Dryfruits and its impact on Blood Glucose

Hi @JohnyT2

You can find out how many carbs are in any food by doing a google search such as ‘carbs in almonds’.

I usually shop at Tesco’s and use their online grocery lists.

As for how many carbs are a good snack portion...?
That comes down to you, your meter and your personal carb tolerance alongside your activity levels.

Personally, I would eat nuts but not dried fruit. So the dates would not be something I would touch.

Apparently dried fruit is very high in sugar.

I eat nuts, but dried fruit I treat like it's the plague. So, dates, apricots, pineapple and similar ones are a big no imo.

JohnyT2 said:

How good are dryfruit consumption for a diabetic person, specifically its impact on blood glucose and how many carbs do they carry. Specifically following

1. Almonds
2. Cashewnuts
3. Walnuts
4. Pistachios
5. Dates

What should be the moderate quantity for snacking ?
Thanks

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Google is your friend, there.

I would say that i was curious about these PORTION sizes, particularly on cereal when I first had the DX, as I thought I might still be able to have them..30g..is the norm ..barely a palmful, and I always filled MY bowl up..lol

So I weighed some portion sizes .
Walnuts came in at 10 halves 214kcal 1.1 carbs but 20g fat.

I only count the carbs these days.
So I think most dried fruits would be off my menu

As for the nuts.
Almond ok if a tad boring
Cashew nuts...yum
Walnuts meh.. But good for us
And pistachios ... Should come with A WARNING... Caution packets can be emptied in minutes....

Good luck finding the information you need

JohnyT2 said:

Agree, 100%

I am trying to build up a snack pack for my long distance cycling and running.
Looking for good combination of taste, energy, filling as well low carb. And since dryfruits and nuts are not much affected by rain, so even if it gets wet, it would still last long.

Hence trying to learn from experiences of others

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Ah. Then that makes perfect sense.

I can only add that I would never have given it a second look better DX... But biltong is now a regular in our fridge.

I usually have a SAUSAGE ..?.. Of chorizo in the fridge I cut slices off to eat on its own or to add to s side plate of cheese etc..

Might be worth investigating energy values of those ?

JohnyT2 said:

How good are dryfruit consumption for a diabetic person, specifically its impact on blood glucose and how many carbs do they carry. Specifically following

1. Almonds
2. Cashewnuts
3. Walnuts
4. Pistachios
5. Dates

What should be the moderate quantity for snacking ?
Thanks

Click to expand...

The attached visual guide'll help with the nuts. Dates, I'd steer clear from. That's sugar dynamite at something like 75% carbs, averaging 6 grams of carbs per date. I rather rely on things like nuts, (specifically walnuts and pecans, and for their selenium, 3 brazil nuts per day), but also sausages like bifi's. They do have those in the UK, right? Babybells would work too...

JohnyT2 said:

Agree, 100%

I am trying to build up a snack pack for my long distance cycling and running.
Looking for good combination of taste, energy, filling as well low carb. And since dryfruits and nuts are not much affected by rain, so even if it gets wet, it would still last long.

Hence trying to learn from experiences of others

Click to expand...

Hi @JohnyT2 a fellow forum member @jjraak suggested I drop into your post. Since my T2D diagnosis in April I have increased my Mountain Biking to between 8 and 12 hours a week, I have been MTBing for 18 years but not at this intensity.

Before my DX my day length rides were fuled by a pasta meal the night before, oats, yoghurt, cheese on oat biscuit for breakfast and dried dates, bananas and electrolytes on the ride, this worked well BUT all now changed with my Low Carb diet of less than 30grams of carbs per day.

I have not yet done any full day rides but regularly do 3 hours on technical trails and forestry tracks, I try to keep it as aerobic as my age will allow. To my surprise I have found out the following.........

High protein meal the evening before usually Tuna Steaks, stirfryed veg and a sweet of full fat yoghurt and Raspberries followed by a 12 hour fast.
Breakfast 2 scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, full fat yoghurt and mixed seeds.
Snacks on ride NON
Drinks on ride Water only (dumped the electrolytes)

I take Baby Bells (yuk) with me just in case, so far I have not needed them.

I also take my pet Dracula to see how my BS is performing should I get light headed. This happened only once and my BS was 6.3 so not the problem, I think the cause was a cold starting.

So far I have not run out of energy, felt tired or in the need for snacks. Before this diet I would have felt the need to eat something such as dates after a couple of hours.

Of course we are all different and I can only tell you what I have discovered in a very short period since diagnosis and realise that this could change as I get more understanding how my body reacts to this LCHF life style.

What I can say is dump the dried fruit, far to high in sugars.

For me the LCHF diet and increased exercise has been a great success, in three months it put my T2D into remission and I have lost 24 Kilo.

With some experimenting I'm sure you will find a way to manage your exercise fuelling.

@JohnyT2 did you mean for this to be in the vegetarian forum or did you want it in the low carb section?

JohnyT2 said:

Vegetarian Low carb solution

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So just for clarification and ease of further answers - are you vegetarian or vegan? I ask because answers above include sausage, fish, eggs, cheese. Obviously not an issue if you eat these foods but if you don’t then telling people would help tailor responses.

I’ve never met a nut I do nut like, so yes to all of those. I do not eat dries fruits, with the occasional exception of a few dried cranberries on a salad. The problem with it, IMO, is that it lacks volume to keep you full, so I prefer just the whole fruit. Of course, keeping full is likely not a big goal when fueling for an endurance event so YMMV.

I use both ground almonds and coconut flour in low carb cooking - and check the carbs per portion as part of the total I allow myself per meal and per day.
I also swap part of the milk in coffee for coconut or cashew milk, using the nutrition info on the carton or tin to count carbs.

I miss fruit cake with dried raisins, etc. but my system no longer tolerates that much sugar.

JohnyT2 said:

Oh, thanks for putting that up.
I have turned vegetarian, thus I am looking for vegetarian solutions as its much safer to carry fruits and vegetables in remote areas and still remain safe from wild animals as compared to meat items

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Oops, sorry, didn't know that. *blush*

JohnyT2 said:

Oh, thanks for putting that up.
I have turned vegetarian, thus I am looking for vegetarian solutions as its much safer to carry fruits and vegetables in remote areas and still remain safe from wild animals as compared to meat items

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Hmmm, maybe my fish for protein was a mistaken suggestion, unless you still eat fish. I have on occasions made nut roasts which do have some bread crumbs but only a couple of slices of good bread which over the whole nut Roast amounts to a small amount of carbs. mixed nuts, mushrooms, peppers, onions, grated carrot, two eggs, herbs, garlic. When cold it slices well, is full of energy and freezes. I used to use this on some of my two day mountain rides before my DX, nutroast lasted two days and I am sure would go longer, did not go off, very filling and gave me energy.

You do much longer rides than I do, a days Mountain Biking for me would be about 80 kilometres, I also carry a sizeable 20 ltr back pack so have room for some luxuries.