fasting numbers have been a little high and my A1C at the doc's was 6.2.

I have a blood sugar monitor because not only does diabetes run in my family, I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my son, which they (my doc and nutritionist when I was pregnant) said puts me at double risk for developing Type II diabetes later in life. So it's just been a 'thing' of mine, for my own personal reasons and peace of mind, to check my sugar over the last several years which, until now, has been normal or even very low, as I had hypoglycemia for a number of years. Now we're on the reverse.

However, my doctor told me it's "very mild" right now and I can probably control it with diet (she didn't put me on any medication). With the exception of the occasional sweet tooth, I've stayed away from things like full-sugar soda and candy and other sweets, including fruit juice. I also know that carbohydrates can raise blood glucose levels, especially white flour, pasta, rice, bread, etc. So I pretty much know what to stay away from and what to cut back on.

But I wondering if anyone else here was diabetic and what kind of a diet you follow. I know I need to lose some weight, which will help. I'm going to try and get out and walk more often. But right now I'm curious as to what diet you follow, if you're successfully controlling your diabetes with diet or if you eventually needed medication, etc. Seems to me that this "prediabetes" is simply a beginning to something that will inevitably get worse as time goes on. My mom died from complications of diabetes (but not before she lost both legs to it) and that scares the hell out of me.

 

[taxlady]

One of our forum members, Steve Kroll, who no longer comes around, has managed to control his diabetes with the ketogenic diet. Here's a link to a post where he writes about that. http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f172/keto-diets-what-s-the-hype-100056.html#post1562421

 

[Linda0818]

One of our forum members, Steve Kroll, who no longer comes around, has managed to control his diabetes with the ketogenic diet. Here's a link to a post where he writes about that. http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f172/keto-diets-what-s-the-hype-100056.html#post1562421

Thank you, I'll give that a read.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I too, use the Ketogenic Diet to manage my diabetes. I was taking insulin and on a couple of oral meds for it. I no longer take any medications, my A1C is at 5.8.

I have strong opinions about artificial sweeteners, I can elaborate if you like.

 

[skilletlicker]

I have had A1C readings in the prediabetic range, 5.7 - 6.4, for at least four years. It has not been a progressive linear increase though and I am certain that, for me at least, it will not inevitably lead to type II diabetes.

1. Doctors tell me it is not inevitable.
2. I know of a lot of people who have reversed it through diet and exercise.
3. I have been to the limits of both ends of that range and back again and my A1C movements track perfectly, if slightly behind my weight, and daily exercise.

A1C hit the magic mark of 6.5 in August 2017. That's one step over the threshold from Pre to Type II. But an A1C level of 6.5 percent or higher on two separate tests indicates type 2 diabetes..

Well, that finally got my attention and I began to seriously keep track of what I ate using a free online weight and exercise management program called MyFitnessPal.com. I started walking daily, keeping track of how far and how long I walked. From August 2017 to March 2018 I lost 42 pounds and subsequent A!C tests were 6.2, 6.2, and 5.7. It seems realistic to expect that had that regimen continued A1C might have dropped below 5.7, in other words, within the normal range.

But in March 2018 during a walk over 3 miles from home, a car ran over me on the sidewalk. Fortunately, the only serious injury was a broken leg but it put a tempory halt to the walks. And I stopped paying such close attention to diet. In June, when I could have started walking again, I didn't resume any serious exercise. One by one, then five by ten the pounds returned. By New Years, 2019 I'd gained back all the weight and lost any fitness gains and then some. Gout returned with a vengeance. A1C jumped back up to 6.4.

I struggled through the first six months of this year to get back on track.

• Started talking and listening to the folks at DC again.
• Found an online weight management program called Cronometer that I like even better than MFP.
• Fired one doctor and hired another with whom I'm much more comfortable.
• Started walking again outside and indoors on a treadmill.
• Lost all the weight gained after the broken leg plus a little more.
• A1C is trending down again finally.

