Type 2 - All Fruit!

[Pauline Williams]

Hi
I have had type 2 for 4 years, I love fruit, but I was told by one of my diabetic nurses that I can only eat fruit from the northern hemisphere - i.e berries, apples and pears and no fruit from the southern hemisphere - i.e grapes, oranges, peaches. However when I look at snack options they suggest all fruits, so I am really confused! Help!

 

[JMyrtle]

I know grapes are bad and apples and pears straight off the tree are much better than the rubbish they sell in the supermarket which has either been in store for months or flown half way round the world.
Once fruit has left the tree fruit acids convert to sugars as part of the spoiling process, that is why a crunchy red apple straight from the tree changes to a "floury" texture after a few days in the fruit bowl.
The fruit structure starts to break down once the fruit is no longer being hydrated by being connected to the live tree.

 

[Pauline Williams]

Thanks Jackie

 

[kentish maid]

My DN told me not to have too many bananas, and if I did have one to have a 'fun size' one, like they put in a child's lunch box. Also to avoid them if they are too ripe. Sadly I have other digestive issues so have to avoid certain fruits anyway but the dietician on the course I went on said it didn't matter if my 5 a day was heavy on veg and light on fruit

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi
I have had type 2 for 4 years, I love fruit, but I was told by one of my diabetic nurses that I can only eat fruit from the northern hemisphere - i.e berries, apples and pears and no fruit from the southern hemisphere - i.e grapes, oranges, peaches. However when I look at snack options they suggest all fruits, so I am really confused! Help!

It's an interesting general guide (and from what I can see many T2 members here find berries pretty gentle on the BGs).

But!!! The only way you can actually tell whether you *as an individual* are better off eating apples... bananas... oranges... grapes... peaches... or none of the above is to check for yourself with a BG meter.

Take a reading. Eat the portion of whatever fruit you usually would. Then check again after 1 hour and 2 hours to see what the difference is. Ideally you would not want your BG to increase by much more than 2-3mmol/L I would suggest.

Then do it again at least twice more to check.

Then (if you want to be really thorough) check again at a different time of day. You might find that fruit at breakfast is a complete no-no, but fruit after evening meal or as an afternoon snack is OK for you.

You can use the same principle to check any food and see whether your body can eat it OK.

Good luck with it! And welcome to the forum.

 

[JMyrtle]

I tested then did another test two hours after eating a small orange my b/ g was down to 5.8.
The only way you can know what's right for you is as Mike says eat and test.
My big no no is white bread, two slices of Kingmill changes a 7.5 reading to 14.0 and one slice to 11, won't be doing that again!

 

[grovesy]

I agree with the try and see, I usually have mine with a meal.

 

[Alister]

the is DN I saw when diagnosed was a bet more general in her advice
She said Fruits can contain a lot of sugar but they also contain a lot of other essentials (such as fibre) so they should not be avoided, just be careful with qtys. I was advised that Bananas get worse as they ripen more and to avoid ones that have started to develop brown spots.
Fruit juices are not so good as they have had the pulp & fibre removed & are basically liquid sugar

 

[Mark Parrott]

the is DN I saw when diagnosed was a bet more general in her advice
She said Fruits can contain a lot of sugar but they also contain a lot of other essentials (such as fibre) so they should not be avoided, just be careful with qtys. I was advised that Bananas get worse as they ripen more and to avoid ones that have started to develop brown spots.
Fruit juices are not so good as they have had the pulp & fibre removed & are basically liquid sugar

Although you are correct, you can get the same fibre & nutrients from lower carb vegetables without risking a BG spike. Though I must admit, snacking on an apple is nicer than a bowl of kale.

 

[Dave W]

Here's a general guide to carbs per 100g in fruit and berries. Bananas and grapes should be treated with caution, though I do admit to scoffing three or four half grapes in a sugar-free jelly with double cream now and then.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Here's a general guide to carbs per 100g in fruit and berries. Bananas and grapes should be treated with caution, though I do admit to scoffing three or four half grapes in a sugar-free jelly with double cream now and then.
View attachment 7150

Interesting that Orange comes below Apple. I’ve always found apples the less spiky of the two.

 

[Dave W]

Interesting that Orange comes below Apple. I’ve always found apples the less spiky of the two.

We are all different due to our microbiomes. Some folk can tolerate cereals but I can't. The only way one can tell is to test and see. I was surprised to find oranges lower than apples but even with the variation of carbs in different types of apples, eating/cooking - 11.6 to 9.7 oranges are still a bit lower in carb content, but I'm not convinced the difference is really significant from the dietary aspect.

 

[mikeyB]

I don’t know what it is with apples, but this afternoon I ate a very sweet Red Delicious apple, and because apples never seem to affect me I sat and waited for that fructose to hit. It didn’t. Just perhaps the faintest blip on the Libre trace, which drifted on its merry way. Makes you wonder which foods you are supposed to count the carbs for...

 

[Shiv Gaffney]

Very surprised at blueberries - shows how individual specific diabetes is as I need no insulin for blueberries regardless of amount and strawberries I definitely need to inject, raspberries and blackberries can vary!😉

 

[Mark Parrott]

I have no problem with blueberries either

 

[Stitch147]

I'm good with blueberries too. I miss my 2 favourite fruits though as they spike me too much, bananas and pineapple.

 

[jasmine8]

Blueberries are fine for me but bananas are a problem.

 

[Shiv Gaffney]

Dave where did you get that graph? I was puzzled by blueberries as my not so great memory told me I'd read somewhere that they had no carbs so I dug out my DAFNE carb book (Dec 2013) and yes blueberries nor blackberries are classified as having any carbs. Raspberries per 120g 0.5 CP and strawberries 60g 0.5CP. so wondering is this a more recent graph?

 

[JMyrtle]

Would Pina Coladas count as a fruit type, just asking!
Or is that too much wishful thinking?

 

[Dave W]

Dave where did you get that graph? I was puzzled by blueberries as my not so great memory told me I'd read somewhere that they had no carbs so I dug out my DAFNE carb book (Dec 2013) and yes blueberries nor blackberries are classified as having any carbs. Raspberries per 120g 0.5 CP and strawberries 60g 0.5CP. so wondering is this a more recent graph?

Hi Shiv! I made the graph myself from data I gathered from a list of fruit/berries on Diabetes (dot) co (dot) UK. I've checked the data with the data on The Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset (aka Cofid) which is the dataset used when labelling foods in the UK. You can download the data if yourself have MS Excel. The only berry I couldn't find on CoFiD was for blueberries but a web search confirmed it as 14g carbs per 100g. I can't understand how your DAFNE carb book has blackberries having no carbs as they have 5.1 per 100g. All fruits and berries have carbs to greater or lesser extents.
I'm really very curious about the data you are quoting from DAFNE as raspberries and blackberries are very close in carb content - rasps 4.6/100b, blackberries 5.1/100g.
I've not done or had the chance to do a DAFNE course and I don't understand the "CP" - does it relate to portion?