Hi,I have pre diabetes fasting sugar of 117-120 can I still have dessert sometimes? What kind of diet should I be on I also need to lower cholesteral.
Thanks

Yes. You can still have desserts. There are two things to remember, though:

1) quantity
2) quality

You can eat almost anything you want if the quantity is low. I sometimes eat one of those "bite-size" candy bars my wife buys. There is a couple grams of fat and a few grams of carb, not much to alter anything significantly in it. It's how long the bag lasts that is the idea.... if you're buying another bag in two months, it won't be a problem.... if you're buying it in two days, it will be a problem.

There are a couple of things which are quite "free" - such as sugar-free jello and some diet puddings. You can eat this stuff in almost any quantity you like.... of course, it provides no nutrition, but it doesn't upset anything.

I like a dessert made from whipping cream and artificial flavorings, such as coconut, vanilla, etc. This is low in carbohydrate, but watch the fat. I eat
this on a day when I haven't eaten much other fat.

The way to do this is to choose desserts which bring good nutrients to your body as well as providing a satisfaction for your "sweet tooth".

Fruit is a great dessert. It has no fats. It gives your body something good as well as a good taste, too.

Angel food cake is another which is a good choice. It is pretty fat-free. If you can like one of the sugar-free recipes, it is better yet. Although it still does have carbs, so watch the quantity.

In fact, you bring up a very good point about cholesterol. In order to lower your cholesterol, you should, of course, lower your intake of foods which contain direct cholesterol, such as eggs, and lower your intake of fats. This also will cause you to delete some desserts out of your food plan. Cookies, cakes, and pies usually contain large amounts of fats as well as sugar.

You can substitute some of the "good" desserts for other carbs in your plan as well, if you would prefer to have them. This is an advantage to picking the "good" ones, because your nutritional balance is not robbed by the substitution.

80% of your cholesterol is produced by your liver anyway. While 50% of dietary cholesterol is absorbed, the more of it you eat, the less your liver produces. So you can eat as many eggs as you like and your cholesterol won't increase. Fat doesn't somehow get turned into cholesterol either. If you want to find out more about how this works, google "cholesterol bio-synthesis regulation".

The best way to improve your lipid profile is to cut back on carbohydrates in general, and sugar in particular. And replacing carbohydrate with fat (preferably saturated fat) is the best thing a diabetic can do with the diet. It improves blood glucose control, it reduces triglycerides, and it increases HDL cholesterol. Contrary to popular belief, the yolk is the healthiest part of the egg and you should eat lots of them (I eat at least 3 a day, every day).

mardebjs, as a pre-diabetic, you need to be aware that raised blood glucose is just a symptom. The underlying problem is insulin resistance and dangerously high insulin levels. When you eat carbohydrate, your pancreas is stimulated to produce more insulin. Which aggravates your insulin resistance. So even if desert doesn't increase your blood glucose above acceptable levels, it is still doing long-term damage. And you should be asking yourself if you are happy about this happening.

Having said all that, taste is an acquired thing. And the sooner you stop eating sweet things, the sooner you will get over your sweet tooth. It won't be long before cheese and a cracker taste better to you than desert does anyway. The trick is to make the transition quickly so you don't prolong the agony ....

Mark

Mark,
My doctor's office just gave me lists of foods to use and foods to avoid for lowering my cholesterol. It says I can have unlimited egg whites, but to limit the yolk to three times a week. As for oils, it says to "USE soft margarine and polyunsaturated vegetable oils derived from safflower, soybean, sunflower, corn, or sesame seeds" and to "AVOID butter, saturated fats (olive, peanut, and coconut oil), lard, solid margarine, commercial salad dressings, gravies, bacon drippings, cream sauces".

... My doctor's office just gave me lists of foods to use and foods to avoid for lowering my cholesterol. .....
Tell me about it! My GP keeps sending me those lists too. They are based on the misguided notion that saturated fat raises cholesterol and leads to heart disease. It is seriously outdated thinking, and should have been put to bed many years ago. Malcolm Kendrick explains how all this came about in his article "The Great Cholesterol Myth", which you can find on the net. It is a good read.

Mark

The Mayo Clinic, American Diabetes Association, and many other renowned medical authorities also subscribe to this advice as well.