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Fruit - good or bad...?

Rachox said:
I eat strawberries, raspberries or blueberries with every meal, but always combine them with fat. I have coconut ‘porridge’ at breakfast (which is made with coconut flour, butter and coconut cream), or with Greek yoghurt or cream at lunch and dinner. This seems to suit me. Apart from a very occasional change to cherries and using lemon in recipes, I’ve eaten no other fruits since diagnosis.
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Hi @Rachox do you have a recipe for the porride.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Do you have different measuring cup sizes for different items? Such as one for flour or sugar or similar, a bigger one for lumpy things? I take it they are special cups you buy rather than ones you use for tea and coffee?
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https://www.amazon.co.uk/1Easylife-...1509031214&sr=1-14&keywords=measuring+cup+set

Like these. They are kitchen tools although I suppose you could eat or drink out of them if you want. Haha. Lumpy things never made sense to me. Too many variables but if a recipe called for one cup of water or flour/ sugar issue the measuring cups.

However one cup is supposed to be 8 oz. I was making mayo and it called for one cup. On the scale it read 5.5 oz lol.
 
I asked my HCP a week ago on this and she said it's important to have 5 portions of fruit and veg per day.. The grey area is what is a portion. She counted 2 x easy peel oranges as one portion, 1/4 of a banana is 1 portion, a whole small apple is one portion, but an entire punnet of berries counts as 3 of your 5 a day and as I have learnt on here, may not spike your blood sugar.
 
Robbieswan said:
I asked my HCP a week ago on this and she said it's important to have 5 portions of fruit and veg per day.. The grey area is what is a portion. She counted 2 x easy peel oranges as one portion, 1/4 of a banana is 1 portion, a whole small apple is one portion, but an entire punnet of berries counts as 3 of your 5 a day and as I have learnt on here, may not spike your blood sugar.
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Sigh. That is, as I understand it, the standard advice for those who do not have T2 diabetes. Not at all appropriate if you are on a low-carb diet. In your case, you are on insulin so those fruits can be OK as long as the insulin dose is appropriate for it. For those using very-low-carb diet alone, those portions of fruit would "blow our budget." (Other forum members will correct me if I am wrong.)
 
Rachox said:
I’m just an ignorant Brit, but I don’t understand the ‘cup’ measurement you use in the US. If I look in my kitchen cupboard I could lay my hand on at least three different sized cups. A cup whatever size is a measurement of volume not weight surely. I just don’t get it!
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I dont understand the stone weight measurement. Whats wrong with kilos?

Why dont use potatoes instead of stones!

1kg equals 30 average size potatoes.

My weight is 3000 potatoes...

Doesnt make sense does it?
 
Vidgren said:
I dont understand the stone weight measurement. Whats wrong with kilos?

Why dont use potatoes instead of stones!

1kg equals 30 average size potatoes.

My weight is 3000 potatoes...

Doesnt make sense does it?
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Yes, the "stone" (14 pounds) is a British thing. In America, they still use the old "imperial" units but people state their weight in pounds, not stones. I went to primary school in England in the 1960s and we still had to learn all of the old units including not just inches, feet, yards and miles, but even "chains" and "furlongs." Back then we even had a special UK measurement for the oven. Instead of Fahrenheit or Celsius, it was "gas mark 4" or whatever. Perhaps those measurements are still being used!!!

Here in America the "cups" used in cooking are weird, but we have special graduated Perspex measuring jugs for those. We also have special little spoons for "teaspoons" and "tablespoons" as well as smaller spoons for sub-divisions of those spoons! Bonkers!

In my cookbooks here, there are conversion tables to convert these international units. Plus, don't even get me started on shoe sizes....

I was brought up mainly in France where the cooking is done by weight, in grams. Waaaaay easier.
 
bulkbiker said:
That is completely appalling advice for a Type 2.. like so much of diabetes.org.uk

  • 1 tablespoon of dried fruits
  • a medium size apple, pear or banana
would have my blood sugars through the roof..
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we're obviously all different .. i certainly don't eat dried fruit, but i usually have two pieces of fresh fruit every day, usually with full-fat yoghurt and nuts as part of a meal (i usually only have 2 meals a day). apples and pears are fine for me, as are berries. i don't go near bananas or grapes, if i'm really tempted i may have one segment of an orange or satsuma, but i generally avoid most other types of fruit - maybe the occasional small slice of mango as a treat if my husband has brought one into the house.
 
Robbieswan said:
I asked my HCP a week ago on this and she said it's important to have 5 portions of fruit and veg per day.. The grey area is what is a portion. She counted 2 x easy peel oranges as one portion, 1/4 of a banana is 1 portion, a whole small apple is one portion, but an entire punnet of berries counts as 3 of your 5 a day and as I have learnt on here, may not spike your blood sugar.
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I think that there is a big problem in the way it is said. We should say at least 5 portions of veg and fruit (not fruit and veg) - the veg is far more important than the fruit. So many people take it to be 5 lots of fruit a day and ignore the veg bit.

I have at least 5 portions of veg a day - the 2 portions of fruit I have is on top of the veg.

