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20620809 tn?1504362969

How can I prevent PREdiabetes from turning into Type 2 Diabetes?

As numbers start to indicate heading toward diabetes, in the caution zone, what things should I be doing to head that off to make sure I don't end up with type 2 diabetes?
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649848 tn?1534633700
I reversed my pre-diabetes by eating low glycemic foods (those that don’t spike glucose levels).   I centered my diet on veggies, a small amount of fruit, along with nuts, seeds, etc.  I also included healthy fats, such as olive and coconuts oils.   I even managed to lose 26 lbs in the process.  

Unfortunately, I didn’t stick with the diet and started gaining back the weight when they messed up my thyroid hormone levels.  

Take a look at the Mediterranean Diet.  It’s the most recommended way of eating.  I need to get back on it as my numbers are creeping up, as well, plus I’ve gained back all the weight I lost, along with an extra 10 lbs… Unfortunately, the Mediterranean Diet includes a lot fish and my husband can’t stand the smell of fish so I can’t cook it at home, which means I can only eat it when we go out, which isn’t all that often.  
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Thanks for the post! I guess I need to pull a list together of low glycemic foods.  How long did the transformation take you? I'm not opposed to fish but lots of food prep is not my style.  I wonder if the Mediterranean diet could be followed by a lazy person? What do you think? Did you find exercise needed to be part of this or does that not have any impact on glucose levels?
Here's a list of low glycemic foods...  https://universityhealthnews.com/daily/nutrition/glycemic-index-chart/    The food is listed, along with the serving size in parenthesis, then the glycemic value.  The lower the glycemic value, the better.   There are a lot of other lists available on the internet - just do a search for "low glycemic foods".

Most vegetables "qualify" as low glycemic, except things like white potatoes, etc.  If you're eating "white" foods, like potatoes, rice, macaroni, bread, sugar, flour - most likely it will have a higher glycemic value.  Whole grain rice, bread, sweet potatoes have much lower glycemic values.  

Basically, there are 2 types of carbohydrates - simple carbohydrates, which are those that convert to sugar quickly increasing glucose levels, which in turn increases insulin levels.  Insulin is often considered the "fat storage" hormone because whatever glucose (sugar) isn't used right away, is shuttled into fat cells by insulin.   These include the high glycemic foods mentioned above - white potatoes, sugar, flour, macaroni, etc.

The other type of carbohydrates is known as complex carbohydrates - these are foods that take longer to break down in our body so don't turn to sugar right away.  These include most vegetables, fish, seeds, nuts, whole grains, etc.

You don't have to "love" fish to follow the Mediterranean diet.  It does allow lean meat, chicken, etc in limited quantities.   Fish just happens to be one of those "high fat" foods that are good for you, so eating more of that and less red meat is advantageous.  

There's not a lot of food prep involved - it's a matter of the food choices. If you like vegetables, you pretty much have it made.  Beans are a good source of protein, along with fish, eggs, yogurt, etc.  You also have to be careful in making sure you get adequate Vitamin B-12, which comes from animal sources, like meat, dairy, eggs.  If you don't eat enough food with high B-12 levels, it might be necessary to supplement.  

I do think the Mediterranean diet can be followed by most people (even lazy ones, like me...lol).  Most people say diet is 80% of weight loss, but I did find that exercise needed to be incorporated into my efforts because I had quite a bit of fat to burn off.  Walking is a super good way to use excess calories, but doing a variety of exercises will help build strong muscles.  Muscles burn fat so... A strong core helps maintain balance and allows movement in various directions.  Most important, exercise helps burn off excess glucose so it won't be stored as fat.   If you have medical issues, be sure to get your doctor's okay prior to implementing an exercise routine.
Thank you again for taking the time to post. This is excellent and I'll print out to use.  Appreciate time and effort you've given me.
You're very welcome; happy to help - now I just need to take my own advice.  :-)
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