What fruit is ok ?

If you're trying to cut the carbs ideally you need to stick with berries...blueberries...raspberries and strawberries. If you're following LCHF a handful of berries and a dollop of cream is a delicious treat.

Hi Claire. Natalie's advice is good. There is a book called Carbs & Cals (Amazon, usually) which lists carbs for all kinds of food including fruit and shows pictures of various amounts for a quick check without having to weigh.
Bananas are especially dodgy. Grapes are sugar bombs but obviously smaller. I prefer not to eat even one.
Tomatoes (technically fruit) are not so bad and I have a cherry tom as a sweet, or four with a meal.
Up to you. It's all a learning curve!

Some diabetics are more intolerant to fructose (the sugar in fruit) than others. You will only know how your blood sugars react by using a home glucose meter, which if you haven't got one I strongly advise you to buy. It is recommended that fruit is eaten as part of a meal rather than between meals as a snack. Berries are the best choice, but only a few, not a whole punnet full. A full fat plain yogurt or a couple of dollops of double cream is delicious with 3 or 4 berries added. Bananas and grapes are usually a no-no for most of us.

@Brunneria is a smoothie person so she can advise. Smoothies are smashed-up food so whatever's in them is digested faster. So I guess she will advise green stuff and some fat (cream?) with the fruit.

Hi!

(Thanks @DeejayR )

Have a read of this thread
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/in-praise-of-green-smoothies.70800/

It explains, with links, how to build a smoothie that allows you to enjoy fruit without the bad impact of the sugars - but you do need to be willing to blend in veg, and test your blood glucose to see how your blood glucose reacts. Then you can tweak the recipe til you find one that works.

Have a read, and if you have any questions, let rip.

ClaireLou94 said:

i am newly diagnosed and I am struggling with what fruit is ok to eat? as I have been told fruit is full of sugar?

I have been eating water melon, honeydew melon, apples, bananas, raspberry's, strawberry's, pears, kiwi, grapes, cherries?

Should I not be having this many or should I try and cut back ?

Thanks in advance guys!

Claire

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I have found by testing my BGs before and 2 hours after that I can eat berries and apples safely, with a meal. This is good because I love apples! These fruits grow in the relatively cooler climate of the UK (and NZ), whereas tropical fruit that grows in a warmer climate is usually high carb.

All great advise Claire, I was advised by my Doctor to cut out Bananas, grapes, and other sugary fruits so i can lower my BG. I lately learned that pears is also on the list... apples and oranges seem to be OK so i have one every now and then.. i usually eat blueberries when i can find them but on a whole fruits and juices are a high factor as i have learned... when i am tired of drinking just water with meals i put about two tea spoons of juice in a glass of water for taste!!!!

Berries for Antioxidants

Whether you love blueberries, strawberries, or any other type of berries, you have the go-ahead to indulge. According to the ADA, berries are a diabetes superfood because they're packed with antioxidants, vitamins, and fiber and are low-carb

Tart Cherries to Fight Inflammation

Cherries are a low-carb, low-GI choice and can safely be included in your diabetic diet. Twelve sweet cherries have 59 calories and 14 grams of carbohydrates, but tart cherries might be an especially good choice.

Peaches for Potassium

Fragrant, juicy peaches are a warm-weather treat and can be included in your low-carb diabetic diet. Peaches contain vitamins A and C, potassium, and fiber.

Apricots for Fiber

Sweet, low-carb apricots are a summer fruit staple and a wonderful addition to your diabetes meal plan. One apricot has just 17 calories and 4 grams of carbohydrates.

Apples for Vitamins

An apple a day really might keep the doctor away. Toss one in your purse or tote bag if you're on the go — a small apple is a great fruit choice, with just 54 calories and 14 carb grams.

Oranges for Vitamin C

Eat one orange and you've gotten all the vitamin C you need in a day. This low-carb, low GI choice comes in at only 15 grams of carbohydrates and 62 calories.

Pears for Potassium and Fiber

Pears are a low-carb fruit and a wise addition to your diabetes meal plan. They are a good source of potassium and fiber.

