Berries, such as blueberries, raspberries and strawberries are low glycemic or they seem to have "lesser" impact on blood glucose than other fruits. (I count the quantities and the carbs...etc.; 10g of strawberry carbs seem to affect my blood glucose less so than 10g carb of banana
Is there a reliable source for this information? The dietician basically recommended bananas, apples...etc. all fruits with the 15g recommendation. I think banana raises the blood glucose quite a bit more for the same 15g.
One of the things you will find is the various foods effect people in different ways. The only way to know if a food works for you is to eat a controlled amount, correct and see where you wind up at.
An apple by it self spikes me, but an Apple with 2 Tbs of peanut butter does not. White rice is like eating pure sugar, but I can do the same amount of potatoes with a lower slower rise. Pasta and marinara, spikes me big time but fettuchini Alfredo works fine. Testing pre meal and when you reach your peak, will let you see what will work for you. I tend to peak around 90 minutes from first bite. For you it might be different.
I can't eat oatmeal in the morning, but can have it for dinner with out a crazy spike. Time ofnday can effect things as well so do not be afraid to try things out and eat to your meter.
I absolutely agree with hobbit - everybody is different and has their own "personal" glycemic index. Bananas definitely raise my bg more than berries do. I don't mean to trash dietitians, but most of them are pretty misinformed. I also find white rice to be like eating pure sugar. In fact, one morning I reversed my insulin and instead of taking 16 lantus and 3 homolog, I took 16 homolog and 3 lantus. Thankfully, I immediately cooked up a big pot of minute rice and chowed it down and it immediately took care of the problem.
Just keep records of how much of what you eat and how much insulin you take, and you'll be fine. If you like bananas, don't omit them or else you might feel deprived. Just take more insulin.
My take on glycemic index is that, in general it is more applicable to Type 2, than Type 1. That is, switching from white to whole grain bread, from white to brown rice, etc. doesn't generally make all that much difference to Type 1's. (Though of course whole grain is healthier!). Beyond that it is definitely, as hobbit says, a personal thing. I'm also on a non-speaking status with rice, it's just impossible for me. Ditto any kind of cereal. Pasta I eat sometimes because I'm a vegetarian and when I go out sometimes it's the only option, but sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I do have to respectfully differ from Kathy's statement. I think our culture is way to worried about being just the tiny bit deprived...of anything. It's amazing what resilient creatures we are. If time after time you find a food makes your BG soar - I used to dearly love granola, fruit and yogurt for breakfast...you make a rational decision to stop eating it. Or at least, eat less, or at a different time of day, etc. I know the current dietician philosophy is "don't deprive yourself, eat whatever you want, just take more insulin." While that makes it easier for parents of T1 kids going to birthday parties it has pitfalls. More carbs lead to more highs AND lows;(unpredictable results and the "law of small numbers.") More insulin use can lead to both weight gain and development of Insulin Resistance. Either Insulin deficiency (characteristic of T1) or Insulin Resistance (characteristic of T2) are a bear to deal with. Both? No thanks! Bottom line: Try a certain food, test your blood sugar two hours later, rinse and repeat. Use the results to make decisions.
A banana, an apple, an orange and most fruit is more than 15g usually by the way. You can find the exact carb count by weighing the fruit. It's become a real challenge because the fruit size is getting really big. I don't eat apples that are bigger than my head - they are an entire meal by themself!!
I think in the early days you do a lot of testing to find out how different foods affect you. No, I don't think time of day matters. Some of us just have different peaks, most commonly from about 1.5 to 2 hours. I think mine is a tad less than two, but I just use 2 since it's easier to remember.
I usually stick to berries but this week I tried a peach and it was ok for me. It actually doesn't have that many carbs if you eat only a portion just like with the berries. I haven't found that low glycemic makes any difference for me except maybe with things like flax and chia seeds which are low carb anyway. I think you have to eat different fruits/foods and see what happens. I think I was eating small pieces of bananas at first to help with low potassium but then I eliminated them because they seemed to spike me more.
Also like hobbit says you can add fat in to slow the spike, but sometimes for me the spike just comes later... I'm never sure what is really causing it most of the time because there are too many factors involved.
Mmmm. Low-glycemic is not a bad basic guideline for those who are content with initially superficial control--in other words---a great starting place, for sure. But the only way to know what works for your very individual personal body is to test, test, test!. Berries are the only fruit that works for me. But I have good friends here who can eat peaches, etc! Eat to your meter, my dear. It's the best we can do!...Blessings....
If you are T2 and you merely have a sluggish insulin response to meals then maybe a low glycemic food will make a difference. But for many of us who are severely insulin challenged and have to bolus low glycemic is useless, all that matters is carbs.
My main goals when approaching fruits is to select fruits that are low in carb relative to serving size and to restrict my portions. I find that are berries including strawberries work out well and an occasional cherry. I have not had a banana in years and things like watermelon have such a large serving size that they are a waste.
I don't think fruit is a good snack or element of nutrition despite what your dietician tells you. I treat fruit as a condiment, a few berries on the yogurt and that is it.
nope, I meant what I wrote. Produce is getting bigger, and prettier, and less nutritious - but that's a different topic. A serving actually should fit in one's hand, my hands are small so when I buy apples I choose the lunch box size, whatever variety is available. On my own trees the apples are smaller than my hand, but they are the best apples! Many folks would choose these (LOL):
I was in dka at diagnosis- I was given potassium pills and iv potassium infusions for very low potassium. My last nurse on the second visit said to keep supplementing it because my last reading was still on the low end. I also had a dvt and had multiple symptoms from that so at some point I started supplementing other things like magnesium. I take a potassium gluconate supplement- I've continued to take one per day(99mg potassium) since I always seem to be at the low end of normal. I read on my insulin package insert and elsewhere that insulin depletes us of potassium. OJ also has a lot of potassium.
I ate about 1/4 at first, was ok, and then 1/2 or so for dessert with yogurt and other berries/nuts.
