Eating Healthy & Prediabetes

Average Joe

Average Joe

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Pre-qualifier, starting off, this will be a rant. Holy cow does it cost money to eat healthy 🤬. Trying to change up my diet due to some health issues. Went to the grocery store today and oh my God! Now I see why I’ve been eating this way for years 🙄.

Ok rant over. My insurance covers two pre screenings a year and I try to take advantage of them being a cancer survivor and at high risk for colon cancer.

Anyway, last visit a few days ago, doc threw out the “prediabetes” word. And showed me where my A1C has been climbing over the last couple years. Basically told that if I continue with my current lifestyle in a few more years I’d be type 2 diabetic.

My doc’s wife is also a doc and dietitian. She’s likes the Mediterranean diet to reduce A1C. So I’ve researched the Mediterranean diet briefly and went to the store to stock up on some healthy foods.

Anyone here doing the Mediterranean diet? If so any suggestions and tips?
 
No comment specific to the Mediterranean diet. While more expensive, higher quality foods will typically be more nutritionally dense. It may be helpful to think in terms of nutritional value per dollar. Folks think nothing of spending $5 on a coke and a candy bar, or $10 at the drive through window, but usually don't like spending the same money on whole foods. I've been there myself.

I have enjoyed reading up on the topic of increasing insulin sensitivity. Good news is high A1C is reversible, you got this.
 
I’m in a similar boat with the type 2, which can be controlled with diet. The other issue I have is that I get kidney stone very easy..

there’s the background, now on to the dieting.

I urge you to be very careful in switching to any diet in a drastic manner and would urge you to take a bit of time in the transition. Why?? In my personal experience it caused other issues, when I made drastic transitions. So for example, I switched to the Mediterranean diet.. increased fish consumption and followed the diet strictly. Well, come to find out, if causes gout for me. Dropped that diet instantly.. not worth it. So, I switched to lean protein and mostly green veg.. rocked it and saw good results. Well…. Didn’t realize the amount of oxalate in all those healthy veggies would cause a huge increase in the ol kidney stone production (calcium oxalate monohydrate) . I was passing stones like a rock quarry! What I found, is that for me personally, was making sure I control portions and eat well balanced, by eating healthily cooked meats and vegetables and by consuming a variety of protein and vegetables (hamburger helper and red hotdog!!! lol, I kid.. but those are great for a cheat day!). Drink lots of water to flush and exercise.
 
One more tip… use your blood meter and chart your food. It will take no time for you to figure out what foods spike your sugar levels. Once discovered, minimize those items and only eat them on occasion and in smaller quantities, like a treat of sorts.
 
Pop N Shots said:
I’m in a similar boat with the type 2, which can be controlled with diet. The other issue I have is that I get kidney stone very easy..

there’s the background, now on to the dieting.

I urge you to be very careful in switching to any diet in a drastic manner and would urge you to take a bit of time in the transition. Why?? In my personal experience it caused other issues, when I made drastic transitions. So for example, I switched to the Mediterranean diet.. increased fish consumption and followed the diet strictly. Well, come to find out, if causes gout for me. Dropped that diet instantly.. not worth it. So, I switched to lean protein and mostly green veg.. rocked it and saw good results. Well…. Didn’t realize the amount of oxalate in all those healthy veggies would cause a huge increase in the ol kidney stone production (calcium oxalate monohydrate) . I was passing stones like a rock quarry! What I found, is that for me personally, was making sure I control portions and eat well balanced, by eating healthily cooked meats and vegetables and by consuming a variety of protein and vegetables (hamburger helper and red hotdog!!! lol, I kid.. but those are great for a cheat day!). Drink lots of water to flush and exercise.
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Transitioning slowly was part of the Doc’s advice too. My issue is that I’m all nothing kinda person. Which sucks because it also means I’m less likely to stick with it.
Pop N Shots said:
One more tip… use your blood meter and chart your food. It will take no time for you to figure out what foods spike your sugar levels. Once discovered, minimize those items and only eat them on occasion and in smaller quantities, like a treat of sorts.
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Great advice!
 
