The changes have not been enough

[Parrothead]

DD is pre-diabetic. Although she has only gained 20 pounds in the past 2 years, she is up to 147. We knew going in that it was a problem. Now we know how bad.

 

Her fasting glucose is 105.

 

We started C25K a week ago as a family. That will continue. Come May 20 dance will be over for the season so she will loose that 2.5 hours a week, but hopefully the weather will hold by then until December so we can be outside. Our weekly tai-chi will continue indefinitely. I suppose I should see about yoga since dd is taking a break from karate. I don't do sports, but I will walk until I can't walk anymore. So I suppose at a minimum she and I will start hiking.

 

I sent dd to play with friends while I rid the house of anything remotely sweet. Then I went to the market and filled the cart with fresh fruit and veggies. They have been washed and those that needed slicing or cubing have been processed. I packed a cubed watermelon into a gallon pitcher.

 

What else can I do?

[Karen in CO]

My Mom hovers at the pre-diabetic level. We spent a few months doing the South Beach diet to get her levels more manageable and to remake how we all eat. It really helped her. I about killed me for a week or two, but it taught us the proper way to eat to keep her on the good side of the diabetic line.

 

It might be worth a try. I'm assuming you've already had the standard nutritional counseling.

[EJCMom]

Walking is the best exercise for a diabetic. Particularly walking downhill, for some reason. My DH is diabetic and walking for 30 minutes a day has done more for his glucose levels than any meds.

[AK_Mom4]

:grouphug:

 

If you haven't done so already, seeing a nutritionist can be a HUGE help with meal planning, etc. My insurance paid for it, but honestly I would have paid out of pocket for it. One thing that the nutrionist pointed out to me was that we get tricked by the size of our dinner plates - with larger plates, people tend to eat more. Use a smaller plate and visually, you see it piled with food and tend to feel full with less food. Also, you feel more full sooner when there are more colors on your plate.

 

Avoiding the "white foods" is a good and easy start - potatos, white rice, white bread. But not cauliflower - that's my go-to potato replacement!

 

 

:grouphug:

[justamouse]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: One for each of you.

[KidsHappen]

Is she taking any medication? My hubby is pre-diabetic and he takes Metformin and it has really helped him a lot. He also takes phentermine and that has helped him lose over 20 lbs so far but I think they would be hesitant to prescribe that to a child. I don't know why. It is nowhere near as strong as say Adderall which many children take, and it seems to me that this may be an even bigger health concern than ADD. :confused:

[Susan C.]

Chucki,

Are you looking at the glycemic index?

 

Dd and I had a little weight sneak on us..... we looked at what we were eating and were surprised that what we were eating was high on the glycemic index. (High glycemic index foods are very bad for diabetics and prediabetics). We are working on getting it lower. For us, bagels, no more (we thought eating halves was ok, but no!), and we are looking at sugar in things. We don't drink soda (bad), and have lowered the sugar in the sweet tea, and try to drink water most/all of the time. We got pita bread for sandwiches, much lower GI than bread. Also, whole grains are better. We goofed this week making muesli with vanilla greek yogurt, we will get plain next time. Pasta was lower than we thought it was, so it is an option as well.

 

Dr. Mercola has ideas, yes radical, about reining in blood sugar. mercola.com

 

Don't starve her! Protein is good! Does she like cheese?

 

105 is getting there, but not awful. I wasn't far from that and my alternative dr. said to just cut the sugar back, that it was fine. Be careful, they keep lowering the lab numbers to get more people on the drugs.

Edited March 31, 2011 by Susan C.

[happyhomemaker25]

The one thing that worked best for me was checking my blood sugar 2 hours after every meal and snack for a few months. This way I could see what different foods did to my blood sugar levels. I also tried different foods at different times of the day.

For instance breakfast for me is my "danger" time. My breakfast has to be mainly protein with little to no carbs. My mid morning snack can be a piece of fruit or light carbs, but carbs at breakfast used to send my sugar soaring.

I'm to the point now that I try to get most of my carbs from fruits, veggies, and beans. If I have any grains they have to be high in fiber and not white! I have also cut out most sugar.

I don't know what that translates to for an 11yo. I would recommend your whole family make the change though to make it easier for her. It's actually a good diet even for people without diabetes or pre diabetes.

From all my reading during my pregnancy, though, some people are just predisposed to it. You can do everything right and due to genetics or something else it just happens.

Mine is because I have PCOS. If we'd caught the PCOS sooner I could have started meds and possibly been prediabtic for awhile. Because we did not catch it until I was trying to have a baby I was already very much diabetic.

Do what you can, but please don't beat yourself up over it. :grouphug:

[Mommamia]

We have someone who is pre-diabetic in our home. After little info from our endocrinologist and much research of my own-we are trying to stay low-glycemic.

There are many wonderful info/cookbooks about eating low-glycemic foods. I was surprised that potatoes were an issue, but sweet potatoes were good. Cinnamon is supposed to help lower the inuslin levels(I think-it does something good).

Fiber and protein!

[Sukale]

I find it helps not to eat carbs alone. If she eats a piece of cake for her birthday I would also have her eat some raw veggies with it. Please do what ever it take to stop this now. I take 6 shots a day every single day for the past 2 yrs. Metformin (a pill) could help her out a lot. And 30 minutes every day of exercise would also be great. I am going to see if I can get put on an insulin pump soon. I have insulin resistance so even though I give my self a lot of insulin my body still doesn't want to use it the right way. Also I try not to drink any carbs. Talk to her doctor to see how many carbs for each meal and snack she can have. Read the label and measure before she eats anything. I wish I caught mine early enough. From the very first day I was put on insulin shots. And really it's not as bad as it sounds right now. She just needs to eat healthy and exercise. I would love to see a fasting BS reading of 105. I get the dawn effect and I get in the 200's every morning. I am so glad you found this early and that she has a mom to help her.

