[WV Mom]

Hello! Newbie here. My thread title is a play on the title sasch12 used to introduce herself: prediabetic and scared out of my mind....hello.

Plus it's true. I'm a 56-year-old type 2 diabetic who probably isn't scared enough. I was diagnosed about 2 years ago when a routine blood test showed a fasting bg of ~140, and a follow-up A1c was 7.2. For several months I ate right, lost weight, and watched my A1c fall to 6.7, then 6.6, and then ... and then ... I quit paying attention to that or much of anything else except my parents, who were critically ill and in my care.

Daddy died of Parkinsons -- at home with my mother, husband, our children, and me -- in September 2010. My mother -- a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic, who also lived with us -- died of March 2011. I spent the next few months dealing with my emotions and the stacks of paperwork that come with being the executrix of two estates simultaneously, but not paying enough attention to my physical well-being. It wasn't till about 2 weeks ago that I went to the nurse at work for a random bg and found it at 296 that I got back in the saddle.

I'm now taking Janumet 50/500 twice a day, monitoring my bg religiously, and counting calories in hopes that losing lots o' pounds will bring my diabetes under control without meds. I'll keep using them if I have to, but I'd like to not have to. Right now, I'm 5'10" and weigh 280 lbs, down a teensy bit from 285 two weeks ago. Go me! My fasting bg is also falling: 168, 178, 177, 170, 160, 147, 151, 145, 160, 135, 120, 113, 114. Go me, again! There's still much progress to be made, but at least I've found the path and convinced myself to take the journey.

Now I'm off to poke around the forum, hoping, among other things, to find a thread for people who are trying to lose weight. There's got to be one, right? I've also got to learn more about bg testing, especially the 2 hour reading which is still mysterious to me. I'm looking forward to being here for a long time to come! Now off to go get edjumacated.

 

[moon]

Welcome to the forum - you came to a great place to get educated. It's where I landed and I've learned plenty.

A great place to start (apart from here) is our favorite diabetes primer site: Blood Sugar 101

You'll find fewer threads about losing weight than you will about how to eat to manage your diabetes, but the good news is that weight reduction tends to fall right in line. You'll wonder how so many people lose weight eating a high-fat diet (healthy fats, mind) - but it's the rule rather than the exception, when coupled with low-carb eating of course.

I've lost almost 50 lbs this year without trying. It came about by restricting my carbs and replacing those calories with healthy fats. We're often told to eat 45-60 carbs/meal, but that's too many for most diabetics who don't want to load up on medication to cover them.

Weight reduction is important, but honestly, you'll get the most immediate bang for the buck by cutting out carbs: flour, potatoes, cereals, grains, fruits (except for a few berries), bread, starchy veggies like corn and peas, rice, milk - and eating plenty of eggs, cheese, butter, cream, avocado, non-starchy veggies, meat (I hadn't eaten sausage and bacon in =years=!), nuts, olives. This runs counter to the advice CDEs (Certified Diabetes Educators) give, but if you stick around and read, and read at Bloodsugar101, you'll come to see why most here think the carbs they tell us to eat can keep us sick.

We have a great recipe section that gives an idea of how we cook delicious foods that replace those we've given up, baked goods using almond flour ... oh heck, wander over there, you'll see My current addiction is cream cheese muffins - but my high-fat addictions are a constantly-moving target.

As for taking it seriously - damage is being done in your body at >140 and some believe >120. We diabetics can lose our feet, our vision, our lives - or we can make changes that will help us be healthier, and feel better, than we have in years. You'll hear some people (like me) being grateful for the wake-up call that was diabetes, and that's why.

Glad you found us.

 

[WV Mom]

Thanks for the reply! I know a lot about diabetes in general because my father was diagnosed as diabetic in the mid 1970s, and it affected our entire family. No more eating Thanksgiving dinner at 3:00 p.m. for us! Daddy strictly controlled what he ate and when, and it worked for him. We even wondered at times if his diagnosis was even correct. (It was, but we wondered.)

What I don't know yet is how diabetes affects me. And I'm not up to speed on the newer drugs and the latest research, though it helps that DD#1 is a doctor, DD#2 is a pharmacist, and DD#3 is a physical therapist. DD#2 even has some sort of diabetes certificate for pharmacists. Expert advice just a phone call away!

As for me, my degrees are in food science, so once upon a time I was quite knowledgeable about foods and nutrition. But again, that was years ago, so I'm not up to speed on the newest findings. And I still can't wrap my mind around eating as much fat -- even "healthy" fat -- as a low-carb diet allows.

So much to learn!

 

[Gizmo]

If you do some reading at bloodsugar101 as moon suggests, it will be quite an eye-opening experience for you. And the info. on the site is backed up with sound studies and research.

Most of us have found that if we follow our dietician's advice, our bg is uncontrollable, that's how many of us ended up here. You have come to the right place. Welcome to the forum.

 

[moon]

What I don't know yet is how diabetes affects me.

You're right - that really is the issue. Jenny on Bloodsugar101 had an interesting interview (does anyone remember/have the link for it?) where she talked about diabetes not being a disease but a symptom with many causes (beyond the obvious T1/T2) - and knew someone who actually spiked on fat.

