Diabetes Education Made simple: Fruits, Serving and Portion Sizes

Myth - Fruits are very healthy and you can eat all the fruits and vegetables you want as part of daily diet. Therefore, people with diabetes can eat fruits all day long.

Fact - Although fruit is an excellent snack which provides vitamins, minerals and extra fluid, it is still is considered a carbohydrate and must be counted in your daily allowance. Generally, you are allowed between 2 - 4 servings of carbohydrate per meal. It depends on your weight, activity level and blood sugar control. Usually 2 - 3 servings of fruit a day are considered reasonable.

One serving of fruit literally means:
• Half cup of fruit
• 1 medium piece of fruit = the size of a tennis ball
• Quarter cup of dried fruit
• Three quarter cup (6 ounces / 150 g) of 100% fruit or vegetable juice

One portion of:
• Cherries = 14 cherries
• Apples = one medium apple
• Large fruit = 1 slice of melon or pineapple

Remember
• Check the fruit size
• Juicier fruits raise blood sugar faster (for example: watermelon, pineapple and banana)
• Fruits that may give less of a rise in blood sugar are cherries or apples, due to the lower glycemic index and less ripe fruit
• Think about eating your fruit before the evening hours
• Obviously if you have a really huge apple and a really small apple, the calorie counts will be different

Mangoes

One American Diabetic Association (ADA) Diabetic Fruit Exchange contains 15 grams of carbohydrate and 60 calories. The ADA exchange lists the Mango’s portion size as either 5.5 ounces or half cup or 141 g



Grapes

One ADA Diabetic Fruit Exchange contains 15 grams of carbohydrate and 60 calories. A bunch of seedless grapes is about the size of a smart phone - this is a good analogy to remember



Raisins

Each item in the fruit exchange list contains about 15 grams of carbohydrate and 60 calories. Dried fruits such as raisins contain about 2 grams of dietary fiber



Serving Size

A serving is defined as a standard measurement of food. It helps you to make better estimates with your food portion sizes.



Portion Size

The buffet pictures are a good way to remember Portion size. You take a portion of the food from the buffet line. You can learn the nutritional values of all food serving sizes at this website, if you continue to visit us, and when at a buffet you apply that knowledge to choose portion sizes that fit your needs. Today we talked about fruit serving size in a way you can relate to and remember, so that you can make the right portion size choices for your plate. It is that simple.



Modified from: http://www.foodsize.com; www.foodnetwork.com