Pre-diabetic

[LindsayO]

Hello,

I apologize if this has been addressed before. Due to many years of bad eating choices (sugar addict), my a1c tested at 5.8 recently and was told I'm in the pre-diabetic range.

In the past and on days where I was whole 30 compliant, I would eat half a sweet potato at dinner time with my protein and veggies.

Given my recent news, is it still safe to eat half a sweet potato at night?

If there's anybody who reversed their pre-diabetic situation, can you please share with me how you did it, or include a link to a previous thread where this might have been discussed before?

From other online resources (keto), there was indication that one had to cut carbs severely to reverse diabetes or pre-diabetes, so just looking for whole 30ers who might have some experience in this issue as I think I do generally do better with some carbs like SPs. Thank you!

[SugarcubeOD]

Doing the Whole30 as written without a ton of nuts, larabars and fruit will definitely help with your situation... you can still eat the sweet potato... the recommended serving size of a starchy carb is a fist sized, so however that relates to 'half' of one.

Carbs are all fruit and vegetables and this is not a low carb plan persay but cutting out sugar and processed foods will greatly reduce your carb load.

I would suggest doing the Whole30 and seeing how it goes... have a look at the testimonials tab as I'm sure there are stories in there that will relate.

[TryingOver]

@LindsayO Not Whole30-related, but here is my experience with pre-diabetes.

I had insulin resistance and PCOS diagnosed in high school before I had ever heard of Whole30. My doctor told me without severe carbohydrate restrictions I couldn't reverse the pre-diabetes/insulin resistance. However, I spent my college years using a calorie restricted diet (again, this is before I had heard of Whole30) that did not involve carbohydrate restriction (I ate potatoes, pasta, and even desserts as long as they were within my calorie range). By managing my portions I was getting far fewer carbohydrates than I had before. I lost over 100 pounds with managing my diet and exercise and completely reversed the insulin resistance and PCOS. Recently I've had weight gain from some medical issues, but my metabolic tests have stayed normal. 

In short, while it may be more challenging, it is possible to reverse these conditions without a low-carb diet.

[nbinmd]

I was also recently diagnosed as "pre-diabetic" by A1C numbers. My doctor told me that eating sugar or not or carbs or not wan't going to effect the condition. She told me that it absolutely was reversible- through weight loss and exercise. She told me that even 8% decrease in body weight and cardio exercise 150 minutes a week (goal) have been shown to reverse the pre-diabetes.  

If it were me, I wouldn't worry about a sweet potato, but would focus on eating really good food and getting some good quality exercise.