Whoknows said:
Can’t comment on the Mediterranean diet but I started the carnivore diet a couple weeks ago and I’m seeing great results. My energy is way up and steady throughout the day, blood pressure is down, losing weight, and I just feel a lot better overall.
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I haven’t heard of the carnivore diet. Sounds more my speed. I’ll have to look into it. Thanks
 
Just be careful of salt intake on the carnivore/low carb deals. While I lost a lot of weight at the time, I ended up with a bowel blockage that was incredibly painful.
 
Whoknows said:
Can’t comment on the Mediterranean diet but I started the carnivore diet a couple weeks ago and I’m seeing great results. My energy is way up and steady throughout the day, blood pressure is down, losing weight, and I just feel a lot better overall.
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I’ve been looking into starting the carnivore diet myself. Didn’t know it was a thing til a week or so ago but have been doing some research and watching a ton of YouTube videos on it. Looks real promising. Lots of well documented people fixing a lot of different issues on it.

I love veggies and fruit but it never occurred to me that plants are trying to defend themselves by evolving certain toxins to discourage their consumption.

Thankfully I’m fairly healthy and don’t have any diabetic issues to worry about but I’m about the heaviest I’ve ever been and want to get back to my “fighting” weight. Carnivore seems like something I could stick with.
 
Five years ago I dropped from 249 to 225lbs in three months, numbers look great, I'm now 200. I stopped the drive up windows, too easy to overeat.
Gave up sodas and only drink water or unsweetened tea. I'm an ice cream addict, can down a container in a day or two. I don't do that anymore. No meds. My wife is T2 shortly after our daughters were born, she has to watch what she eats, her Dr. says she is one of her best patients for her control of her T2. Both her folks have T2.
 
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alpharius said:
Don't underestimate exercise! Even just walking everyday can improve your health. Weight-lifting can also help pre diabetes symptoms
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Exactly. Heavy lifting helps maintain muscle while eating at a deficit.
Heavy lifting also eliminated radiation from his cancer treatment plan. He was also the first patient that the cancer unit ever saw gain muscle during chemo.
 
I cannot comment directly on the mediterranean diet but I have tried many diets, some successfully some not so.
In short I found a temporary “diet” or “fad” diet ultimately failed. What I finally realized is a diet is not a temporary thing but a day to day thing like breathing and you have to change your habits to succeed.
What worked for me is changing one habit at a time, once one habit became ingrained I added another. Some examples are drinking water instead of diet soda, Stop eating fast food, stop eating pop tarts and so on. Eventually I found that I didn’t even like diet soda anymore and pop tarts are garbage.
Anyway good luck!
 
Average Joe said:
Transitioning slowly was part of the Doc’s advice too. My issue is that I’m all nothing kinda person. Which sucks because it also means I’m less likely to stick with it.
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I’ve dropped ~50# since being given the “pre diabetes” scare. At first I did “diets” and “plans” but would never stick to it. So, I went with my own plan. I call it “Don’t Be Stupid”.

When I eat, nothing is off limits. Even sugary stuff. Just don’t be stupid. If I am questionable at
Lunch, make sure dinner is good. Have 1 cookie, not 6, etc.
 
I'm certainly far from an expert, but I put on 60 pounds in a little over a year and started to exhibit pre-diabetes symptoms. I'm down most of that so far and @keepcalmandcarryon said most of what I was going to say, but I do think, if you can handle the crash diet for a quick 10-20 pounds then transition to something more manageable it can work. Most people just yo-yo with the crash diets, my brother and I have managed to keep it off with stark diet/exercise transitions that got toned back after the initial weight flush.
The Mediterranean diet is certainly good and works, but like most people have said, it will likely be hard to do long term and could turn into the yo-yo deal.
A quick edit: toning back the alcohol is also huge for weight loss and said pre-d symptoms/signs
 
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Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Ive done it all and found KETO to be the best diet to loose weight and drop A1C but it's not sustainable or at least it was not for me and my wife. By the way, the new A1C guidelines from ADA and what are sure to be if not already adopted by the insurance companies is an A1C of 7.0 or lower. Doctors are way over prescribing semaglutide for weight loss and diabetes control.
 
