This is one often mistaken subject by almost every diabetic, especially by the newly diagnosed. Almost every one of us, to some degree depending how much you like fresh fruits, are dejected when we hear that diagnosis.
Why?
Because one of the first things in your mind is there goes the fresh fruit. It's so high in natural sugars so it must now be gone off my daily diet.
But the reality, this assumption is so far from being right it's actually drastically wrong. What do I mean by that?
I mean, simply put, do not ever give up fresh fruit in your daily diet just because you are a diabetic. What you must do though is learn how to incorporate it into the foods you eat every day so it doesn't give you runaway blood sugars.
Sound stupid? If you know it might give me runaway blood sugars, why don't I just drop it?
Because fresh fruits give our body So Many other important vitamins, minerals, nutrients and a whole bunch of other long sounding, complicated saying and even harder spelling compounds, that dismissing them from your diet is a one-way ticket to far more complicated future health complications.
How Do I Fit Them In Then
Now remember, the sugar content of a fruit is just another way of explaining its carbohydrate content. We all know carbohydrates break down into our digestive system into sugars so the object is to get a combination of 2 or more low sugar (or no sugar) selections to one with higher sugars. (Put simply don't even pretend you are going to have a bowl of fresh pineapple, a whole mango and a dish of strawberries for lunch today)
Pick and choose your assorted foods by getting a source of lean protein, any unlimited amount of good-quality carbohydrates plus your one fruit and the combination of foods together will actually stabilize your blood sugars to prevent you from driving your blood sugar sky high.
Pick and choose all your meals and snacks like this and you have just learned the value of eating all of your foods carb smart.
Another option some people prefer is to rely on portion control instead of carbohydrate control. This is another testing procedure, with the aid of that glucose meter your doctor gave you.
Start by checking your blood sugar every single time you eat something (or any combinations of foods) and log a before sugar reading, an after sugar reading and a one hour later reading. Log exactly what you ate with each of these numbers. Continue doing this every day, every meal, every snack etc..
Before long you are going to start noticing trends. An example, when you eat mashed potatoes, gravy and a dish of corn - your blood sugars will go sky high. But if you take away the corn and make that green beans, reduce the serving size of the mashed potatoes (which automatically reduces the amount of gravy since there is less potatoes), and enjoy a small side salad instead, you are going to find out your blood sugar hardly changed at all.
The portion control method is just a learning tool of finding which foods you can combine in what quantities in which combinations ... all with the ultimate goal and finding what happens to your blood sugars when you eat certain combinations together.
This method eats up a lot more time during your investigation phase. It also means you and that glucose meter will enjoy a love/hate relationship because you must use it so often. But after your investigation phase is over and you are comfortable knowing which foods your body will accept and what it has a problem with, many people get to the point, as long as they stick with their pre-learned food combinations, testing only once or twice a week is entirely possible.
So, fresh fruits do a body good (frozen or canned are not as good for you by the way. The processing deletes many of the quality available nutrients).
Another little tip mistaken by many is always eat the fresh fruit itself... not the juiced version of that fruit. A whole orange is far better for you than a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. The reason is two-fold. Number one - fiber. When eating the whole fruit you are also eating all the fiber which is contained in that fruit. Juicing that orange means you have got the juice but you are throwing all the fiber away. There is as many healthy qualities in that fruit pulp as in the juice itself.
The second reason, fruits when juiced start oxidizing immediately when in contact with air. The act of juicing, whether by hand or machine, means you are "tearing apart" the make-up of that piece of fruit. Breaking down its components, when in contact with air initiates a chemical process known as oxidation. An equivalent, it means you are watching your fresh orange "rust" right in front of your eyes. Obviously if you are breaking down your orange into "rust" compounds, the juice you are ingesting is no where near as healthy for your body.
So, being a diabetic takes a lot more time and attention to the foods you now eat, but once you learn the rules that work for your body, diabetes is no more difficult to live with than many other nuisance conditions we may have during our lifetime.
Why?
Because one of the first things in your mind is there goes the fresh fruit. It's so high in natural sugars so it must now be gone off my daily diet.
But the reality, this assumption is so far from being right it's actually drastically wrong. What do I mean by that?
I mean, simply put, do not ever give up fresh fruit in your daily diet just because you are a diabetic. What you must do though is learn how to incorporate it into the foods you eat every day so it doesn't give you runaway blood sugars.
Sound stupid? If you know it might give me runaway blood sugars, why don't I just drop it?
Because fresh fruits give our body So Many other important vitamins, minerals, nutrients and a whole bunch of other long sounding, complicated saying and even harder spelling compounds, that dismissing them from your diet is a one-way ticket to far more complicated future health complications.
How Do I Fit Them In Then
Now remember, the sugar content of a fruit is just another way of explaining its carbohydrate content. We all know carbohydrates break down into our digestive system into sugars so the object is to get a combination of 2 or more low sugar (or no sugar) selections to one with higher sugars. (Put simply don't even pretend you are going to have a bowl of fresh pineapple, a whole mango and a dish of strawberries for lunch today)
Pick and choose your assorted foods by getting a source of lean protein, any unlimited amount of good-quality carbohydrates plus your one fruit and the combination of foods together will actually stabilize your blood sugars to prevent you from driving your blood sugar sky high.
Pick and choose all your meals and snacks like this and you have just learned the value of eating all of your foods carb smart.
Another option some people prefer is to rely on portion control instead of carbohydrate control. This is another testing procedure, with the aid of that glucose meter your doctor gave you.
Start by checking your blood sugar every single time you eat something (or any combinations of foods) and log a before sugar reading, an after sugar reading and a one hour later reading. Log exactly what you ate with each of these numbers. Continue doing this every day, every meal, every snack etc..
Before long you are going to start noticing trends. An example, when you eat mashed potatoes, gravy and a dish of corn - your blood sugars will go sky high. But if you take away the corn and make that green beans, reduce the serving size of the mashed potatoes (which automatically reduces the amount of gravy since there is less potatoes), and enjoy a small side salad instead, you are going to find out your blood sugar hardly changed at all.
The portion control method is just a learning tool of finding which foods you can combine in what quantities in which combinations ... all with the ultimate goal and finding what happens to your blood sugars when you eat certain combinations together.
This method eats up a lot more time during your investigation phase. It also means you and that glucose meter will enjoy a love/hate relationship because you must use it so often. But after your investigation phase is over and you are comfortable knowing which foods your body will accept and what it has a problem with, many people get to the point, as long as they stick with their pre-learned food combinations, testing only once or twice a week is entirely possible.
So, fresh fruits do a body good (frozen or canned are not as good for you by the way. The processing deletes many of the quality available nutrients).
Another little tip mistaken by many is always eat the fresh fruit itself... not the juiced version of that fruit. A whole orange is far better for you than a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. The reason is two-fold. Number one - fiber. When eating the whole fruit you are also eating all the fiber which is contained in that fruit. Juicing that orange means you have got the juice but you are throwing all the fiber away. There is as many healthy qualities in that fruit pulp as in the juice itself.
The second reason, fruits when juiced start oxidizing immediately when in contact with air. The act of juicing, whether by hand or machine, means you are "tearing apart" the make-up of that piece of fruit. Breaking down its components, when in contact with air initiates a chemical process known as oxidation. An equivalent, it means you are watching your fresh orange "rust" right in front of your eyes. Obviously if you are breaking down your orange into "rust" compounds, the juice you are ingesting is no where near as healthy for your body.
So, being a diabetic takes a lot more time and attention to the foods you now eat, but once you learn the rules that work for your body, diabetes is no more difficult to live with than many other nuisance conditions we may have during our lifetime.
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