I’ve heard differing opinions on wether or not diabetics should eat fruit or not. I love fruit and so far I’ve been staying away from it.
But which is it, fruit or no fruit?
Hi, Mandy, Welcome to tudiabetes. I see that you are recently diagnosed and have a pretty high A1C right now, so I’m guessing your priority is to get your sugar numbers down to a safer level. . It might make sense to check out this website http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/NewlyDiagnosed.htm because it will give you very good advice on how to go about figuring out how various foods affect your blood glucose (BG) levels. All carbohydrates will raise your level and fruit has carbohydrates. Some fruits are higher in carbs and I stay away from those completely. They include bananas, pineapple and mango. I eat some berries: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, but I am taking insulin and I can eat them and still stay in a normal BG range. The key is to keep your BG under 140 at all times so you will need to test, test, test to find out what you can eat. Good luck. You will get some great advice on this site. I was diagnosed 6 months ago (with Type 1) and I have received so much help here.
Hi Mandy, I have Type 2 diabetes and I do eat fruit. Speak to a dietitian about this, they can help you factor fruit into your meal plan. And I cannot emphasise more the importance of testing! Testing 2 hours after consuming fruit gives you an idea of how much the carb content of the fruit spikes your blood sugar.
However, there are some that I totally abstain from or save for very, very special occasions. These fruits tend to spike me pretty high and so I tend to stay clear of them.
I do not eat watermelon, honeydew melon, rockmelon, mango, grape, banana, lychee, longan and dried fruits at all.
Once in a while I treat myself to a small slice of pineapple, a small plum or 1/2 of a small guava as these don’t really wreak havoc on me but may spike me a little bit higher than I like to be (but still well within a good range)
The fruits I usually eat are apples, grapefruit, golden kiwi (I hate the green ones), strawberries, nectarines(when I can get nice ones here) and nashi (Asian pear).
Something that I watch out for when I have fruit is the quantity. I fare best with strawberries, which are very low-carb but very expensive where I’m from. I can manage a small apple, one golden kiwi, and 1/3 or 1/2 of a grapefruit depending on how big it is. I also take into consideration the amount of carbs I’ve had before I eat fruit, especially after a meal. If I’m having fruit as a snack after I work out, I make sure I get some form of protein in with it so that my blood sugar will not spike too high. Sometimes when I want to have fruit for dessert, I skip starchy foods for dinner altogether and just have some chicken or fish or tofu, and lots of greens.
Mandy some fruits are naturally sweeter than others. To my surprise years ago I found out that I run really high eating apples but when I took D at 10 they recommed eating fruit all the time. You can eat it just make sure at first you bring down that A1C level you don’t want your kidneys to go bad and high A1C’s can cause damage to your kidneys and other major organs. After you get that down eat your fruit (grapes will make it go up fast and high) after eating it and giving it time to hit your system and digest (about 2 hours) check it again to see what effect it had on your bs after doing that a few times you will know what you can eat in the fruit line and what you can’t.
I agree with Libby - pretty much NO FRUIT - they wil raise your BG. Fruit is full of fructose & it’s a sugar. I too avoid almost all carbs, and try to keep my sugars as normal as possible. I don’t even do the berries yet - heck, I don’t even eat tomatoes. Until have much more experience as a diabetic, I’d just rather not go there.
Ask your meter!
You have a post-meal blood sugar target, right?
If you can eat fruit and meet that target, it’s fine. If not, it isn’t.
My post meal targets right now are ideally 120 at 1 hour or less, worst case 140. Ideally under 100 at 2 hours, worst case 120. Those are targets that will give A1cs in the 5% range that correlate with the very lowest risk of complications and an acceptable risk of heart attack.
I can eat fruit, with insulin dosed to the number of carbs in the fruit. But not without insulin.
FRUIT!!!
I love fruit, too, so I eat it. Some fruits will affect your BG more than others and you’ll discover which by trial and error.
The fresher the fruit, the better for your BG. The more ripe the fruit gets, the greater affect it has on your BG. I avoid things like fruit salad unless I’ve made it myself and chosen the ingredients because the fruit tends to be overripe. But even that is rare. For greater control I avoid mixing fruits together unless they’re the same ‘type’. (Melons with melons, berries with berries, for instance.) I also avoid large ‘gigantour’ varieties and limit myself to ‘medium’ size or about one cup per serving.
So, go eat some fruit. Then check your blood sugars.