Chuckman said:
It's a shame that fresh fruit and veggies and healthy food are so expensive but crap food is cheap (er). No wonder that people struggle with eating well, especially in this economy.
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Exactly why I plan to get my home garden restarted this year. For those of you that have never had a garden or even a couple of garden beds / planters…. You would be surprised at the amount of produce it can yield.
 
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Lot's of good info here. I was in the same boat about 8 years ago. I cut sugar and reduced my carb intake. Cardio plays a part as well. So I started walking (briskly) a couple miles a day. I've been able to keep it in check. Lost 65 lbs as well.
 
I did not read the entire thread.

But here is an easy and inexpensive path:

Costco spring mix or 50/50 salad.
Costco rotisserie chicken
Cucumber, radish, carrots & croutons
Cous cous.

Oatmeal, not the flavor kind.
Banana, apple etc to add to it.
Honey if you want.

All three meals are covered for over a week for not much $. Healthy, low carb and smart.
 
A lot of great information has been posted. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one. I started today to change my diet slowly, or at least that is the goal. I joined the YMCA so that I could exercise more. Exercise has been challenging. I used to exercise frequently. Then I went back to school full-time to finish my degree while working full-time. It left little time for anything else. I've added close to 40 lbs in the last few years, which adds to the joint and arthritis issues I already had. I have no delusions about being in the physical condition of my youth. I just want to drop some weight to help the joints and drop the A1C back to normal levels.
 
I skipped over all of the replies because I feel like they're most likely the same tripe I've read in other threads on this topic.

If you'll PM a mailing address, I'll send you a book that changed my life.
 
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Average Joe said:
A lot of great information has been posted. I had a feeling I wasn't the only one. I started today to change my diet slowly, or at least that is the goal. I joined the YMCA so that I could exercise more. Exercise has been challenging. I used to exercise frequently. Then I went back to school full-time to finish my degree while working full-time. It left little time for anything else. I've added close to 40 lbs in the last few years, which adds to the joint and arthritis issues I already had. I have no delusions about being in the physical condition of my youth. I just want to drop some weight to help the joints and drop the A1C back to normal levels.
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Was diagnosed as diabetic in January my sugar was off the charts.
Daily medication.
Clamped down on my diet.
Supper consist of one lean meat generally chicken and two large portions of veggies.
I've lost 17 pounds since January .
No bread
No potatoes
No rice...
No beans
I've had to relearn what to eat
I go back the doctor in two months she's expecting another 20 pounds off by the time I return
A heart attack wasn't enough motivation it seems but the combination on a ticker that's off and a disease that can screw up my arteries worse than they already are seems to be the ticket.
I miss unhealthy snacking because now my snacks are a bowl of warm broccoli with lo cal ranch drizzled over it mmm
 
@S4f, you said "No beans", but a lot of beans are low glycemic, have a lot of fiber and are good for diabetics. I've been diabetic for about 15 years, late onset type 1, and I eat a lot of dried beans. If I eat pinto beans as a meal, it will increase my glucose just enough that I need to take a few units of insulin. I have found that lima beans hardly have any affect on my glucose and I will have them as a meal and not take any insulin.

Try checking your glucose before eating beans and then check it again 2 hrs later and see how the glucose does. I wear a continuous glucose monitor and I am able to see how different foods affect my glucose. It has helped me get my A1C down enough that my diabetes is considered controlled now. (Except today, I had a cortisone shot this morning and tonight it has sent my glucose up to around 300.)
 
eggs, butter, home made cream cheese, fatty fish, organic greens, avocado-Guacamole 👍, a bit of Tequila, organic 100% cacao...
I do my diabetic bread as well. lost 45 lbs. lower my sugar from 250 to 100...
I've posted my recipes ... that one below, is my everyday meal
 
x39r said:
Farmers markets are really good for buying produce at dirt cheap prices. The regional market in Charlotte is very good.
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Wish I had one close to my location. I’m 45+ minutes away. Once it warms and the local plant and harvest. They have some small markets in my area. I do stop in and pick up some produce from time to time.
 
