Prediabetes

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No_Mind
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Prediabetes

Post by No_Mind »

I have prediabetes (HbA1C of 6.2)

Any idea what I can do apart from diet and exercise (no meds of course at this stage)

Strangely enough there is not much information on internet. Does anyone have a link to a pdf or blog that can help?

If I take off my weight (I am porky and have a big waist) will it still proceed to diabetes in 5 - 10 years? Diabetes is a really ugly disease with far reaching consequences (blindness to stroke) and I am scare of it.

Even a year or two back my fasting sugar was 94mg/dl .. perfectly normal and I have same eating habits now as then

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Sam Vara
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by Sam Vara »

I have no practical advice as it is not my subject, but welcome back, and please accept my best wishes as you deal with this health issue. May you look after yourself and live at ease.
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seeker242
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by seeker242 »

No_Mind wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 5:17 pm
If I take off my weight (I am porky and have a big waist) will it still proceed to diabetes in 5 - 10 years?
Not necessarily. Losing weight is the only other thing besides good diet and exercise. Although, losing weight is implied within "exercise". As far as diet goes, a whole foods plant based diet has shown good results in preventing the onset of Type II as well as treating Type II. It depends on how far you want to go with diet, but diet is generally considered the most significant factor.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... 466941/#b8
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DNS
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by DNS »

Sam Vara wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 5:32 pm I have no practical advice as it is not my subject, but welcome back, and please accept my best wishes as you deal with this health issue. May you look after yourself and live at ease.
+1 :thumbsup:
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Dhammarakkhito
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by Dhammarakkhito »

you're going to get a lot of health advice and a lot of bad health advice too
here's mine
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/plant- ... -diabetes/
a whole-food plant based diet
whole foods are not refined grains, such as white bread, white rice, white pasta, not oils, not added salts and sugars
but i dont think it has to be organic, you can even do canned/frozen vegetables. fruit by itself is fine, maybe even beneficial https://nutritionfacts.org/video/if-fru ... out-fruit/
i've been an on-again off-again vegan for a few years and it's easy and it's cheap
counting your carbs and all misses the facts in my opinion. tho others have had success losing weight fast with a high-fat low-carb diet.
i'm not going to get into a knock-down drag-out fight over my presentation, i'm not a doctor nor do i have to be; op can take it or leave it

as for the buddhism, seeing the drawbacks in food and its repulsiveness is the best way to lose weight. the buddha used a simile of two parents in the desert killing their child to survive off of its flesh. they dont eat that flesh for beautification or for enjoyment but merely to survive. anecdotally, not snacking and - if not doing one meal - two substantial meals has been successful, which by some is also recommended for diabetes www.bbc.com/news/health-27422547
dont smoke, dont drink alcohol, and if you have a sudden drop in blood sugar but its not a mealtime i think you can use the five tonics allowed in the vinaya, oil, sugar/molasses, ghee, honey and fresh butter. i know i said avoid those but here they are for a purely medicinal purpose
there are also contemplations and ways of attending mentally that will make either your illness perfectly tolerable or you actually recover from it
"Ananda, if you go to the monk Girimananda and tell him ten perceptions, it's possible that when he hears the ten perceptions his disease may be allayed. Which ten? The perception of inconstancy, the perception of not-self, the perception of unattractiveness, the perception of drawbacks, the perception of abandoning, the perception of dispassion, the perception of cessation, the perception of distaste for every world, the perception of the undesirability of all fabrications, mindfulness of in-&-out breathing. [...]Then Ven. Ananda, having learned these ten perceptions in the Blessed One's presence, went to Ven. Girimananda and told them to him. As Ven. Girimananda heard these ten perceptions, his disease was allayed. And Ven. Girimananda recovered from his disease. That was how Ven. Girimananda's disease was abandoned.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
"When I dwell with my mind well-established in the four frames of reference, the pains that have arisen in the body do not invade or remain in the mind. Which four? There is the case where I remain focused on the body in & of itself — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. I remain focused on feelings in & of themselves... mind in & of itself... [mental objects] in & of themselves — ardent, alert, & mindful — putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world. When I dwell with my mind well-established in these four frames of reference, the pains that have arisen in the body do not invade or remain in the mind."
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html
the seven factors of enlightenment i think is one of them, there are several https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitak ... .than.html suttas called gilana
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No_Mind
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by No_Mind »

Sam Vara wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 5:32 pm I have no practical advice as it is not my subject, but welcome back, and please accept my best wishes as you deal with this health issue. May you look after yourself and live at ease.
DNS wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 7:26 pm
Sam Vara wrote: Wed May 09, 2018 5:32 pm I have no practical advice as it is not my subject, but welcome back, and please accept my best wishes as you deal with this health issue. May you look after yourself and live at ease.
+1 :thumbsup:
Thanks guys. Good to be back 8-)

@ seeker242 and Dhammarakkhito

For all practical purposes I am a vegetarian.