Need to lose about 10 more pounds to move from obese to overweight. Another 35 or so to normal (more than halfway there overall). I reasonably expect A1C to drop back into normal range by then, if not sooner. While I don't think the Keto route is the road for me, diet nutrition and weight management definitely is.

 

[eparys]

I have been sitting on that fence for the last two or so years and decided a few months ago after seeing a new Doctor to try and do something about it. I have been struggling with the weight loss (am down 15# but have many more to go) and attempting to add in more exercise but many moons ago I broke my ankle and find it difficult to walk on any surfaces that are uneven ( I live in the country on a dirt road).



I have tried to cut way back on the carbs that I have been eating and have been on the lookout for lower carb / calorie foods that I can serve that my husband. I keep a stash of Hard Boiled Eggs in the Fridge for snacks. I am not sure the Keto way would work for me - my husband would not buy into it and I would be too tempted by whatever he was having. I head back into the Dr in 6 months to see what progress I have made.



Skilletlicker - I never had heard of Cronometer before. I've been using MFP and have been frustrated with it. Just looked at it and got an account. I am going to try it. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I am still fighting diabetes. I was diagnosed with it at age 44. My kidneys failed at age 63. I am on dyalisis now, 3 times a week. I ate what i believd to be a healthy diet, with good portion cantrol. I too had a great exersize program going to the gymn 6 days a week, weight training on Monda, Wednsday and Friday, with a 5 mile brisk walk while wearing 15 lb leg, and wrist weights onTuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Like Whiska, I let injury stop my exersize routine, and didn't take it back up. Plus, I would cheat on my diet, telling myself that I had been a good boy for a couple of days and could jave one candy bar, or one single serving bottle of orabge juice, or one large serving of mashed potatoes. This made my blood sugar rise and i had to start taking insulin
This powerful hormone causes wight gain, and i did, 40 lbs worth in a couple of months time
I began being more careful again, and began exersizing again as well. I lost thirty two lbs and hit a plateau. I strugled to lose the rest, but eventally lost it. Most damaging to me was stress on the job, and stree at home, both of which caused very poor blood sugar control. When stressed, no matter what kind of stress it is, the liver pumps out sugar, and adreniline. If you aren't doing something to burn up that sugar, your A1C rises dramatically. That stress induced high blood sugar contributed to my kidney failure.

Don' cheat on your diet. Learn about not only what foofs to eat, but how to prepare them. For instace, sweet potatoes are listed in glycemic index, and glycemic load tables favorably for blood sugar control. However, further reswarch revealed that if the sweet potatoes are boiled, this is true. If they are baked, fried, or grillrd, they are quite high on both the glycemic infex, and glycemic load tables, not good for blood sugar control. Also, if you are milk drinker, wheb milk fat is remeved, then per volume milk sugar is increased. So which is worse for your body, higher milk fat, or higher milk sugar? Hard cheeses have fewr cars than soft chersrs. Yogurt would seem like a geat food. But to make it enjoyable, whether greek style, or any other, lots of dugar must be added. Making it a high-carb food.

Because poor food choices are usually less expensive than are good food choices, and because we live in, and are pushed by industry to be self indulgent, it is a real challenge to eat and live right. That said, I.implore you to turn off the tv, get moving. Walk, lift weights, make exersise part of your life style, be it canoing, bike riding, baseball, or whatefer you enjoy doing. Understand the foods you eat, and the best ways to prepare them so that they are healthy, and satisfying. Don't let pressure from others knock you off track. I let outside pressures get to me, and am paying a heavy price for it. I tell my kids and freinds, don't folliw my example; learn from it.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North

 

[Aunt Bea]

I've been prediabetic and now diabetic for the last 25 years. It has been a struggle for me because things that work today don't work tomorrow and no matter what I do I'll always be a diabetic. It's definitely a new phase in life when you start dealing with health problems that you simply can't fix no matter how hard you work at it.

I follow a low/slow-carb diet with occasional slips and binges. I also take metformin, glimepiride, and insulin to help control the disease. The combinations of medicine and dosage have changed over time as the disease progresses.

