Are you a diabetic patient? Your doctor suggests you to avoid eating more carbohydrates or fruits that have a high carbohydrate level? But you also know fresh fruits are full of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and fibers and it is necessary to live a healthier life. No worries, about this matter when it comes to diabetic consumption of fruits, there are numerous fruits that you can easily eat and also control the blood glucose level. The people were mostly confused, in the choice of fruits and thought it may affect blood glucose levels. There are many confusing things that become the cause of misleading. This content helps you to decide what fruits you can eat if you have diabetes which fruits fulfill your body nutrition, fibers, vitamin, and protein demand by controlling your blood sugar level and how you can measure the sugar level in fruits because it is important to know which fruits give you benefits and which type of fruits affect you most and spike the blood glucose level. Let’s find what are friendly fruits for diabetes!
Overview
Diabetes is considered a chronic disease and if you do not treat it properly then there is a chance it becomes serious. Mostly diabetes happens when your pancreas does not secrete the insulin in enough quantity and the cell becomes resistant to insulin. Your sugar is not stored in cells and it may lead to complications. Even though obesity also leads to diabetes. If you are overweight and not maintain the ideal body weight, your blood glucose is not getting normalized. Your food and fruit consumption plays an important role to regulate your blood glucose level. If you have diabetes, then you avoid fruits or foods that have large amounts of carbohydrates because if you eat carbohydrates in excess, there are chances that your blood glucose spikes. The people with diabetes are conscious about their diet and avoid fruits because they thought if they eat fruits, their glucose level will rise in the blood.
Whenever you consume carbohydrates, your body breaks down this carbohydrate into sugar which is used as an important fuel when it enters your blood. But the diabetic patients whose blood sugar is not working effectively or efficiently do not eat the carbohydrate because there is a chance to raise your blood sugar range. Diabetic patients need special attention to their diet and they need to maintain their blood sugar level by limiting the carbs which are present in grains or fruits.
Fruits are essential for living a healthier life but unfortunately, people who have diabetes restrict themselves in the diet to control the blood sugar level in a healthy range. The fruit is a form of carbohydrate which contains amounts of sugar, and it may be high in the blood sugar level. While fruits also rich in fiber have antioxidant properties, boost the metabolism, source of vitamin C, and so on that helps you to stay healthier by maintaining a level of blood sugar. Consuming fibers helps you to prevent type-II diabetes and maintain your blood sugar level.
Diabetes and Fruits
When you are searching for a diabetes-friendly treat that regulates your blood sugar level then fruits show an effective result to maintain your blood sugar level in a healthy range. Research by the American Diabetes Association suggested that lots of fruits are full of vitamins, fibers, minerals that are good for you because they act as powerful nutrients that help to maintain the level of blood sugar while decreasing the risk of diabetes. On the other hand, many vegetables are also rich in high fibers to prevent diabetes. Studies show the fruits that are rich in fibers, vitamins, help the diabetic patient by prompting the desires for fullness that increase insulin sensitivity, and helps to manage diabetes.
The matter is how you can choose the best fruit to manage diabetes? Keep in mind some fruits and their juices are not good for diabetic patients, it gives bad impact on their health and fails to maintain the blood sugar level. So you should choose your fruit very carefully and after concerning your doctor. The fruits such as citrus, apricot, apple, berries, as well as pears are good for maintaining your A1C which is considered as the most popular diabetic myth (blood test for evaluating diabetes and measure blood glucose level). A1C is the test that basically shows whether you maintain your blood glucose level or not? These fruits help to fight against the inflammations, promote healing purposes, maintain blood glucose, normalize blood pressure, and more.
If you are a diabetic patient then you should become smart to count your carbohydrate level and track your food consumption very effectively. You should avoid the syrups, processed fruits in which sugar is added, and just consume the fruits in natural form. You should use a glycemic index which is assigned from 0 to 100 which shows how the foods or carbohydrate levels affect your blood glucose.
If you follow this step then you can maintain your blood glucose level by decreasing the risk of diabetes including other diseases such as nerve damage, eyesight problem, kidney diseases because these all are linked with diabetes that increases the risk of diabetic neuropathy, cataract, glaucoma, and other heart diseases. When it comes to diabetes main thing is that what are the friendly fruits for diabetes?
