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Suggestions to replace fruit please

O

Ollie88

Active Member
Messages
32
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
My husband is newly diagnosed and has given up all sweets and foods with added sugar (a tremendous sacrifice on his part) but is still eating apples and bananas as his snack of choice.
 
Berries are good...any kind.. strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries... Also blackcurrants.
 
The warmer the place that the fruit grows in, the worse it is for blood sugar. As @Kezzer4321 said berries are best. Apples are not too bad but test to find out. Cherries, plums, pears can be ok.
 
Ollie88 said:
My husband is newly diagnosed and has given up all sweets and foods with added sugar (a tremendous sacrifice on his part) but is still eating apples and bananas as his snack of choice.
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first he needs to join the forum when he's ready
a meter to see what his bloods are doing
http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/blood_glucose_monitor_testing.htm

I've put a link to low carb snacks and some others worth looking at
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/whattoeat/a/snacks.htm
boiled eggs, almonds, cheese, anything else he likes that doesn't have carbs, for a snack

I have read that diabetics shouldn't eat much fruit
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3833672/
Endogenous fructose production and metabolism in the liver contributes to the development of metabolic syndrome

consider going on a low carb higher fat diet. reduceses blood glucose and loses weight if required
it’s a long page and a few good video’s
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
For me, the more carbs we eat the more carbs we want. they don’t give up easy
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/firstweek.htm
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Agree with all the replies, but bananas can be dynamite. try avodacodes
 
Yes reducing the quantity of fruit and replace with nuts is better as is berries, any nuts are prob better than fruit, almonds are good, check the net and your pocket to work out what is best for you. Some nuts like cashews are light so you get more volume per weight.

He should do his own research and make a hobby out of it.

I eat a banana per day because I was low on potassium.
 
I have seen the new Introduction and think it is brilliant. I've printed it off to read again. We do use berries, mostly frozen in green smoothies, but it's the immediacy of the Apple and banana, coming as they do in their own wrapping. If he were a hunter/gatherer he would be among the group being gathered for.

We have an Aviva AccuChek ready to go but not taken the second step of actually trying it out yet.

Grateful for suggestions and we are taking the changeover seriously.
 
My husband (75) is relatively new to the world of computers but he learning fast and looking stuff up for himself. Nuts are good if he has his teeth in!
 
Ollie88 said:
My husband (75) is relatively new to the world of computers but he learning fast and looking stuff up for himself. Nuts are good if he has his teeth in!
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have a look at the LC snack link I put in my quote for ideas
or..put the raw almonds in a processor, add some almond oil, whizz for a few minutes and make a nut cream :)
 
It's worth making up your usual green smoothie, incl apple or banana, and testing your blood glucose before, and then every 30 mins for a couple of hours.

I find that a 60:40 veg:fruit blend, even with pineapple or apple, will not raise me by even 2.0 mmol/l.
I usually drink 4-500ml at a time.

Adding avocado, nuts or oils to the smoothie will slightly slow the absorption.
 
My doctor always says a well-educated diabetic can eat anything - if you eat it in moderation and know how to include it into your diet and lifestyle. :)

Fruit contains sugar, but it's fructose, which has GI 19, lowest of all natural sugars. You have to control the amount you eat, of course, but there;s not need to give up fruit completely - not even apples and bananas. With apples it depends on how sweet they are, but in average about 70 grams of apple (1/4 - 1/2 of an apple, depending on the size) contains 10 grams of sugar. For banana, 10 grams of sugar is in 50 gram serving.

People react differently to different food, so it's best to test your blood before and after each food you're not certain about. E.g. for me, apples are not good in the evening, because my BG drops too low - two times I was on the verge of hypo was when I had only apples for dinner; bananas, on the other hand, will make my BG jump up in the evening, but if I eat one small banana and drink a glass of milk for breakfast, it's fine.

Berries and nuts are low-carb - but be aware that they're not carb-free. I was recommended not to eat more than 50 - 60 grams per day, and even that not all at once.
 
All great advice, thank you. I may need to ask this elsewhere but can BG be tested for a certain food at any time during the day or just first thing in the morning?
 
Ollie88 said:
All great advice, thank you. I may need to ask this elsewhere but can BG be tested for a certain food at any time during the day or just first thing in the morning?
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you normally test before and 2 hr after eating and try to have less than 2mm rise to see if the meal is working for you
blood testing
http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php
 
Sigalit said:
My doctor always says a well-educated diabetic can eat anything - if you eat it in moderation and know how to include it into your diet and lifestyle. :)

Fruit contains sugar, but it's fructose, which has GI 19, lowest of all natural sugars. You have to control the amount you eat, of course, but there;s not need to give up fruit completely - not even apples and bananas. With apples it depends on how sweet they are, but in average about 70 grams of apple (1/4 - 1/2 of an apple, depending on the size) contains 10 grams of sugar. For banana, 10 grams of sugar is in 50 gram serving.