Low-Carb Kiwi

If you've never tried a low-carb kiwi, you might not know that its brown fuzzy peel hides a zesty bright green fruit. Delicious kiwi is a good source of potassium, fiber, and vitamin C.

tvlicencenumber said:

Berries for Antioxidants


Low-Carb Kiwi

If you've never tried a low-carb kiwi, you might not know that its brown fuzzy peel hides a zesty bright green fruit. Delicious kiwi is a good source of potassium, fiber, and vitamin C.

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Kiwi fruit . I, on the other hand, am a low-carb Kiwi! (Referring to the folk who hail from Kiwiland.) (A kiwi is also a bird - but I am just throwing that in for interest.)

I love that list. Many thanks.

As a low-carber I pay close attention to the carb levels of fruit. But I do want to bring up the issue of the gut biome, as I believe it will come into focus more and more as hugely important in diet-related illnesses such T2D, as time goes on.

Different folk have different gut biomes - different little greeblies in their guts helping out (or not as the sad case may be) with digestion and so on. You can even make an argument that humans are just a very complex transporter for those greeblies that depend on us and we depend on them for our health. (I enjoy that argument.) Your gut biome is dependent on many complex factors but one obvious one is the food consumed (and grown to boot) in your food environment/country. This can be wildly different! Lest we forget, in this global environment of the internet. (And as someone who lives in two countries on different sides of the world, IRL, with vastly different climates I am extremely aware of this.) That is a long-winded way of saying - people from different countries can have different tolerances for different foods! And for we diabetics, I suspect rather strongly, this includes fruit and its spiking-ability. And different kinds of fruit of course.

It makes sense that northern europeans have a gut biome very well suited to berries, as that is the fruit that grows in this region of the world. Ditto apples. So as well as being low-carb (yay!), northern european guts, and guts brought up on northern european food, digest it well. Wonder food that apples are.

As the currently low-carb Kiwi I am, I grew up with sub-tropical fruit growing freely in the backyard. (My NZ - Aotearoa - is not the same 'relatively cooler climate' as some might see it apparently - see how complicated a gut biome and fruit issue can be for we transglobal diabetics! .) (Not to mention how complex post-colonialism can be! Especially when it comes to food, and perceptions of climate.) But I believe this is why my poor old sad case diabetic gut can take a bit more sub/tropical fruit perhaps (especially when swimming in fats), than someone who lived without plantain bananas, grapes and passionfruit growing out the back.

Diabetics in the tropics and the subtropics - we need your input about fruit!

Oh yes - I read somewhere that passionfruit has a relatively low carb level too - I bought four of them yesterday in celebration. (Yeah - imported from Kiwiland!) It makes sense, I guess, tarter fruit is lower carb. Yay for tarter fruit!

Hhmmm @AloeSvea

I would love to love your gut biome theory - and there are a lot of gut biome theories that make perfect sense.
But in this case, I am not sure.
My understanding that all the wee bugs in our guts need food, and sometimes very specific foods.
During starvation (such as the Newcastle Diet) or comprehensive/restricted dietary changes huge colonies of them die out, and new ones come to prominence in the new gut environment.

For instance, I was once persuaded to do a major cleanse using magnesium by an alternative practictioner.
Great idea.
Interesting experience.
Where it fell down was that the plonker didn't make useful suggestions as to how to rebuild a healthy gut biome afterwards.

This is why I strongly suggest that people make efforts to repopulate their gut after illness, severe diets and such. And it really isn't just about Acidophilus. It is about a wide variety of foods, veg, salads, some raw, good cheeses, etc. etc.

So (sorry about the ramble), while I would love to think that we carry our gut biome origins with us from childhood, but I think they often get swamped by new environment colonies, dependent on the new climate, change in foods, illnesses and so on. We can get 'infected' by other people's gut biomes too.

Brunneria said:

Hhmmm @AloeSvea

I would love to love your gut biome theory - and there are a lot of gut biome theories that make perfect sense.
But in this case, I am not sure.
My understanding that all the wee bugs in our guts need food, and sometimes very specific foods.
During starvation (such as the Newcastle Diet) or comprehensive/restricted dietary changes huge colonies of them die out, and new ones come to prominence in the new gut environment.