My dietitian talks a lot about portion sizes - which is also badly understood. A big supermarket banana is far too much - tiny kids ones can be OK. (As always test to see what works for you - I know that I am OK and when my BG hits the floor at 10am in the midst of a busy Nursery session a little banana gets me through to lunch)
 
Alexandra100 said:
I believe the American and English cups are somewhat different in size. I have accumulated several sets, but have no idea what nationality they are. I think the American fondness for cups as against weighing scales may be a hangover from the days of the covered waggons.
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I'm sure the American cup obsession is down to pioneer baking - no point lugging actual weights across the continent :)

I use cups for some things - easier to do my daily oats by cup than weight for example.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Portion size is very important, I agree, but so is keeping the amount of fructose down in order to help with insulin resistance. You can see how high up that chart the banana, apple and grapes are. It is also important to know that most fruit is very high on the insulin index (which is an index of how much insulin is needed to cope with it, and the more circulating insulin we have, the worse our insulin resistance will become. The choice of fruit is just as important as the portion size.

https://public.tableau.com/profile/christoffer.green#!/vizhome/InsulinogenicFoodData/Dashboard1
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Sorry - lost this thread as on phone in middle of Wales and the 4G is very ropy :)

I couldn't get the link working on my phone - but thanks for posting it :) I'll look it up when back home on Wi-Fi - though I'm sure it puts bananas and grapes up high.

I thought about restricting myself to just berries when I started low carbing, but decided that as long as I wasn't getting horrible spikes (and keeping the portion small ensures that for me) then I would stick with a variety.
 
Robbieswan said:
I asked my HCP a week ago on this and she said it's important to have 5 portions of fruit and veg per day.. The grey area is what is a portion. She counted 2 x easy peel oranges as one portion, 1/4 of a banana is 1 portion, a whole small apple is one portion, but an entire punnet of berries counts as 3 of your 5 a day and as I have learnt on here, may not spike your blood sugar.
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Scary stuff. Some poor soul- like my diabetic dad come to think of it- hears that, trusts it, then goes home and has 3 bananas and 2 apples a day to keep the doctor away.
 
Robbieswan said:
I asked my HCP a week ago on this and she said it's important to have 5 portions of fruit and veg per day.. The grey area is what is a portion. She counted 2 x easy peel oranges as one portion, 1/4 of a banana is 1 portion, a whole small apple is one portion, but an entire punnet of berries counts as 3 of your 5 a day and as I have learnt on here, may not spike your blood sugar.
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The whole 5 portions of fruit and veg a day is grey.
It seems to me to be rather arbitrary even if you ignore the diabetes/carb part. For example, I have heard that potatoes count as one of your 5 day in the Netherlands but the UK government says it doesn't because it feared we would use it to justify chips every day.
The way I interpret it is a guideline to ensure we consume a balance of nutrients every day. If all we ate was meat, we would be at risk of scurvy; if we have dark green veg, we get some iron; spinach, avocado or bananas gives us potassium; beta carotene from carrots and other orange fruit and veg is good for our skin, ...

It would be too complicated to tell us to eat so much iron, potassium, vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, ... but if eat a variety of fruit and veg there's a good chance we'll get what our body needs.
 
One of the world's top cardiologists, Salim Yusuf, an ex-president of the World Heart Federation, spoke about the 5 a day saying
“Where on earth did the concept that we should eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables come from?”
“Why not 4, why not 3, why not 6, why not 7? Is it all fruits, is it all vegetables, is it what kinds of fruits, what kinds of vegetables?”

He went on to say the figure was originally plucked out of the air when the Californian fruit and veg growers associations lobbied the powers that be.
 
To answer the good / bad? Question posed
I think fruit is no different to all other foods
- if your blood sugar response is within limits - good
If its not - bad
If you include the food as part of a balanced diet - good
If you eat a massive amount of one food type - bad
 
I think that some people get too caught up on that many low carbers cut out most fruit.
We forget that most vegetables have as many essential nutrients as fruit and usally don't raise BG
 
5 a day is an arbitrary number, but it works well as being memorable and an achievable target for people, which can only be a good thing. A good place to start for many people!
 
Alexandra100 said:
Cold you tell me more about what you eat around exercise? I do running and weight training (not on the same days) and I am struggling to work out how to fuel training and recovery. There seems to be lots of advice out there for those using insulin, but none for diet only T2s.
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I can tell you what I do, which is nothing special. I either eat once or twice a day. I ignore pre / post work out mantra, no protein shakes, nothing. I make sure I stretch properly to get the lactic out (this is generically important). The body will naturally replinish the glycogen in the muscles, and unless you are seriously bodybuilding timing isn't essential.

I eat berries, nuts, full fat yogurt, seeds, lots of spices, meat, fish in moderation (but sometimes a double portion on ocassions), loads of vegetables, squeezed lemon juice and pulp each morning, freshbrew coffee, teas, water.

I am able to do brisk walk 15 to 20 minutes, 30 minute gym class, and HiiT weights in a fasted state, eating at circa 16.00 if omad. I think once you are fat adapted this is so easy. I remember once viewing on youtube a Vegan strongman on omad and didn't believe it was possible, obviously I am a convert now. I pick when I eat once or twice (my non-diabetic wife also now easily does omad).
 
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