Hypoglycemic/pre-diabetic: How can I lose more weight?

Question

I have great health insurance, but it does not cover a dietician, and my doctors have no diet advice for me other than what I am already doing, so I need advice. I have been at a plateau of the same exact weight for two years 150 - 5' 6" with measurements of 36- 25 - 39 (I carry my weight in my legs, hips, and some in the upper arm; but my waist is always small), but several of my doctors (I have other issues steming from having long-time metabolic disorders) told me if I lose more weight that it could improve my condition and increase my odds of not becoming full-blown diabetic. Now, I eat an extemely strict diet of lean meat, tofu, most vegetables, berries, cheese, nuts, and other healthy fats (absolutely no sugar, processed foods, or alcohol); and I exercise by hiking up a steep hill on an average of 3 times a week at 45 min. each time. I cannot cut calories too much, b/c I have to eat 6 small meals a day to prevent my blood sugar from going too low. What should I do to lose weight?

Answer 1

You're doing great already.

Shortly before you are diagnosed as full-blown diabetic, you will probably lose a bunch of weight. That's because your insulin resistance doesn't let your cells use the sugar in your bloodstream - but that's a *bad* sign. Your cells need to be fed.

With regular "Type 2" diabetics, the insulin in the body doesn't work well. The body kicks out more insulin, and the theory of "if it doesn't move, get a bigger hammer" actually works for a while, and then it doesn't, because there's only so much insulin your body can make. Your body starts trying to make other hormones to "pinch hit" and actually, that works to a limited degree. Nobody talks about it, but the hormones produced includes the sex hormones, so if you have an increased libido, that's why. Enjoy it while it lasts. It also helps give you that ooh-baby figure you have. Another hormone that people DO talk about is cortisol.

At this point, your body starts laying down fat in your abdomen. At that point, you start developing a pot belly.

As you mention, your blood sugar tends to go too low. That's because your body has already started overproducing insulin. The last thing you want to do is to stress your body by trying to cut calories. That malnutrition would just bring out the cortisol early, and you'll end up with diagnosable diabetes early.

If it sounds like I'm talking like you already have diabetes, well, you sorta do. They used to call it pre-diabetes, and now they call it metabolic syndrome. The actual diagnosis of diabetes is when you get repeated BG readings over 126 without other explanations. (Stress from illness or injury causes your system to dump more sugar into the bloodstream to provide the resources to cope with the stress.) But they've seen diabetic neuropathy in the retina as much as 7 years before diabetes can be diagnosed, so it's not like you're preventing the disorder, and you're not preventing the damage it causes, you'd just be preventing the diagnosis.

I'm not just a diabetic myself; I used to do research at Central Soya. I seriously recommend dropping the tofu from your diet.

The ADA (the American *Diabetes* Association, not the American Dietetic Association) points out in their clinical dietary recommendations that for many people, losing weight is virtually impossible, and while if you can lose 10%, it can help with control, that it's not the end of the world if you can't. And they don't say where you measure the 10% from. Maybe you're *already* 10% below where you would otherwise be.

You seem to have your weight under control already. Yo-yo weight loss due to dieting is a bad idea.

You seem to have a pretty good program of exercise, too. A variety of exercise would be better. If you could get a man to move in with you (I did mention increased libido, didn't I?) so you'd spend 30 minutes a day bending over and picking up his dirty clothes - as well as the exercise involved in that relationship that I didn't mention, that would be an improvement.

Doctors seem to give the same advice to everyone, regardless of their situation, and in this case, there's a good excuse: there isn't really much more you *can* do.

Mark Twain pointed out that he bought cigars by the barrel, and spent a whole $5 a barrel on them, and he was glad for that, and for his habit of drinking hard liquor. Repeatedly, he was able to give up smoking and drinking, on doctor's orders, and repeatedly it saved his life. If he hadn't been a smoker and drinker, he'd have had nothing to give up, and he'd have been in deep doo-doo.

So it's a shame that you don't drink alcohol. I've never consumed much - a case of beer typically lasts me a year or 18 months - but recently, I've tried to start drinking a glass of red wine every day. It's heart-healthy, and diabetics have a problem that way. It does, however, freak out the nurses when I go to a new specialist, and in the course of my med history, they ask if I habitually drink, and I say, "No, but I'm trying to start."

The results are pretty clear on this: you should be eating a gram or more of ground cinnamon (actually, it's cassia) daily.

Researchers at Purdue and at Penn State both think that we need more conjugated linoleic acid in our diets to prevent diabetes. The best source is beef fat and pork fat from grass-fed animals - but that's hard to get your hands on, so you might want to supplement your diet with capsules.

Tree nuts, and especially almonds, seem to be important to diabetics.

Calcium and vitamin D levels are important, so we need milk, but homogenized milk breaks up the fat globules in milk to a smaller size that is particularly bad for our cardiac systems. We should be drinking a minimum of a quart daily of *raw* milk. If you can switch to cheeses that are made from raw milk, that would help, too.

But for the most part, you're doing good, and doing well. Be proud of how you're caring for yourself.

Good luck.

Answer 2

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RE:
Hypoglycemic/pre-diabetic: How can I lose more weight?
I have great health insurance, but it does not cover a dietician, and my doctors have no diet advice for me other than what I am already doing, so I need advice. I have been at a plateau of the same exact weight for two years 150 - 5' 6" with measurements of 36- 25 - 39 (I carry my weight...

Answer 5

You can keep track of your blood sugar by buying a meter then you'll know exactly what's going on in your body. Ideally your blood sugar should be around 104 before you eat & it's OK to be 130 or below 2 hours after eating.
Sounds like you are doing all the right things except only eat cheese & nuts rarely. Vegetables high in fiber are better than starchy ones (no carrots or peas). You'll lose weight naturally.
You don't mention drinks so try to avoid caffeine, even diet soda. Water is best or no-caffeine teas.
Swimming is a great exercise because it tones all your muscles.

Answer 6

Yes you can cut calories if you go for LOW cal high protein foods. You need a low cal small portion meal 3 times a day and a healthy snack between each meal and before bed. Total up your calories for a couple of days by keeping track of everything you put into your mouth. Check out your BMI and how many calories a day you should limit yourself to and then start looking at where you can eliminate some calories. Also you should change your exercise routine every once in a while.

Answer 7

Cure Diabetes Problems Naturally : http://www.DiabetesGoFar.com/Recommend

Answer 8

Your body mass index is 24 kg/m2 which is considered LEAN. You are most definitely not overweight and do not need to lose weight. Hypoglycemia does not predispose to diabetes. In fact - hypoglycemia is caused by dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system and the symptoms are not related to your glucose level at all. Beta blockers such as atenolol and metoprolol - in my experience - improve the symptoms of dysautonomia (the correct name for hypoglycemia) dramatically.

Answer 9

Music enables you to eat more. According to a survey by the journal Psychology in addition to Marketing, soft, classical tunes encourage that you take time over your food, so you consume more food. So, switch off – silence could make you more aware of what you’re investing in your mouth.

Answer 10

Music enables you to eat more. According to a work by the journal Psychology and also Marketing, soft, classical tunes encourage one to take time over your supper, so you consume more food. So, switch off – silence can make you more aware of what you’re adding your mouth.