List of fruits that can be eaten by diabetics, save it now!

If you or someone around you has diabetes, what you need to do every day is: control your diet!

Control your daily energy intake, and limit the amount of staple foods, meat, and vegetables you eat. Don't eat too much for fear of unstable blood sugar.

Even fruits, which are necessities in our lives, cannot be eaten by diabetic patients whenever they want.

Because most people think that diabetic patients have high blood sugar, and now fruits are sweet, eating fruits will make blood sugar unstable, making the situation worse. So they can't eat them even if they want to, and they dare not eat them even if they want to.

In fact, after mastering the eating skills, fruits and the like are not a problem. They can also help diabetics to be healthier. Remember these 6 suggestions when eating fruits.

Why eat fruit?

A study in my country analyzed data from nearly 20,000 diabetic patients and found that compared with diabetic patients who did not eat fresh fruit, those who ate fresh fruit 1-4 times a week and more than 5 times a week had a 20%-30% lower risk of poor blood sugar control, respectively[1].

In other words, eating fruit can help diabetic patients control their blood sugar.

A study involving 500,000 people also found that for diabetic patients who ate 100 grams of fresh fruit every day, their overall mortality rate dropped by 17%, their risk of coronary heart disease and stroke dropped by 13%, and their risk of diabetic nephropathy and diabetic eye disease dropped by 28%[2].

These are complications of diabetes, which are more terrible than diabetes itself. In other words, fruit can not only help diabetic patients control blood sugar, but also reduce the risk of complications.

The sugar in fruit is not metabolized like refined sugar, and fruit is a good source of dietary fiber, minerals and antioxidants (vitamins, polyphenols).

These components regulate the composition and metabolic activity of intestinal microorganisms, thereby reducing the risk of diabetes and the occurrence of complications in diabetic patients.

Under what circumstances can you eat fruit?

The timing of eating fruit is very important for diabetic patients. Do not eat fruit when blood sugar is high. Make sure to wait until blood sugar stabilizes before eating.

In other words, you can eat fruit when your fasting blood sugar is below 7.8mmol/L, your blood sugar 2 hours after a meal is below 10mmol/L, your glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is controlled below 7.5%, and there is no "roller coaster" phenomenon (fluctuations) in your blood sugar levels in the recent period.

When blood sugar control is not ideal, you can eat vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers as fruits, and then choose fruits after your blood sugar stabilizes.

Which fruit to choose?

People with diabetes need to choose fresh fruits with low glycemic load. The glycemic load (GL) of food refers to how much sugar is in 100 grams of food, that is, the sugar content.

Fruits with a glycemic load of less than 10 are recommended, such as cherries, plums, grapefruits, apples, lemons, etc.

Carefully choose fruits with a glycemic load between 10-20, such as bananas, pomegranates, melons, oranges, lychees, mangoes, etc.

Stay away from fruits with a glycemic load greater than 20, such as dried dates, hawthorn, candied dates, persimmons, raisins, dried apricots, longan, etc.

The sweetness of fruit has nothing to do with glycemic load. It does not mean that sweet fruit cannot be eaten and non-sweet fruit can be eaten. The sweetness is affected by the sugar content and the organic acids and organic salts in the fruit. For example, hawthorn is very sour and has a sugar content of up to 22%, so it is not recommended to eat it; watermelon is very sweet, but the sugar content is less than 10%, so it can be eaten in moderation.

Also remember that fruit juice is not the same as fruit, so don't drink it. The former has a higher glycemic load and can easily cause blood sugar to rise, which is not conducive to blood sugar control.

Finally, increasing the intake of flavonoids-rich vegetables and fruits, such as oranges, lemons, grapes, cherries, grapefruits and kiwis, can reduce the risk of retinopathy in diabetic patients by 30%.

How much fruit can you eat every day?

It is recommended to consume 200 grams of fresh fruit every day, which is about the size of your fist, and eat it in 1-2 times.

If you did not eat fruit at the beginning of the illness, you can eat fruit after your blood sugar is well controlled. At this time, you need to pay attention to keeping the total energy unchanged.

For example, about 200 grams of apples contain about 90 kcal of calories, so when increasing fruit intake, you should reduce half a pound (25 grams) of staple food.

When is the best time to eat fruit?

It is recommended to eat fruit between meals, 100 grams each time, or when hungry and after physical activity, as a supplement of calories and nutrients.

It is generally believed that it is better to have snacks between 9 and 10 in the morning, 3 and 4 in the afternoon, and before going to bed.

When eating the same kind of fruit, different diabetic patients may have different blood sugar responses. It is recommended to measure blood sugar before and 2 hours after eating fruit.

References:

[1] Su Jian, Qin Yu, Pan Xiaoqun, et al. Study on the relationship between fresh fruit intake and blood sugar control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Chinese Journal of Epidemiology, 2019, 40(6): 660-665.
[2] Du H, Li L, Bennett D, et al. Fresh fruit consumption in relation to incident diabetes and diabetic vascular complications: A 7-y prospective study of 0.5 million Chinese adults. PLoS Med. 2017 Apr11;14(4):e1002279.