Pre diabetes and high cholesterol

[jgenie]

A family member was just diagnosed with borderline pre diabetes and borderline high cholesterol. Anyone BTDT? We had already planned on buddying up to add daily exercise to their schedule and make better food choices. Any thoughts on what else we should do? We plan to read up on best practices but I thought someone here might have experience. How long does it generally take for changes to show up in bloodwork? TIA

[echoesofspring]

I think there's a lot of ways to approach it and you just have to figure out what's going to work best for you both and your lifestyle, preferences, etc. Years ago my FIL was pre diabetic and able to control it for years with a low carb diet. I saw pretty dramatic changes in my bloodwork after starting intermittent fasting - I started in Nov last year and had my bloodwork done in early March, so changes within 4 months. And a lot of people have had success with various meds now available, as evidenced in a thread a couple weeks ago.

[gatorsmom]

Yikes, I’m sorry your relative is going through this. I don’t know if age makes a difference in how quickly one can change their cholesterol. Dd is 16 and is in a semi-professional ballet program, in other words, she’s very, very physically active. Two years ago she was diagnosed with high cholesterol and we saw a dietician to help her incorporate some healthy eating habits in her diet. She added more apples and carrots into her diets as snacks. Those were her biggest changes. She also eats a lot of frozen fruit as a late-night snack (instead of ice cream like her brothers). It took about 4-5 months and her blood test showed her cholesterol dropped just into high-normal levels.

My glucose levels have been hovering around 100 for the last 12 years. I should do more physical exercise but I eat a pretty healthy diet and maybe that’s why I’m still hovering around 100 instead of getting worse. My meals are typically fruit and yogurt for breakfast, salads or wraps with lean meats and seafood for lunch and something similar for dinner. I rarely drink alcohol. I mainly eat like this to feel better. I notice right away how crappy I feel when I eat too much sugar, alcohol or lots of carbs. I just can’t do it anymore.