This could probably go in FQ, but it’s medical and I welcome informed speculation, so …
I eat very little refined sugar, and not even much fruit (I try to have a modest serving of berries most days, but that’s it). I do eat bread (probably 8-10 slices/week, both whole grain and white, often sourdough) and occasionally pasta, but most of my calories come from vegetables, oils, beans, eggs, fish, and cheese. For example, my dinner last night consisted of a vegetable medley (kabocha squash, onions, two kinds of spinach, bell peppers, and cabbage) roasted with olive oil in a flour tortilla wrap, along with a pinto bean puree made with cooked beans, lemon juice, and olive oil. Tonight I’ll have the same except there will be tomatoes and baby corn in the veggie mix instead of the cabbage. I’m not vegetarian, much less vegan, on purpose, I just happen to prefer that sort of diet.
With a diet like that and reasonably good (not perfect) exercise habits and weight, I’m probably at low risk for Type 2 diabetes, but I’m just curious - would I even experience any symptoms if I did become diabetic? What if I atypically indulged (as I do, from time to time), in a rich dessert at a restaurant? Would I experience symptoms?
This is just an idle question; I’m not experiencing any health issues, but Type 2 diabetes is so rampant these days that it made me curious what happens when people with pretty good health habits still become diabetic - it has to happen sometimes.
The symptoms can be subjective, but when I was “only” prediabetic, my thirst and headaches were bad enough that I went to a doctor, thinking I already had Type-2. So I would guess that if someone were in fact Type-2 diabetic, they’d definitely notice something awry even if they had good diet.
If your production of insulin is lower than it used to be, or lower than normal (by some standard that I don’t know) you can control your A1c by diet. In that case, you may not even be pre-diabetic by the standard of A1c scores, even though your production of insulin is at the same level as someone who has diabetes 2 because they are not controlling their A1c by their diet.
I suspect that optimal eating would merely delay the diagnosis. Although there is lots of variation, sugars and fluid levels might also be affected by stress, exercise, high ambient temperature and such. It isn’t really that unusual for the diagnosis to be delayed, until symptoms like severe thirst, frequent urination, feeling blah, symptoms related to dehydration or even altered levels of consciousness supervene, including confusion and coma. I’ve seen this be the initial presentation dozens of times.
You’d know. You seem aware and smart enough to eat well. I assume you monitor weight gain or loss and fluid intake and urine output. So you’d know.
Low glucose or high glucose levels have unmistakable symptoms.
Maybe they’re mild at first but it would get worse.
Go in for check ups regularly and if something is amiss they’ll let you know.
And don’t drink soda. My own belief is so much soda is killing more people than we know. It doesn’t cause diabetes but it certainly can’t help it.
Our children are just floating in it from a very early age.
I don’t allow it in my house.
Preach it, sister! I have never in my life consumed soda of any kind. This is not entirely because of a misplaced sense of moral superiority; I just don’t like carbonation so it has been easy for me to avoid it.
I’ve always been certain that soda = bad for everyone. Sugary soda? Obviously bad. Artificially sweetened soda? Bad for other reasons.
Don’t drink soda, folks! Listen to Beck and CC - we’re right, in your heart of hearts, you know we are!
My doctor has been ordering yearly blood tests that include fasting blood sugar since I was in my mid-thirties. I’m assuming that would at least be a warning sign if I developed diabetes (and hasn’t noticed symptoms yet).
In early stages it’s quite possible to have no noticeable symptoms. I was diagnosed by a routine urine test followed up by an A1C (diabetes runs in my family, so I got tested once in a while) that was well up in the 7’s, but that was the first I knew of it; and it’s apparently pretty common for people to have early stages of type 2 and not know it until/unless they’re tested.
In later stages, yeah, whatever you’re eating, you’d know about it; or at least, you’d know that things were going wrong. But by that time there’s probably been damage done; and while future damage can be minimized, damage already done may not be repairable. Getting an occasional test is a good idea, even if your diet’s good and your weight’s within or below current recommendations; skinny people who are eating well can get it also.
I totally agree. But, with one exception-- non-sweetened flavored soda waters, like La Croix. There’s just something very refreshing and thirst-quenching about that carbonated bite on a hot day, and / or after exercise.
I’ve had someone tell me that the carbonation alone is bad for you, that it’s acidic and corrodes your teeth, but I googled it, and the dissolved carbon dioxide does make the water slightly acidic, but not nearly as badly as say, a glass of orange juice or cola.
This so much. I’m often perplexed about how so many people are so overweight - I can’t imagine how much food you would need to consume to gain so much. But if you’re chugging back soda every day. Well. There you are.
I’m strictly water only. Well, and the odd black coffee, and regular red wine, but hey, I never said I was a saint.
Statistics suggest Americans get about 21% of their sugar intake from sugary cold drinks. About 18% from cakes, cookies and pastry. About 10% from hot coffee and tea and something similar for confections.
You don’t have to eliminate sugar from your diet completely. Reducing it is wise. My opinion on sweeteners is documented elsewhere on this board. I say go for it if it helps you reduce sugar intake, but don’t think that alone will lead to much weight loss. Don’t take the attitude you can eat much more sugar elsewhere to compensate.
A fitting update to this thread: today I learned from a friend that just this morning he got a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes. He was “celebrating” by eating a brownie, which he NEVER does - he stays away from sweets entirely.
I asked him if he’d felt “off” lately or whether the diagnosis was a surprise. He said the diagnosis itself was no surprise because his whole family gets diabetes sooner or later. But, he also said he felt perfectly fine. Hence the one brownie, just because they’ll most likely be off limits from now on. He is meeting with a nutritionist this week to see what dietary adjustments he needs to make, if any.