Read everything you can including other people's experience and then work with your PCP and other healthcare providers to come up with a plan specifically for you and the way you live.

Above all don't rely on stories about people who had diabetes forty or fifty years ago, the world has changed a great deal since the 1970's when my father was dealing with diabetes, strokes, amputations, etc...

Good luck!

 

[Linda0818]

Thank you, all of you, for your very informative responses. I've read them all and will read them again.

My close cousin has diabetes and she's on 3 different meds because she refuses to take insulin. So far it's working for her. I know that Metformin is one of them, the other is Glipizide and one I've never heard of, Steglatro. It blew me away when she told me she's on 3 meds.

My mom was on insulin, but she also did not watch her diet. She continued with eating anything she wanted, which included a LOT of white bread sandwiches slathered with Miracle Whip, frozen pizzas, processed foods like Hamburger Helper, and she loved her Big Macs. But back then, I don't think there was as much of a link between diabetes and carbohydrates as there is now. Even when I was pregnant and had gestational diabetes, they basically told me to stay away from all things sugar. Nobody said anything about cutting carbs, which explains why my sugar levels were very high throughout my pregnancy. I didn't know that excessive carbs were a no-no. Thankfully, though, once I had my son, my sugar levels went back down to normal and my hypoglycemia returned. So I dealt with low blood sugar for many years. However, now that I'm older and dealing with menopausal issues, all hell is breaking loose, including higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, higher weight that is now more difficult to shed, etc.

A couple of food points I wanted to touch on - I don't drink that much milk, maybe once or twice a week, and I drink 2%. Also on the hard boiled eggs, I too keep them around for snacks. I allow myself potato chips once a week (Sunday is my 'beloved potato chip' day) but if I want something crunchy and salty during the week, I munch on pork rinds. Also, Sunday dinner is my one meal a week where I eat what I want. This past Sunday I gorged myself on spaghetti

Hey, at least I skipped the garlic bread

But yeah. I'm trying to change my diet - again. Gotta cut back on those carbs and watch hidden sugars in other foods I eat.

Excellent tips and information from everyone, thanks again so much. I welcome any other comments/feedback/advice.

 

[Linda0818]

Oh and regarding the food logging programs, I've used Cronometer in the past. Looks like I'm going to have to start using it again. What I like about Cronometer, as opposed to other food logging apps/programs I've used before, is it also logs sugar amounts.

 

[taxlady]

My mum was diagnosed with type II diabetes in about 1961. They didn't talk about carbs, but they told her to limit bread, potatoes, sugar, orange juice, etc. She had to weigh those foods to make sure she wasn't getting too much. After a while, she could feel how much of the various foods she could tolerate. After several years, she could control her sugar with no meds. That was unheard of at the time. Over time, she became less and less cautious about her diet and eventually needed to take meds again. It sure was different back then, when nobody had home blood sugar testing equipment.

 

[msmofet]

When I was pregnant both times I was sent to the lab where they made me drink a sickening sweet orange drink. Then stuck me and drew blood once every hour for SIX hours!! I have terrible veins that roll and collapse which meant multiple jabs and painful bruising. I was miserable because I HATE needles and the sight of blood. Now you just get blood work once every 3 months. One jab. I now have them take blood from the vein in the back of my hand with a thin butterfly pediatric needle. A little uncomfortable but they get it every time on the first jab.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Another point that is rarely mentioned is the changing definition of diabetes.

From 1979 to 1997 the medical establishment believed that fasting blood sugar levels above 100 were considered dangerous and that fasting blood sugar readings of 140 or higher were considered diabetic. In 1997/1998 the range for defining a prediabetic/diabetic was lowered to 110-126.

The good news is that the lower readings and early detection help to control the disease, the bad news is that it makes it difficult to compare how things were done in the past with our current treatment options.

