My 74 year old father is was recently diagnosed with borderline diabetes. What kinds of food can he eat? There seems to be sugar in a lot of things. We started walking yesterday, but we are not sure of the foods that he can eat. What exactly is borderline diabetes? Can you please tell me the symptoms?

hate to break it to you but there is no such thing as “borderline diabetes”. — You either have diabetes or you don’t. A fasting plasma glucose equal to or greater than 126 mg/dl [7 mmol/L] or a two-hour oral glucose tolerance test result of 200 mg/dl [11.1 mmol/L] or greater is diagnostic of diabetes. The term “borderline diabetes” seemed to give the false impression to a lot of folks that this “type” of diabetes was less severe or temporary…not true.

If your father was diagnosed early on, he may be able to control his diabetes with meal planning and/or exercise. I would recommend a visit with a registered dietitian who specializes in diabetes meal planning to receive some guidance.

See symptoms of diabetes and Classification and Diagnosis of Diabetes Guidelines.

JMS