List of Fruits For Diabetic patients
When it becomes a matter of eating fruit in diabetes, then you don’t take tension because there are lots of fruits that you can easily take in diabetes and control your blood sugar level to solve your query about what are the friendly-fruits for diabetes?. The list of fruits that you can eat in diabetes are:
1. Grapefruits
Grapefruit is rich in vitamin-C which is beneficial for diabetic patients. It may help to lower the blood glucose level and it may also be a powerful antioxidant with low levels of calories but high in nutrients. Grapefruit helps diabetic patients to prevent insulin resistance by reducing the risk of kidney stones. Grapefruits help prevent high blood glucose levels.
If you are taking diabetic medication, then you should be concerned with your doctor for taking advice on how you can consume the grapefruit (either by eating or drinking). You should avoid artificial grapefruit juices in which sugar is added in good amounts because it may increase the risk of diabetes.
2. Cherries
Your issue what are the friendly-fruits are easily sought out when you are choosing cherries in your diabetes meal. Cherries are rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties that are beneficial for diabetic patients. Cherries are also having high potassium levels. It may help to fight against inflammation and boost your immune system and prevent hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and facilitate weight loss. One cup of cherries consists of 50-52 calories with 12.5 carbs that help to fight against inflammation and prompt healing.
You should use cherries by the suggestion of your doctor and take them in fresh form. Even though the dried or canned form of cherries have an excess amount of sugar that spike your blood glucose level. You should check the label or read the prescription properly before use.
3. Apricots
Apricots have lots of benefits with the limited amount of sugar that becomes your friend if you are diabetic. Apricot is the best addition in a diabetes meal course that is rich in vitamins and high in fibers. Apricots have 17-18 calories with only a few grams of carbs. Make sure you should not add dried apricot to your diabetes meal because dried apricot has a large number of carbohydrates that spike your blood glucose level and creates a disturbance in your diet.
4. Apples
It’s the best quote ever that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Apple is full of fibers with essential vitamins. Apple is the friendly fruit for diabetic patients because it helps to regulate the blood glucose level in your body, helps digestion, prevents constipation, and reduces the cholesterol level. Apple is very essential for keeping yourself healthier. You should take a medium size a day which contains 90-95 calories and only 25 grams of crabs. Apple is the best friendly-fruit for diabetic patients that control the blood glucose level.
5. Oranges
Oranges are rich in vitamin-C. These fruits have a low Glycemic index and lots of dietary fibers. If you eat an orange a day it means you are consuming 78% of Vitamin-C with 15 grams of carbs and 62 calories. Orange also contains potassium and folate. Eating an orange a day helps you to regulate the blood glucose level, normalize blood pressure, and give you full nutrients. You may also take orange juice in your diet.
6. Strawberries or Blueberries
Did you know consuming one cup of strawberries that is better than consuming oranges because it is richer in vitamin-C? No matter whether you eat strawberries or blueberries, both are rich in vitamin-C and are considered as the best diabetes food. Strawberries or blueberries have antioxidant properties and are rich in fibers. One cup of blueberries contains 21 grams of carbohydrate and 84 calories. Berries are considered a great breakfast for diabetic patients. Because they are highly beneficial to prevent diabetes.
7. Pears
Yes, pears are the friendly fruit that helps to maintain the blood glucose level in a healthy range. Pears help to boost your health and maintain blood glucose levels in diabetic patients. Pears are high in fibers and full of nutrients. You can easily add pears to the diabetic meal because it has a low Glycemic index. You can eat pears in salad form or single. It also helps to improve gut health.
8. Kiwi
Kiwi is such a delicious fruit with antioxidant properties and rich in vitamin-A and vitamin-C. Kiwi is a good fruit for diabetic patients because it may help to slow down the process of release of blood glucose that reduces the risk of diabetes. One medium-sized kiwi has 215 mg of potassium, 60-64 mg vitamin-C, 2 grams of fiber, and 42 calories with 10 grams of carbs. Kiwi helps to regulate the blood glucose level in a healthier range.
9. Pomegranates
Pomegranates are rich in antioxidants and it is considered as a powerful phytochemical compound that helps for the management of diabetes. Consumption of pomegranate juice daily controls the blood glucose level and prevents type-II diabetes. It may also help to improve or enhance the beta cells function in the pancreas. Pomegranates also protect your body from free radicals and chronic types of diseases. Pomegranates are also considered as friendly fruit for diabetic patients.
10. Watermelon
People with diabetes safely eat the watermelon but in small amounts. Watermelon is the high Glycemic index fruit and it contains high fibers, protein, and fats along with 70-80% of water. Watermelon is high potassium that improves the function of the kidney and prevents kidney damage. Mostly diabetes damages the nerves but watermelon reduces the effect of nerve damage because of lycopene – a carotenoid that gives the red color to fruit and is considered as a powerful antioxidant, present in watermelon.