 

[Linda0818]

My mum was diagnosed with type II diabetes in about 1961. They didn't talk about carbs, but they told her to limit bread, potatoes, sugar, orange juice, etc. She had to weigh those foods to make sure she wasn't getting too much. After a while, she could feel how much of the various foods she could tolerate. After several years, she could control her sugar with no meds. That was unheard of at the time. Over time, she became less and less cautious about her diet and eventually needed to take meds again. It sure was different back then, when nobody had home blood sugar testing equipment.

Definitely unheard of then. I find it odd, though, that even then she was told to avoid carby things as well as sugary things when I was never told that during my pregnancy, except for the sugary stuff. I even spoke with a nutritionist on a few occasions and not once did they mention carbohydrates. So it's possible I had a defective nutritionist

When I was pregnant both times I was sent to the lab where they made me drink a sickening sweet orange drink. Then stuck me and drew blood once every hour for SIX hours!! I have terrible veins that roll and collapse which meant multiple jabs and painful bruising. I was miserable because I HATE needles and the sight of blood. Now you just get blood work once every 3 months. One jab. I now have them take blood from the vein in the back of my hand with a thin butterfly pediatric needle. A little uncomfortable but they get it every time on the first jab.

Yes, I remember that. I was put through the same thing when I was pregnant, the glucose tolerance test. Wow, that was a long day, not to mention yucky.

Another point that is rarely mentioned is the changing definition of diabetes.

From 1979 to 1997 the medical establishment believed that fasting blood sugar levels above 100 were considered dangerous and that fasting blood sugar readings of 140 or higher were considered diabetic. In 1997/1998 the range for defining a prediabetic/diabetic was lowered to 110-126.

The good news is that the lower readings and early detection help to control the disease, the bad news is that it makes it difficult to compare how things were done in the past with our current treatment options.

I completely agree. And according to my doctor, I'm in the prediabetic stage because sometimes my fasting glucose readings are, say, 130-something and other times they're 112, etc. She told me "You're not that bad yet and it's possible to control this with diet."

However, today I had a salad (with no added carby things) and a low-sugar nutrition shake and my glucose reading was 144. Probably should have waited a little longer after having the shake to take my sugar, but it's so up and down right now, I don't know where to go with this or what to think. Sometimes it's normal, sometimes it's high.

 

[pepperhead212]

Sorry to hear about your predicament, Linda0818, but hopefully you have nipped it in the bud. My Mom had diabetes, and it was the kidneys that finally did her in, though she made it to 86. My Sister also had it, and her kidneys were in even worse shape, and she only made it to 66. However, neither watched what they ate very well - eating out is not the thing to do on any diets!

My sister went on that ketogenic diet for about the last year and a half, and did loose some weight. However, something worries me about that diet - does anyone remember back in the 70s, when low carb diets, like the Atkins diet, became the rage? We were being warned about going too low on the carbs, because the body could go into ketosis, which could damage the kidneys. Now they are telling us to go into ketosis on purpose! What has changed in our bodies?

7 or 8 years ago, without really thinking about it, I went on a "diet" and lost over 40 lbs - the one major change in my diet was almost eliminating white rice. I had been buying 25 lb bags of jasmine rice (for just me, mind you!) at a time, since I was making so much Chinese, Thai, and other SE Asin food. This "diet" I went on, was when I went on an Indian food kick, to learn everything I could about the cuisine, and most of the bulk of the foods were lentils and other legumes, and the flat breads were made with whole grains. I didn't use very much white rice, but it wasn't a conscious effort - I was just trying all those other things! Later, I found a number of articles stating that legumes, and chick peas especially, are supposed to help diabetics and pre-diabetics greatly, so I figured this was great that I got hooked on these things! I have never been tested as pre-diabetic, but it is in my family. I still try to use as much of those lentils as possible, and chana dal, though they look like lentils, are actually a black chick pea, split and hulled.

Another one of those Asian things that is supposed to help against diabetes is bitter melon. Of course, I'm sure there are many other things used in herbal medicine and the like, used by those without access to our medicines, but that's for another discussion!

