Just diagnosed with pre-diabetes-Updated 3/18/16

[jrnunzio3]

Hi Everyone,

I had blood work this week and received the results last night. I was told that I was pre-diabetic.

Can anyone help me with what healthy snacks I can eat? I haven't talked to the doctor yet as he just left a message with my husband. I won't be able to talk to him until Tuesday and want to start eating better/healthier now.

I really dislike most veggies (especially carrots and celery), so those snacks are out.

I went to the grocery store today and I never realized how much sugar is in everyday items.

I just want to start to cut back now until I am able to get re-tested and need some ideas.

Thanks for you help!

 

[Disney Doll]

You're going to have to learn to like veggies.

Nuts are a good snack. Low fat cream cheese.

No bread. White flour. Sugar.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Sorry! Ask your doctor to set up an appt with a diabetes educator or dietician.

Try googling paleo snacks--that diet is just fruit, veg, meats, nuts and seeds pretty much.

In the meantime, how about some cheese and nuts? Or lunch meat wrapped around a pickle?

 

[Poohforyou]

My best friend was pre-diabetic a few years ago. For breakfast she would have oatmeal with nuts, cinnamon and a little chopped apple (like a 1/4 of a small one). Lunch and dinner were easier - lean protein and lots of veggies.

Her go to snacks were nuts, plain Greek yogurt, water packed tuna with cucumber and pepper slices, cheese sticks and hard boiled eggs.

The biggest thing is to limit simple carbs as much as possible - sugar and heavily refined grains. If you are eating them combine with protein and some healthy fat. For instance, if bread is your thing and you can't switch to whole grain have a small amount with a little nut butter.

Her treat food was a little very dark chocolate. If you go 80%+ it was very little sugar.

 

[Sadie22]

Everything in moderation. Think about eating several mini-meals with portion control with some protein, fat, and carbohydrate at each meal. Slowly introduce vegetables prepared in different ways into your diet. Just try different things until you find more that you like. Visit a farmer's market and/or talk to grocery store nutritionists for ideas. You may be surprised that you actually like items you prepare yourself. I though I disliked many vegetables which were served overcooked or came overcooked from a can when served to me as a child. As an adult I like lots of things I have learned to cook in different ways or serve raw. Carrots and celery once in a while, grape or cherry tomatoes, broccoli, berries, apples and pears with skin, grapes, all in moderation. Small amounts of nuts. An apple with a light string cheese. A couple of cups of romaine lettuce with some grilled chicken. Raw veggies with a dip (a couple of tablespoons). A slice of whole grain bread with nut butter. Oatmeal you make yourself. Half a whole-grain mini-bagel with cream cheese. The occasional piece of dark chocolate as a special treat.

I use Calorie King to figure out the content of meals. I have the version on my desktop computer as well as the mobile version on my smartphone. Before I visit any restaurant, I have planned what I am going to eat by looking at the online menu and guesstimating the values. It's been a long time since I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. It's great that you're thinking how to improve your diet. I hope you can avoid my diagnosis of type 2.

 

[acebatonfan]

Hi! I'm a type 1 diabetic (though type 1 and type 2 diabetes are very different disease processes, I found that following diet advice for type 2 diabetics to be helpful in "normalizing" my blood sugar).

First off, I really recommend that you see if your doctor can refer you to a certified diabetes educator and and registered dietitian. Both people are great tools when first figuring out what to eat, when, and in what quantities. The American Diabetes Association has some nutrition guidelines for diabetics, but many diabetics (especially type 2) note that following these diet guidelines cause much crazier blood sugar numbers, and that they need to reduce their carbohydrate intake to less than what the American Diabetes Association recommends. What is important to remember is that almost all carbohydrates that are consumed become sugar within our body (glucose -a type of sugar- is the body's preferred energy source and will break down and convert almost every carbohydrate we consume into glucose), so tracking total carbohydrates is as important -if not moreso- than tracking sugar.

