Hi everyone. I've been trying so hard to find some sensible information on how to prevent diabetes 2 and everything I come across seems to either contradict previous info that I've found or just simply doesn't make sense to me. Can anyone help???? I am now pre-diabetic and want desperately to understand what I can do to prevent it from going into full blown diabetes. Does anyone know of a great book with all the information that would be useful to me? I know that diet is a main factor but I'm confused about that too. I don't know how to figure out how much carbs I'm getting, etc. I believe that you should consume 60% of your calories in the way of carbs but how in the world do you figure that out? It's all so confusing and I'm about to just throw my hands up in the air. If anyone knows of a book or a site that makes sense, PLEASE let me know. Thanks so much................ I really appreciate any advice or suggestions.
Not sure of a book or site on pre-diabetes, but wanted to say I have been there. After the birth of my first child, I continued eating for 2. I became pre-diabetic. Scared the poop out of me, since I am predisposed (thanks to PCOS). I began my own "diet" of lower carbs. Eat one roll, not 2, or eat lower carb bread (easy to find), eating lower GI foods, such as whole grain carbs, etc, etc. I lost about 1.5-2 lbs a week, and totaled almost 20 pounds lost. Got me out of the prediabetic condition!
I could never figure out the carb % that I should have. RDA says 300g of carbs, I went to 100g. That way I could work in a bowl of ice cream without overdoing it. It takes some time to adjust and learn what to eat and when.
But (((HUGS))) to you!
Thank you so much Pooker. I am so happy that you got yourself back on track. It is a scary thing, isn't it? I don't know if I can get my level down but I really want to do everything that I can to try. I will certainly check out the low carb bread. I had switched to Whitewheat because it has a lot of fiber and I was also trying to increase that. I don't know how that bread compares to the low carb as far as the amount of carbs. I can see that this is going to involve a lot of label reading. OK, thanks again for your help. It is much appreciated.
I think a lot of the info is contradictory because there are still a lot of studies being done on the subject, so they're always learning. My mom is in research, and she's involved in a study about pre-diabetes in middle school kids. You'd be amazed at how many are pre-diabetic, and had no idea.
Anyway, the doctors have told my DH that he's pre-diabetic as well. We try to be careful, because hid dad died from diabetic complications.
We don't count carbs, or anything fancy. We bought a couple of diabetic cookbooks that we use sometimes, but mostly we just make sure to not eat too many sweets, and not so much bread. I know there's a lot more to it than that, but he' been good with what we've been doing.
I'll ask my mom if she has any good info for you. 
Thanks so much kbochick. OMG, so many children with pre-diabetes. That is just crazy. We must be doing something really wrong for this to be happening. I hope that your hubby can get his under control so that it doesn't become full blown. I've cut way back on sweets too. I know that they have now discovered that you can still eat some things with sugar whereas before it was pretty much taboo to eat anything at all. Oh, so much to to learn. Thanks again for the reply. I really appreciate it.
hello guys I had diabetes for 5 months back in 2002 and was put on a "diet" of 3 meals not to be more than 60 carbs and two 30 carb snacks a day and to keep sugar carbs as low as possible and to try to cut out as much refined sugar as was humanly possible so I started reading labels tried the atkins cereal-don't- give yourself a month to get used to a different way of eating and the sugar cravings will subside to a tolerable level and doing that I lost 50 pounds in four months and have kept it off since then I was taken off monitoring and medication at that time and still test in the low range of normal in blood work good luck it is not as hard as people will have you believe it is.
pre diabetes is a condition where your fasting blood sugar is higher than it should be, but not high enough to be diabetes yet. its sort of a "warning zone" where some lifestyle changes can make a HUGE difference in the outcome.
diet is so important, but also exercise. you don't have to go run for an hour to make a difference either, just moderate exercise for 30 minutes a day can really help. im a fitness professional and have worked with people who have had pre diabetes. getting in some exercise every day can really go a long way. have you considered visiting a registered dietician? i think it would be worth it. the ADA website has a search option to find one in your area. they can set up a diet plan specifically for you to follow, and you can choose one with a specialty. Good luck.
