By: Bahara Noorzai and Igor Klibanov

You’re a diabetic. You’re concerned about your blood sugar and all the consequences that come with diabetes. You might be concerned about heart attacks, high blood pressure, losing your vision, strokes, and more. So you want to know what are the best fruits to eat, that can help you improve your blood sugar…or at least not make it worse.

What fruits best for diabetics
Original source: here.

There are a lot of misconceptions about this so, in this article, we’re going to do a lot of myth-busting about what are the best fruits to eat for diabetics. But before we dive in, who am I?

Why should you trust me?

Hi:)

My name is Igor.

I am the author of the Amazon bestseller, Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Secrets. Additionally, I am a personal trainer who specializes in helping diabetics reverse their diabetes.

Before we start, I want to share how blood sugar is measured. As a diabetic, you probably already know, but stick with me. The way blood sugar is measured is with something called “HbA1C” (or glycated hemoglobin). HbA1C is the average blood sugar level over the past 3 months. Anything below 5.5% is nondiabetic. 5.5% – 6.0% is prediabetic. And anything over 6.0% is diabetic.

One super common food that simply adding 2 tablespoons of into your meals can lower your HbA1C by 0.39%.

Let me make it more clear. For instance, your HbA1C is 5.3%. In the next test, it’s 5.6%, in the next test, it’s 5.9%, and finally, you hit the big 6.0%, and “suddenly” you’re a pre-diabetic. Go get it checked if you haven’t.

There are many misconceptions about whether you should eat fruits, not eat fruits, or what fruits to eat, but before we get into fruits. I want to highlight the most important nutritional factors for blood sugar control.

The Most Important Nutritional Factors for Blood Sugar Control 

You often hear things like “it’s important to eat a balanced diet.” But what the heck does that even mean???

These are the factors that are most important for diabetics, from most impactful to least impactful:

Total Calories.

If you’re a diabetic and you go from eating too many calories to the right number of calories, then that can drop your HbA1C by the most

In One study, when calories were lowered, the blood sugar of diabetics reverted to normal in 20 weeks (from 7.9% – 8.4%, down to under 6%). Therefore, normalizing caloric intake lowered HbA1C by around 3-4%.

And there are tons of ways to get the right amount of total calories, from simple portion control, to whatever diet you choose, from keto, to paleo, to Mediterranean, Atkins, and others.

Total Fiber 

If you eat too little fiber and you start eating the right amount of fiber (25-38 grams), you can drop your HbA1C (blood sugar) by the second highest amount. 

One study showed that the fasting blood sugar of the group consuming low amounts of fiber (about 14 grams/day – which is typical in the North American diet) dropped 0.45 mmol/1. Those consuming 10 extra grams of fiber (24 grams/day) dropped by 1.00 mmol/l. And those consuming 20 extra grams of fiber (34 grams/day) dropped 2.58 mmol/1.

So these are reductions of more than 2% in HbA1C just by increasing fiber content. 

Carbohydrate content 

Glycemic load (not to be confused with the glycemic index) 

What Is The Glycemic Index? 

The glycemic index is a measurement of how quickly any given food raises the blood sugar level. Let’s say you eat sugar and your blood sugar is 5.0 and it goes up to 7.5 in 40 minutes. Not a measurement of the amount but a measurement of the speed. 

What Is The Glycemic Load? 

The glycemic load is based on how quickly 50 grams of a certain food raises blood sugar. So 50 grams of sugar raises blood sugar very quickly. 50 grams of butter doesn’t raise blood sugar at all because it doesn’t have any carbohydrates. 

In one study, the difference in HbA1C between a high glycemic load diet and a low glycemic load diet is somewhere between 0-0.4% 

Myth 1: Fruits Shouldn’t Be Eaten by Diabetics Because They’re Sweet 

This myth exists because of an incomplete understanding of sugar. You see, there are 3 types of sugar:

1. Glucose. It causes blood sugar to rise the most and the fastest. 

2. Fructose (found in fruits). 

– Raises blood sugar a little bit. 

– Majority of fruits are high in fructose, and low in glucose. 

3. Galactose (found in milk, from the word lactose). 

– Raises blood sugar a little bit 

Busting The Myth

1. Sugar in fruits is primarily fructose. In lots of studies, fructose does not raise blood sugar

to the same extent or same speed as glucose. 

2. Fruits are high in fiber. 

What fiber does is it decreases the effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar. There is a concept called “net carbs.” To get the net carbs, subtract grams of fiber from the total grams of carbohydrates.