Here are some of my favorite snacks and their corresponding carb counts. Some of these mention net carbs, which is total carbs minus dietary fiber. Dietary fiber typically isn't absorbed from the GI tract and therefore doesn't affect blood sugar levels:

• Turkey/beef jerky - 8g carbs per 28g portion (Perky Jerky turkey jerky original). Many jerky brands add sugar to the jerky, but I found that the additional protein from it helps to blunt the blood sugar spike that I would see.
  
• Cheese (any type) -0g carbs per 28g portion
• Almonds -2g net carbohydrates (6g total carbohydrates - 4g dietary fiber = 2g net carbs) per 28g portion
• Blackberries -6g net carbs (13g total, 7g dietary fiber) per 140g portion. Depending on how insulin resistant you are, it might be possible for you to have some fruits without seeing crazy blood sugar swings. Personally, high-fiber fruits (like berries) affect me a lot less than low-fiber fruits (like bananas and grapes).
• Pickle spears -1g net carbs (2g total, 1g dietary fiber) per 100g portion
• Meat and fish (any kind, as long as it is not fried, breaded, or cured in sugar/honey) -0g carbs
• Unsweetened almond milk -0.5g net carbs (1g total carbs, about 1g fiber) per 8oz glass. I like to add a tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder and splenda to warmed almond milk for a hot chocolate that is less than 3g of net carbs.
• Plain Greek yogurt - 6-8g carbs per 150g portion (Danon Light and Fit has flavored yogurt options that are 9g of net carbs, and Danon Oikos zero's net carbs are significantly less than many other flavored yogurt brands)

It's always a good idea to pair any carbohydrates you have with a fat or a protein food, because it helps to slow down the blood sugar spike that results. Apples with peanut butter or cheese, tuna on whole wheat crackers (though rice cakes are the devil for my blood sugar now), and vegetables with hummus are some pairings my diabetes educator recommended for me. Remember that diabetes is like an epicly long science experiment. You need to figure out what food and food combinations work for your blood sugars and your lifestyle, and what might work for one diabetic might not work for another one.

 

[Micca]

Try to remain calm. There's not much you're going to do to change your condition between now & Tuesday. It's good that you're thinking about making some changes, but you'll feel better after talking to the doc & getting some helpful diet info. Good luck with everything

 

[tvguy]

It's a struggle. I've been struggling with borderline diabetes for several years. For me, weight is a contributing factor.
Lean meat, and lots of dark green veggies are basically what has helped. My Doctor seems to think broccoli is a miracle food.
Nuts are an absolute no no for me just because they are so full of calories.
No fruit except apples, which have enough fiber to offset the sugar in them. Makes me sad with a tree full of oranges which are like the worst fruit if you are watching blood sugar.
And medicines you take can be a factor. My cholesterol medicine was going more to lower my good cholesterol than my bad and it was raising my blood sugar, so Doctor took me off that.

 

[Bilberry]

I've been reading about the work of Dr. Walter Kempner of Duke University. He might have been the first physician to show type 2 diabetes can respond and be put into remission through diet. He created a rice diet, very popular in its day, that in the first stage had a person just eating rice, fruit, and sugar. The person also took a few supplements such as vitamin A, which I'm guessing was cod liver oil. To the surprise of many on the rice diet, blood sugar levels dropped, great weight loss was sometimes seen, and diabetes complications frequently went away. You can read more about Dr. Kempner, and see a few pictures of patients before and after, in this article by Denise Minger.

http://rawfoodsos.com/2015/10/06/in-defense-of-low-fat-a-call-for-some-evolution-of-thought-part-1/

I was curious why the vitamin A was given. I think I might have found a possible reason recently. I found a few articles with mention that diabetics have difficulty converting plant beta carotene into vitamin A. Most people can make the conversion apparently, but for diabetics it looks to be an issue. Of late I've seen eating foods high in vitamin A such as liver, eggs, etc.

On the more conventional side, I thought this a nice article by Dr. Davis, on how he recommends reversing type 2 diabetes.

To reverse diabetes, follow the No Change Rule

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2015/10/to-reverse-diabetes-follow-the-no-change-rule/


And, Dr. Kendrick had a nice article on the Accord diabetes study, on how diabetes medications are not preventing complications from the condition. That's of course is a main goal a patient wants, but often over looked, to avoid diabetes complications.

