My A1c is now 5.7 . . . in the very beginning stages of Pre-diabetic.

[T108]

. . . Has anyone on here had any success with lowering thier HA1c by eating only 50 grams of carbs per day? Do I need to go even lower than that?

[SheffieldJane]

I lowered mine quite easily by cutting out sugar, bread and baked goods and was congratulated by the GP. It seems that once you are told that you are pre-diabetic you are always treated as such. I am monitored regularly and receive a lot of information by email.

[DogAgilityObsessed]

is that result from a blood test done by the GP? I do mine with a home finger prick test and it does vary a little each day. It’s stayed below pre diabetic with a fairly low carb diet (not always below 50g though) for over three years until the last month when I’ve had a couple of higher readings which I put down to the increased pred for GCA. I think the blood test looks at the past three months (don’t ask me how) but my point is if you are measuring yourself it could change next test.

[Merryfield]

wow, that is great a1c!!

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Not sure the comments from this community will be particularly relevant to you - it’s for patients with PMR and/or GCA - and are therefore on Prednisolone [a corticosteroid] - which have a side effect of skewing blood sugars…

You’d probably be better addressing this subject on a weight related forum.

[CamGina]

I managed to get mine down to 41 whilst on prednisolone. 50g of carbs is what I was told per meal, not per day. I went to the NHS diabetes prevention programme - I recommend it for both practical and moral support.

[pammy_hyland]

Oh yes it really works... I've been on Keto for over a year now and yes and I feel the best I've done for many years ..I have my meals delivered to my door weekly ...Xx

[Koalajane]

perhaps try a diabetes forum.

I am on prednisolone which spikes your sugars and after a type 2 diagnosis I got mine into remission by cutting my carbs right down probably to about 20g

[Pixix]

Yes. I was prediabetic, I went onto the Keto diet & reversed it in two months. Hasn’t happened again…after 3 years. But I only followed the keto diet for 2 months.

[calibriel]

I don’t have any numbers to report, but I know I was flagged as pre-diabetic in autumn 2022. For that and other reasons I put myself on a low-er carb diet I devised myself in January 2023 - no figures involved, just almost excluding some things (cake and biscuits) and reducing portions of others such as cereals, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta - and in autumn 2023 I was no longer identified as pre-diabetic. Now, one year later, I have lost nearly 2 stone and I feel a lot better. I think I may have been carrying some fluid, which helped with the loss. During that time I have reduced from 3mg pred to 1.5. My moon face disappeared before that. Good luck

[PMRpro Ambassador]

What level of carbs you need varies a lot between people. 50g may be low enough for you, only trying will tell. Some get away just with taking all processed foods and added sugar out of their diet and limiting fruit. Which isn't too horrendous.

The best approach is to keep a food diary and use google to work out your carbs - and usually people are very surprised at how much they are eating so cutting isn't that difficult.

[Oh-my]

I don’t measure my carbs. But I have cut back on them. I was prediabetic as a result of the PMR inflammation but no longer am.

I have kept to a few simple rules. I eat my veg first - it acts like a mesh and slows down the carbohydrates entering your digestive system. Secondly, I eat my carbs with olive oil, or a protein ( eg thin slice of bread with peanut butter on). Fats and proteins also help slow digestion. No snacks between meals unless it’s seeds or nuts. And I go for a walk straight after my meal as this helps to reduce the sugar spike.

There are other things you can do like precooking and chilling your potatoes, rice or pasta for the day. This increases the resistance starch which is less digestible. Potatoes shouldn’t be reheated but pasta can without it reverting back.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Oh-my]

"Potatoes shouldn’t be reheated"

Why not? It is perfectly safe to cool them quickly and store them in the fridge for a few days before reheating to 165C. The resistant starch remains high even after reheating.

[Oh-my in reply to PMRpro]

I may be wrong but got my research from this -

"In contrast to rice, reheating boiled potatoes reduces RS content almost to that observed in freshly cooked potatoes (Raatz et al. 2016). "

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Oh-my]

How interesting. Obviously the source I read hadn't seen that!!! Depends on the country as to whether it is significant I suppose but obviously potato salad is a better alternative than Bratkartoffeln if you care about RS and live in a Germanic region! I'm more likely to treat myself to potato salad at home than go to the effort of making Bratkartoffeln but I don't eat either much.

[Mahnahvu]

I was diagnosed pre-diabetic when I first started with PMR. The recommendation was to simply lose some weight, but I wanted to know what was going on with my glucose levels when combined with prednisone, so I bought a glucose meter and measured before and after meals, at 1 hour and 2 hour periods. What a revelation! Who knew that bread would do that!!

And when I went on high dose steroids for GCA, my blood glucose level was already too high before taking a single bite of food. Such was the effect of the prednisone on my body. So I requested a prescription for Metformin from my doctor, who questioned me, saying, "but you're not diabetic." And I wanted to keep it that way so I took the Metformin for several months. My digestive system didn't like it, so I dropped the medication once I tapered to lower doses of prednisone.