Please discuss Pre-diabetes here

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My dad was type 2 diabetic in his later years, and so was his dad.

I am now 64 and for the last 3 years my A1c has been 5.7 and recently I had one blood glucose of 100, and my sister who is 4 years younger than I had an A1c of 6.0.

Last year my doctor put me on metformin extended release 500 mg

This year my blood glucose tested 100 and after that my doctor put me on the metformin extended release 500 mg twice a day.

I found out that you want to spread out taking the metformin and take it with a meal or it will seriously upset your stomach. I take one with breakfast, and one with dinner, and my stomach is no longer upset from it.

I have been very busy the last couple of years, but now have some free time and decided to read up on pre-diabetes. I did some internet searches for books on pre-diabetes and there are several books available. I went to the library and oredered four of them.

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The best one I read was "The pre-diabetess diat plan how to reverse pre-diabetes and prevent diabetes through healthy eating and exercise" by: Hillary Wright

The front half of this book (before it gets into actual suggestions for meals) explained that when a person is pre-diabetic their body such as their muscles and origins are not using insulin as well as they have in the past to process sugars in the blood and that results in a higher blood sugar in the blood and the pancreas senses this higher level of blood sugar and puts out even more insulin. And that if this goes on for a long time the pancreas gets so over worked by putting out more insulin than it should have too and this damages the pancreas to the point that it can no longer put out enough insulin, and may damage it to the point that it puts out no insulin. When this happens the person becomes a full diabetic.

The book goes on to explain that by limiting the carbohydrates in each meal and snack to not exceed the recommended levels in the book, and also regularly exercise, and reduce their weight that a person may improve the bodies use of insulin, and prevent the pancreas from being damaged to the point that they become a full diabetic.

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Over the last 5 months I have lost 39 Lbs, and now my BMI is in the middle of the good range on the improved BMI scale. Do a google search for "BMI healthy weight forum" and enter your weight and height to see where you are.

I have also been walking most days of the week.

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I have been trying to figure out what foods are low glycemic and recently talked my doctor into writing a prescription for a FreeStyle Libre 14 day blood glucose monitor. I had to pay for it myself, my health insurance does not cover it, it cost me $108.01 for the reader and one 14 day sensor, the sensor is around $30 of that. It is a great unit that takes your blood glucose every minute and displays a graph so you can see how long it takes your blood glucose to peak, and to return to normal after a meal or snack. One thing I have learned is that bread, even whole grain bread that is supposed to be good, causes big spikes in blood glucose. I have only been using this monitor for three days and have learned a lot. I will test more foods for their blood spike response in the next 11 days before the sensor wears out.

So far, good things I have found to eat are blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, Greek yogurt, eggs, apples (I look for small and medium size apples), nuts (Walnuts, Cashews, Almonds, and there are several more). Walmart sells nuts at a low price.

Good foods are foods that release their carbohydrates slowly. Ami's black bean chili is a little pricey but I have a scale that measures down to a gram and eat half a can as the main course of a supper so a can last two days.

A scale that measures down to the gram is a great help in limiting the portions sizes and amount of carbohydrates of many foods. I have a biggest weight loss loser scale that measures down to one gram and it is great for weighing food. I use it for many of the things I eat. I modified the scale by adding a radio-shack 4 AA cell battery holder in place of the two small expensive button cell batteries that cost about $7.00 every couple of months, and the 4 AA cells are now a couple of years old and still going strong. I will replace them soon just to prevent damage to there holder from them getting old and leaking.

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One other good book I found is "The diabetes weight-loss cookbook" by: Katie & Giancarlo Caldesi

While this book is for diabetics, it show the much stricter lower carbohydrates menu a diabetic should follow, and gives recipes for diabetics to follow though the recipes are complex.

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I do not know If I can slow down or prevent pre-diabetes from becoming diabetes, but I am going to give it a good try.

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If you are pre-diabetic and decide to read up on it and try to prevent it from becoming diabetes, please post things you learned and can share with others on this thread.

One thing that we can share is good low glycemic foods and recipes.
 
Please share food options. Diagnosis and drug recommendations can't be answered by anonymous strangers on an oil forum.
 
I am Type 2 and take 500mg Metformin ER once a day with supper. I question taking the ER twice a day. That is not the normal dosing. It's usually once a day. I would clarify that with your doctor.


Your sugars are actually pretty good so I question taking the Metformin too.

Bread is not good. For sandwiches look for low carb wraps or tortillas. I buy ones that have 6 grams of net carbs each. Berries are good but in moderation. The nuts are good too.