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2015/08/04/turning-diabetes-upside-down/

excerpt:

"....How well does this work? Some of you will have heard of the ACCORD study, others will not. In this study researchers, tried to force blood sugar levels down as far as possible using intensive treatment. They found the following:

‘Until last week, researchers, doctors and every medical professional has believed for decades that if people with diabetes lowered their blood sugars to normal levels, they could not only prevent the complications from diabetes, but also reduce the risk of dying from heart disease. But the Accord Study, (for Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes), a major NIH study of more than 10,000 older and middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes has found that lowering blood sugar actually increased their risk of death.2’

There is one other way of lowering blood glucose, by using insulin ‘sensitising’ drugs. In diabetes most doctors look at metformin as the wonder drug. This drug improves ‘insulin sensitivity’ i.e. it helps to reduce insulin resistance. It is the absolute mainstay of type 2 diabetes treatment. Once again, however, it is targeted at purely the insulin/glucose model:

‘Metformin has been the mainstay of treatment for type 2 diabetes since 1998 when the UK Prospective Diabetes Study showed reduced mortality with metformin use compared with diet alone. Recently a French meta-analysis of 13 random controlled trials questioned the central role of metformin in the care of patients with diabetes. In this meta-analysis, in which 9560 patients were given metformin and 3550 were given conventional treatment or placebo, metformin did not significantly affect the primary outcomes of all cause mortality or cardiovascular mortality. The secondary outcomes—myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, leg amputation, and microvascular complications—were also unaffected by treatment with metformin.’3

Today we have a virtually unquestioned model of diabetes that is very simple, and easy to understand. It should be simple to understand as it works like this. If the blood sugar goes up, the body produces insulin to lower it. If the blood sugar goes down, the body produces less insulin and the sugar level goes up.

This has meant that, if you find someone had high blood sugar levels, you basically hit them with insulin. I call insulin the ‘glucose hammer’ and, as a wise man once said. ‘If the only tool you have is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail’.

Reducing glucagon…. anybody?"

 

[North of Mouse]

Weight loss (if you need it), healthy diet, and exercise will usually keep diabetes away. And, if that doesn't totally do it, it will usually keep you from having to take insulin.

I lost weight (30lbs.) exercise 3-5 times a week 30-45min. and 'try' to eat healthy - still love my snacks LOL - Am now a healthy weight, and my blood sugar is fine. Good luck!

 

[aristocatz]

I've been reading about the work of Dr. Walter Kempner of Duke University. He might have been the first physician to show type 2 diabetes can respond and be put into remission through diet. He created a rice diet, very popular in its day, that in the first stage had a person just eating rice, fruit, and sugar. The person also took a few supplements such as vitamin A, which I'm guessing was cod liver oil. To the surprise of many on the rice diet, blood sugar levels dropped, great weight loss was sometimes seen, and diabetes complications frequently went away. You can read more about Dr. Kempner, and see a few pictures of patients before and after, in this article by Denise Minger.

http://rawfoodsos.com/2015/10/06/in-defense-of-low-fat-a-call-for-some-evolution-of-thought-part-1/

I was curious why the vitamin A was given. I think I might have found a possible reason recently. I found a few articles with mention that diabetics have difficulty converting plant beta carotene into vitamin A. Most people can make the conversion apparently, but for diabetics it looks to be an issue. Of late I've seen eating foods high in vitamin A such as liver, eggs, etc.

On the more conventional side, I thought this a nice article by Dr. Davis, on how he recommends reversing type 2 diabetes.