 

[taxlady]

Sorry to hear about your predicament, Linda0818, but hopefully you have nipped it in the bud. My Mom had diabetes, and it was the kidneys that finally did her in, though she made it to 86. My Sister also had it, and her kidneys were in even worse shape, and she only made it to 66. However, neither watched what they ate very well - eating out is not the thing to do on any diets!

My sister went on that ketogenic diet for about the last year and a half, and did loose some weight. However, something worries me about that diet - does anyone remember back in the 70s, when low carb diets, like the Atkins diet, became the rage? We were being warned about going too low on the carbs, because the body could go into ketosis, which could damage the kidneys. Now they are telling us to go into ketosis on purpose! What has changed in our bodies?
...

I think the science has advanced. Wasn't that back when we were being told that margarine was healthier than butter and avoid eggs?

 

[GotGarlic]

My sister went on that ketogenic diet for about the last year and a half, and did loose some weight. However, something worries me about that diet - does anyone remember back in the 70s, when low carb diets, like the Atkins diet, became the rage? We were being warned about going too low on the carbs, because the body could go into ketosis, which could damage the kidneys. Now they are telling us to go into ketosis on purpose! What has changed in our bodies?

Who is they? I don't believe the medical establishment recommends the keto diet, except for children who suffer from seizures. It's very trendy, but there are no long-term studies showing that it's safe and effective and there are some downsides.

This is just one source I read: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog...mate-low-carb-diet-good-for-you-2017072712089

 

[Linda0818]

Not to worry, I have no plans on completely restricting carbs. There's no way I could sustain such a crazy notion anyway! In the past, I've been through the low carb 'diets' and I nearly lost my mind along with the weight. I just need to learn how to eat the good kind instead of the junky kind. Beans, legumes, whole grains, brown rice instead of white rice, etc. Slow-release carbs.

I've been reading a book I have (that I may or may not have mentioned) called the 2 Day Diabetes Diet, that I actually purchased a few years ago. I wanted to get a jump on things and perhaps get used to following such a diet to maybe prevent diabetes from coming on in the first place (too late!). But... I read some of it, even made a couple of the recipes, then set the book aside and it eventually got put up with the other books and, unfortunately, forgotten about. But I've picked it back up again and from what I'm understanding so far, you choose 2 days of the week where you not only restrict carbs, but calories as well. I think the total amount of calories allowed on those days is around 600-700. Not hard to do, as long as I stay away from alcohol. I love me a few drinks in the evenings and that's a hard habit to break, when you're so used to doing it. Like so many others, come home from work and crack a beer, come home from work and pour a drink (Columbus is, after all, the drunkest city in Ohio, lol). And yes, I know, the alcohol isn't good for me either. But I read something odd just recently... it said alcohol and even wine can actually lower blood sugar.



That blew my mind because I don't see how that's possible. Especially wine. You're basically drinking fruit juice, which I'm supposed to stay away from.

Just thought that a little bizarre.

 

[GotGarlic]

But I read something odd just recently... it said alcohol and even wine can actually lower blood sugar.



That blew my mind because I don't see how that's possible. Especially wine. You're basically drinking fruit juice, which I'm supposed to stay away from.

Just thought that a little bizarre.

Don't believe everything you read A lot of the time, articles in the popular media on nutrition topics misrepresent the results of studies and/or exaggerate their meaning or relevance. If the study was done on cells in a petri dish, or mice, it's not relevant to people.

That said, wine is not just fruit juice. The alcohol has effects on the body as well, and not just the mental ones

 

[Linda0818]

Don't believe everything you read A lot of the time, articles in the popular media on nutrition topics misrepresent the results of studies and/or exaggerate their meaning or relevance. If the study was done on cells in a petri dish, or mice, it's not relevant to people.

That said, wine is not just fruit juice. The alcohol has effects on the body as well, and not just the mental ones

I know, I usually laugh when I read some 'studies' that were done on mice because no doubt they slam the poor things with copious amounts of stuff.