Thanks so much everyone. I did check into a class at the local hospital that goes into details about diet, exercise, etc. They also provide you with a dietician that will provide you with your own personal food program. Unfortunately, because I am not a full blown diabetic, my insurance will not cover me to attend the class. I was told that I could attend but the cost would be right at $1000.00. I will check into just seeing a dietician and see how much that would be. I am going to go to the ADA site after I send this post. Thanks beccakelly for that suggestion.
willman - when you said that you ate 3 meals a day not to exceed 60 carbs, do you mean a total of 60 carbs for all three meals or 60 carbs at each meal? I have such little knowledge of carbs and how much the average person should even have a day. Thanks so much for your help.
I have such little knowledge of carbs and how much the average person should even have a day. Thanks so much for your help.
just for some baseline knowledge, the average person should get between 50-60% of their daily calories from carbohydrates. so if the average person is on a 2000 calorie diet, then about 1000-1200 calories each day should come from carbs. each gram of carbs has 4 calories, so the average person should get between 250-300 grams of carbohydrates every day. now how many calories you eat can vary widely. for weight loss, a good number to follow is 1500 calories per day, so then you'd need 187-225 grams of carbs per day. (and fyi, the other 50-40% of calories should be 20-30% fat, mostly unsaturated, and 10-15% protein). hopefully that helps with some of the confusion.
edited to add: carbohydrates doesn't mean sugar and potatoes though. it means colorful veggies, whole grains and fruits.
beccakelly - I can't thank you enough for your help. I could not for the life of me understand how to figure out how to calculate how many carbs I should have a day. I thought that it was 60% of my total calories but I had no idea how to figure out how many grams that would be. Now I know. I looked everywhere for the information. Alright, now I've got a starting place, thanks to you. I appreciate your help more than you know!!!
glad to help, this kind of stuff is what i do for living. i have a BS in exercise science, so if you want any help with exercise info, let me know and i can give you more information on what to do.
Counting carbs is relatively easy. You sutract fiber grams from the total carb count and that's your count. Diabetics can not eat that large a percentage of carbs in their diet. That estimate is for normal people who can process carbs. My mother(age 77) is type-2 diabetic and was injecting insulin twice per day for over 5 years. She no longer has to take any meds, she is controlling her sugar levels by diet and exercise alone. MY best friend is now starting oral meds but they only work for a few years before they don't work anymore. My friend is now paying attention to what she eats and has lowered her sugar levels enough that the doctor has lowered her insulin. Hopefully, she can further improve her eating habits and she will get off the meds all together. The best books to read about what is good and not good to eat is the Atkins Diet, but skip the testimonal stuff and just read about the food. The idea is to eat good carbs- mostly veggies and to snack on protein. Mom lives with me part of the year, so I lo-carbed my house. I removed sugar, rice, wheat flour, pasta, milk, raisins, pineapple, citrus juice, carrots, and other high glycemic foods from our regular diet. I replaced them with wheat gluten, soy, nut flours, potatoes, cream, wild rice, green veggies, splenda, etc. People who never read the Atkins diet info labeled it as the meat diet, it isn't it is well blanced if you do it correctly. Things are even better since they've intro'd lo-carb foods. We buy double fiber bread which is 5 carbs per slice, that wasn't available when Atkins wrote his book. There are also now recipes for lo-carb cakes, rolls, pancakes, waffles, etc that are actually good. My favorite cookbook author for this is George Stella.
What she found out was the ADA was way behind the times as were the dieticians - all who were still spouting erroneous data about portion control, which doesn't work. Make sure who ever you talk to is counting carbs.
That estimate is for normal people who can process carbs.
thats what i said... as a baseline of info for average people because she said she didn't even know what was normal.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%