People react differently to different food, so it's best to test your blood before and after each food you're not certain about. E.g. for me, apples are not good in the evening, because my BG drops too low - two times I was on the verge of hypo was when I had only apples for dinner; bananas, on the other hand, will make my BG jump up in the evening, but if I eat one small banana and drink a glass of milk for breakfast, it's fine.

Berries and nuts are low-carb - but be aware that they're not carb-free. I was recommended not to eat more than 50 - 60 grams per day, and even that not all at once.
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I agree with your Dr, everything in moderation and nothing in excess of your body's needs or tolerance and your choice of a few berries as fruit is done a lot here

discovered around 2010..when it comes to fructose, a T2 can self produce up to 10 times more than a normal person fructose, through the polyol pathway converting glucose to fructose..
fructose can mainly be processed by the liver and can add to fatty liver, something most T2 already have trouble with

dietary fructose
 
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Ollie88 said:
All great advice, thank you. I may need to ask this elsewhere but can BG be tested for a certain food at any time during the day or just first thing in the morning?
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You can test at any time of day.

If you want to get the best idea of what a single food does, you need to test, as Jack says, before eating it, and then again 2 hours after. And it is always best to test a food several times. Sometimes factors like stress, lack of sleep, etc can affect the results a bit.

It's best to start off with your 'normal' portion size, see what effect that has, and then if your meter shows too high a rise, try again with a smaller portion. You may find some foods you need to avoid all together.

The more testing you do, the more your knowledge grows, and the more subtle you learn to be.
For instance, it has taken me a year to discover (to my delight) that I can tolerate carb containing foods better for supper than for breakfast. So I eat a carb free breakfast like cheese, bacon and eggs or coffee with cream. Then, for my evening meal, I can include berries for desert. But if I had those berries at breakfast, they would send my blood glucose higher.


As you will learn, it is more an art than a science, but it is incredibly useful, and worth every test, because each one adds to your understanding of how your body works.

Hope that helps.
 
My husband is 82 diagnosed T2 in the summer after his routine annual blood test not very high BG levels just over 7 at two blood tests GP thinks he has developed it because he takes steriods. All his life he has had a really big sweet tooth so to give up the sugar stuff was really hard for him. He used to eat 3 to 4 bananas a day and now still has a banana or a pear as dessert with his evening meal with plain greek yogurt the only fruit he likes other than satsumas which he does still eat says he is to old now to give up any more stuff. His 3 month blood test still showed his BG at just over 7 so the nurse was satisfied with that
 
jack412 said:
I agree with your Dr, everything in moderation and nothing in excess of your body's needs or tolerance and your choice of a few berries as fruit is done a lot here

discovered around 2010..when it comes to fructose, a T2 can self produce up to 10 times more than a normal person fructose, through the polyol pathway converting glucose to fructose..
fructose can mainly be processed by the liver and can add to fatty liver, something most T2 already have trouble with dietary fructose
Click to expand...

Yes, that's why I said you need to control how much fruit you eat. The video also says that when people got fructose from natural sources - fruit and veggies, some 15 grams per day, everything was fine. It was when fructose was started to be added into other food, for taste or browning, and the consumption increased several times, that the problems started.

That's not the fault of fructose. That's our own fault and responsibility. It's easy and popular to blame the Evil Food Industry, but hey - we're in 2014. Anyone who still believes food ads made by industry deserves what they get. Information is only a few clicks away (at least in countries like US, UK, EU). If we are ignorant about effects of the food, it's because we choose to be ignorant. We don't want to hear, we don't want to know, because we don't want to give up what we like. Until it's too late. Maybe it's different in developing countries, but let's not hide behind them.

And I'm saying that as someone who moved from 'obese' to 'overweight' BMI index just two weeks ago. It WAS my fault (my choice, my sloth and my gluttony) and I don't need anyone to console me it's just 'biochemistry'. Nobody forced me to eat McDonalds and drink coke (and I used to drink 2 litres per day). I always was a bit overweight (I have polycystic ovary syndrome), but when I became obese, it was my own gluttony and sloth.

I now eat MORE fruit than I used to before I was diagnosed. I eat about 200 grams of fruit every day. I also eat lot more veggies and fish. I cut DOWN on carbs, meat and nuts (I thought I was doing good thing for my health, but I was eating three times more than recommended per day). And my BG is constantly decreasing, as is my weight. It's slow, yes - because of muscle gain, and because I actually put on some weight first when I started with insulin (I was dehydrated due to high BG). But it's continuous, and I dropped from 'obese' to 'overweight' BMI two weeks ago.
 
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