| Have Your Fruit and Eat It Too |
| By Ng Hooi Lin Translated by Tang Yau-yang |
Diabetics can eat only guavas and cherry tomatoes? They have to avoid fruits that are sweet? Let’s hear what a dietician has to say. Proper knowledge of nutritional facts can lead to a healthier and happier life. I visited an elderly woman not long ago. She was once my patient. We had not seen each other in a long time. She brought out a large plate of apple slices for me. “Wow! That’s enough for several people,” I said. “You’re so skinny, so eat a lot to help me.” She explained that her husband often buys apples as offerings to the gods, but he buys them faster than the family can eat them. “So I have a big bag of apples in the fridge. I don’t know what to do with them,” she said. “Apples are so sweet. I don’t dare eat too many.” She is diabetic. I asked her whether she ate fruit every day. “Sure, but only guavas,” she replied. I believe that if you or someone in your family is diabetic, you can probably relate to the dilemma in fruit choice. In this woman’s case, it was based on the perception that guava is less sugary than most other fruits. I have some personal experience with this too. When I was little, my father strictly avoided sweet fruit because of his diabetes. Back then, people believed that, because of their smaller molecules, sugars in fruits were easier to digest and absorb than those in rice. Thus rice would cause blood sugar to increase less than fruit would. I still remember that some diabetics back then would not touch fruit at all. However, such beliefs about fruit and diabetes have long been outdated. There is no reason why diabetics should not enjoy the benefit and pleasure of eating fruit. Though fruit does contain some sugar, it also has many other important nutrients, such as vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, dietary fiber, and phytochemicals such as β-carotene and flavonoids. Instead of just avoiding all fruit, diabetics should refer to the glycemic index (GI) to choose food that is nutritious and does not wreak havoc on their blood sugar. The glycemic index When a person eats food containing carbohydrates, the carbohydrates are broken down into individual glucose molecules. These small molecules then enter the bloodstream, raising the level of blood glucose (blood sugar). The specific type of carbohydrate can vary from food to food, and the human body breaks down different carbohydrates at different speeds. The glycemic index of a food indicates how quickly that food can increase blood sugar. A high-GI food leads to a quick surge of blood glucose. Therefore, foods with lower GIs are desirable because they help keep blood sugar levels stable. Generally, foods with a GI of 55 or less are classified as low-GI foods—the body converts them to glucose more slowly. The consumption of these foods does not abruptly raise the blood sugar levels. This is good for keeping blood sugar under control. On the other hand, foods with a GI of at least 70 are considered high GI foods—the body converts them to glucose rather quickly. High-GI foods are detrimental to maintaining healthy blood sugar levels.
All fruits are not created equal Three kinds of sugars are found in fruit: glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Of these three, fructose is the highest in sweetness but the lowest in GI. Therefore, sweeter fruits do not automatically mean a high GI score; conversely, less sweet fruits do not necessarily imply a low GI. If you are diabetic, you do not need to emulate the elderly woman who ate only guava and shunned everything else. My advice is to eat lower-GI fresh fruit and shun dehydrated or canned fruit. The key is to eat in moderation. It is not advisable to eat too much of your favorite fruit simply because it is low in its GI value. For diabetics, moderation means two servings of fruit a day, each serving about the size of a fist. You may consider spacing out these two servings between meals, for example, one at ten in the morning and the other at between three and four in the afternoon. A new way of life When I teach patients about a diabetes diet, I sometimes see elderly people paying close attention and taking careful notes. I am often touched beyond description by their drive to learn despite their age. They use blood glucose machines at home to measure their blood sugar, record the name and quantity of the food they eat, look for the causal relationships between their food choices and their blood sugar levels, and tweak their diets accordingly. The readers may wish to keep a diary like theirs to find out what fruits to eat and the proper amounts to ingest to achieve the best blood glucose results for themselves. Nutritional science doesn’t advise favoring one particular food—a star food—over another in the name of controlling blood glucose levels. Instead, it advises a balanced, reasonable diet. Any diabetic who wants to better control their disease might want to take some time to learn about the glycemic index. It will be well worth it. A balanced diet is a key to controlling our blood sugar. Eat in moderation. Don’t eat anything excessively just because you like it and it’s low in GI. Portion control is still important. |
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