For instance, I was once persuaded to do a major cleanse using magnesium by an alternative practictioner.
Great idea.
Interesting experience.
Where it fell down was that the plonker didn't make useful suggestions as to how to rebuild a healthy gut biome afterwards.

This is why I strongly suggest that people make efforts to repopulate their gut after illness, severe diets and such. And it really isn't just about Acidophilus. It is about a wide variety of foods, veg, salads, some raw, good cheeses, etc. etc.

So (sorry about the ramble), while I would love to think that we carry our gut biome origins with us from childhood, but I think they often get swamped by new environment colonies, dependent on the new climate, change in foods, illnesses and so on. We can get 'infected' by other people's gut biomes too.

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I think it is really important that we talk about this - so very appreciative of your input. And very interesting indeed! It shows how hugely complex this subject , and really how important? this is.

For me personally, I am not just talking about my gut biome from childhood - I travel to and fro my home country fairly regularly. So I switch from subarctic to subtropical on a relatively regular basis, and getting my greeblies - gee I hope - from these very different regions. (Ask me anything about vitamin D! - my knowledge is boundless.) And why I am particularly interested in 'Fruit and the T2 Diabetic' - probably. (And the sun! Which is a related topic.)

I agree with you on the importance of repopulating the gut after illnesses/as a T2 diabetic - and very interesting what you say about the extreme dieting - I didn't know that. (I did the VL and L CD with real food, so I am hoping my wee greeblies were happy during that time - especially with Swedish kimchi!) (Korean style fermented cabbage - and a great probiotic I believe. I hope!) (And I ate fruit the entire time, just teeny tiny amounts.)

I believe my journey with insulin resistance all began after a few years of antibiotic use as a young woman - yeah - with gut biome wipe-out. So I really hear you on this one. (I use this tit-bit to reassure every close and extended family member that genes are not destiny! ie as the only full-blown T2 diabetic in the gene pool, so far.)

I will follow up on the infection by other's gut biomes - wo ho! Any links?

Hi Claire

Raspberries
Strawberries
Blueberries
Blackberries

Are the only fruits I will now eat.

Careful with how many though! Use a meter to see how much you're able to consume, measure before and 2hrs after eating to determine the ffect. I would repeat the measure a few more times to give yourself confidence that the reading is accurate.

I always use scales and measure my fruit out. I will typically measure 30g (about 10 large raspeberries) as a portion.

@AloeSvea

No links, i'm afraid, haven't saved them.

But (and heaven knows where i picked this factoid up) i thought babies started off their gut biome at birth, during the birth process, from their mother. I won't go into detail.

And there was some media furore a couple of years ago where animals (mice i think) were 'infected' with T2 when they were given fecal matter from T2 mice.

And coming into contact with fecal matter is pretty easy, isn't it? Although we may not like to think about it. Food prep. Bathrooms. Sex.

Nuff said, I think.
Not fair to derail @ClaireLou94 's thread on fruit

Sorry Clairelou, i've lowered the tone a bit!

I think we can only determine for ourselves by using our meters (and our common sense!) how our bodies react to various fruits. I can certainly manage the usual berries including gooseberries, and occasional cherries, greengages, plums, apricots, nectarines, figs and kiwi fruit, a tiny taste of orange, and 1/3 to 1/2 an apple, all generally eaten with cream or yoghurt after a meal. I try to limit myself to between 50 and 100 grams weight of fruit - depending on how virtuous I'm feeling. Time of day will sometimes affect how how I react to fruit - e.g blueberries and yoghurt for breakfast are not too good a choice.

Robbity

I think you should eat whatever fruit you are able to some say they can only manage a few berries without raising BG some can eat a wider range so test to see what suits you

ClaireLou94 said:

Whenever I have eaten berries or any fruit for this matter my levels have never been higher that 8.1, I don't know if this is bad and if I should stop ?

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It all depends what level you were before you ate the fruit, how long after starting to eat you were 8.1, and what else you ate/drank.