[Parrothead]

Thanks for all the advice. I'm finding conflicting information. The only thing I can think is that because of the weight and the 105 the doctor is concerned. Otherwise 105 is within the normal range. Maybe creeping up to the high side, but still normal.

 

I remember going through first responder school and blood sugar under 100 was normal. So when the doctor said 105 I figured she was in trouble. Everything I'm reading says normal is between 70 and 120. So is she on the slightly high side of normal or is she pre-diabetic?

 

I don't have any other information. The doctor called and said her TSH, cholesterol, lipids and something else were fine but he was concerned about her blood sugar being so high. He said he wants another fasting blood draw and a conference. He also said if he holds her weight for a year and lets her height catch up she will be fine.

 

I have to have dh at the conference because I know, just know, I won't be listened to.

 

I'm taking the weekend to just chill and work more on our eating habits. I want a good clean sugar-free kid for the next blood test.

Edited April 1, 2011 by Parrothead

[happypamama]

My midwife also recommends testing one and two hours after eating, and she definitely says that different foods can affect people differently, so you really need those frequent tests to see what is a problem for your daughter and what is not. She also recommends lots of good fats and proteins.

[LibraryLover]

I am not a Dr. My only experience comes from my mother's step children who came to her with this problem. They did high good fat, high protein, and that did help a lot. So, baked, roasted, or grilled chicken, avocado, peanut butter, hot dogs and hamburgers without buns, or with whole wheat buns, limited pasta on it's own with protein (meat, shrimp ), no juice etc etc.

 

I'm sorry you are having to worry about your young one. :grouphug:

[wapiti]

The fasting blood draw is not exactly a super-accurate measure. Would she be open to blood glucose monitoring (finger-prick) four times per day (fasting and exactly two hours after the start of each meal) for a few days or a week? That might provide a clearer picture. Or, blood test for hemoglobin A1C. You can buy a monitor and test strips without a prescription.

 

I think it's clear that if it's not a problem now, it might be in the near future. If/when that happens, I agree with the other posters who recommended metformin, appointment with nutritionist, limit carbs to a certain number each meal, balance carbs with proteins and fats, i.e., do not ever eat carbs alone - proteins and fats will slow down the digestion of the carbs and keep blood sugar levels more even. Eat balanced snacks - at least one during the day, maybe more, depending on the meal times. Also, I'd strongly consider seeing an endcrinologist (I didn't catch her age - pediatric endo?).

 

Interestingly, I found that having to wait two hours from the start of the meal before eating again, simply in order to properly do the monitoring, in and of itself was good for weight loss. It sort of forced me to eat on a proper schedule.

[JenniferB]

Chucki, I was pre-diabetic last year. I combatted it strategically. I made a log of what I was eating, and took my blood sugar 1 hr. after and 2 hrs. after each meal, and again in the morning. I started seeing a pattern of the highest blood sugars after things I ate which had either white flour, corn, or obviously sugar (including fruits). So, I took these things out of my diet, and I replaced them with whole grain products. Instead of pizza with white flour, I made pizza with whole grain/multi grain flour. Instead of regular pasta/spaghetti, I found Barilla Plus, which is multi grain (not whole wheat). Instead of white rice, long grain rice, etc. I replaced those with short grain brown rice. Instead of potatoes I eat twice as many vegetables. Instead of corn chips/tortillas, I don't eat the chips or the tortillas, or I replace the tortillas with whole grain tortillas. I never eat dessert, unless it's sugar-free. I never drink juice of any kind, or soda pop with sugar. I never eat candy or cake or muffins or anything like that. I also started running 4-5 days per week, 4 miles each day, so at least 16 miles per week. I started out with a walk/run/walk/run work-out, and worked my way up to more and more running with less and less walking, always doing about 4 miles at a time (takes about 1 hour). I lost about 15 lbs. and my blood sugar is now normal. So is my cholesterol and other blood work.

 

This plan worked for me. I suggest you & your daughter take a strategic approach and check sugars after every meal, documenting your findings carefully. Then you can see what foods are triggering her body, and eliminate or replace those foods. Watch the fats too. Too much fat bogs down the liver. The liver does many wonderful things for us, so you must take good care of it. :D God bless.

[Shellydon]

My friends with juvenile diabetes *really* limit carbs, including fruit. A diet like Primal Blueprint would work well.

[cjbeach]

Carb control.

 

Save carbs for breakfast, have them early in the day.

[wapiti]

Carb control.

 

Save carbs for breakfast, have them early in the day.

 

Yes definitely carb control. But oddly enough, a lot of people have their greatest difficulty with carbs eaten in the morning. My nutritionist advised lots of protein for breakfast, and less carbs at breakfast than at either lunch or dinner. (and she was right. whenever I tried to cheat at breakfast, I got busted by my numbers.)

[Cinder]

Agree with wapiti, your dd needs her A1C checked--the glucose test isn't as accurate. Dh has stayed off meds by increasing his exercise (at least 5 times/week) and significantly reducing his simple carbs--sugar, rice, bread (though he finds Ezekiel bread works ok for him), potatoes, corn, peas, anything starchy. He also finds he can't eat too many beans or it raises his blood sugar. The A1C test can give you the big picture and the glucose tests can give you snapshots of how different foods are affecting her.