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Fruit confusion

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pat.y

pat.y

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I now it's full of sugar but keep reading it's good for diabetics. yes or no. I don't really like fruit much except in apple pie LOL. But I love mango can I eat a slice ?
 
I've been told conflicting information. One person said it's max 2 portions of fruit a day. The general advice is 2 portions, not necessarily a maximum. Although maybe it is.
 
pat.y said:
I now it's full of sugar but keep reading it's good for diabetics. yes or no. I don't really like fruit much except in apple pie LOL. But I love mango can I eat a slice ?
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I don't see why you shouldn't eat a slice. Do you test your blood sugar? If so then you can check what effect it has. All fruit contains sugar in the form of fructose which is processed by the liver to form Fat or glucose depending on what is needed. This website will give you quantities of carbohydrates (sugar) in fruit (and other foods): http://carbs-information.com/carbs-in-fruit.htm
A slice of mango is certainly going to be better for you than apple pie, which usually has added sugar.
 
Whether sugar is added is neither here nor there, as far as your body's concerned, sugar is sugar.

The simplest thing to do is test your blood sugar before and after eating some fruit. If it spikes you too much, then that particular amount of that particular fruit is bad for you.

It is worth noting that any benefit of vitamins in the fruit you eat will be completely offset if it has a bad effect on your overall control.
 
Eating fruit as part of a main meal can lower the impact it might otherwise have on your blood sugar levels 🙂
 
Keeping good blood glucose levels is important, but I feel it's a case of "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" to cut out fruit competely from your diet. For one thing, not all fruits have same sugar content - in general, berries and temperature climate fruits are lower in sugar than tropical fruits. Obviously, portion size is important - a large banana contains far more carbohydrate than a school lunch size banana; a slice of mango as a treat once in a while is safer than eating a whole mango several times a week.
Eating fruit is not the same as drinking "empty" sugar such as full sugar soft drinks or sugar in tea / coffee, as fruits bring vitamins and fibre.
 
Eating fruit is not the same as drinking "empty" sugar such as full sugar soft drinks or sugar in tea / coffee, as fruits bring vitamins and fibre.
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Blood sugar wise it is. There is absolutely no point eating a fruit to get vitamins if it spikes your blood sugar as the damage the spike will do will offset any vitamin benefit. I agree that fruit is a better choice than a sugary soft drink but only inasmuch as getting run over by a car is preferable to getting run over by a truck - if the fruit still spikes you, it is a bad dietary choice regardless of its vitamin content - particularly when the vitamins in a particular piece of fruit could be got from vegetables.

I'm not saying 'never eat fruit', I'm saying eat fruit with care and don't kid yourself that a spike from the fruit doesn't matter because you've had vitamins too. Test and find the fruits that work for you and eat them, and treat them with exactly the same care and attention you would any other sugary item.
 
I think the answer generally is if you like it and tolerate it well in terms of blood sugar control Pat.y then enjoy it. If you're not fond of it I wouldn't bother trying to build a fondness because fruit isn't inherently good for you. I personally don't touch the stuff, can't stand it, never have been able to and I wouldn't waste the insulin on it. oh aside from avocado, olives and tomatoes (three of my all time favourite foods) which strictly speaking are fruits i suppose :confused:
 
Malcolm Long said:
I thought the advice was 5 portions of fruit and veg a day?
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Yes it is, but if you're trying to cut down on sugars, then I think it's better to have more of the 5 as veg, especially the green leafy carb free sort, than all of it as fruit. I know if I have a couple of pieces of fruit, my blood sugars will go through the roof. I love fruit, but Ive learnt to spread small portions of it through the day at the end of meals, to enjoy it safely.
 
We've got into the habit of sharing fruit since half a small apple is far better for me than a whole one. We draw the line at sharing teensy 'easy peel' 'oranges' cos they are particularly small.

But anyway - tomorrow we are having a pud. It will be a Blueberry and apple crumble for Pete, whereas I'll be having the blueberry and apple only, and the apple will be sweetened with sweetener not sugar. It still has carbohydrate but not as much as sugar as you only use such a small amount of it in comparison. I defy anyone to eat Bramleys without sweetening!

Fwiw - most tropical fruit is actually more 'carborific' than eg a Cox's Orange Pippin.
 
I think the "5 a day" advice presumes no underlying medical conditions; it's like another piece of advice, where people are advised to drink at least 2 litres of fluids a day -- but late-stage CKD sufferers are only supposed to drink at most 1 litre.
 
The 5 portions a day can be fruit or veg or a combination - so if you don't tolerate fruit well you can have them all as veg. Most green veg contain hardly any carbs.
 
Someone told me (can't remember who!) that fruit you can grow in the UK climate (berries, apples, pears etc) are better than tropical fruits (banana, pineapple, mango etc) as less sugar due to less sunshine. Oh and avoid grapes, basically little sugar cubes!
 
I did a low carb cheesecake yesterday and smothered the top with frozen berries. I noticed there were grapes with the berries, but although I must've ate a few, it didn't affect my BG at all. I was surprised.
 
Mark Parrott said:
I did a low carb cheesecake yesterday and smothered the top with frozen berries. I noticed there were grapes with the berries, but although I must've ate a few, it didn't affect my BG at all. I was surprised.
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The biggest problem I have with fresh grapes is portion control, it's so easy to eat a lot of them and not realise the amount of sugar consumed
 
I have learned to not have the fruit (eg bananas, grapes) that spike my levels, but I do quite regularly eat soft fruits (blueberries, blackberries etc) or a small apple. These are all ok for me, and a portion of berries with a dollop of Alpro yogurt does me fine as a dessert.

Mr Marten made a rhubarb crumble the other day with almond flour and a chopped nuts topping and it was lovely, so rhubarb is ok too 🙂
 
I love rhubarb crumble. Will have to try that.
 
I love rhubard and oh yes I make apple crumble etc with eating apples, no need for sweetener 🙂
 
Crumble is rather good as consumption of normal wheat flour goes actually, since the proportion a fat to flour is higher than eg shortcrust pastry, it obviously slows the carb hit of the flour down better. Also it's only on the top of the apple instead of top and bottom or all round it for pies. (cos if it's a plate pie with only pastry on the top, it's a tart not a pie anyway!)
 
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