To reverse diabetes, follow the No Change Rule

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2015/10/to-reverse-diabetes-follow-the-no-change-rule/


And, Dr. Kendrick had a nice article on the Accord diabetes study, on how diabetes medications are not preventing complications from the condition. That's of course is a main goal a patient wants, but often over looked, to avoid diabetes complications.

http://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2015/08/04/turning-diabetes-upside-down/

excerpt:

"....How well does this work? Some of you will have heard of the ACCORD study, others will not. In this study researchers, tried to force blood sugar levels down as far as possible using intensive treatment. They found the following:

‘Until last week, researchers, doctors and every medical professional has believed for decades that if people with diabetes lowered their blood sugars to normal levels, they could not only prevent the complications from diabetes, but also reduce the risk of dying from heart disease. But the Accord Study, (for Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes), a major NIH study of more than 10,000 older and middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes has found that lowering blood sugar actually increased their risk of death.2’

There is one other way of lowering blood glucose, by using insulin ‘sensitising’ drugs. In diabetes most doctors look at metformin as the wonder drug. This drug improves ‘insulin sensitivity’ i.e. it helps to reduce insulin resistance. It is the absolute mainstay of type 2 diabetes treatment. Once again, however, it is targeted at purely the insulin/glucose model:

‘Metformin has been the mainstay of treatment for type 2 diabetes since 1998 when the UK Prospective Diabetes Study showed reduced mortality with metformin use compared with diet alone. Recently a French meta-analysis of 13 random controlled trials questioned the central role of metformin in the care of patients with diabetes. In this meta-analysis, in which 9560 patients were given metformin and 3550 were given conventional treatment or placebo, metformin did not significantly affect the primary outcomes of all cause mortality or cardiovascular mortality. The secondary outcomes—myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, leg amputation, and microvascular complications—were also unaffected by treatment with metformin.’3

Today we have a virtually unquestioned model of diabetes that is very simple, and easy to understand. It should be simple to understand as it works like this. If the blood sugar goes up, the body produces insulin to lower it. If the blood sugar goes down, the body produces less insulin and the sugar level goes up.

This has meant that, if you find someone had high blood sugar levels, you basically hit them with insulin. I call insulin the ‘glucose hammer’ and, as a wise man once said. ‘If the only tool you have is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail’.

Reducing glucagon…. anybody?"

I'm curious about that "No Chance" Rule, but I was a bit confused by the article, in terms of how to do it. Are they basically just saying avoid anything high glycemic & then your blood sugar levels will never fluctuate?

 

[low-key]

I really dislike most veggies (especially carrots and celery)

the best thing is carrots and celery

 

[roseaster]

Go to the website of your local hospital. Almost all decent sized hospitals and hospital systems offer free diabetes education classes.

It is mostly going to be about limiting your carbs, exercising, and losing weight if need be.

Check out the American Diabetes Association's website. They offer a lot of good infor.

http://www.diabetes.org/

 

[dja14]

My son is Type 1 which is different but some things are the same. The good news is sometimes with type 2 a good diet and weight loss can reverse things.

The best thing we ever did was education classes, with a nurse educator and dietitian. Very helpful. Very, very. worth the time for sure

No sugar in drinks. No pop and no sweet tea. This is the only false sugar we use, when my son has a diet pop. That was the first thing our dietitian said, absolutely no sugared drinks.

Exercise. At least a little every day really helps.

I would recommend staying away from labeled 'sugar-free' foods. If it says sugarfree on the package and it usually is not (cookies, ice cream) they either fill it full of fat and salt and/or use artificial sugar. The fat and salt are self explanatory but a lot of people react the same to the artificial sugar. A small amount of a regular item is better (in my opinion) We have had several people tell us this as well.

I agree you are going to have to learn to like vegetables. I tell my son that too. I know it is easier said than done, but people are right when they say try to cook them differently. It makes a big difference. There are a lot of things on the internet that list serving size and carb counts. We also use the Calorie King book (a lot).

Healthy snacks here are popcorn (air popped mostly), nuts, sunflower seeds, cheese sticks, fruit. A favorite snack here is strawberries and chocolate. Kids take a funsize hersheys (7grams carbs I think) and melt it in the microwave and then dip whole strawberries in (6 medium or 3 large-4g, 1 cup is 12g)

The final tip we use a lot is to watch your serving size. A serving is a lot smaller than you probably think it is. The is a big difference between a serving size of banana and most bananas you can buy for instance. Most of the times my son has a problem he has eaten something somewhat healthy but the serving size was counted wrong.

