Diabetes prevention diet plan?

aylesby

All the above is good advice and cut down on alcohol too.
Exercise every day if you can a 20 minute stiff walk is OK until you find your level.
No one mentioned change your portion control to make sure you eat more fresh veg and less meat than before.

System

two words "sugar content" ! following a diet can help but as a diabetic i find a lot of "diet" foods are loaded with sugar. [ eg weight watchers stuff is low fat but high sugar !] when i was 1st dx as diabetic i was told as a general rule you need to be looking for items that are 4% sugar or less per 100g.

daska

Personally I find it easier to stick with the low carbing now that I understand the science. I have a serious carb problem, when I was still under the impression that low carbing was dangerous and that we must eat carbs, even when I was diabetic (which has never worked for me and tbh now seems totally insane) I really struggled and I used to go and binge. Now that I understand how it works and that I have to treat it as an addiction that might take several years to overcome (like smoking) it's a lot easier. Hence recommending the Gary Taube stuff, it might be that if your relative can understand the how and the why, the doing might be easier. Taube's also the only person I've seen who explains some of the side effects of your body adjusting and exactly what causes these and therefore how to deal with them properly.

LolitaLove

Just wanted to say thankyou SO much to everyone that has replied, there's some really great answers posted. My relative has spoken about going low carb before and I have hit the roof as I didn't think it was healthy, and they would get a massive lecture from me about how carbs are the body's desired fuel source and vitally important. But, i think I'm gonna research a bit more now after hearing low carb has worked for so many diabetics....personally I'd find it extremely difficult to do low carb as I'm vegetarian, don't eat/like cheese or dairy (drink soy or rice milk), hate anything resembling fish and don't use mayo or fats (except for olive oil) so that pretty much rules low carb out:P However, my relative mostly eats meat and cheese anyway so it'd probably be perfect!
Thanks again for the replies xx

worried_jim

daska wrote: »

Personally I find it easier to stick with the low carbing now that I understand the science. I have a serious carb problem, when I was still under the impression that low carbing was dangerous and that we must eat carbs, even when I was diabetic (which has never worked for me and tbh now seems totally insane) I really struggled and I used to go and binge. Now that I understand how it works and that I have to treat it as an addiction that might take several years to overcome (like smoking) it's a lot easier. Hence recommending the Gary Taube stuff, it might be that if your relative can understand the how and the why, the doing might be easier. Taube's also the only person I've seen who explains some of the side effects of your body adjusting and exactly what causes these and therefore how to deal with them properly.

Thanks you very much for this post. I have just ordered "Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It".

Mojisola

daska wrote: »

Personally I find it easier to stick with the low carbing now that I understand the science.

This is important but I also found that testing my blood sugars after eating different foods was so convincing, there was no going back.

The NHS won't give you testing strips until you need medication so it does work out expensive at the beginning until you learn what foods you can safely eat and what to avoid.

I only test very occasionally now and am keeping my BS level in the normal range.

daska

Mojisola wrote: »

This is important but I also found that testing my blood sugars after eating different foods was so convincing, there was no going back.

The NHS won't give you testing strips until you need medication so it does work out expensive at the beginning until you learn what foods you can safely eat and what to avoid.

I only test very occasionally now and am keeping my BS level in the normal range.

LOL They didn't give me those even when I was on insulin! But I know that it's the only way of eating, and losing weight, that doesn't have me climbing the walls (ok, stumbling about out of the w'chair lol) with hunger and frustration.

Mojisola

daska wrote: »

LOL They didn't give me those even when I was on insulin!

How are you expected to know how much insulin to use?

I think it's very short-sighted not to teach borderline diabetics how to monitor their diet using test strips. It would be much cheaper in the long run to stop people going into full-blown diabetes with all the attendant health problems.

I wonder if it's because they would have people going back saying that the recommended diet is not right. I was told off by one nurse for testing myself and told I should just follow the given diet. I'm glad I didn't because I would have been on medication years ago.

daska

Mojisola wrote: »

How are you expected to know how much insulin to use?

I think it's very short-sighted not to teach borderline diabetics how to monitor their diet using test strips. It would be much cheaper in the long run to stop people going into full-blown diabetes with all the attendant health problems.

I wonder if it's because they would have people going back saying that the recommended diet is not right. I was told off by one nurse for testing myself and told I should just follow the given diet. I'm glad I didn't because I would have been on medication years ago.

I had to give them my readings and then they gave me a set amount to use based on my them. I think if I'd carried on needing the insulin after DS2 was born they might have got more detailed but... they were insistant that I MUST eat carbs and that I had to have porridge and banana every morning and bread for lunch and rice for supper etc.

I suspect you are correct about the reason, too many awkward questions.

worried_jim

I would like to thank LolitaLove for starting this thread, reading it has been a wake up call. I would also like to thank Daska for post number 14. This thread has helped me to change my life, to see why and how please look at-

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/50797955#Comment_50797955