Type 2 Diabetes – Fruit: The Good And Bad Choices!
From the day you receive your diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, all you ever hear about is eating the right foods. Doctors and dietitians always preach a balanced diet. So fruit should be considered okay to eat, right? Well, some are and some aren’t. Even the quantity of the good choices have to sometimes be monitored. Unfortunately it is isn’t a simple matter to decipher.
Fruits are loaded with vitamins and minerals. Some fruits are even loaded with fiber and antioxidants which offer their own level of protection against certain disease. But fruit is also loaded with sugar. Even though it’s in the natural form, sugar is still sugar when it comes to diabetes.
The first rule with eating fruit is to stay away from canned versions. These are packed with added sugar, making them not only a bad choice, but actually dangerous in some instances. If you absolutely have to eat canned fruit, do so in moderation and take a good look at the label before you open the can. Canned fruits that have a low sugar content or light syrup are the best choices. Watch out for terms that manufacturers use to disguise the word “sugar”.
The second rule is to go with natural choices, meaning fresh whenever possible. It isn’t always feasible to go to the store every time you run out of fruit, but you can still stock up and freeze fruit before it can go bad. Fresh fruit is the most nutritious and hasn’t been altered with additives, preservative, or more sugar.
You can also go with dried fruit as long as it hasn’t been altered by the manufacturer. Some makers will add sugar or high fructose corn syrup in the dehydration process so that the snack will be more appealing to the taste. Make your selection as natural as possible. Better yet, you can purchase a dehydrator and make your own snacks that have a longer shelf life.
The third rule is to go with frozen fruits. These are not only usually all natural but they keep considerably longer. Plus, they are excellent for smoothies. Adding some protein powder or nuts can give you the protein that you need to offset the sugar content.
The fourth rule is to use the glycemic index (GI). Diabetics often have an innocently distorted view as to which fruits are good for you and which ones have to be portioned. Using the glycemic index takes all of the guesswork out of it. Also, there are many factors which help determine your body’s glycemic response to fruit:
the physical form of fruit, for example a whole apple versus applesauce: mashing foods tends to give them a higher glycemic index or load.
also, the riper the fruit, the higher its glycemic index.
