Are strawberries safe for diabetics? Well … yeah! Turns out they are

diabetes are strawberries safe

Thanks to goddam diabetes, I have made a habit of avoiding most fruits. Fruits are sweet, and sweet is generally bad for the ‘beetus!

But the internet seems to suggest that strawberries are safe to eat.

Livestrong even says that strawberries are recommended:

Not only can you safely eat strawberries if you have diabetes, but in fact you are encouraged to do so. Strawberries and other fruits have numerous health benefits and are a healthful part of the diabetic diet. In addition, a growing body of research suggests that strawberries have an ingredient that is helpful in treating type 2 diabetes. As long as you don’t have an allergy to the fruit, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans encourages you to enjoy strawberries as part of the 1.5 to 2 cups of fruits you need each day.

Livestrong – Can Diabetics Eat Strawberries?

Well … GOOD! Cuz strawberries are delicious. And they’re apparently low on the glycemic index, which is a good thing:

The glycemic index (GI) measures how a food affects your blood sugar. Foods that are low on the scale raise it slowly. Those high on the scale raise it quickly.

A large serving of a low-GI food will usually raise your blood sugar as much as a small amount of a high-GI food. So experts also use glycemic load (GL), a measurement that involves portion size as well as the GI number, to give more details about these effects. For example, an orange has a GI of 52 but a glycemic load of 4.4, which is low. A candy bar with a GI of 55 may have a GL of 22.1, which is high.

WebMD | Diabetes and Fruit
diabetes are strawberries safe

And WebMD also gives a short list of fruits that are “healthiest” for diabetics, strawberries being one of them:

Healthiest Fruits for People With Diabetes
All fruits have vitamins, phytochemicals, and other things that make them good for you. But some are more likely to lower your chances of chronic disease:

Blackberries. One cup of raw berries has 62 calories, 14 grams of carbohydrates, and 7.6 grams of fiber.
Strawberries. One cup of whole strawberries has 46 calories, 11 grams of carbohydrates, and 3 grams of fiber.
Tomatoes. One cup of sliced or chopped tomatoes has 32 calories, 7 grams of carbohydrates, and 2 grams of fiber.
Oranges. One medium orange has 69 calories, 17 grams of carbohydrates, and 3 grams of fiber.

WebMD | Diabetes and Fruit

Ok, enough of this “education” nonsense.

I ate TWELVE strawberries! I dunno what that is in cups, but I’m pretty sure it’s more than one.

Let’s see if the numbers back up what Livestrong and WebMD are saying.

Blood sugar reading before eating: 98

This reading of 98 was right when I got to work in the morning. The daily dose of Diabex/Metformin wasn’t until several hours later.

Blood sugar reading after eating: 155

This reading was about an hour after finishing off those 12 beautiful strawberries.

diabetes are strawberries safe

So I ate A DOZEN of these things, and I was honestly expecting the increase to be a lot higher!

In fact, in a game of “Guess My Glucose” that I like to play with my coworkers, the guesses were mostly in the 180-200 range. I actually guessed 250 because I figured a dozen strawberries was really overdoing it.

But we were all wrong! I went from 98 → 155, an increase of +57 mg/dL.

N.T.S. Not too shabby.

But I was a little suspicious. So, as I sometimes do, I did another check after 20 more minutes had passed.

That glucose reading came in at 138! So after 1 hour and 20 minutes, my blood sugar was already on its way back down.

So I guess Livestrong and WebMD aren’t talking out their ass after all! I ate a whole bunch of strawberries, and not only did I live to tell about it … I didn’t even regret it. Not one bit.

Looks like strawberries are on the menu! But I probably won’t be eating them 12 at a time. Or maybe I will. I dunno!

diabetes strawberry joke
Ok whoever came up with this joke deserves to die