The CDE who told me to eat 185 carbs/day, later followed up by phone on the other side of the country. She was amazed at my numbers, asked how I had done it, and admitted a doc in town scolds her for telling diabetics to eat too many carbs, but that's as far as she could go. She did a fair bit of verbal winking and nodding though. It's tough to go further when if as a CDE you go against ADA guidelines you lose your certification. If I sound a bit bitter, it's cuz I am. Had I not been able to research myself, and see what real people who were getting the best results were doing, I'd be on insulin (nothing wrong with that, just not ready for it yet if ever) or a sulfonylurea, struggling to get my A1C under 7 or 8, let alone in the 5's.

Good that you know a lot about diabetes - that surely gives you a running head start, one I wish I had had.

 

[ThoseBackPages]

welcome to the machine!

 

[John.in.France]

Welcome to the forum. You're right not to be "scared" but you do need to actively manage this condition to stay healthy. Moon has covered the ground beautifully - use Blood Sugar 101 as your primer. Again, as Moon said, you will find that by cutting back on carbohydrates, the weight will drop off without too much sweat - I lost 30lbs in as many weeks and my diet was never below 1,800 calories per day.

Good luck, John

 

[Shanny]

Hello & welcome, WV Mom. It's good that you & your family have good educations (our own daughter got her PhD at Morgantown ), but the consensus here is that sometimes the institutions of higher learning continue to teach old disproved lessons when new answers have been proven to work better. It takes a long time for institutionalized information to crumble and accept better solutions. Case in point, the ADA which actually admits that low-carb/high-fat works, but they refuse to recommend it because it's of no good to their deep-pocketed donors (the drug companies) who benefit from diabetics staying sick and needing meds., while obviously the government that backs ADA guidelines is not just about to admit IT was wrong!

So if you'd like to get off and stay off meds, my advice to you is to overcome your intellectual aversion to fats, and try a month of low-carb/high-fat ("high fat" means just using full fat products in a normal way - real butter on your veggies, real cream in your coffee, full fat mayonnaise for your tuna salad, etc. It doesn't mean we're drinking olive oil for breakfast, for gosh sake!). Give it an honest try, record your results, and tell us what you think at the end of 30 days. Fair enough? You'll be astonished at how fast your blood sugar drops, and how efficiently your weight falls away.

Making low blood sugar the priority causes many other issues to dissolve.

 

[Patdart]

You are in good company! But, I promise high fat/low carb DOES work and even my cardiologist approved of me doing Atkins. Everything came down and I'm still eating that way and loving it.

Welcome again. You've been given some really good advice,

Good luck,

 

[moon]

You'll be astonished at how fast your blood sugar drops, and how efficiently your weight falls away.

... and lipids improve.

This was an issue for me. My docs would have preferred me on statins but I demured. Restricting carbs and eating healthy fats (including saturated) and plenty of eggs, saw my ratios improve dramatically. My trig/hdl went from 5.5 to 2.2 in 6 months. I still have a way to go, but am getting there ....

 

[Shanny]

OMG yes! Thanks, Moon . . . I forgot to include how dramatically my husband's lipids improved as he's been eating my LCHF regimen. His HDL rose from 37 to 46, and overall cholesterol dropped from 224 to 195. His trigs dropped from 379 to 138! This is when our doc really accepted this way-of-eating, and encouraged him to continue eating whatever I fix!

 

[WV Mom]

Jenny on Bloodsugar101 had an interesting interview (does anyone remember/have the link for it?) where she talked about diabetes not being a disease but a symptom with many causes (beyond the obvious T1/T2) - and knew someone who actually spiked on fat.

Are you talking about this?

The CDE who told me to eat 185 carbs/day, later followed up by phone on the other side of the country. . . .Had I not been able to research myself, and see what real people who were getting the best results were doing, I'd be on insulin (nothing wrong with that, just not ready for it yet if ever) or a sulfonylurea, struggling to get my A1C under 7 or 8, let alone in the 5's.

So how many carbs a day do you eat? I'm still digging into this site (and others) and I find lots of information about carbs/meal, but a lot less about carbs/day or carbs/snack. Carbs/day would probably work be a good starting point for me, because I usually eat five times a day: breakfast, snack, snack, dinner, snack.

(our own daughter got her PhD at Morgantown )

Let's gooooooo, Mountaineers!!! We're originally from California, but have lived in Morgantown for 25 years. Kids 1, 2, and 3, went to WVU as undergrads and had the time of their lives. I love this little city!

It takes a long time for institutionalized information to crumble and accept better solutions. Case in point, the ADA which actually admits that low-carb/high-fat works, but they refuse to recommend it because it's of no good to their deep-pocketed donors (the drug companies) who benefit from diabetics staying sick and needing meds., while obviously the government that backs ADA guidelines is not just about to admit IT was wrong!

Well, I'm not touching THAT with a 10-foot pole, especially since I work for the government.

 

[moon]

Are you talking about this?

No - it was an interview w/ her. Found it: 486: A Crash Course In Blood Sugar 101 With Jenny Ruhl | The Livin La Vida Low-Carb Show

So how many carbs a day do you eat?

I've stopped counting but best guess is 30-50. Half the time I have a carb-less breakfast (eggs, cheese, meat), the other half a blueberry muffin (made w/ almond flour and flax) with lots of butter, or leftovers from dinner. Because I'm more a dinner than lunch person, if I have a heavier carb meal it's in the evening - others find they're less carb-sensitive for their mid-day meal.