Borderline diabetes diagnosis

[weee]

*sigh... So now I have been told that I have borderline diabetes after a glucose tolerance test.. I know that having coeliacs leaves me open to other auto immune disorders and that type 1 diabetes is such. But surely with type 1 you either are or you aren't, there's no borderline?? So it may be type 2 which is more related to age and being overweight (I'm 53 and a little overweight) ..

My GP says he will just monitor me and I have an appointment for June, when I will be asking him these questions of course.. But meanwhile I guess I need to make another dietary lifestyle change and watch my sugar intake..

Bit fed up tbh but I manage the gluten free diet not bad so no reason I can't do this..

[urbangirl]

Weee

I was told I was borderline diabetes earlier this year and was offered medication. I went on a low carb diet and reduced my cholesterol from 6.2 to 5.2 and glucose 6.4 to 5.5 (I think that is right it is on the post below anyway). I cut out lots of stuff from my diet and although I didn't lose as much weight as I wanted to I was so pleased to get these levels down to normal. I am now trying to lose the weight but this is hard work! healthunlocked.com/glutenfr...

[Penel]

Hi Weee

It's definitely worth looking at a low carb diet, although the NHS don't seem too keen on it (no good reason that I can see). My husband has avoided type 2 and has a cholesterol level of 4.5 on a low carb diet, happily eating bacon and eggs fried in lard.

This is one useful link.

authoritynutrition.com/12-b...

Have a look at Dr Briffa too.

drbriffa.com/2012/10/02/dia...

[weee]

Thanks guys, really interesting.. My blood sugar was 10.9 so pretty high and I was also hypertensive at 134/97 so I need to start doing something drastically. I generally eat porridge with honey for breakfast and snack on fruit and nuts.. I also cycle about 50 miles a week so thought I was doing everything right.. I am 2 stone overweight despite all of this so will definitely look at cutting down on carbs and sugars.. Maybe eggs fro breakfast, and drink water instead of juices and coffee etc..

[sallydogsmum]

Hi Weee

There's a lot in the press at the moment about sugar consumption. We've been slowly poisoned over the years apparently !! I can point you to a couple of interesting books which are available as a download: "the sweet poison quit plan" by David Gillespie, and "the sugar detox lose weight and feel great" by Brooke Alpert (there are others). They both have good and bad things about them, but overall they tell you about how to ditch not only sugar, but the fructose and other 'oses' that contribute to raised sugar/weight issues. They inspire you to detox, which is the hardest, but once that's done, you settle down into a diet not dissimilar to a coeliac one: low carb, lots of veggies and good proteins.

I saw this in today's DM: dailymail.co.uk/health/arti...

don't know if it helps at all..............

Thanks for your reply to my question the other day, you seem to have been through a lot. It never seems to end does it??

[weee in reply to sallydogsmum]

Thank you Sallydogsmum (great name I would never have said that I had a sweet tooth but I guess I do like sweet fruit juices and those yoghurts with the very sweet fruit layer etc. But I generally don't eat cakes and biscuits.. I'm going to start a diary as from Monday and see how things go..

[sallydogsmum in reply to weee]

You're right, the problem lies not with the obvious sugar we eat, but the hidden stuff in fruits, yoghurts, ready meals, juices, alcohol. Basically anything mass produced. It's also about starting the day with proteins rather then carbs, so you don't set the pattern of peaks and troughs of blood sugars. I found by stopping drinking fruit juices, especially the breakfast one, I no longer get hungry an hour or so later. It's amazing being able to go from breakfast to lunch with perhaps 6 almonds at 11am and nothing else!! Well...it's good for me!!!

I lost about 10 lbs by cutting out excess sugars but I still have another 10 to go.........boo ;-(

Mind you, a coeliac diet + no excess sugars + no nightshades + no alcohol you'd think I'd be thin. Sadly I'm not.

[urbangirl in reply to sallydogsmum]

I sympathise! But you are right about not getting hungry. I have a handful of Brazil nuts for breakfast and I am afraid lots of coffee! You get used to it don't you? I have loads of Ibs to go ...well done on your weight loss.

[urbangirl]

Weee as a matter of interest did your doctor take your blood pressure once or twice in the surgery? I ask because I have 'white coat' syndrome so in the past the nurse has done three readings for me as the first two were usually quite high and the third wasn't that good either. We have a blood pressure machine at home and usually my BP is about 55/105 (sometimes goes up to 70/120 if I get stressed about something) but when I go to the surgery it shoots up to 90/140. The last time the doctor took it he used my home reading. We know the machine is reliable as the doctor checked it in the surgery for my husband. Good luck with changing your diet. Keep us posted.

[weee in reply to urbangirl]

Hi Urbangirl.. Thank you for your reply.. It was just the one reading, I wouldn't have said I had white coat syndrome, I am a trained nurse and work with doctors a lot so they don't make me stressed and I didn't feel particularly anxious, I may look at home machines', are they expensive?

[urbangirl in reply to weee]

I think our last one was about £40-50. They seem to last quite a time as the one before we had for about 10 years. It has been interesting to monitor at home. I found that once I had a high BP reading it became a vicious circle and I just freaked myself out with stress about the BP result! It wasn't really being frightened of the docs just the result!

I do hope you can get your levels down. I found the website Penel posted very helpful, especially for fruit and vegetables. I started to eat a lot more celeriac instead of potatoes but I occasionally treated myself like if I went out to a friend's place for dinner. Unfortunately I had to cut down on the red wine! It is now automatic for me to stick on this diet with the occasional treat. Now, 4 months down the line, people are starting to tell me I look like I have lost loads of weight! That is always encouraging!

BTW I was told I had metabolic syndrome and the doctor told me diabetes goes with coeliac.