I am exploring the idea of whole-food plant based diet but there are practical problems of adapting such concept to Indian cuisine which is very unhealthy (lot of rice and potato and veggies cooked in oil). We are not used to eating salads (apart from those made with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes and onions .. sprinkled with bit of salt and juice of lemon).

To bypass this .. most diabetic patients here sort of starve themselves .. just have bits of fruit (like papaya and guava) and do massive degree of portion control (4 tea spoons of rice and 3 spoons of veggies .. harsh portion control of normal food)

The diet part is so difficult that for the moment I will be having chapati (Indian flat bread made from whole wheat), dal (lentil soup) and single egg omelette (protein is not bad for diabetes) till I figure out a better diet plan.

btw .. bottom of the picture second green veg from right .. flat and slightly crescent shaped .. what is it called in English? We call it shim in Bengali

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Re: Prediabetes

Post by Dhammanando »

No_Mind wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 4:10 am what is it called in English? We call it shim in Bengali
Fava beans in the USA. Broad beans everywhere else in the English-speaking world, where "fava beans" were unheard of until Silence of the Lambs:
"Don't try to test me. A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
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No_Mind
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by No_Mind »

Dhammanando wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 5:41 am
No_Mind wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 4:10 am what is it called in English? We call it shim in Bengali
Fava beans in the USA. Broad beans everywhere else in the English-speaking world, where "fava beans" were unheard of until Silence of the Lambs:
"Don't try to test me. A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."
Thank you Venerable.

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Re: Prediabetes

Post by Bhikkhu Pesala »

Venerable Hammalawa Saddhātissa used to control his diabetes with Bitter Gourd blended as a juice.

If you find that unpalatable, it is much easier to eat if fried (but less effective).
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No_Mind
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by No_Mind »

Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 5:54 am Venerable Hammalawa Saddhātissa used to control his diabetes with Bitter Gourd blended as a juice.

If you find that unpalatable, it is much easier to eat if fried (but less effective).
Venerable, that is said to be a good cure here too .. I have decided to have boiled bitter gourd.

Its medicinal property is backed up scientifically https://www.diabetes.co.uk/natural-ther ... melon.html

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SarathW
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by SarathW »

Diabetes is a really ugly disease with far reaching consequences (blindness to stroke) and I am scare of it.
I am glad you are aware of this.
Take care.
Unfortunately or fortunately nowadays my best doctors are from Google and Youtube!
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by binocular »

I'd like to suggest two books:


The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different
While I think that the psychology here isn't particularly deep, the book is based on the idea that one's body shapes itself according to what one does, which is an idea I strongly agree with from experience. The book gives a lot of clues as to how to act differently. Not so much about food itself, but about everything else one does in life. Which can then lead to long-lasting weightloss and improved nutrition habits. Which is exactly what we want.


Diabetes Lifestyle Book: Facing Your Fears and Making Changes for a Long and Healthy Life
Another book that points out that the problem with being overweight and (pre)diabetic isn't so much about (not) knowing what to eat, but about not having the willingness to go through with the changes. People for the most part know what foods to eat and what to avoid, healthwise. Yet sticking to the regimen is what is so difficult. Hence the book takes an ACT approach to solving this problem.


Good luck!
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by binocular »

binocular wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 9:26 am The No Diet Diet: Do Something Different
While I think that the psychology here isn't particularly deep, the book is based on the idea that one's body shapes itself according to what one does, which is an idea I strongly agree with from experience. The book gives a lot of clues as to how to act differently. Not so much about food itself, but about everything else one does in life. Which can then lead to long-lasting weightloss and improved nutrition habits. Which is exactly what we want.


Everything we gonna do is changing. We gonna change the way we run, we gonna change the way we eat, we gonna change the way we block, we gonna change the way we tackle, we gonna change the way they win.

Similar can be applied to how one goes about one's daily life.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
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No_Mind
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Re: Prediabetes

Post by No_Mind »

binocular wrote: Thu May 10, 2018 9:26 am People for the most part know what foods to eat and what to avoid, healthwise. Yet sticking to the regimen is what is so difficult.
In my case the culprit is an amazing 16 cups of tea (black with one sugar) daily :weep: 16 tea spoons of sugar or 80 grams a day, 2.5 kilos a month or 30 kilos a year (310 calories a day)

Other than tea I consume less than 1500 calories daily and I should be slim if I go on eating what I eat but consume no tea

I have set Saturday as the day to leave having sugar in tea .. first day will consume 6 cups with sugar or around 30 grams (cut it to 1/3rd) and then try to bring it down to 3 cups a day with sugar in 2-3 weeks (16 to 6 to 3 cups)

What makes me annoyed is even with 16 cups of tea, I consume no more than 1810 calories daily and should be losing weight .. but I have gained weight steadily over past 10 years.

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Re: Prediabetes

Post by lyndon taylor »

try your tea with no sugar or artificial sweetener, thats a lot of sugar, obviously the big part of the problem.
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