The good news is you can handle it with some planning. Good Luck.

 

[bsblady01]

stay away from anything with carbs they are bad for you. All fast food is out. There are some great websites for this that will give you and list of things you can and can not eat.

 

[manning]

Relax, it is something you can live with if you keep it under control

This will help you
http://diabetes.about.com/od/carboh...12bed7b7-e6ab-4052-bbaa-01c790b26de3-0-ab_msb

Pay attention of food labels. They list carbs per serving.

Also take note of the fiber per serving

You subtract the fiber from the carb

IE If you see 25g carbs, 5g fiber the net carb will 20g. 25-5=20.
If you see 25g carbs and 0g fiber the net will 25g. 25-0=25

You're going to like veggies.

 

[galaxygirl76]

Weight loss (if you need it), healthy diet, and exercise will usually keep diabetes away. And, if that doesn't totally do it, it will usually keep you from having to take insulin.

I lost weight (30lbs.) exercise 3-5 times a week 30-45min. and 'try' to eat healthy - still love my snacks LOL - Am now a healthy weight, and my blood sugar is fine. Good luck!

You sound like me, I lost almost 60 pounds by exercising 5 days a week and try to eat clean, I've been doing a lot of from scratch cooking(I really like the skinnytaste blog). I haven't cut anything out of my diet, everything in moderation works best for me. If I were to cut things out of my diet, I only end up wanting it to the point where binging would happen.

My numbers went from being pre-diabetic to healthy in about 6 months.

 

[roseaster]

stay away from anything with carbs they are bad for you. All fast food is out. There are some great websites for this that will give you and list of things you can and can not eat.

Absolutely not true. It is about carb CONTROL, not elimination, and learning "good" carbs from "bad," and making all of them a balanced part of your diet.

All "fast food" is not out, either. In any fast food establishment you can find a lower carb option, you just have to be educated and know your nutrition facts and learn how to plan and substitute and work things into your diet.

OP, please, look into diabetic education and nutrition classes at your local hospital. You are going to get a lot of false information asking random people on the internet.

 

[Bilberry]

I'm curious about that "No Chance" Rule, but I was a bit confused by the article, in terms of how to do it. Are they basically just saying avoid anything high glycemic & then your blood sugar levels will never fluctuate?

Yes, the article is mentioning to create a diet that helps one avoid moving test glucose levels after eating, either up or down.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Nuts are an absolute no no for me just because they are so full of calories.

A handful of nuts daily is good for us, they have good cholesterol. We just have to remember the serving size is a handful. Trader Joe's has large bags of individual bags of nuts, or just buy dry roasted and stick a handful in a bag to bring to work as a quick snack. (They make those small "snack-sized" baggies that are perfect for that.) Almonds are great, or peanuts. Cashews aren't as great.

OP is pre-diabetic, not diabetic just yet. She can still turn it around via education and effort.

OP, exercise is your friend, as it burns sugar in your body. A ten minute walk from your house and a ten minute walk back daily would be a good beginning. You can increase over time. Or go to a local track. Make it a routine. It will help you feel and look better and keep you motivated.

You also need to learn about serving sizes - in our society we have more than doubled our portions in the past several decades. I once saw a great illustrations of a dinner from 1950 and one from now side by side. I wish I saved it. Three ounces of meat and a third of a cup of rice is what it's supposed to be, not sixteen ounces of meat and two cups of rice. You can use a smaller plate to fill it up if a big plate seems empty. A glass of water before a meal helps you feel fuller. And actually, regularly drinking water throughout the day is a good thing to keep the body running efficiently.

Please make an appointment with a registered dietician. You will learn so much, and you will be prescribed a diet tailored to you, your likes, and your specific situation. Often they will focus on a carb controlled diet, i.e. you can have this many at breakfast, dinner and lunch, with one snack daily. Ideally. None of this means you can't have carbs or can't have anything, really. You just need to learn to make better choices. Refined carbs aren't good for you; for any of us. Complex carbs are better. Think fresh and colorful. Learn to simply prepare foods yourself with spices you enjoy and not a lot of sweet sauces. Lots of things you can do.