Going on 4 weeks now not having eaten any pasta, bread, pizza, etc. Only bread-ish carb I've had are these 5g carb tortillas from the grocery store that I actually like better than regular ones, because they're more pliable, and jasmine rice.

Even though I've not seen much of a change on the scale, I will say that in general my gut health has been better, and I feel like I have more energy for the day-to-day stuff. I have discovered that despite my hatred of most vegetables, damn near anything can taste good with a little balsamic vinegar/dijon mustard reduction, or a sauce with a little heavy cream in it. The latter isn't the lightest on calories, but two servings of vegetables is still going to be a lot lighter in calories than 5 slices of pizza or a pair of burgers.

Since I do weight train, and its tough to get in enough protein while keeping overall intake down, I have found that the "Chocolate Royale" Atkins shakes are pretty darn good, and Gatorade now makes a Gatorade Zero Protein that has 10g of Protein and only 60 calories.

My grocery bill is f'ing astronomical though. It really does emphasize why obesity and dietary diseases are so rampant in the US. When two burgers from the drive through costs less than one bag of veggies, the average American can't afford to eat healthy.
 
Supermatch said:
Going on 4 weeks now not having eaten any pasta, bread, pizza, etc. Only bread-ish carb I've had are these 5g carb tortillas from the grocery store that I actually like better than regular ones, because they're more pliable, and jasmine rice.

Even though I've not seen much of a change on the scale, I will say that in general my gut health has been better, and I feel like I have more energy for the day-to-day stuff. I have discovered that despite my hatred of most vegetables, damn near anything can taste good with a little balsamic vinegar/dijon mustard reduction, or a sauce with a little heavy cream in it. The latter isn't the lightest on calories, but two servings of vegetables is still going to be a lot lighter in calories than 5 slices of pizza or a pair of burgers.

Since I do weight train, and its tough to get in enough protein while keeping overall intake down, I have found that the "Chocolate Royale" Atkins shakes are pretty darn good, and Gatorade now makes a Gatorade Zero Protein that has 10g of Protein and only 60 calories.

My grocery bill is f'ing astronomical though. It really does emphasize why obesity and dietary diseases are so rampant in the US. When two burgers from the drive through costs less than one bag of veggies, the average American can't afford to eat healthy.
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Depends on what vegetables you buy. The yummier ones are usually more expensive. Cabbage is very cheap and can be shredded, boiled, and flavored nicely with salt and spices. Its actually pretty damn good if you do it right. Cucumbers taste awful by themselves but they can be dipped in various things. Same with carrots. The full carrots are cheaper than precut and the skin doesn't really hurt anything so you can just eat them whole. Carrots are very good boiled and flavored as well.
 
alpharius said:
Depends on what vegetables you buy. The yummier ones are usually more expensive. Cabbage is very cheap and can be shredded, boiled, and flavored nicely with salt and spices. Its actually pretty damn good if you do it right. Cucumbers taste awful by themselves but they can be dipped in various things. Same with carrots. The full carrots are cheaper than precut and the skin doesn't really hurt anything so you can just eat them whole. Carrots are very good boiled and flavored as well.
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I'm lucky if I can get bell peppers on sale at 3/$5, and they're usually more than that! Even brussel sprouts depending where you shop can be $5/lbs.
 
alpharius said:
Depends on what vegetables you buy. The yummier ones are usually more expensive. Cabbage is very cheap and can be shredded, boiled, and flavored nicely with salt and spices. Its actually pretty damn good if you do it right. Cucumbers taste awful by themselves but they can be dipped in various things. Same with carrots. The full carrots are cheaper than precut and the skin doesn't really hurt anything so you can just eat them whole. Carrots are very good boiled and flavored as well.
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Mind sharing some of your cabbage recipes?
 
Supermatch said:
I'm lucky if I can get bell peppers on sale at 3/$5, and they're usually more than that! Even brussel sprouts depending where you shop can be $5/lbs.
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Almost time to hit the local farmers market and vegetable stands prices will be a little better
 
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