Each person will be different so any advice has to be thought out.

As an example this was my food today.

3 cups coffee
1 packet Quaker low sugar oatmeal. 21 carbs.
One patty frozen sausage.

1 wrap as mentioned above with sliced turkey, Swiss cheese and avocado mayo.

1 wrap same as lunch.
1 Roma tomato
½ cup cottage cheese.

The oatmeal is my highest carb intake. Notice the portion sizes.

I also walked for one hour this morning (2 miles)

I use a regular blood glucose monitor with sticks. I test 3-4 times a week since I am stable unless I sense something is off.

Interesting thread.
 
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Read, "The Salt Fix" and "Wheat Belly" it will change the way you think about food and it will change what you eat. Eat fish, meat, eggs, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Avoid wheat and processed sugar (like corn syrup), as both are contributing to obesity, diabetes, and a myriad of other health problems.
 
I went from a BG of 180 mg/dL to between 95 and 115 and an A1C of 7.3 down to 5.5 and lost 50# by simply following this set of rules.

No more than 2250 calories / day. No more than 60g of carbs/meal and no more than 45g of carbs in snacks.

I've adjusted that down from 2250 calories and 225g of carbs down to 2000/200 after going from over 270# down to between 215 and 220.

I was working out, but you cannot out work your fork. I seldom eat back exercise calories. If I do, it's usually when I've done something to burn thousands of calories like a 60 mile bike ride.

I eat pretty much anything I want, but not nearly the quantities I did before.

Any calorie dense foods are weighed on the food scale before I eat them.

But I don't weigh spinach for salads and what not.

I have my food scale set to measure grams as that is most accurate.
 
If you are 6.0 or lower before you take meds look at your weight and your exercise. Start reading labels and cut out sugar and carbs. If you are over weight get your weight down and you'll see your A1C continue to drop.
 
Be glad you're taking the extended release.. the regular Metformin can be brutal. It messed me up to the point I finally told my endocrinologist I couldn't take it anymore. The stomach cramps, gas and diarrhea was horrendous.

OP.. I've never heard of someone taking Metformin when their a1c and blood sugars are as low as yours. When mine gets out of wack it's like over 11 (a1c) and blood sugars in the 400's. I would think you should be able to control yours with diet alone but as mentioned this is a serious topic/conversation best had with your Dr. Hope you can get it under control..
 
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I also set my food scale to grams.

I write out the details of my meals and snacks for the day in advance, and include the gw (grams weight), gs (grams sugar carbohydrates), and the cal (calories) of each item.

If I add an item such as a snack, or substitute an item, I look up the gs, cal, and the gw per portion.
 
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Be glad you're taking the extended release.. the regular Metformin can be brutal. It messed me up to the point I finally told my endocrinologist I couldn't take it anymore. The stomach cramps, gas and diarrhea was horrendous.

OP.. I've never heard of someone taking Metformin when there a1c and blood sugars are as low as yours. When mine gets out of wack it's like over 11 (a1c) and blood sugars in the 400's. I would think you should be able to control yours with diet alone but as mentioned this is a serious topic/conversation best had with your Dr. Hope you can get it under control..


Maybe with my recent weight loss, exercising, and better diet my A1c will test low enough to get off the metformin.
 
There are millions of people in this country and others that are pre-diabetetic. If there really is something to what these books are saying then maybe if people wake up and control their diets, get to and stay at a healthy weight, and exercise regularly, many of them can avoid becoming diabetic and the associated health problems that come along with it.
 
My glucose is 120 fasting and my A1C is at the upper range of normal. My doctor is not worried.

It's good you're on top of your pre-diabetes but doesn't make sense that you're on meds with normal blood readings.

I'm back to the gym tomorrow after a 3 month layoff.
 
Cottage cheese, cheese in general, and whole milk are good slow release glycemic foods, though I still limit portions. I usually have two slices of peach packed in light syrup in a jar with the cottage cheese.
 
Originally Posted by Leo99
My glucose is 120 fasting and my A1C is at the upper range of normal. My doctor is not worried.

It's good you're on top of your pre-diabetes but doesn't make sense that you're on meds with normal blood readings.

I'm back to the gym tomorrow after a 3 month layoff.


An A1c of 5.7 to 6.4 is pre-diabetic, so my A1c of 5.7 is at the bottom of the pre-diabetic level. Also a fasting blood glucose of 100 to 125 is pre-diabetic. So my fasting blood glucose of 100 is at the bottom of the pre-diabetic range.

