Prediabeties and fruit

[New2923]

Hi,

Extremely contradictory info online regarding what fruits I can have. Some say great to have oranges, bananas etc etc. Then others say no, they are high GI. Very confusing. Any ideas?

 

[Mbaker]

Hi,

Extremely contradictory info online regarding what fruits I can have. Some say great to have oranges, bananas etc etc. Then others say no, they are high GI. Very confusing. Any ideas?

Many have found blueberries, strawberries, raspberries & blackberries work well, I do 80 - 100 grams most days of these. I have found that apples for example increased my postprandial numbers by 0.7 mmol. Bananas I would suggest are a disaster zone for most people, even non-diabetics rise to numbers that would raise an eyebrow (they just drop the peak quicker).

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Hi,

Extremely contradictory info online regarding what fruits I can have. Some say great to have oranges, bananas etc etc. Then others say no, they are high GI. Very confusing. Any ideas?

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/fruits is a site that shows you how much sugar is in fruit... Which is very telling. I tend to stick with berries for rare occasions, and avoid everything else.

As for contradiction about ANYTHING concerning diabetes... Get a meter, and test around a meal. Test before you have anything and 2 hours after the first bite. If there's a rise of no more and preferably less than 2.0 mmol/l between those numbers, the meal was alright and your body could process is. Above that, and it was too much for it to handle. Don't believe strangers on the internet, believe what your own blood says.

 

[Robbity]

We all have differencet tolerances and requirements, so you need to find what your body will accept rather than be ruled absolutetly by other opnions - including mine! Use your meter to test and try to keep within your chosen or recommended daily carbs allowances

I've never bothered with GI data at all. but essentially just avoid fruit with high sugary carb content. Bananas (which before diabetes were my main go-to source for potassium), other high carb fresh fruit, dried fruit, or sweetened tinned fuit, are what I definitely choose to keep off-limits now. But in addition the usual recommended limited selection of berries, I eat a somewhat wider variety of mainly in-season fruit - including rhubarb, gooseberries, black and red currants, for example.... However, I still aim to keep to lower carb options, and/or have smaller portions to help keep my glucose levels down, and I definitely use my meter as a guide.

 

[KennyA]

Hi,

Extremely contradictory info online regarding what fruits I can have. Some say great to have oranges, bananas etc etc. Then others say no, they are high GI. Very confusing. Any ideas?

I have never found GI to be of any use. Carbs with the same GI have totally different effects on my BG; carbs with widely different GIs have the same. So...I ignore it.

Fruit tends to be high in sugars, particularly fructose. I eat vegetables but next to no fruit - the exception being a few berries (strawberries, raspeberries, blackberries) maybe about once a month? I haven't eaten an orange or a banana in three and a half years and don't intend to, because of the sugar they contain. One apple (if I ate apples) would take me to just about my daily carb total intake.

The problem with "online advice" is that much of what you read only parrots the official advice to "eat lots of fruit and starchy carbohydrate" introduced in the 1980s. This was intended to address a predicted rise in heart disease (which didn't happen because people stopped smoking) but has (IMO) contributed directly to the rise in obesity and T2 diabetes we've had since then. The official NHS advice which you can find here

Eating a balanced diet

Find out about the major food groups and how to balance them for a healthy diet.

www.nhs.uk

still advises that starchy foods (ie carbohydrate) should make up a third of what you eat, and is still focussed on calories (ie energy).

However - those of us who are either diagnosed T2 diabetic or have blood sugars out of normal range (ie pre-diabetic) by definition have a problem managing even low levels of carb intake. To follow the recommended high carb diet will inevitably stress our systems further, leading to increased glucose in the bloodstream, higher insulin levels, and increased bodyfat. I don't think any of these are good outcomes.

 

[HSSS]

As well as higher glucose caused spikes fruit has fructose. That doesn’t show on a meter. Fructose in excess will however contribute to non alcoholic fatty liver as the only place excess fructose can be stored is around the liver, a condition all too common alongside type 2 and that makes it worse over time. Indeed many management styles are aimed at reducing fat around the organs to restore insulin sensitivity and production.

So I’d agree with all the above and keep fruit in small amounts (as would have happened seasonally in nature historically) and keep to the lower carb ones too. All the micronutrients we are encouraged to eat fruit for (as well as to replace more harmful junk) are available in vegetables too but without the fructose and often less carbs.

One little tip is to use courgette as a replacement for cooked apples. Seriously. With a tiny bit of sweetener, ooodles of cinnamon and a grain free granola or nut flour crumble topping it fools my entire family. It is “slightly” different but not enough for them to believe me when I told them the truth