Not quite 6 months ago i received a letter that my blood glucose haemoglobin level was 46 – I was prediabetic. I was astonished. I don’t eat anything with added sugar – biscuits, cakes, sweets, puddings etc. I don’t like the taste.
I had been eating large quantities of Basmati rice – even dishes of it for breakfast with soya sauce.
I decide to take action, and at first ate a sort of G. I. diet – but found that if tested my blood sugar was raised by brown rice and other small quantities of Ryvita etc.
So I just stopped eating starchy carbohydrates and filled up on vegetables and pulses and cheese and eggs. I am vegetarian.
I also started increasing my level of exercise. I now try to walk at least 3 miles a day. This may be in 2 or even 3 sessions. The weather has helped of course, and I live in the country and am retired. Others may not have those advantages.
At the start my weight was about 14 and a half stone – it is now a fraction over 11. When tested a few weeks ago my HbA1c level had dropped to 35.
I hope that others can gain a little encouragement from this. I did suffer a little constipation at one time – a thing I have never experienced before, I suspect because I ate a fair amount of wholemeal bread before. I got round this by eating more things with soluble fibre like lentils and maybe my body just got used to the diet.
I did stop drinking beer for a while but have started again now – with no weight gain so far.

Congratulations bernie on your weight loss and blood results. You must feel so much better. It is lovely to hear the success stories of others. Good luck in carrying on this way of eating!

Way to go, Bernie! Brilliant results there and I’m sure it will benefit others to know what can be achieved. Stick with this way of eating and I’m sure the occasional beer will not push your weight up again.

Thanks for your kind words. I do hope this contribution encourages others. I forgot to say that I have arthritis in one knee and walking was painful before losing weight. It still can be, over rough ground and going down steep hills but is considerably improved. Today I walked about 4 miles with very little pain. I use pain killers still, bit the dosage is about a third of what used to be. Again I hope my experience may be of benefit to others.

Hi there! Ive read either on the forum here or in the book or maybe when Ive been researching that the carbs cause inflammation and add to the joint etc discomfort. I must admit just maybe 3-4 weeks into my first 8 week round most of my (what I loosely described as my old lady discomforts) disappeared!! Maybe (and I hope this is so) – this is whats happening for you also. If it is possible to find flat ground and grass rather than hard surface I hope the improvement continues for you 🙂 Good job and well done thus far!!! 🙂

Hi Bernie! Just read up further to a past post of yours and was heartened to read you too had spikes in BSL’s with Basmati and Ryvita. Add to that my rolled oats . . . home made soups with barley and split peas etc.. and you have my scenario. With waking readings now 5-6-7 regularly and 2stone+ discarded . . . Im hoping Ive gone from the “diabetic” diagnosis to the “pre range”. And who knows if this can be turned down another notch with another round 🙂 or is this the real me and Ill stabilise here 🙂 Good luck on your journey and congrats again on your results this far 🙂

Thanks for your replies. I hope with dieting you can eventually be free of diabetes.