Sugar Confusion

[Moontiger45]

Hi, I have started tracking my meals in an attempt to lose some weight and lower my blood sugar after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last week. I am just a bit confused about sugar, I have been told that I need to stick to 30 g a day sugar, but does this include fruit and vegetables? I thought I could have a fruit snack but if its going to make me go over my sugar allowance I will stop eating it. Any help would be greatly received.

 

[bulkbiker]

I avoid most fruit ... most of the time.
It's not really only "sugar" but all carbohydrates that us T2's have a problem with. Once carbs are ingested they turn to sugar anyway.
Start looking at the labels on the back of packs to check the carbohydrate levels.

I used to avoid anything with more than 5g of carbs per 100g, although I then progressed to avoiding most things that have more than one ingredient as well!

Still in remission 8 years later.

 

[bulkbiker]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1653427663153840129

 

[Vonny]

If you want to eat fruit @Moontiger45 then berries are the favoured option for us diabetics. Steer clear of exotic fruit and bananas in particular.

 

[RichardA]

A ripe banana can contain up to 7 spoons of sugar 😳

 

[Leadinglights]

You are better looking at the carbohydrate content of foods not just sugar as all carbohydrates convert to sugar. The suggested amount of carbohydrate is no more than 130g per day as a starting point.
Some foods can be low sugar but high carbohydrate which would do you no good at all.
You may find the book or app Carbs and Cals very useful as it gives the carb values of various portion sizes of a whole range of foods.
By only looking at the 'sugar' you could easily be misled into having foods that would not be good for your blood glucose level. For example a medium size jacket potato of about 220g would have very little 'sugar' but a whopping 45g carbohydrate which for many would be far more than they could tolerate.

 

[bulkbiker]

Here's Dr Unwin's Low Carb guide with some interesting infographics about sugars/carbs

https://phcuk.org/wp-content/uploads/A_5_page_low_carb_diet_leaflet_Unwin_2021-converted.pdf

 

[Callista]

I've learnt here that a D-friendly fruit is strawberries of all things! I would never have expected it.

Conversely, grapes are known here as sugar-bombs (sigh - they are my fave next to Strawbs.)

 

[trophywench]

I had to laugh last night, 'Inside the factory' where Greg is at the Ambrosia Rice factory and Cherie is at the Tiptree strawberry farm and the farm manager told her they only pick WELL ripened fruit for their jam 'because it's sweeter!' - they don't however pick it elsewhere that ripe to be packed in punnets and sold in supermarkets as fresh ones because (fairly obviously) they go squashy shedloads more quickly.

So - unless you grow your own and can keep the birds and wasps off em - do most people in this country these days ever get to enjoy really lovely sweet juicy strawberries?

 

[Callista]

My mother grew them when I was growing up - picking them was a treat in the summer hols. Alas, not that many made it to the kitchen....