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Pears?

gail2

gail2

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
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She/Her
Good or bad for a diabetic who's carb counting
Thanks gail1
 
gail2 said:
Good or bad for a diabetic who's carb counting
Thanks gail1
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Look in your Carbs and Cals which I think you mentioned you have, estimate the size and you can decide, if it is a big one then try half at a time.
 
About 20g carbs in a smallish pear. I love them but they sometimes give me stomach ache so I rarely eat them.
 
They are a bit too high carb for me to have regularly but then toast is far too high carb for me whereas I believe you eat toast most days for breakfast, so I am not sure what sort of carb level you are aiming for.
Apples are a bit lower than pears and obviously berries are lower than apples, but it depends on portion size too of course. A large, sweet red apple may have more carbs than a small under ripe pear. Personally I prefer both apples and pears small and crisp and green and slightly under ripe.
 
-Thanks guys have a copy of carbs cals somewhere
 
rebrascora said:
They are a bit too high carb for me to have regularly but then toast is far too high carb for me whereas I believe you eat toast most days for breakfast, so I am not sure what sort of carb level you are aiming for.
Apples are a bit lower than pears and obviously berries are lower than apples, but it depends on portion size too of course. A large, sweet red apple may have more carbs than a small under ripe pear. Personally I prefer both apples and pears small and crisp and green and slightly under ripe.
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I only like conference pears and only when they are still crunchy, probably why they give me belly ache!
 
I don’t have a sweet tooth and I’d rather have savoury than sweet but I am trying to eat more of the “good” things. Are pears OK? What are “good fruits?” I now avoid oranges/tangerines, bananas and grapes. I’m taking some time to adjust that these “good” things are “bad” for us! I just read that someone had had some peanut butter which I just assumed would be a big a No No. I was in the habit of having a croissant once in a while on a Friday but haven’t had one for weeks as I don’t want to get into the habit of “one once in a while won’t do me any harm” as I could/would have anything and everything if I adopted that mantra. And often.
 
GaryH said:
I don’t have a sweet tooth and I’d rather have savoury than sweet but I am trying to eat more of the “good” things. Are pears OK? What are “good fruits?” I now avoid oranges/tangerines, bananas and grapes. I’m taking some time to adjust that these “good” things are “bad” for us! I just read that someone had had some peanut butter which I just assumed would be a big a No No. I was in the habit of having a croissant once in a while on a Friday but haven’t had one for weeks as I don’t want to get into the habit of “one once in a while won’t do me any harm” as I could/would have anything and everything if I adopted that mantra. And often.
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It is worth looking at the carb amounts in various fruits because it often will come down to the portion size you have but berries generally are the lowest with blueberries being highest, a single orange or satsuma is of limited size so for some people 1 will be ok as will kiwi fruit, melon, apples, pears, peaches, cherries, nectarines which are sort of in the middle for carbs, with grapes, bananas, mango, pineapple being highest.
The size and ripeness and variety of fruits can make a difference so carb values can really only ever be an estimate so approximate.
No added sugar peanut butter is OK
A small croissant would be about 11g carb, a large one 22g carb so not too bad occasionally, with a filling of ham and mushrooms with some melted cheese would make a good breakfast for a change.
 
GaryH said:
I don’t have a sweet tooth and I’d rather have savoury than sweet but I am trying to eat more of the “good” things. Are pears OK? What are “good fruits?” I now avoid oranges/tangerines, bananas and grapes. I’m taking some time to adjust that these “good” things are “bad” for us! I just read that someone had had some peanut butter which I just assumed would be a big a No No. I was in the habit of having a croissant once in a while on a Friday but haven’t had one for weeks as I don’t want to get into the habit of “one once in a while won’t do me any harm” as I could/would have anything and everything if I adopted that mantra. And often.
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Nothing is specifically bad or good, but a lot of T2s choose to reduce their intake of carbs to manage their BG better. Bearing that in mind, berries are lower carb, tangerines, pears, apples somewhere in the middle and bananas, grapes and other tropical fruit tend to have more carbs.

A large croissant probably has about 30g carbs, more if its a chocolate one or if you add jam.

Peanut butter, 10-20g carbs per 100g, but most people aren't going to eat 100g of it in one go, so the impact is smaller.

Also worth bearing in mind that type 1s using insulin to manage their BG have more leeway over what they eat, because they can inject insulin to deal with it.
 
I won't post a pic (don't want to break copyright laws!) but according to Carbs & Cals Book (which I must confess I haven't looked at for ages!), a small pear is roughly 11g of carbs and a bigger one is approx 21g of carbs so more than apples (but much tastier IMO) but not as much as mangos and grapes for example (even tastier!) - as with everything it's all about in moderation
 
I hate the skin on a conference pear - always have ever since childhood. Certain apples and other fruits are the same,* dislike the texture, rather than the taste.

Can't bear the 'furry' peach skin - just gimme a lovely properly ripe, nectarine so when you bite into it, your front is drenched with juice. Hence, I eat far more fruit when abroad than I do at home, since fresh, properly sun-ripened fruit is easily purchased from every shop selling such things, including the major supermarket chains there. eg Nectarines, whatever eg Tesco's claim, simply do not 'ripen at home' ! (used to be able to in the 1950's/60s when my parents used to live in a Victorian house wit sash windows, when the eg unripe tomatoes could be lined up along the horizontal frame across the centre!
 
I put them about the same as apples in my general guess-o-meter. About 15-20g of carbs in each, and about the same profile as far as my body goes.

I eat an apple pretty much every day with lunch. Pears only occasionally.
 
We have a Williams Bon Chretien pear tree in our garden. It had been neglected for several years so the fruit wasn't great and always needed peeling. This year it looks like we have a decent crop. It ripens very quickly so I will probably poach and bottle most of them. Hubby loves bottled pears. I will only have a small portion with yoghurt and see how it affects my BG. Not tried them since diagnosis.
 
@silver minion I have pears on my pear tree for the first time this year. Just a sapling still so quite surprised. I suspect it may be because I pruned it last year. It seems much slower growing than the plums and apricots. It has been in for about 6 years, maybe longer and still very little growth on it. Doesn't help that the deer regularly visit the orchard and I have a hard time keeping the fruit trees protected. This year a colony of ants developed around the trunk of a cherry tree and inside the plastic sheath which protects the trunk from the deer. The ants stripped away the bark and supped on the sap and killed the tree! Didn't realise until I saw the leaves going brown and thought perhaps the sheath was strangling it but no, the ants nest was right up the inside between the sheath and the trunk!! Grrh!!
 
rebrascora said:
@silver minion I have pears on my pear tree for the first time this year. Just a sapling still so quite surprised. I suspect it may be because I pruned it last year. It seems much slower growing than the plums and apricots. It has been in for about 6 years, maybe longer and still very little growth on it. Doesn't help that the deer regularly visit the orchard and I have a hard time keeping the fruit trees protected. This year a colony of ants developed around the trunk of a cherry tree and inside the plastic sheath which protects the trunk from the deer. The ants stripped away the bark and supped on the sap and killed the tree! Didn't realise until I saw the leaves going brown and thought perhaps the sheath was strangling it but no, the ants nest was right up the inside between the sheath and the trunk!! Grrh!!
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The muntjac deer are fond of nibbling our fruit trees too. I generally only leave the plastic sheathing on for 2 years then replace it with sturdy green rigid cages. The pear tree came with the garden but I think it's at least 10 years old. Sorry to hear about your cherry tree. Who knows knew ants could be so destructive.
 
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