For example, if you are eating a food that has 20 grams of carbs but also 4 grams of fiber, the effect on the body would be as if you just had 16 grams of carbs. 

What I’m saying is almost every fruit is fine!

Myth 2: Fruits with a High Glycemic Index Shouldn’t Be Eaten 

The glycemic index doesn’t matter as much as a glycemic load because a glycemic index is a measurement of the speed of the blood sugar rise – not the amount of the blood sugar rise. The speed is not that important but the amount the blood sugar rises is. 

For example, carrots are quite high on the glycemic index but very low on the glycemic load. The reason is to actually get 50 grams of carbohydrates from carrots, you’d have to eat a lot of carrots. Therefore, the glycemic index makes very little difference. The glycemic load is what matters and almost all fruits have a low glycemic load. 

Benefits Of Fruits 

1. High volume (occupies a lot of space) but low calories. 

For example, a watermelon has a lot of space but it doesn’t have very many calories because it’s mostly water. 

If it occupies a lot of space in your stomach, there is less room in your stomach for other food. Therefore, you’ll eat less food and therefore, fewer calories. 

2. Fruits contain micronutrients (vitamins and minerals). 

There are different vitamins and minerals in fruits. For example, fruits like bananas are high in potassium. Carrots are rich in vitamin A, and so on.

3. Satisfy a sweet tooth. 

A lot of diabetics have a sweet tooth. You like to eat a lot of sweet foods. And fruits are naturally sweet but they don’t have the same effect as a chocolate bar or candy.

4. Contain plant nutrients (AKA phytonutrients) 

Phytonutrients are nutrients that are not vitamins or minerals but they have other beneficial components such as antioxidants. 

For example, strawberries and watermelons have a nutrient called lycopene (good for the prostate). 

5. Dried fruits are the richest source of fiber 

So is the berry family. 

● Blackberries (5 grams)

● Blueberries (4 grams)

● Raspberries (7 grams)

Different Fruits Have Different Benefits 

Dried fruits 

● Dates 

● Prunes

● Dried apricots 

They are really high in fiber and really high in potassium. 

There is a drawback, however. Because they are dehydrated, it’s easy to eat a lot of them. Therefore, they have more calories per gram.

For example, going from a grape to a raisin. The same number of calories but way easier to eat 5 raisins compared to 1 grape. 

Most Other Water-Based Fruits 

● Peaches 

● Plums 

● Mangos 

● Watermelons 

● Oranges 

They are low in calories but high in volume. 

The drawback is that they are also somewhat low in fiber.

If that wasn’t enough, let me put it this way. There are no bad fruits for a diabetic. All fruits can be eaten by most diabetics. I wrote a related article on which foods diabetics should avoid – and fruits didn’t make that list.

Fruits High In Vitamin C

Vitamin C is important for you as it protects your cells against free radicals. 

Fruits high in vitamin C are mostly citrus fruits (although as an interesting piece of trivia, the food highest in vitamin C is orange bell peppers. Impress your friends.)

Examples of citrus fruits:

  • Orange
  • Grapefruit
  • Lemon

Fruit Portions for Diabetics 

You might wonder how much fruit a diabetic should eat to maintain a balanced diet. A key component of a balanced diet is portion control in your meal plan. Once again, the most important thing is the total number of calories. The next most important components of your meal plan, after total calories, are fiber and protein (by the way, if you’re wondering what are the best protein sources, check out my article on that topic).

Depends on the other factors in your diet. Once again, the most important thing is total calories. So if total calories are addressed, the next most important things in your meal plan are fiber and protein (it’s much easier to have good portion control when you’re eating good that’s filling). 

Example: 

● Let’s say you need 2000 calories per day. 

● 1 gram of fiber = 4 calories 

– Diabetics need between 35-50 grams of fiber per day 

– 50 grams of fiber x 4 calories = 200 calories 

– 2000 – 200 

– Remaining = 1800 calories 

● Factor in protein. 1 gram = 4 calories 

– 100 grams = 400 calories 

– 1800 – 400 = 1400 

Now you are left with 1400 calories to eat. You can use those calories on whatever you want. Fruits? Pizza? Sure! As long as you meet your quota for fiber and protein. 

No fruits are off limits for diabetics, unless you’re allergic to them. Then, in that case, don’t eat them but I hope you knew that part already. There is no single fruit that is bad for ALL diabetics. That’s more on a person-by-person basis. 

Unfortunately a lot of websites you’ve checked out before this one were perpetuating myths about fruits that are not correct. They were based on myths that luckily we have busted in this article. So enjoy your fruits 🙂