Hi Many! Fruit had a natural sugar in them… So you can have an apple with meal but just rmember that 1 medium apple is 15 grams carbs… You have to count your carbs with you’re eating fruit… for example… ham and cheese sandwich and 1 orange is 45 grams of carbs… You can eat fruit but not a whole lot in a meal… Last night I made fruit salad but I only had 1/2 cup of it… I counted it as 15 grams of carbs… Talk to a Diabetic Dietidietican that has ADA approve…
Fruit as a whole isn’t inherently any better or worse for a Diabetics BG than other foods containing carbohydrates. Some fruits will cause a rapid rise of BG (e.g. overripe banana’s can be killers), but so can a slice of bread. As a Type-2 that’s not on insulin, the key for you will be to control the level and timing of the carbohydrates you consume. Moderation is always a good place to start. And measuring the effect of any meal (not just fruit) with a glucometer is important.
Fruit is hard to TRACK because of the many variables. How big it is … some apples are bigger than others. How ripe it is … that makes a difference too. We don’t do fruit. BUT - as we get better and better control, I may introduce it again in small quantities.
Understand that not all fruits are created equal. In general, tropical fruits (bananas, pineapples, citrus fruits such as orange and grapefruits) are usually higher on the glycemic index than fruits like pears or apples generally, because the latter have higher fiber content. You should speak to a nutritionist about working fruits into your meal plan. Keep in mind that whole foods are almost always better for you than highly-refined and processed foods.
I have type 1 diabetes, and fruit is excellent for me. It doesn’t peak real high, I don’t usually overeat fruit, I can treat mild hypos with it, and it makes me feel better overall. Actually, not bananas. The fruits I’ve been eating lately are melon (not watermelon), apples, oranges, plums.
Watermelon is such a problem in terms of raising my blood sugar that it has made me throw up. It just raises me too quickly, too dramatically.
Mandy,
I see you are a Type 2 with an extremely high A1c.
Unless you are injecting insulin using a formula to match the carbs you eat to the insulin you shoot at mealtimes, you should ignore the advice of the Type 1s posting here because you are probably very insulin resistant it will take you a LOT of injected insulin to cover a high carb piece of fruit. Young Type 1s are very insulin sensitive and a little insulin covers a lot of carbs for them.
I’d suggest you visit this site, which has helped many hundreds if not thousands of people with Type 2 bring down A1cs as high as yours to the normal range.
http://alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm “Newly Diagnosed”
Please try out the technique described. Your current 11% A1c is high enough to give you some very ugly complications within a few years. It is possible to reverse this completely, but only by using your meter to learn what raises your blood sugar to dangerous levels and eliminating those foods.
Wise advice as always Jenny.
Mandy, I would definitely encourage you to read as much as possible about type 2 Diabetes. It probably seems a little overwhelming at first but the sooner you are able to control your Diabetes the better and it really is well worth the effort…make sure looking after yourself and your blood sugars is your priority! Take care!
omgoodness never, never let anyone tell you you cannot eat something because you have diabetes. life is all about balance. diabetes is no different. learn carb counting and ratios and you’ll be set for life. well your ratio will most likely change over time but you get the idea 
though i would like to say that if you’re numbers are high and you’re trying to get into a ‘normal’ range don’t eat sweets like chocolate - fruit is a much better option if you’re craving something sweet. cover your bases.
-jules
http://pancreaticallychallenged.blogspot.com
Jenny,
I find your telling her to “ignore the advice of the Type 1s posting here” a little unnecessarily offensive. I think my advice (as a T1) to her was quite reasonable and hopefully helpful. Perhaps it would have been better to simply point out to Mandy that those taking insulin have greater flexibility in diet than those not on insulin. But please, don’t make broad brushed statements that devalue the time and effort some T1’s put into their responses.
Ken
Hi Mandy!! I love fruit but I find that it raises my sugar too high. Apples seem to be okay but bananas are impossible.
Scott,
I got up this morning and needed and answer to this very question. My wife commented yesterday that I don’t eat any fruit. I realized that she was right and promptly ate a small tangerine with my lunch. 2 hours later my BG was 253!!! So now I go back to not eating fruit. What sucks about this is that I grew up on a tropical island ( British West Indies ). For me fruit means banana, mango, papaya, guava, sugar apple and sapodilla ( sapota ). All the fruit that is going to raise my BG even with just a small bit. Growing up the only imported fruit I ever saw were apples and pears and they were quite expensive. I don’t like apple and pear. They are as boring as fruit can be.
So how does a tropical fruit loving person with diabetes eat fruit? What how do people with diabetes in India, South America, and other parts of the tropical world eat fruit?
eat fruit! fruit is very good for you and yes it will raise your bg because it has fructose… you just need to bolus more insulin and enjoy mmm now i want a mango!
Yeah but I want to keep my insulin dosing low. Current I can eat about 50 grams of carb with 6 units of Novolog and my A1C is 5.5. I don’t want A1C of 8 and post meal BG of 250! is this possible?