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Prunes for breakfast

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thelis

thelis

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
At my last review with the DN, when I told her that I had 2 or 3 prunes on my Weetabix for breakfast she said that that was not a good idea because of all the sugar in prunes. I like to have something with my cereal as I don't have sugar on it. Does anyone have any ideas what would be best. The DN suggested blueberries but I can't eat anything with seeds in.
 
If you like prunes with your cereal, then why not? However, it would be worth checking on waking / before eating and 2 hours after eating to check the effects the prunes and Weetabix have on your blood glucose levels. If they're acceptable, then why change what you like - and presumably, the prunes suit your bowels, too? (Sorry to be personal 🙂)

I know you say not anything with seeds, but not sure what you classify as seeds - if raspberries or blackberries are OK, then how about those? We're getting our garden autumn raspberries now, plus blackberries from hedgerows.
 
I'd be at least as worried about the Weetabix as I would the prunes myself! (Weetabix has a fairly high GI and they have got rapped on the knuckles for their recent 'slow release' advertising). But then all of the fast absorption/slow absorption statistics are just averages anyway - what matters more is how you get on with it personally

As Copepod says, the only way to know for sure is to check with a BG meter to see how your system copes with your current breakfast around an hour or two after eating and take it from there.
 
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If you enjoy the prunes with your breakfast and they don't push youe levels too high, I'd say have them. They have to be better than a good many other things you might have.
 
Have to agree with Mike - Weetabix is essentially just a bowl of sugar so it seems daft for the DSN to get worried about just the prunes! As ever, test and review. Otherwise, another alternative might be something like a sugar-free syrup. I know people worry that these tend to have an effect on their digestion but to be honest if you're already used to prunes, it probably won't have an effect....:D
 
I find Oatibix better than Weetabix for my blood sugar. I have one with a sprinkling of muesli and flaxseed, soya milk, cinnamon and a sprinkling of Splenda.
 
How about raspberries or strawberries with it. They don't seem to be too bad for me.
 
I also find Oatibix better for my BG but just as nice - how about apricots?
 
thelis said:
At my last review with the DN, when I told her that I had 2 or 3 prunes on my Weetabix for breakfast she said that that was not a good idea because of all the sugar in prunes. I like to have something with my cereal as I don't have sugar on it. Does anyone have any ideas what would be best. The DN suggested blueberries but I can't eat anything with seeds in.
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All fruit has sugar. Prunes have a low G.I., only 29 and if they work for you then go ahead. I expect that she was thinking of dried fruit being bad for diabetics because of the high sugar content and wanted you to eat fresh fruit.

If your meter agrees with you eating prunes then carry on.
 
cherrypie said:
All fruit has sugar. Prunes have a low G.I., only 29 and if they work for you then go ahead. I expect that she was thinking of dried fruit being bad for diabetics because of the high sugar content and wanted you to eat fresh fruit.

If your meter agrees with you eating prunes then carry on.
Click to expand...

On most GI tables Weetabix seems to get a rank of 70-75 (where table sugar is listed as 61). When they were called to account for their 'slow release' advert (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/m...gy-claim-is-misleading-rules-asa-7998079.html) the manufacturers managed to get a GI of 47 with semi-skimmed milk, which is after all how most people would eat it, but I don't know how that test was carried out (portion size is usually fixed at 50g CHO for GI tests).

The crazy thing is that as far as I know people with diabetes are only recommended wholegrain breakfast cereals because of the findings of a small amount of research mostly into oats (http://summaries.cochrane.org/CD005051/wholegrain-cereals-for-coronary-heart-disease). I don't think any attention was paid to what happens to BG levels at all, only slight reductions in cholesterol in people without diabetes.

At the end of the day Thelis, if you like Weetabix and prunes and your meter likes your BG afterwards then just carry on 🙂. It seems it might be slightly better (on average) to have more prunes and fewer Weetabix - but again there is no guarantee that the average GI performance of either Weetabix, or prunes would be the same for you. Let your meter be your guide 🙂
 
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