Banana is such a popular fruit and many people take it for granted that they can eat one when they wish. But what if you are a diabetic? You would often wonder if a diabetic can eat a banana. What a diabetic can eat generally depends on sugar content, GI and GL of that food.
If you are a diabetic, you want to make sure you keep your blood sugar levels in normal range as much as you can. Banana is high in sugar and carbs, both of which can raise your blood sugar levels instantly. So obviously you will be curious to think ‘Can a Diabetic eat Banana?’.
Can a diabetic eat banana?
As most diabetic diet sheets list banana as one of the healthful fruits for diabetics, it is clear that a diabetic can indeed eat banana. However, a diabetic needs to watch the portion size and few other aspects like how ripe the banana is. Diabetics can indeed eat a bananas as long as the portion size is small and the bananas are not too ripe.
How bananas affect diabetes and blood sugar levels?!
Many experts recommend a balanced diet for diabetics. Balanced diet includes fresh fruit as well as many other types of food. Banana being a nutritious fruit gives you useful minerals, vitamins and fibre. At the same time, bananas are high in carbs and sugar.
As bananas are high in carbs and sugar, your blood sugar levels can shoot up when you eat banana. High blood sugar levels in turn can potentially make your diabetes worse and diabetes complications more serious. To avoid serious blood sugar spikes and diabetes complications, a diabetic can only eat small portion of banana.
However as banana only contains natural sugars and no added sugar, it may not be that bad after all. Moreover, even if your blood sugar levels rise after eating a banana, they come down pretty soon too. You can check your blood sugar levels using a glucometer like this.
What are the tips for diabetics to eat bananas?
To minimise the adverse effect of bananas a diabetic can only eat a small portion of banana. Diabetics should also avoid eating very ripe bananas. Ripe bananas can cause more damage to a diabetic’s health than not so ripe bananas. This is because ripe bananas are much higher in carbs and sugar than not so ripe bananas.
Why should a diabetic prefer to eat not so ripe bananas?
Greener bananas that are not very ripe, contain less sugar or carbs. The type of starch present in greener bananas is called resistant starch. Resistant starch takes more time for digestion. More time for digestion means blood sugar levels will rise at a lower rate. This explains why a diabetic needs to eat greener bananas that are not very ripe.
