For diabetics, it's paramount that anything that they consume in their diet should not contribute to fluctuations in their blood sugar levels. Controlling blood sugar via diet, routine, medications is an important part of diabetes management.
Diabetics sometime become someone with an opinion that they should not eat fruits as they contain fructose. We'll, this idea might also be backed by those people who are our close to us but they lack thorough knowledge on what fruits are good and which fruits are bad for people suffering with diabetes.
In this article, we'll looking at one such fruit that is sometime presumed (offcourse by those with improper knowledge) to be extremely bad for diabetes and it's crystal clear from the title itself, that fruit is BANANA. So, Let get into detailing!!
Can banana affect your blood sugar levels?
A short answer to this point can be - YES, off course it can. But, how much can it affect. Whenever, we talk about or decide that which food item is good for diabetics and which are bad, all that decision is primarily based upon one factor of that food - The Glycemic Index!!
I've already given detailed explanation on the Glycemic Index in other articles, you can quickly find it in the 5 best fruits for diabetics article.
To cut long story short, Glycemic Index (GI) refers to the ability of a carbohydrate food to increase glucose levels in the blood.
Bananas have a GI score of 58, hence they are capable of increasing blood sugar, if not eaten in moderation. They are pretty high in both carbohydrates and sugar, which are the main components that are responsible for rise in blood sugar levels. One medium-sized banana (about 126 grams) contains 29 grams of carbs and 112 calories.
So, from the above data it's very clear that bananas do have the potency of causing your body to fall into hyperglycemia. But, does that mean it needs to be completely avoided by diabetics? Let's find out..
How many bananas can a diabetic eat in a day?
Given the nutritional value and components that bananas contains, it's definitely not the case that you need to completely avoid bananas if you're a diabetic. But, that also does not imply that it's perfectly safe to eat bananas everyday.
By following the right tips of eating banana and proper guidance by a qualified professional doctor, bad effects of banana on diabetics can be avoided.
Best advice as per your body type can be achieved by only after consulting with a qualified doctor. But general speaking, A small banana twice or thrice a week can perhaps be considered safe for diabetics. But, a diabetic should not consume banana daily.
It's equally important to note that the affect of bananas in increasing blood sugar levels also depends upon the form of banana i.e., is it a green/ raw banana or fresh regular banana.
Is raw banana good for diabetes?
Unlike regular banana, Green or unripe bananas contain less sugar and more resistant starch. Sugar content in raw bananas are comparatively much lower and they can extremely helpful in keeping the digestive system healthy. Their GI or Glycemic index score is comparatively lesser from a regular banana, hence they do not cause much increase in blood sugar levels. In addition to those, there are few more food items such as peanut butter, eggs that does not cause too much spike in blood sugar, hence, Diabetics can include them in their daily diet after consulting with a qualified professional doctor.
However, too much eating of raw bananas cause bloating and indigestion to someone who has a weak digestion. That means if you're someone who have a slow or a weak digestive system, it's best to refrain from eating raw bananas or eat them in very limited quantities only.
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