Your fasting blood glucose of 120 is well into the pre-diabetic range,

however there is one thing you should be aware of, when you wake up after a good night sleep your liver releases sugars into your blood that causes a morning spike of your blood sugar level to give you energy for starting your day before you eat anything. This morning spike will raise your blood glucose level above 100 and if you had your blood glucose tested within a couple of hours from waking up, that spike may make your fasting blood glucose level look like you are pre-diabetic, or it could even be high enough to look diabetic.

I see this morning spike on my continuous blood glucose monitor that I am now wearing. When I check my level after taking my morning shower it is well above 100 even though I had not eaten anything. I looked up information about this morning spike and found out that the liver produces it and it is normal.
 
Originally Posted by JimPghPA
Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter
Be glad you're taking the extended release.. the regular Metformin can be brutal. It messed me up to the point I finally told my endocrinologist I couldn't take it anymore. The stomach cramps, gas and diarrhea was horrendous.

OP.. I've never heard of someone taking Metformin when there a1c and blood sugars are as low as yours. When mine gets out of wack it's like over 11 (a1c) and blood sugars in the 400's. I would think you should be able to control yours with diet alone but as mentioned this is a serious topic/conversation best had with your Dr. Hope you can get it under control..


Maybe with my recent weight loss, exercising, and better diet my A1c will test low enough to get off the metformin.


What kind of exercising are you doing? I still take classes and while it's hard to keep up with 20-30 year old these days, I still manage to bang out a ton of pushups, situps, burpees, etc in those hour long classes, I'm usually drenched afterwards, there's a few others in their 50-60s still taking those classes too. Many studies support high intensity training as the way to go, but walking is still better than nothing.

Also you're being a little vague on the BMI chart, there's underweight, health, overweight and obese is the standard categories, not really a good one unless you're referring to being at a healthy weight range.
 
Originally Posted by JimPghPA
Originally Posted by Leo99
My glucose is 120 fasting and my A1C is at the upper range of normal. My doctor is not worried.

It's good you're on top of your pre-diabetes but doesn't make sense that you're on meds with normal blood readings.

I'm back to the gym tomorrow after a 3 month layoff.


An A1c of 5.7 to 6.4 is pre-diabetic, so my A1c of 5.7 is at the bottom of the pre-diabetic level. Also a fasting blood glucose of 100 to 125 is pre-diabetic. So my fasting blood glucose of 100 is at the bottom of the pre-diabetic range.

Your fasting blood glucose of 120 is well into the pre-diabetic range,

however there is one thing you should be aware of, when you wake up after a good night sleep your liver releases sugars into your blood that causes a morning spike of your blood sugar level to give you energy for starting your day before you eat anything. This morning spike will raise your blood glucose level above 100 and if you had your blood glucose tested within a couple of hours from waking up, that spike may make your fasting blood glucose level look like you are pre-diabetic, or it could even be high enough to look diabetic.

I see this morning spike on my continuous blood glucose monitor that I am now wearing. When I check my level after taking my morning shower it is well above 100 even though I had not eaten anything. I looked up information about this morning spike and found out that the liver produces it and it is normal.


I have had type 2 for about 20 years now and I have noticed the morning spike you mentioned.
I also concur with a few others that I can't believe your on meds with your excellent numbers, simple diet and exercise should work for your very low numbers. And a continuous glucose monitor for someone with a 5.7 AIC? I wish my numbers were anywhere close to that and I have made it thus far with no complications.
 
You want to look at the glycemic index of food. Basically how much sugar and how fast it gets into your system. A slice of white bread might be have a high glycemic index, coat it with peanut butter and it will be lower as its now more difficult to digest and takes longer.

One easy thing to think about is to give up all fruit juice. Orange is fine, but not orange juice. Same for an apple. You want to slow down how long it takes for your body to digest it.
 
Loose weight and limit carbohydrates . Neither which I have been very successful at .

I always consider a 100 blood sugar " normal " . What was yours before you started taking meds ?
 
A few years back I was in really bad shape. I worked out and looked good but wellness blood work showed a pre-diabetic and a high probability of stroke and heart attack events.

Went plant based and in 6 months the metrics were down to normal.

My health was a case of a polished turd - good looking outside with rotten inside.
 
FWIW, do everything you can do to minimize the diabetes. My father managed as best he could, but not as best as he could have done. He had it for 40 years and made it to his 80th birthday, but the last several years were tough on him.
 
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