(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . My Pre-Diabetes or Diabetes Diagnosis and Diet Changes [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-22 This is a photo of my own blood sugar meter Unfortunately, T2 diabetes runs on both sides of my family so it’s in my genes. I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes several years ago. Since then, I’ve gone through periods where I ate healthy and got my A1C down to 5.3, 5.5, and 5.7 and periods where I didn’t and it was 6.1 or 6.3. My dad passed away in November 2021 and I haven’t been eating healthy since. I’ve been in a grief group at church and I’ve been started on an antidepressant, but I got off track. I’ve been eating out more. It has been more carbs and sweets and fewer fruits and vegetables. I visited my sister on February 3rd. She has also gotten off track due to stress eating. We decided to encourage each other and have since. I had my physical exam on Feb 15th, but 12 days of better eating habits wasn’t much help. My A1C was 6.7% and my fasting blood sugar was 108. My doctor said I’m “right on the cusp on having diabetes” and wants to recheck my A1C in May. I asked her if she thought I needed a prescription for Metformin or if I could try dietary changes first. She said at 6.7% she had no problem letting me try dietary changes first. She also wants my cholesterol a little lower. It was 208, up from 183. The HDL was 44, LDL 137, and TG 135. Heart disease doesn’t run in my family. Other than that, she said I was fine with Creatinine of 0.87. I have a blood sugar meter. I’ve been eating a lot healthier and I notice my morning blood sugar has ranged from 97 to 113. I’ve noticed my evening blood sugar is usually in the 90’s and I wondered how it could be higher in the morning when I didn’t eat overnight. I seem to have "the dawn effect" where my liver produces glucose early in the morning. I’ve also been taking my blood sugar two hours after meals. If I eat scrambled eggs with cheese, meatballs, and a banana my sugar was 107 after two hours. If I eat my own chef salad of romaine lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, chicken breast, and salad dressing my BS was 113 after two hours. If I eat a large baked potato with butter and meatballs on it, my sugar was 167 after two hours. The worst incident was when I ate a full breaded fish sandwich (two slices of bread), miracle whip (I now see there was high fructose corn syrup in it), and mixed vegetables. My blood sugar was 232 after two hours. That scared me. That’s how I was eating before except I would sometimes have a dessert too so no wonder my A1C was 6.7%. Also, blood sugar meters are not 100% accurate. The FDA requires that they be within 15% of your actual blood sugar 95% of time — link. If your meter says 100, there’s a 95% chance your blood sugar is between 85 and 115. I’ve set a goal to try and not eat meals where my blood sugar is over 140 after 2 hours. I don’t know if that’s being too restrictive or not. The CDC has 180 on their website. I don’t know what I should aim for? The 232 scared me, but I don’t know if it should have? I’ve also noticed that while fruits have sugar, they don’t seem to increase my blood sugar that much at least not after two hours. I’ve been reading about low carb diets. There are some people who are eating as few as 30 grams of carbs a day. That’s one banana or one pear. I couldn’t possibly do that, but it doesn’t seem I need to. I’m not a dietician or expert, but I’ve done some reading on why we have a diabetes epidemic. The increase in heart disease led to legitimate concerns about cholesterol but it also led to the low fat craze. One result is the food companies replaced fat with sugar so while a lot of foods were lower in fat they were higher in sugar and carbohydrates — link. I guess all foods are either carbohydrates, protein, or fat so if you less of one of those you have to eat more of something else. But is the low carb fad just the same thing? We will learn there were adverse health consequences to eating way too few carbohydrates or to eating too much protein? In most things, balance is important so right now I’m following a lower carb diet but not excessively so. The carbs I’m eating are mostly fruits and vegetables. Also, not all fats are bad. There are healthy fats that come from foods such as nuts and avocadoes. This diary is part of my own personal journey. I would like it to be a safe place for people to tell their own stories. Many people struggle with trying to eat healthier, especially if they are going through a rough period or they get really busy. In looking back at the periods where I ate healthy and got my A1C down, I’d say I was very focused. But it takes energy and focus to change your habits to what comes natural to what doesn’t. When people get distracted by events, they can lose focus and go back to old habits. How long does it take before the new habits become our new natural and we continue eating healthy regardless? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/22/2154351/-My-Pre-Diabetes-or-Diabetes-Diagnosis-and-Diet-Changes Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/