I’ve got to type two diabetes my GP says I can’t eat fruit is that right or wrong?

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Caz57

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Type 2
How confusing go to the Doctors he tells me I can’t eat fruit on all the website. It says fruit is good if you’ve got type two diabetes so what’s right and what’s wrong. Many thanks and happy new year everyone x
 
Welcome to the forum. It sounds as if your GP needs educating about Type 2 diabetes.
The thing about fruit is not all fruit is the same as the carbs in different fruits vary so choosing the right fruit is important.
Berries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries are the lowest carb and fruits that many have for breakfast with Full fat Greek yoghurt. Blueberries are the highest carb of the berries, then after that apples, pears, kiwi, oranges somewhere in the middle so people may only have half of one, then bananas, pineapple, mango, grapes are fruits that people tend to avoid as they are the highest carb. But with any fruits portion control is important.
Have a look at this link for some suggestions for what foods are good and what should be treated with caution. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
All carbohydrates convert to glucose so they are the foods to be careful of.
 
Leadinglights said:
It sounds as if your GP needs educating about Type 2 diabetes.
The thing about fruit is not all fruit is the same as the carbs in different fruits vary so choosing the right fruit is important.
Berries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries are the lowest carb and fruits that many have for breakfast with Full fat Greek yoghurt.
Click to expand...
Honestly that GP sounds more educated than most on a suitable diet for type 2.

Yes perhaps a little over the top in excluding all berries too but far too many totally ignore the effects many of the most common fruits do have eg bananas grapes pineapple etc that are pretty high carb. And advise they are all good to eat which is patently not true.

Then there is the effect the fructose has. This will not show on a meter or cgm because obviously it’s not glucose so can give a false sense of security in this regard. Also as fructose can only be processed, and any excess stored, in the liver it can contribute to non alcoholic fatty liver. Which in turn makes diabetes worseand is extremely common in metabolic diseases like type 2 even if not formally diagnosed. We all seem to accept a fat laden liver is a bad thing and common in those with a large waist measurement but miss this particular factor (obviously there are others too)

Now traditional fruit not produced for extreme sweetness as most are now, eaten in season, in limited quantities perhaps isn’t an issue. It’s people gorging themselves on ultra sweet varieties of fruit as they think it’s “free” healthy food without any negative aspects. Sugar is sugar even if it comes from fruit. And the micronutrients that are valuable can also be gotten from veg without the same fructose/glucose hit
 
HSSS said:
Honestly that GP sounds more educated than most on a suitable diet for type 2.

Yes perhaps a little over the top in excluding all berries too but far too many totally ignore the effects many of the most common fruits do have eg bananas grapes pineapple etc that are pretty high carb. And advise they are all good to eat which is patently not true.

Then there is the effect the fructose has. This will not show on a meter or cgm because obviously it’s not glucose so can give a false sense of security in this regard. Also as fructose can only be processed, and any excess stored, in the liver it can contribute to non alcoholic fatty liver. Which in turn makes diabetes worseand is extremely common in metabolic diseases like type 2 even if not formally diagnosed. We all seem to accept a fat laden liver is a bad thing and common in those with a large waist measurement but miss this particular factor (obviously there are others too)

Now traditional fruit not produced for extreme sweetness as most are now, eaten in season, in limited quantities perhaps isn’t an issue. It’s people gorging themselves on ultra sweet varieties of fruit as they think it’s “free” healthy food without any negative aspects. Sugar is sugar even if it comes from fruit. And the micronutrients that are valuable can also be gotten from veg without the same fructose/glucose hit
Click to expand...
Perhaps that was a bit harsh.
 
I'm not challenging your table @Dave W, but what is the source of this please?

Some of the values aren't in full agreement with those provided in the carbs and cals book, but that doesn't faze me at all since (for example) I don't eat enough kiwi fruits @ 60-70 gm wt to care if they are 12 or 9 per 100 gm wt. Just wondering if the table originates from an American source and the "fiber" is still included.

I personally use the generic of 20% for peeled bananas, but I'm concious that it's easy to have a banana that is over 100 gm wt AND bananas increase in their carb content as they ripen in a fruit basket. So sometimes a large ripe banana can be a bit more than estimated. I also use a guide of 13% for an unpeeled banana, which gives me a reasonable estimate ahead of peeling and eating.
 
