Bad Fruits for Diabetics
Fruits are absolutely one of the most nutritious foods you can eat… But these same healthy fruits diabetics should avoid beause they can cause a decidedly unhealthy spike in your blood sugar…
And if you’re diabetic, then you already know that’s not good news.
So today, I thought it would be a good idea to show you which fruits you might want to avoid if you’ve been diagnosed as either diabetic or prediabetic.
Now, in their natural form, many of these fruits are perfectly okay, but as you’ll notice in this list, once they take a different form, the health benefits you gain are not good enough to mitigate the effect they have on your blood sugar.
First up is the biggest offender of them all…
Fruit Juice – A No-Go for Diabetics (And Everyone Else, Too)
You probably imagine a tall, cold glass of fresh-pressed orange juice and think, “that’s healthy, right?”
Well, I hate to break it to you, but it’s less healthy than you think…
That’s because when fruit is converted into juice, you’re losing all the fiber that occurs naturally in fruit…
And when that fiber is gone, what you’ve got left to absorb is more fructose – which is essentially a natural sugar that is absorbed almost immediately…
Leading to a blood sugar spike, and over time, issues with your insulin resistance.
And it doesn’t really matter what fruit you’re juicing. All of the ones below (and pretty much any fruit that can be converted into a juice) have the same problem…
- Grape juice
- Apple juice
- Orange juice
- Cranberry juice
- Cherry juice
- Pineapple juice
And the list goes on and on…
And to make matters worse, when you’re buying pre-processed juice, there’s a good chance that you’re getting less than 100% juice…
In many cases, the bottles, cartons, and cans of juice for sale actually have MORE sugar than a soda – that’s why they taste so overly sweet…
Furthermore, the sugar they add is often high fructose corn syrup, an ingredient that has been proven to both increase your weight gain AND can wreak havoc on diabetics.
Fruit juice may be an easy target because of its processed form, but what about something more natural, something like…
Dried Fruits – More Sugar Than You Think
They’re often promoted as a healthy snack, and they’re certainly better for you than processed fruit juice…
And most people can eat them without a single issue (and get many healthy nutrients)…
However, dried fruits present a specific danger for diabetics and prediabetics…
And the reason why is that even the natural process of drying fruits removes the water, which concentrates EVERYTHING…
On the good side, that means you get a stronger dose of minerals and vitamins…
But on the bad side, it also concentrates their sugar content, making them a veritable bomb that detonates with a blood sugar explosion…
Here’s a few fruits that when dried have high extremely high sugar content:
- Dried dates
- Dried figs
- Dried apricots
- Dried berries
- Dried plums
- Dried cranberries
- Raisins
And just like fruit juices, you also need to be aware that many manufacturers ADD sugar or other sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup to their final products…
So even though dried fruits are healthy foods (as long as there’s no sugar added), they’re unfortunately not a good snack replacement for diabetics…
And what I recommend to my diabetic and prediabetic friends that want a solid snack is to look at lower-sugar snacks such as nuts, seeds, and even fresh fruits that have high fiber to counteract the sugar, but more on this later…
For now, I’d like to share a few more fruits you should avoid if you’re diabetic or prediabetic…
Fresh Fruits Diabetics Should Avoid (High In Natural Sugar)
Ok, so the fruit juice and dried fruit likely made perfect sense as fruits you need to avoid…
On the other hand, this last category is a bit more difficult…
That’s because we often think of fresh fruit as being extremely healthy (and it is… for most people)…
But even healthy fruits can pack a high sugar punch – one that diabetic bodies have a hard time dealing with…
Now, being high in sugar is not such an issue in and of itself, but to be healthy for diabetics, you also need to have high fiber content…
And even though they’re better than dried fruit, fruit juice, or processed food snacks, the unfortunate truth is that all the fresh fruits on this list can cause an insulin issue for most diabetics…
- Mangoes
- Grapes
- Watermelon and other melons
- Pears
- Pineapple
- Cherries
So, these three groups of fruits are the worst fruit options for diabetics…
But what are the good fruits that diabetics can eat? I’m glad you asked…
Healthy Fruits for Diabetics
In essence, what you want for a fruit to be healthy for diabetics are a few things…
- Relatively low sugar
- High fiber
- And a healthy dose of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients
Here are my top 3 favorite fruits to recommend to diabetics and the reasons why…
- Strawberries (and other berries) – Strawberries may taste sweet, but they actually have a pretty low sugar count. And when you add in the fiber they provide, they’re perfectly healthy for diabetics. Not only that, their range of antioxidants helps your body improve its insulin response.
- Peaches – This one might surprise you, but peaches are full of fiber, especially if you eat the fuzzy skin. And it doesn’t hurt that they’re highly versatile – eat them fresh off the tree in summer, mix them into breakfast oatmeal, or use them as the base for a healthy smoothie.
- Apples – An apple a day may not really keep the doctor away, but the old saying isn’t too far off. High in fiber, packed with vitamins, and some varieties (Red and Golden Delicious, for example) are extremely low in sugar. Just remember to eat the skin – that’s where you’ll find the antioxidants of apples.
There are plenty more healthy fruits out there and even if you’re diabetic or prediabetic, there are plenty of valuable nutrients you’ll get from adding more fruit to your diet – just remember to keep it in moderation and not go overboard.
I hope this article has not only shown you which fruits you should avoid if you’re diabetic…
But also given you some healthy options as well…