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I just got a call this morning from our pediatrician with the results of some blood work for our 10-year-old daughter. I was shocked to hear that she is prediabetic! She is a bit overweight, and I actually just started reading Dr. McDougall's Starch Solution book over the weekend and was already thinking about switching over the family to it. Needless to say, I wish I'd done it sooner. My husband and I had followed the McDougall plan in the early 90s but had fallen away from it a bit over the years. We still eat mainly vegetarian with occasional meat and dairy.

I would appreciate any words of wisdom and advice regarding helping my daughter make this transition. I'm still a bit in shock and I'll have to talk to her about this when she gets home from school. We'll be going in to our pediatrician to discuss it in a couple of weeks, and there's a possibility she'll want us to see a dietician. Thanks so much in advance!

What was her number?

Was it fasting bloodwork?

What did the doc tell you to do between now and your next appointment?

Hi,

Yes, it was fasting bloodwork. I forgot to write down the numbers, but I've already e-mailed the office asking for that information. I was so taken aback that I jotted down some information but forgot to ask for those levels again.

Her doctor didn't give us any specific instructions of what to do between now and her appt on the 13th, but I intend to immediately get going on the Starch Solution. I'm open to thoughts and recommendations!

The program works for adults so it should work well with kids, too.

There are a few threads about Cooking for Kids, for meals that are kid-friendly, plan-approved snacks, etc. so take a look around. There are a number of moms feeding kids the McDougall way.

BTW, insist the doctor do a repeat lab to make sure it wasn't a fluke or lab error. Nobody of ANY age should be given a diagnosis of diabetes or pre-diabetes based on just one lab result, no matter what the number is. Just feed her these great McDougall foods between now and her next appointment and I'm sure she'll get great numbers the next time.

Thanks for the tips and the encouraging words. I will be exploring the Cooking for Kids threads for sure, and she enjoys cooking, so we'll be choosing recipes out of the Starch Solution and the Herbivore cookbooks and going to town with them!

By the way, I did get a call back from her doctor's office. Her fasting glucose was 94, and her hemoglobin A1c was 6.0. From what I can tell, her fasting glucose level puts her on the very high side of normal, while her hemoglobin A1c is smack in the prediabetic range. Better to get a wake-up call now than after things got worse. I'm hanging on to Dr. McDougall's words in the Starch Solution where he emphasizes the body's amazing ability to heal itself when you give it what it needs. We intend to do that. Now to go get my daughter from school and talk to her about all this.

Thanks again!

These are perfecty normal numbers.




"Pre-diabetes" is currently 100 and up to 125, "diabetes" is more than 1 reading over 140. "Normal" is 70 to 99. For many years, "normal" fasting blood sugar was 80 to 120 and if your sugars were as low as in the 70's you were most likely showing signs of hypoglycemia and were given a sugar solution to bring it up to over 80. A blood sugar of 94 is perfectly fine and needs no medical intervention, whether it's the old or new reference range.

Still, it's good to have your whole family eating the healthy McDougall way. If this scare-mongering is what it took to do it, so be it.

Thanks so much for the information about the fasting glucose! That is good to know. What about her A1c level of 6.0, though? From what I've found on the Internet, levels of 6.0 to 6.5 are considered prediabetic.

"Thanks so much for the information about the fasting glucose! That is good to know. What about her A1c level of 6.0, though? From what I've found on the Internet, levels of 6.0 to 6.5 are considered prediabetic."

The newest guidelines from the ADA start prediabetic at 5.7. Please keep in mind that many people base their conceptions of what is a good target fasting or post pradial levels on Type 1 numbers (they have to worry more about dangerous lows that Type 2's do). We try to keep our top numbers under 140, since that is where damage starts occurring. Our doctor suggests under 200.