[acb-diabetics] Diabetic friendly fruits

[Sugar]

Best Fruit Choices for Diabetics
by Diabetes Team
Diabetes Nutrition
If you are a Type 2 diabetic, you may wonder if you should eat fruit. Most 
fruit is quite sweet which leads people to believe all fruits are bad to 
eat. As with all food, it's best to eat fruit in moderation and some types 
are better than others.

It's also important to eat your fruit rather than drink commercially 
prepared fruit juice: there's a lot of extra sugar and additives in 
commercial bottled drinks, many of which are unhealthy. If you drank one 
glass of fruit juice it wouldn't be too harmful but if you really wanted 
more, you should dilute it with water to reduce its potency.

Fiber-rich fruits are healthy to eat. They're low on the Glycemic Index (GI) 
so they don't cause your blood sugar to spike as much as other fruits. If 
the skins or seeds are edible, they are the high fiber fruits and include:



  a.. raspberries,
  b.. apples,
  c.. passion fruit,
  d.. plums,
  e.. blueberries,
  f.. apricots,
  g.. pears,
  h.. strawberries,
  i.. kiwifruit,
  j.. avocados, and
  k.. pomegranates.


Fruit containing a high fructose to glucose ratio is healthy to eat. 
Fructose doesn't need insulin in order to metabolize. It's GI is only 19 
compared to:



  a.. table sugar (sucrose) which has a GI of 60, and
  b.. glucose which has a GI of 100.


The fruits with this healthy ratio include:



  a.. cherries,
  b.. apples,
  c.. pears,
  d.. mangoes and
  e.. guavas.


While this type of fructose is healthy, it is best to avoid drinks 
containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Soda usually contains HFCS which 
is a highly refined sweetener. HFCS is also sometimes contaminated with 
mercury, a dangerous poison that sparks free-radical damage to your cells.

Apples contain high levels of pectin which helps diabetics with their 
glycemic control and decreases the amount of insulin needed by up to 50%. 
Grapefruit is another healthy fruit as it helps manage insulin while you're 
eating your meals as well as having the added ability to help you lose 
weight which further decreases your resistance to insulin. Grapefruit is at 
the lowest end of the GI scale with a rating of only 25.

Some fruits have high levels of sucrose and glucose with a high GI. This 
means you should only eat a small amount. These fruits include:



  a.. dates,
  b.. bananas,
  c.. grapes,
  d.. cantaloupe,
  e.. oranges, and
  f.. pineapples.


Dates are among the worst possible fruits to eat as half-a-cup contains 55 
gm of sugar with a GI level of 53.

Canned fruit is either soaked in its own juices or in syrup. The "syrupy" 
kind is much higher in sugar and should be avoided. Fruit canned in its own 
juice is much healthier.

The American Diabetes Association highly recommends citrus fruits and 
berries to be part of your daily diet. Berries are rich in antioxidants, 
vitamins and fiber. Citrus fruits have high levels of both vitamin C and 
fiber.

So now you know you can eat fruit even if you are diabetic. as long as you 
are careful about your choices and serving sizes.

Type 2 diabetes is not a condition you must just live with. You can take 
control of the disease. and get your health back. Eating the right fruit 
will definitely help with your blood sugar control.




"Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. Faith is the belief 
that God will do what is right."
 - Max Lucado
~Blessings, Sugar