Selecting The Right Fruits For Diabetics And Over Weight People!
Many diabetics and also over weight or obese people are confused as to which fruits they can eat and which they can’t. In fact, many diabetics avoid eating fruits altogether.
Here is some vital information about fruits that all diabetics and also overweight people should have.
All fruits are healthy. They all provide you with varying amounts of carbohydrates and energy. They also provide you with ample vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
All fruits are rich in a variety of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants along with carbohydrates and some amino acids. They are also rich in dietary fibre.
The primary sugars in fruits are fructose and glucose. They are different from table or refined sugar. The glycemic index of refined sugar is 65 which is very close to the high range of glycemic indices while the glycemic index of fruits is 25, which is very low. The ample fibre in fruits slows down the absorption of fructose from the fruits. So the blood sugar climbs slowly, unlike in case of refined sugar.
So diabetics and over weight people too can safely eat fruits.
They provide us with beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A, vitamin C, B vitamins, folate, vitamin E, minerals like iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese and potassium.
They also provide us with a group of vital nutrients called antioxidants. These include phenolic flavonoids, lycopene, carotenoids and glucosinolates.
Broadly we can classify fruits into three calorie categories.
The lowest calorie and antioxidant rich fruits are various exotic berries like strawberries, mulberries, rasberries, blackberries, blueberries. Musk melon, water melon and papaya also belong to this group. You can have them amply. These fruits provide us with approximately thirty to forty calories per hundred gram.
Mid range in calories and carbohydrates are apples, pears, guavas, oranges, sweet lime, tangerine, lychees and peaches. You can have one or two servings a day. These fruits provide us with fifty to seventy calories per hundred gram.
Banana, chickoo, custard apple, mango, grapes and pomegranate range from between seventy to hundred calories per hundred gm. They maximally give you twenty three per cent carbohydrates, same as potato, compared to rice (eighty per cent) and wheat (seventy per cent) and provide around three hundred and fifty calories per hundred gram.
Calorie conscious people can have two fruits from the first two calorie categories and one from the higher calorie group.
Diabetics and people with hyperinsulinemia can eat the lower two calorie group fruits more and the highest calorie category fruits in smaller quantities and less frequently.
Even the last category of fruits needn’t be banished altogether by diabetics, they needn’t miss out on the health benefits of these wonderful fruits.
Fruits Calorie Table
Fruits (100 grams) | Calorie Content |
Apple | 56 |
Avocado Pear | 190 |
Banana | 95 |
Chikoo | 94 |
Cherries | 70 |
Dates | 281 |
Grapes | 70 |
Guava | 66 |
Figs | 74 |
Lychees | 61 |
Mangoes | 70 |
Musk Melon | 34 |
Orange | 53 |
Papaya | 47 |
Peach | 50 |
Pears | 51 |
Pineapple | 46 |
Plums | 56 |
Pomegranate | 77 |
Strawberries | 32 |
Watermelon | 26 |
Read the Latest Post ‘Magical Health Benefits Of Fruits‘ for nutritional information about fruits.