I normally have an apple every day but I do buy the smaller sized ones that (to me at least) don't seem as sweet.
 
Caz57 said:
How confusing go to the Doctors he tells me I can’t eat fruit on all the website. It says fruit is good if you’ve got type two diabetes so what’s right and what’s wrong. Many thanks and happy new year everyone x
Click to expand...
It is confusing because it is a generalization.
I eat the frozen berries mixtures from Lidl as I know that if I make a sugar free jelly with extra gelatine, optional Greek yoghurt and squash I can happily eat that over the course of a couple of days. I can just about eat a punnet of strawberries with cream in the summer months without wasting any. When the figs are ripe, I eat them, also a few of the apples from my garden
I can eat a satsuma most days over Christmas, but I don't on the days I have the berries in jelly.
Moderate amounts of carbs should be OK for most ordinary type 2s, and after 7 years from diagnosis I can gauge how much to have, but I do crazy things like making ice cream with peas or beetroot and actually enjoy them.
 
The thing is all fruit has good value to
it . I think you need to see what you can or cannot tolerate and choose wisely.
 
The fructose content of fresh fruit isn’t really a concern.
 
@Caz57 - If your doctor had said....

Be wary of fruit because some fruits have quite high carbohydrate contents for their weight and here is a glucose meter so you can check the portion size you can cope with for any fruits you fancy

..... then maybe he would have been more helpful.

Also be wary of lists of carb contents for fruit. The carb content of an apple will depend on variety, where it was grown, the degree of ripeness when it was picked, how it has been stored, how long it has been stored and probably a few other things as well. Same goes for any other fruit. Not saying don't use the lists to make choices, you just have to be wary and don't be surprised if different lists have different values.
 
Docb said:
@Caz57 - If your doctor had said....

Be wary of fruit because some fruits have quite high carbohydrate contents for their weight and here is a glucose meter so you can check the portion size you can cope with for any fruits you fancy

..... then maybe he would have been more helpful.

Also be wary of lists of carb contents for fruit. The carb content of an apple will depend on variety, where it was grown, the degree of ripeness when it was picked, how it has been stored, how long it has been stored and probably a few other things as well. Same goes for any other fruit. Not saying don't use the lists to make choices, you just have to be wary and don't be surprised if different lists have different values.
Click to expand...
I was told to eat a slice of cheese with an apple. im not keen on apples but i did try. I find i can have a little fruit but raspberries are best
for me. i eat half a pear and thats been okay but Im not good with bread even low sugar.
Still i know very little of what affects anyone else.
 
Caz57 said:
How confusing go to the Doctors he tells me I can’t eat fruit on all the website. It says fruit is good if you’ve got type two diabetes so what’s right and what’s wrong. Many thanks and happy new year everyone x
Click to expand...

Bizarre for them to say that, know fair few people with type 2 who don't deny themselves fruit, they likely tested to see which fruits they could & couldn't tolerate as that's the way to find answer.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
I'm not challenging your table @Dave W, but what is the source of this please?

Some of the values aren't in full agreement with those provided in the carbs and cals book, but that doesn't faze me at all since (for example) I don't eat enough kiwi fruits @ 60-70 gm wt to care if they are 12 or 9 per 100 gm wt. Just wondering if the table originates from an American source and the "fiber" is still included.

I personally use the generic of 20% for peeled bananas, but I'm concious that it's easy to have a banana that is over 100 gm wt AND bananas increase in their carb content as they ripen in a fruit basket. So sometimes a large ripe banana can be a bit more than estimated. I also use a guide of 13% for an unpeeled banana, which gives me a reasonable estimate ahead of peeling and eating.
Click to expand...
Data were extracted from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Food Integrated Dataset which is about as accurate as you'll get. The list of foods runs to over 3000 entries and covers carb content and much else too.
See:
www.gov.uk

Composition of foods integrated dataset (CoFID)

McCance and Widdowson’s 'composition of foods integrated dataset' on the nutrient content of the UK food supply.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
 
nonethewiser said:
Bizarre for them to say that, know fair few people with type 2 who don't deny themselves fruit, they likely tested to see which fruits they could & couldn't tolerate as that's the way to find answer.
Click to expand...
How are they testing for fructose?
 
I could not go without fruit but my worse one are the 'Sugerbomb' grapes if I start I will finish a pack off
 
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