What fruits have glucose

The glycemic index (GI) is one nutritional tool you can use to help rate the quality of carbohydrates that you eat.

The glycemic index measures how quickly the carbohydrates in a specific food impact your blood sugar.

Foods are rated low, medium, or high on the glycemic index, depending on how quickly they raise your blood sugar level, compared to either glucose or white bread (these foods have a glycemic index rating of 100).

By choosing low glycemic index foods, you can minimize dramatic increases in your blood sugar.

Additionally, if you eat a high glycemic index food, you can expect that it’ll increase your blood sugar more significantly. It may also cause a higher post-meal blood sugar reading.

Many factors can change the glycemic index of a food. These factors include its composition and how the food is cooked. The glycemic index of food also changes when foods are mixed together.

The glycemic index of food isn’t based on a normal serving of a particular food. For example, carrots have a high glycemic index, but to get the amount measured for carrot’s glycemic index you’d have to eat a pound and a half.

A different measure, called glycemic load, is also available.

This measure takes into account both the speed of digestion and the amount present in a normal serving of a food. This may be a better way to measure the impact a carbohydrate food has on blood sugar.

To assign a GI number, foods are assigned to one of three categories: low, medium, or high.

• Low GI foods have a GI of 55 or less.
• Medium GI foods are between 56 and 69.
• High GI foods are 70 or higher.

For glycemic load, under 10 is considered low, 10 to 20 is considered medium, and over 20 is consider high.

Several factors are taken into account when assigning a food a glycemic rating.

These factors include:

Acidity

Foods that are highly acidic, such as pickles, tend to be lower on the GI than foods that aren’t. This explains why breads made with lactic acid, such as sourdough bread, are lower on the GI than white bread.

Cooking time

The longer a food is cooked, the higher it tends to be on the GI. When a food is cooked, the starch or carbohydrates start to break down.

Fiber content

In general, foods that are high in fiber have lower glycemic ratings.

The fibrouscoatings around beans and seeds mean the body breaks them down more slowly. Therefore, they tend to be lower on the glycemic scale than foods without this coating.

Processing

As a general rule, the more processed a food is, the higher it is on the glycemic scale. For example, fruit juice has a higher GI rating than fresh fruits.

Ripeness

The more ripe a fruit or vegetable, the higher it tends to be on the GI.

While there are certainly exceptions to each rule, these are some general guidelines to follow when evaluating the potential blood sugar impact of a particular food.

Eating according to the GI can help you better manage your post-meal blood sugar levels. The GI can also help you determine appropriate combinations of food.

For example, eating several low GI fruits and vegetables combined with a high GI food can help you maintain better blood sugar control. Other examples include adding beans to rice, a nut butter to bread, or tomato sauce to pasta.

Choosing foods with low glycemic impact can help to keep your blood sugar levels low. However, you must also carefully adhere to the portion sizes recommended. Glycemic ratings aren’t only for those with diabetes.

Those trying to lose weight or decrease hunger also utilize the GI as a diet because it can control appetite. Because the food takes longer to digest in the body, a person can feel fuller for longer.

The glycemic index helps you pick higher quality carbohydrates. However, it’s the total carbohydrate loads in your diet that ultimately affect blood sugar levels.

Choosing low glycemic foods can help, but you must also manage the total carbohydrates that you consume.

Also, the GI doesn’t take into account the overall nutritional value of a food. For example, just because microwave popcorn is in the middle of GI foods, doesn’t mean you should live only on microwave popcorn.

When you start on a diet to manage your diabetes, the American Diabetes Association recommends that you meet with a registered dietitian who’s familiar with diabetes.

There are many meal plans available. Make sure to ask how you can use information on the glycemic index to best manage your blood sugar levels.

Eating healthy is important to controlling diabetes. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet.

Knowing both the glycemic index as well as the glycemic load of some of the more common fruits and vegetables will help you choose your favorites to incorporate into your daily diet.

According to the Harvard Health Publication, they are as follows:

When you use the glycemic index when planning meals, you’ll be able to better manage your blood sugar levels. You’ll also be able to find and choose foods that you enjoy. You can then incorporate them into a healthy diet plan.

Managing blood sugar levels through diet is an extremely important part of managing your diabetes.

Overview

Watching your sugar intake is a good idea, but taming your sweet tooth can be an incredibly difficult feat.

Perhaps you’ve already cut out processed sugars, but didn’t realize how much sugar is contained in fruit. Or maybe you live with diabetes and want to know which fruits will have the least impact on your blood sugar.

While fruit also contains lots of other healthy nutrients, some varieties are higher in sugar than others. Learn which fruits are lowest in sugar content so you can satisfy your sweet tooth without breaking the sugar bank.

High in vitamin C, lemons and their lime green counterparts are fairly sour fruits. They don’t contain much sugar (only a gram or two per lemon or lime) and are the perfect addition to a glass of water to help curb your appetite.

With only five grams — a bit more than a teaspoon — of sugar per cup, and lots of fiber to help fill you up, raspberries are one of several amazing berries to make the list.

Strawberries are surprisingly low in sugar considering they taste so sweet and delicious. One cup of raw strawberries has about seven grams of sugar, along with over 100 percent of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C.

Blackberries also only have seven grams of sugar per cup. You don’t have to feel guilty snacking on these dark colored berries. As a bonus, they’re also high in antioxidants as well as fiber.

These odd fuzzy green-fleshed fruits are technically considered a berry too. Kiwis (or kiwifruits) are rich in vitamin C and low in sugar — with just six grams per kiwi. You can find kiwis all year-round at the grocery store.

Another citrus fruit to make the list is grapefruit. While grapefruits certainly don’t taste as sweet as a grape, they make for a great breakfast with only nine grams of sugar in half of a medium-sized grapefruit.

While not exactly the first thing that comes to mind when you think of fruit, avocados are indeed fruits, and naturally low in sugar. An entire raw avocado only has about one gram of sugar. What avocados do have a lot of are healthy fats, which will help keep you satiated.

Watermelons are the iconic summer fruit. They may seem like a treat, but they’re low in sugar. A whole cup of diced up watermelon has under 10 grams of sugar. A bonus of eating watermelon is it’s also a great source of iron.

Cantaloupes owe their orange color to a high vitamin A content. A cup of this delicious melon contains less than 13 grams of sugar. This may be a bit higher than other fruits, but keep in mind that a 12 ounce can of soda has nearly 40 grams of sugar, and very little nutritional value.

Oranges are another great way to enjoy a sweet snack without all the calories and sugar, while also boosting your Vitamin C intake. A typical naval orange has about 12 grams of sugar per fruit and less than 70 calories.

Peaches can be incredibly sweet, but at less than 13 grams of sugar in a medium-sized fruit, they can still be considered low in sugar for a fruit.

These 11 low-sugar fruits contain between one and 13 grams of sugar, but remember that serving size makes all the difference.

A serving of watermelon is just one cup, so indulging in three or four cups of watermelon can easily put you somewhere near a can of sugary soda in terms of sugar.

Of course, all fruit contains a lot more vitamins, minerals, and fiber compared to sugary processed snacks. High fiber foods slow down digestion, which means your blood sugar won’t spike as quickly after eating fruit. As with most things in life, moderation is key.