Diabetes and my health

[Glenng]

Healthy foods for diabetes

[SheffieldJane]

Is it type 2 Diabetes caused by Prednisalone? If not you will be better served on a forum that specialises in Diabetes rather than on a PMR/GCA forum where it only comes up occasionally.

[Glenng in reply to SheffieldJane]

I am not sure what you mean I am. Type 2

[SheffieldJane in reply to Glenng]

I just meant do you have PMR and this is a side effect?

Because there might be more advice to be had on a Diabetes forum if that is your primary condition. Your name seems familiar though. Sorry, early morning.

[Insight329]

HI, Glenng,

We’re not sure if you have PMR or GCA, but if you don’t, you’ve landed in forum that discusses these diseases. That’s why the question was asked if you had developed Type 2 diabetes from Prednisone, the drug we take for them. Your confusion on the question leads me/us to think you may not have either of these diseases and accidentally landed here.

You will find some diet discussion here, and although it would benefit you, it would not be specific to diabetes.

Here is a link to an article that may start you off. Google diet for diabetes and there is a lot of information online. Also, your doc may advise you to see a dietician for some diabetes education

everydayhealth.com/hs/manag...

I can offer some encouragement. I was diagnosed with Type 2 in February. With diet change to low carb/no sugar and increased exercising (walking), my A1C improved enough that I am no longer considered diabetic as of last week.

Best wishes. Use Google - there’s a huge amount of information out there for you.

[HeronNS]

Thought I'd posted this earlier, but apparently not. Try this search:

healthunlocked.com/search/t...

[BonnyQuine]

I have GCA - started on Prednisolone 40mg about a year ago, now down to 9mg.

Within a few days of starting Pred, I had steroid-induced diabetes. It was quite severe at first, but is more manageable now - probably because of the reducing Pred dose.

I found it quite tricky at first, but got the hang of it after a while. Am on tablets - avoiding insulin because of the ramifications of that, and because I expect the diabetes to improve as the Pred dose reduces. Started on three meds including Metformin, which was quite good for control. But had to stop the Metformin because of side effects, and am now on Repaglinide, Alogliptin and Dapagliflozin, and managing ok.

When the diabetes was bad at the beginning, and my blood sugars were sky-high, I discovered that it was essential to adopt a minimum-carbohydrate diet. Carbs include sugar, so, NO (or very little) sugar, potatoes (esp chips), rice, pasta, bread, cereal, cookies, biscuits, cakes . . . et al. It seems impossible at first, but you do get used to it, And once you're used to it, it's mostly fine. (You might have to avoid temptation!) Remember to avoid sugary drinks too.

You need to eat lots of protein and veg, and some fruit but not too much. At first it seems almost impossibly hard, but once you get used to it, you wonder how all these podgy people can bear to to go on stuffing stodge to the extent that most people do. Eating out becomes tricky. But once I get rid of the GCA, I've a feeling I might be healthier than I was before. Something to hope for, anyway.

I have banana (for potassium) and blueberries with bio-live plain Greek yoghurt for breakfast most days. You can eat cheese freely, and also butter and cream if you want. (Fats are ok - they're not carbs. Olive oil is good.) I eat loads of avocados, as they're v rich nutritionally and do not sent my blood sugar up at all. Maybe one a day, sometimes more. After that, as big a variety of veg as possible - instead of stir-fry rice, try having a big mix of veg, w plenty of garlic and chilli and added fish, chicken or the like. Be careful of sauces - many of them are full of sugar. Get into the habit of checking labels. Then have plenty of fish, meat, eggs, peas, beans, lentils . . . Maybe stick to non-processed meat? A good steak, roast beef, pork chops, lamb curry, chicken, turkey = all ok . . . mmm. Cauliflower cheese is useful, and I eat 'lightly dusted' cook-in-the oven fish quite often. Avoid loads of batter.

After that, it helps if you are able to get a reasonable amount of exercise. I have trouble with this at the moment (gone are the days!). But if you can just do some walking, that will help a lot.

Hope this helps.

[SheffieldJane]

That all sounds thought through and great. I hope Glenng read it and didn't feel chased away by me.