I saw an article on the Internet in which the author gave a blistering defense of fruit. When she gives lectures on nutrition and speaks of the benefits of fruit, she reports that she is often challenged by her students. They tell her that fruit is filled with carbs or loaded with sugar and shouldn’t be considered a “healthy food.”
In righteous indignation this woman declares how much better fruit is than most of the sweets Americans eat. She details how that fruit comes complete with fiber, antioxidants, minerals, and phytonutrients, and is bursting with vitamins. On top of that, much fruit is relatively low in calories, far lower than the “sweets” we normally eat. She compares an orange to a cola drink, and shows that the orange has less sugar, fewer carbs, fewer calories, and more vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and fiber.
I have no argument with her, as far as she goes. If someone were to set an orange and a Coke in front of me, put a gun to my head, and tell me I had to ingest one or the other, I’d go for the orange in a heartbeat. (No one has ever done that, and I have a suspicion that I will live out my years without that ever happening.)
However, for the diabetic and prediabetic the question is not whether oranges are healthier than soda, or apples better for us than Snickers bars. Our major concern is keeping our intake of carbs from driving our blood sugar sky-high and eventually leading us into the land of sores that won’t heal, terrible circulation, amputations, and all the other diabetic complications that will destroy our health. With that in mind I make a simple observation: there is a reason why little Johnny refuses to eat his broccoli and his cauliflower but has no problem finishing his apple chunks and his pear slices. Ounce for ounce, fruit has considerably more sugar in it than most vegetables. And for people watching their sugar intake, that is not insignificant.
I am not suggesting that diabetics never eat fruit. Fruit is a great source of vitamins and can be a part of a healthy diet. But we must be discriminating, and we must not be naïve. You cannot eat as much fruit as you want, any time you want, and any type you want, if you want blood-sugar control. Your body doesn’t give natural sugars a pass while reacting violently to the sugar in sodas and candy bars.
One simple rule for diabetics is to eat half—half an apple, half an orange, half a pear, and so on at a meal rather than a full one. Remember this simple thought: reduce the portion size—reduce the carbs your body has to deal with. Don’t eat several fruits at one setting. Eating a large sweet apple, a big banana, and a bunch of grapes will quickly get you near 75 to 80 grams of sugar your pancreas has to try to deal with. If these are a part of a meal that includes significant other sources of carbs, you have put an enormous load on your body, and rising blood sugar will be inevitable.
Carb-wise, the worst fruits of all are the dried fruits. With these the water has been mostly evaporated but the sugar remains. And since they are smaller in size, you get the impression you can eat quite a lot of them without really eating too much. What you are ingesting primarily is sugar, sugar, sugar. One cup of dried figs is 130 grams of carbs! A cup of prunes, which are dried plums, contains around 106 grams, and a cup of raisins has 130 grams. You might as well eat three candy bars (blood-sugar-wise—yes, they do have more vitamins and so on.).
Some fruits are far more acceptable than others. A small tangerine is only about 7 or 8 grams of carbs, which is quite good for the vitamins you are getting. Melons and berries aren’t too bad, as long as you don’t consume them in large quantities.
The chart below, from diabetescare.com, gives a good comparative guide to the carbs in fruits. As with the vegetables chart, there are slight differences in the numbers in various charts you find. But it is a good resource for making comparisons.
And don’t forget that ultimately it is the net carbs, not the total carbs, that count. The chart lists raspberries as having 14.4 grams of carbs per cup, but this amount includes 8.4 grams of fiber. Thus, you really are having to deal with only 6 grams of carbs for a cup of raspberries, which isn’t bad at all. You can put some of these babies on a low-carb pancake without guilt, and it will be a great treat. You can see how a little knowledge can make a big difference. The mangos have 25 grams of net carbs per cup, whereas papayas (which I really enjoy) have only around 11 grams per cup. Switching from mangos to papayas cuts your carbs in half, and a little more.
Ultimately the test for any and all fruits is what they do to your blood-sugar levels. If you enjoy a lunch that includes an apple or a pear, fine. Test yourself about an hour and 15 minutes afterward and see what happened. Remember, 120 mg/dl as a peak is normal, 140 is acceptable. But when that number goes north of 150 it’s probably time to make some changes. Try half an apple or half a pear next time, and test again. Keep cutting back until the number becomes something you can live with (literally).