How can you measure the sugar level in fruits?
If you are thinking about calculating the sugar level in fruits you need to take a piece of fruit and examine it in the laboratory. You are wrong, for the measured effect of fruit on your blood glucose level, generally, there are two ways to measure the level of sugar in fruits.
The first one is the Glycemic Index and the second is the Glycemic Load (GL).
What is the Glycemic Index?
Whenever you are eating any food, some food shoots your glucose level and makes it high in your blood. The sugar is mostly used as energy fuel and if you are consuming large amounts of carbohydrates, then it becomes hard to control the level of sugar in your blood. Does that Glycemic index help you to know about what is slower acting carbs? And what are the higher acting carbs? Glycemic Index is the numerical units that give you an idea of what food will fast the blood sugar level or convert the carbohydrates into glucose
The fruits or any food that have a high Glycemic index (GI) mostly raise the blood sugar level, even though fruits or any food that has low Glycemic Index (GI) do not raise the blood glucose level. GI having a scale from 0 to 100 in which 100 scores are considered as pure glucose levels.
The Glycemic Index (GI) scores are:
- Low GI: 55 or less than 55
- Moderate GI: 56-69
- High GI: 70 and more than 70
The lower Glycemic index foods slowly or gradually raise the blood sugar level but keep the glucose level in control. The intake of lower GI fruits or any food is proving good for diabetic patients and manage the dietary meal, while the high GI food mostly raises the glucose level in blood.
What is Glycemic Load?
As you know, the increase or decrease in blood glucose levels depends on the consumption of carbohydrates. How high your sugar level rises or how long it will stay on your stomach depends on the Glycemic index as well as the number of carbohydrates you consume. The Glycemic load amalgamates both quantity and quality of carbohydrates. The basic formula to calculate the Glycemic load is:
GL gets by multiplying carbohydrate (quality of glucose in food) by the amount of carbohydrate serving of food.
GI = Glycemic Index (GI) x carbohydrate (per portion) ÷ 100
The Glycemic load is classified into:
- Low GL: 0-10
- Medium GL: 11-19
- High GL: 20 or above
Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Chart for Fruits
| Fruits | Glycemic Index | Glycemic Load |
|---|---|---|
| Pears | 30 | 4 |
| Grapefruit | 25 | 9 |
| Cherries | 20 | 6 |
| Apricot | 30 | 9 |
| Apple | 39 | 5 |
| Oranges | 40 | 5 |
| Strawberries | 41 | 3 |
| Kiwi | 50 | 7 |
| Pomegranate | 29 | 18 |
| Watermelon | 72 | 4 |
Do you need to avoid High GI and GL fruits?
High GI and GL fruits don’t mean that they are unhealthy fruits or not fit for healthy diet content. In fact, high GI and GL fruits have lots of carbohydrates as compared to other fruits that we consume. The high GI and GL fruits contain lots of vitamins, and also have antioxidant properties but the problem is that they are not suited to diabetic patients. Rare fruits that have a high GI and GL recommended for diabetes patients otherwise mostly it should be avoided because it may spike the level of glucose in the blood and become the cause of high blood glucose.
Even though, if you take low carbs, you can control or limit your blood glucose level. There are lots of fruits that have low GI and GL full of nutrients, vitamins, fibers that help you to prevent diabetes or reduces the risk of diabetes.
Before You Leave
Fruits play a vital role in living a healthier life but the people who are suffering from diabetes are mostly confused about the choice of fruits. Because if they consume excessive amounts of carbohydrates it may lead to complications and makes their diabetic condition worse. Fruits which have a low Glycemic index and low Glycemic load are beneficial for diabetic patients. Low GI and GL fruits provide all essential nutrients, minerals, vitamins with control blood sugar level. There are lots of fruits that you recommend for eating and living a healthier life. But it is necessary if you have diabetes and you are consuming diabetic medication. You should be concerned with your doctor to take advice on what type of fruits they eat. Life is a blessing of God and it is your duty that you should take care of yourself. If you are not paying attention to your health then no medication or doctors can help you to recover and live a healthier life. You should take care of yourself by following some rules that make for your health. If you have diabetes, then don’t think all the time about this. You should relax, eat healthy fruits, make a diabetes diet plan, and follow it strictly.