Since getting diagnosed with goddam diabetes nearly two years ago, I have cut most fruits out of my diet. I eat cherry tomatoes and avocados regularly, but not much else.
So when a whole bunch of apples magically appeared at work just before the big Lunar New Year holiday, I grabbed a couple!
I was not expecting good results from eating these apples.
But WebMD says that apples have a low glycemic index (GI), so I guess that’s good? Apparently, low GI foods raise blood sugar more slowly than high GI ones.
Anyway, who cares what the stupid internet says. It’s all about the results!
Blood sugar reading before eating: 121
This reading of 121 was when I got home from work. As usual, it had been many hours since my daily Diabex/Metformin, and I hadn’t eaten anything in a while except for maybe some dried seaweed.
Blood sugar reading after eating: 189
This reading of 189 was about an hour after finishing the apple.
121 → 189 may sound bad, and it is, but it’s not holy shit bad. It’s an increase of 68 mg/dL. Far from awesome, but I guess I can live with it.
And just to be sure my body wasn’t trying to prank me (which happens sometimes), I checked my blood sugar again after an additional 30 minutes (169 mg/dL), and again after yet another 30 minutes (151 mg/dL).
Ok, so on to Apple #2!
Blood sugar reading before eating: 124
This reading of 124 was in the morning when I got to work. This was a few days after Apple #1. I also had a little brick of colby jack cheese.
As is customary, I gave one small slice of both apple and cheese to the swell gal who sits to my left, but I munched down the rest on my own.
Blood sugar reading after eating: 188
This reading of 188 was about an hour after finishing the apple and cheese.
I can already hear the science nerds questioning why I tested Apple #2 with that chunk of colby jack when no such cheese was included with Apple #1.
Well, smartypants, I ate the cheese ‘cuz I wanted it! Also, based on previous cheese tests, I knew it wouldn’t have a big impact on the glucose.
So Apple #1 and Apple #2 both yielded very similar results. I got increases of 69 mg/dL and 64 mg/dL respectively, so hey at least the tests are consistent!
Does this mean that apples are safe for diabetics to eat? I’m gonna say YES, but with the caveat that maybe you should just eat half an apple instead of a whole one.
My usual desk breakfast of cucumber spears and cherry tomatoes gets kind of old, and I feel like half an apple might actually be a better choice than the tomatoes.
If you like dem apples, do your own test and lemme know what happens!
I was having my blood sugar coming in between 130 and 140 in the morning. So I checked my blood sugar at 3:00 A.M. and it was in that range. So from reading it seems like I was having the dawn phenomenon. So one Web site said to try an apply slice with some peanut butter at bedtime. I have done it twice and both times it was in the 120’s. So it’s not eating a whole apple, but an apple slice covered with peanut butter might help if you are getting high readings when you first get up.