• Fruit contains an array of vitamins but if large amounts are consumed especially on their own it can lead to problems with BG levels.
• Adding fruit to meals which contain lean protein and healthy fat is a good way of gaining the benefits of fruit without too much impact to blood glucose (BG) levels. One example would be adding a chopped apply to a salad containing cooked salmon (salmon is a lean protein and a healthy fat). One piece of fruit on its own is fine, but I wouldn’t recommend a several pieces being consumed at the one time. At least not every day.
• Fruits have varying levels of carbohydrates and fibre (which slows down the rate of absorption). Fruits with a higher fibre content (e.g. berries) will be absorbed more slowly than fruits that have a lower fibre content and therefore won’t affect BG levels too much.
• It’s a good idea to check out the carbohydrate and fibre level of the fruits you usually eat.
• Fruit juice (both fresh squeezed and bottled) can be as unhealthy as fizzy drinks. Due to their rapid delivery of sugar they put huge demands on insulin. Some bottled fruit juices labelled as ‘healthy’ contain as much sugar as a can of sugary fizzy drink.
• When I set out to write this article I randomly selected a bottle of fruit juice (Blueberry) from a supermarket, which was labelled ‘Superfood’ and checked the label. Here’s what I found:

The bottle contained 450ml of juice.

A serving size is 250ml, but there was no mark on the bottle to show you when you had consumed 250ml. My guess is that most people would finish the bottle in the one go or within a couple of hours.

A serving contains 29g carbohydrates, all of which are sugar.

If the full bottle was consumed it would notch up to 39g of carb. That’s exactly the same amount of carbs/sugar as a can of Coca Cola, ref.

Fruit juice is often used by some T1 diabetics to correct a low blood sugar occurrence, as the sugar is as easily accessed by the body as pure sugar.

• So, when eating fruit eat all the fruit rather than juicing.

• Lemons and limes are a great addition to any kitchen. They contain vitamin C which is important for the immune system and flavonoids which have anti-bacterial properties and also help to reduce blood pressure.
• Lemon and lime juice is great added to numerous dishes and drinks, squeezed over fish and salads. During colds and flu season, the remainder of the squeezed lemon/lime can be rubbed over your fingers to kill germs.