Low sugar fruits

neuro-praxis

I am wondering if anyone can advise me on this.

As part of my WeightWatchers endeavour I now want to try and kick my addiction to carbohydrates with a lower-carbohydrate diet. I am going to see how I get on trimming my servings of sweet and starchy foods to just a few times a week. My gp has told me my blood "tends toward diabetes" so I want to limit this as much as possible.

However I don't want to give up fruit, and would like one daily serving of a low-sugar fruit.

I have looked this up on the net and the sugar contents listed vary wildly.

Anyone out there know which fruits are lower in sugar? Thanks.

g'em

The 'sugar' in fruit is a bit of a misnomer - fructose isn't dreadfully influential on the GI. If you want to limit fruit for the sake of your sweet tooth, fair enough, but I wouldn't be overly concerned about it affected insulin levels. Citrus fruits, melon varieties, apples and berries are all low on the GI scale so a portion of any of them every day would be highly nutritous and very tasty

neuro-praxis

Thanks g'em, that's helpful.

However my dad is diabetic and the quantity of fruit he eats really does affect his blood sugar levels (I have seen the results first-hand) (especially bananas) so I would still want to limit my fruit intake a bit.

g'em

How much fruit are you eating a day now out of interest? I'm a disgrace - I could happily sit through a couple of bags of mandarins and a handful of apples in one sitting

I made a huge effort to monitor my fruit intake a while ago too - you're right, it does contribute towards the sweet tooth. Now I might eat a couple of pieces of fruit a week, usually apples, and they taste more delicious than ever. If I'm planning a lazy night in with a DVD a bunch of grapes is my favourite treat. Or if I'm *really* pushing the boat out, frozen grapes and frozen raspberries!!! I'm such a sap...

neuro-praxis

A typical day right now, let me see.

Breakfast is usually fruit-free as I like my eggs or my porridge. Occasionally I have a banana at this time, especially if I don't have time for breakfast - I'd grab a yoghurt and a banana while running out the door.

I would usually have fruit with my mid-morning snack - 2 kiwis would be typical.

Lunch also has fruit involved - either two mandarins, a portion of melon, 2 kiwis or a portion of strawberries (now not so good out of season).

I'd have yet another piece of fruit midafternoon, maybe an apple.

Then if I felt like it I might have a piece after dinner too, but not typically.

So up to 7 pieces a day!

I want to start including a portion of fruit with my brekkie now, and maybe not having any more throughout the day - having carrot sticks or whatever instead.

g'em

ah ok, well that *is* a lot of fruit!!!

At this point I want to make a disclaimer though lest I be accused of saying that fruit is unhealthy - it's not, it's wonderful stuff altogether, but (as with anything) it needs to be eaten in moderation.

Like you say it would be brilliant to try and make a shift from fruit to veg in your diet. Veg are super-low GI, high in fibre and incredibly nutritious. As your taste buds become more accustomed to the different veg you'll actually notice yourself finding discrepancies in the sweetness of vegetables - I now consider garden peas, carrots and mange tout to be very high on the sweet scale in comparison to, say, broccoli or sprouts.

Mange tout, sugar snap peas and carrot sticks can all be eaten throughout the day as snacks, and I love steaming hot broccoli, sprouts, green beans and baby sweetcorn liberally drizzled with walnut oil and sesmae seeds to eat with meat.

rubadub

Well bananas are double what a lot of fruits are, and higher GI. % sugar can vary with varieties, e.g. granny smith vs bramley. I find some packs have it in supermarkets now, esp. tesco prepacked stuff.

US sites & food packs are terrible for nutritional info, they always have portion sizes, or even worse, the dreaded "cup", with no weight mentioned at all!

grams per 100g, is percent, dont know why they cant all stick to that, usually they are covering up something if they refuse to publish it.

At this point I want to make a disclaimer though lest I be accused of saying that fruit is unhealthy - it's not, it's wonderful stuff altogether, but (as with anything) it needs to be eaten in moderation.

On one of the numerous "fat person documentaries" on there was a fat bloke who couldnt understand why he was so fat, he ate lots of "healthy things", including 35-40 oranges a day!

ali.c

g'em wrote: »

Mange tout, sugar snap peas and carrot sticks can all be eaten throughout the day as snacks

Yumm, seriously when i get home from a night out for the last couple of months i crave raw carrots. Raw veg is the business. I get my 5 portions of veg a day but wouldnt eat fruit everyday.

At rubadub on the cup thing, well the american measurments are not all metric. Its a pain in the hole alright. its a volumetric measure which is 250ml its not too bad in that if you have a measuring jug you can work with it, granted its not ideal but its a quick way of guestimating how much you are eating.

cozmik

That's a tough decision to make, neuro-praxis, I would hate to deprive myself of the nutrients that fruit provide but if something had to go it would probably be banana's.

neuro-praxis

Well I do intend to continue eating fruit, Cosmik. I guess on an average day I eat 4-5 pieces (7 would be a rare maximum) and I would like to cut that to 1-2 per day. I will still be getting all the nutrients I need. I'm aiming for lower carb, not "low-carb" - which will mean I eat lots of vegetables with each meal.

I'm just trying to curb my need for carbs!

rubadub

ali.c wrote: »

At rubadub on the cup thing, well the american measurments are not all metric. Its a pain in the hole alright. its a volumetric measure which is 250ml its not too bad in that if you have a measuring jug you can work with it, granted its not ideal but its a quick way of guestimating how much you are eating.

A "real" US cup is 237ml, a US nutritional cup is 240ml, some other countries use 250ml which is a more "metric" cup. Then a cup of coffee, can be 150, 180, 200ml. I get pedantic about it as I work as an engineer in the drinks industry and hate these vague terms when doing calcuations and come up against them all the time.

My problem with using volumes as a substitute for weights is that it depends on the shape of the vessel and the size and compression of the item. It leaves room for people to cheat. Just look at porridge on the shelves, I think either odlums or flahavans have an organic porridge now, and the bag is way bigger than the standard one yet is the same weight. All fluffed up, pinhead oat will weigh more per unit volume.

It is handy for some but it is best just to get your own scale and weigh what your own scoop of oats is. I get plastic caps off spray bottles, you can keep cutting them down until 1 scoop is your desired portion. I have an old whey powder container that I keep porridge oats in and just leave a scoop in that.

The US do not use metric but every country understands percentages. When holding 2 products side by side you can easily compare them using %. If one says 1/2 cup contains 10g sugar, and the other says 3oz contains 10g sugar, you need a calculator and weighing scales to compare them!