bananas

[PatsyB]

Bananas , according to my diabetic Nurse Bananas are not good for us Diabetics I have one every day , I have my breakfast then take the dogs for a brisk walk and always have a banana with me in case levels go down who else eats bananas and think they be alright for us diabetics?

 

[Chris24Main]

My father in law had a couple of bananas every day most of his adult life - at his funeral they were laughing about it.. my stomach was clenched in frustration, but no way I could make anyone see that there was a connection between bananas and dying of something connected to sugar.

People say that bananas are great, slow release of energy..
no, no - they are big lumps of sugar. Anything that soft and that sweet - how can they be anything else. (and I say that as someone who loved sliced banana on toast in the morning)

As a type 2 (particularly a type 2 on insulin), there is nothing good you will get from a banana. In my opinion - but it's something I feel a little raw about.
The fructose in the banana will do nothing good for you.

It's not often that I 100% agree with advice from DN - but in this case, absolutely ...

 

[lovinglife]

I suppose it depends on your insulin regime, my dad T2 was on fixed dose mixed insulin so he had to have a certain amount of carbs when he ate, he managed a banana for breakfast fine, if your BG is fine and you enjoy the banana then I see no problem eating one now and then, we are all different and it’s our diabetes is just that - our diabetes

 

[Sarah69]

I have 2 weetabix and a banana for breakfast everyday. The bananas I get are quite green still so don’t know if that makes any difference.

 

[Chris24Main]

Yes - essentially the longer the banana ripens - the more sugar there is. (but, the more delicious it is...)
@lovinglife is right to rein me in a little here - enjoying your food is incredibly important. Despite my own feelings - I cannot know what precisely happened to my father in law, and whether it would have been any different if he hadn't had a couple of bananas every day.

But - breakfast is the biggest thing we've all bought into over a couple of generations that's bonkers - I'm no different, I would have said that Weetabix and a banana was a perfectly healthy breakfast a year ago - and I was officially a type 1 diabetic at the time. Now, I just see Weetabix, semi-skimmed milk, banana and orange juice (would have been a typical breakfast for me) - as sugar, sugar and sugar, with a glass of sugar.

Now, as I've done this morning - I have a couple of eggs, bacon and sausage - and I would have been horrified at that a year ago...

 

[Melgar]

I also ate slightly underripe bananas. I find my blood sugars don’t go high. Now if I ate a sweet ripe one then my blood sugars go much higher. I was eating them for the potassium, but I have since found avocados contain twice as much potassium.

 

[Chris24Main]

Now - I can totally get behind Avocados for breakfast!!

 

[filly]

My mum was a type 2. She ate a banana every day. Yet I have never been able too.

 

[Pipp]

Well, I guess like anything we eat, our individual tolerance of a food can be measured either by a blood glucose meter, or a CGM device. No one size fits all.
@PatsyB , as you are on insulin, are you counting carbs and dosing accordingly? I feel uneasy discussing with you as I have T2, but not on insulin, and we do have to be aware of different forms of management.

I think a banana weighing 100gr, has about 25 gr carb, though that could vary, ripe bananas apparently higher carb than green bananas. Some people carry glucose to treat a hypo. Your choice of hypo treatment, a banana, if that suits is fine. Are you getting BG and HbA1c levels that are within targets set, @PatsyB?

As for your question, I do eat banana, sometimes. I avoided them for several years, due to following low carb method of eating. The last 18 months or so, I have been quite ill, and waiting for treatment / surgery for hyperparathyroid and hypercalcaemia. Sometimes I have such abdominal pain and sickness that I have to eat the BRAT diet for several days. This is Banana, rice, apple sauce, toast. This happens for a few days every couple of weeks. Banana and toast being a particular favourite. My HbA1c has dropped and so has my weight. Currently banana does not seem to spike my BG . Though I would emphasise, this may not be the same for others

 

[KennyA]

Bananas , according to my diabetic Nurse Bananas are not good for us Diabetics I have one every day , I have my breakfast then take the dogs for a brisk walk and always have a banana with me in case levels go down who else eats bananas and think they be alright for us diabetics?

I guess the real issue is that it's not a simple as a lot of people would have you believe - I mean whether a food is "good or bad". Bananas these days are not for me. Way too much carb. But I still remember the last one I ate very clearly and how good it tasted.

If you're testing so you know what happens and you're able to control your BG, in the context of all the other things you eat, though, where's the problem?

 

[Resurgam]

I'm afraid that there is no 'us diabetics' - I maintain control by eating a low carb diet so have not eaten a banana for a very long time.

 

[EllieM]

I think a ripe banana would probably be a good hypo treatment, whereas an unripe banana might not have such an effect on bg.

Can You Eat Bananas While Living with Diabetes?

Can you eat bananas if you have diabetes? Bananas do contain carbs that can raise blood sugar, but they also have fiber and beneficial nutrients. Here's the verdict.

www.healthline.com

 

[Antje77]

Bananas , according to my diabetic Nurse Bananas are not good for us Diabetics I have one every day , I have my breakfast then take the dogs for a brisk walk and always have a banana with me in case levels go down who else eats bananas and think they be alright for us diabetics?

Do you test before and some two hours after your banana?
This will tell you if a banana works for you on your current medication.

 

[jeano999]

I used to love bananas - on toast, or with porridge or just on its own. Last one was in 2016 just before my T 2 diagnosis.

 

[BigAlan]

I could eat 10kg of bananas in one sitting, they are so scrumptious.

Having said that, it must be 3 years since I actually ate a banjana....

 

[Omar51]

My nephrologist told me never eat raw bananas, that stuck in my mind, so I never eat bananas. I don’t miss bananas either.

 

[Omar51]

I could eat 10kg of bananas in one sitting, they are so scrumptious.

Having said that, it must be 3 years since I actually ate a banjana....

Diet change for colonoscopy, I tried one small banana each for last two, my FBG is still under my expectations!

 

[JayAmerican]

Bananas , according to my diabetic Nurse Bananas are not good for us Diabetics I have one every day , I have my breakfast then take the dogs for a brisk walk and always have a banana with me in case levels go down who else eats bananas and think they be alright for us diabetics?

I do still eat bananas on occasion and yes they do cause mild spikes, so here are tips if you like bananas and want to still have them:

* Don't wait until they're ripe like browning. As soon as they're past being green and skin is yellow, that's the lowest glucose hit you'll see.

* I now make a "dessert" meal from them and somehow this meal barely moves the needle on sugar spikes - I take some 1g keto bread (tested multiple varieties of sliced breads claimed to be keto and found on that truly doesn't spike me) and slice it up into small pieces, put into a bowl and let them soak in some lactaid milk (which is 6g carbs per serving but seems to have a very low glycemic response in me, or at least very short-lived), dash a lot of cinnamon on them then heat them in a pan with a lot of unsalted butter (at least 1 tablespoon if not a little more). Sprinkle in some crushed pecans, stir & flip regularly, and once it has almost has the consistency of bread pudding, I drop in chopped pieces of bananas (from 1 banana) in there. After about 5 minutes mixing this in and letting it all heat, when I put into a bowl I pour a bit of zero-sugar syrup on top. For some reason even though I would expect an even higher spike eating this vs just eating the banana straight, my levels barely go up and it tastes like a banana-flavored dessert. I don't eat something like this more than once a week, just in case.

Check your body's reaction to this if you try! Don't take my word for it. It's just something I noticed at least for me resolved a craving without the glucose impact I would see normally.