Key Pointers:
- If you do have diabetes, eliminating fruits with high GI is not necessary; what is necessary is to consume them in moderate amounts.
- It is better to pair a fruit with some protein source to reduce the glucose spike.
- Consuming diabetes-friendly fruits is very important as they provide you with disease-fighting microbes and are also responsible for a better gut biome.
Getting to know what to eat and what not to eat is a must in stabilizing your diabetes and controlling your blood sugar levels. While fruits are generally healthy to eat, some can cause a spike in glucose and blood sugar levels. Growing misinformation in today’s day and age of social media and technology is causing harm to several people's diets.
Understanding the glycemic index and nutritional values of fruits might be a bit confusing and difficult to understand. While some fruits might be good in moderation, in high doses they might be harmful. The Glycemic Index (GI) is a way to rank how much time carbohydrate-containing foods take to digest and increase or decrease your blood sugar level. There are 3 levels in the Glycemic Index, which are:
- Low Glycemic Index (1 to 55): This type of food helps in losing weight, keeping your blood sugar levels low, and helping you to maintain your diabetes. Fruits like apples, peaches, green apples, pears, blueberries, and apricots are some examples of low-glycemic-index fruits. They can be taken in good quantities regularly.
- Medium GI (56 to 69): This type of food helps in blood sugar management and appetite control. Fruits like raw bananas, pineapple, and papaya are some medium-GI fruits. These fruits can be taken in moderation on alternate days.
- High GI (70 and above): These kinds of foods can immediately spike up your blood sugar levels. They can also be responsible for low energy levels, higher chances of cancer, and blood sugar level spikes for people with hyperglycemia (diabetes). Fruits like watermelon, raisins, over ripened bananas or over ripened papaya, and lychee (canned syrup) are some high-GI fruits.
Glycemic load (GL): It is a number that estimates how much a food will raise a person's blood glucose levels after eating it.
GL = (GI x {amount of carbohydrates} / 100)
Only looking at GI might be a bit misleading; it is also important to look at its glycemic load, servings, and nutritional values.
Because it gives a better picture of how a food will impact your blood sugar levels.
Fruits to feast and control
Fruits are packed with vitamins, minerals, iron, fibers, and disease-fighting phytochemicals. You can eat some carbs, like fruits, even with diabetes. There is no particular “Worst Fruit to eat in diabetes”, if eaten in moderation every fruit is the best fruit in diabetes. Your body quickly converts this carbohydrate to glucose. But being packed with shreds of fiber in every bite, the fructose present in fruits, when taken as whole, doesn’t cause the harm as it does in fruit juices or fructose-rich syrups.
There are many fruits you can enjoy on a day-to-day basis, and others you have to keep in moderation. Studies show a high intake of fruit is responsible for a 7% lower risk of diabetes. Differentiating between them can help you feast on your favorites and control the ones with high GI and sugar content levels. We are going to look into it.
APPLE
You remember the line, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Well, that is true. The GI index of apples is 36. A medium-sized apple is a great fruit choice, with 95 calories, 17 g of carbs, and about 4 g of fiber, making it a great choice. It also has some vitamin C, which may help to slow the progression of diabetes and its complications.
BANANA
Unripened bananas have something called resistant starch, which helps in reducing insulin resistance and blood sugar; they also have a low GI. For diabetes, unripened bananas can be good, but ripened bananas can immediately spike up your sugars.
WATERMELON
While the GI of watermelon is 70. It can be taken in moderate amounts. Under 120g watermelon has a low glycemic load of 5, which comes under low GL. But not just that, it also has lycopene, which is an important antioxidant providing better cardiovascular health. But that doesn’t mean that you can take watermelon juice on a day-to-day basis. By juicing it, you increase the glycemic index and glycemic load of the fruit.
MANGO
Mango is always considered the “worst offender” in many Indian households for diabetes. Diabetes patients can eat one slice to half a mango in one sitting according to their blood sugar levels. Mango contains 7% of the daily fiber needed, which slows down the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream; they are also one of the best sources of Vitamin A in summer. The consumption of the fruit must be under 15 grams of carbs.
AVOCADO
Avocados contain 22 g of fat, making some people believe that it’s harmful to our health. Well, that’s not true at all. What avocado contains is one of the best healthy fats, which provides better heart health. And naturally, they contain 0 g of natural sugar, which doesn’t affect your sugar at all.
ORANGES
Oranges contain both vitamin C and fiber, making them a perfect fruit to eat for diabetes with a GI of 43 to 52. Eating one orange would fulfill your daily vitamin C. They also contain folate, which helps us to make RBCs. It contains almost 3 g of fiber, making it perfect for our gut health. But don’t forget that you can’t compare the whole orange and orange juice because orange juice contains almost no fiber and leads to that sudden jump in your sugars.
KIWI
Kiwi is a lightweight fruit that consists of vitamins C and K and potassium. It has about 11 g of carbs, making its GI about 52. Vitamin C helps our immune health and skin health, while Vitamin K helps in blood clotting and bone health. On the other hand, potassium helps in better heart function and muscle health, making it a perfect fruit for people with diabetes.
CONCLUSION
While adding fruits to your diet is always beneficial, adding fruits with a high glycemic index might need a little bit of extra attention and moderation. While
fruits do contain sugars, they are also packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other important things that our body needs for a better heart, muscles, and overall well-being.
Adding fruits like unripened bananas, Kiwis, avocados, plums, peaches, berries, etc. will help to control your diabetes and slow down its several symptoms.
Consulting a certified diabetes expert or dietitian will help you understand what fruit you can feast on for which fruit you need a little bit of moderation.
