Do you eat fruit?

kymmit

I was diagnosed with type II a year ago (a1c 9.9%) and as someone that had gestational diabetes 14 years prior and saw my bg climbing every year, I knew it was a matter of time. I became more strict with a moderate carb/low sugar diet (<40g carb and 5g or less of sugar per meal) and introduced 45+ minutes of cardio (walking or biking) 5x per week. I had positive results at my follow up a1c in November (5.5%) and felt good about the direction I was headed.

I’ve also been doing a lot of reading and I really missed fruit. I read several articles from nutritionists that recommended moderate amounts of fruits, and the differences between natural and processed sugar. I decided to incorporate apples back into my diet, and made sure to buy them by the bag where the individual apples were smaller than most. I typically check my blood sugar in the morning (often forgetting my kit at home) and probably had a bit of “I don’t want to know” going on. Yesterday I had a sandwich and apple totaling 45 carbs, and 19g sugar when I included the apple. I ate lunch, took a 3 mile brisk walk, and tested by bg 2 hours post prandial and got a 141. It’s not alarming, but it’s certainly higher than I am comfortable with. Today, I exercised before I had lunch (which wouldn’t benefit the bg as much as if I did after), and had the same sandwich and subbed in a salad for the apple. This brought me to 33 carbs and 6g sugar. I tested 2 hours later and got a 116.

I’m going back for my physical at the end of the month and will bring this up with my doctor, but do any of you manage to fit fruit into your diets successfully? I have one more meal that I need to test, as I’ve started making overnight steel cut oats with my Yoplait greek yogurt. Breakfast is typically my lowest carb meal, but I’ve been reading a lot of good data about lowering cholesterol (my good cholesterol is excellent, my bad is borderline) so am working the oats in a few times per week. The carb count is still not too high (26g) but sugar is 9g, so we’ll see. I hate the thought of losing all sweet things from my diet.

MurpleCat

Actually I find fresh fruit to be much better for my BG than potatoes or grain-based carbs. That is, 30g of carb from fruit doesn't impact my BG as much as 30g of boiled potatoes.

I'm T1D, though, and in any case each person's body is different. I have one friend whose numbers skyrocket if he eats cooked onions -- that's not a problem for me. I'd have more trouble with your yogurt (even the unsweetened kind) than the fruit.

I'd just suggest that you try your 'experiment' on a few days, since many other things can affect your readings on a given day, and we really only control 4 of them (food, hydration, exercise & medication). Then there's stress, time of the month, how well you slept the night before... and so on. Those things all affect your hormones, and insulin is, after all, a hormone.

Also, you mentioned you tried to buy a bag of small apples -- did you weigh it, by any chance? It is possible your estimate was off, and that alone could have affected the numbers you got. Just a thought.

Murple

RalfLott

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.. ..

..(or unwanted advice), but IMHO, most T2Ds with high BG might as well be drinking Drano or eating straight sugar as eating fruit, grain, starches, or any other carb that is not primarily fiber.

Why? Because starches and sugars start turning into glucose the minute they pass your lips. (You can try this at home with Diastix.) Of course, 3g of sugar (a few berries) is better than 25g (a banana).

As a diabetic with high BG, you can't handle sugar, so advice to consume carbs (except for fiber) is advice encouraging high BG, oral meds, insulin, and increased risk for a slew of chronic diseases.

(Been there... I dutifully followed the ADA/AHA low-fat diets for decades, and it was tough sledding! BG never really under control. To my surprise switching to low-carb is getting me close to remission - never thought I'd see the day.)

I might recommend getting a copy of Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution to learn how to stay on top of this * #$&' disease. I wish I'd come across it years earlier, but better late than never!
...

RalfLott

On the other hand, if and when I think I've gotten my BG to heel where I want it for a couple months, I do intend to dabble with small bits of berries, legumes, etc.

Some reward, but it seems like there ought to he something from Santa or the tooth fairy once you've bent your BG bent to your will......

kymmit

Thanks for the responses. I'm not ready to give up all carbs/grains - yet. It's frustrating because insurance covers only 1 BG check a day, and with the horrible machine/strip/lancet combo they mandate I use, it takes 3 blood draws and at least 2 strips to get a reading. I know I can skip days, and that it's clearly a lot less restrictive than type 1, but it's hard to learn enough on how my body responds to certain foods (plus the fear of not wanting to know that something I actually enjoy is not working for me). I tested after my overnight oats this morning and it was 112, which seems to say that it's not causing issues. My fasting is around 115-120 in the AM.

Good point about multiple testing, @MurpleCat - I shouldn't rely on just 1 test. I'll discuss it all with my doctor during my physical and see what he thinks.

MurpleCat

Actually, as a T1D I don't have any food restrictions as to type of carb, its more about how much at a given time. The only thing I avoid is liquid carbs (fruit juice, milk, etc.) since they are absorbed faster than others. But a donut didn't really affect me any differently than potatoes or fruit. That is, BG started to rise 20-30 minutes after eating, peaked, and came back down within 2 hours. (I have an advantage here, in a having a continuous glucose monitor that's testing every 5 minutes). Now, there may be other reasons to choose fruit or oatmeal, in terms of how long you feel full, for example.

You might want to talk to a dietician or a certified diabetes educator -- unless your physician specializes in this, s/he may not really have the level of detail that you are wanting. They don't have to take a nutrition class in med school, its just part of one other course. So ask for a referral to a specialist, if your insurance will cover it.

ksz1104

As a Type 2, I eat a lot of fruit actually. I try to eat a lot of berries, which tend to be lower in carbs, but I usually eat a piece of fruit with my breakfast or as a snack. For breakfast I usually pair it with high protein greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Sometimes as a snack I will pair with a small piece of cheese or peanut butter. That seems to slow down any sugar spike. I have avoided bananas for a long time but I may start putting them into my protein smoothies.

ksz1104

MurpleCat wrote: »

Actually, as a T1D I don't have any food restrictions as to type of carb, its more about how much at a given time. The only thing I avoid is liquid carbs (fruit juice, milk, etc.) since they are absorbed faster than others. But a donut didn't really affect me any differently than potatoes or fruit. That is, BG started to rise 20-30 minutes after eating, peaked, and came back down within 2 hours. (I have an advantage here, in a having a continuous glucose monitor that's testing every 5 minutes). Now, there may be other reasons to choose fruit or oatmeal, in terms of how long you feel full, for example.

You might want to talk to a dietician or a certified diabetes educator -- unless your physician specializes in this, s/he may not really have the level of detail that you are wanting. They don't have to take a nutrition class in med school, its just part of one other course. So ask for a referral to a specialist, if your insurance will cover it.

I agree with the nutritionist. When I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes I had one, and then two years later when I developed type 2 I saw one for about 6 months ( I realize I am lucky and have great insurance). I was recording everything I ate, limiting carbs to 60 mg or under at meals (preferably under 45), and testing twice a day. It has taken quite a while of trial and error to figure out what spikes and what doesn't. Don't count fruit out yet. Especially berries. And try it with something with much less carbs than a sandwich and protein heavy, like a chef/cobb salad, or something like that. Bread spikes me something awful anyway unless its one piece of toast with eggs and bacon.

kymmit

Maybe I'll give the nutritionist a shot. When I had gestational diabetes in 2004, I had a horrible meeting with a nutritionist that insist I up my carbs to a minimum of 200 carbs a day. My perinatologist was the one to turn me towards a path of reduced carbs without going into ketosis. Of course I was also testing 4x/day which allowed me greater insight into food reactions. I have my physical at the end of the month and will explore my options.