Today, we are talking about the dried
fruits for people with diabetes. Are
dried foods good, bad, or ugly for
diabetics? We'll talk about that. We'll
talk about what dried fruits are, the
health benefits, the carbs in them, and
their glycemic index. Well, the best part
is the last part, so stay tuned and keep
watching until the end of this video.
Hi! I'm Dr. Ahmet Ergin. I'm an
endocrinologist and a certified diabetes
educator who specializes in hormones or
weight loss and diabetes management.
I practice in Florida but help people with
diabetes all over the world via this
youtube channel. Dry fruits contain some
of the best essential foods the human
body needs
to stay healthy. They are made after
extracting the water from them. That's
why we call them dry. Oh, well. That's
smart of me to say.
Dried fruits are full of essential
nutrients, including enzymes, the vitamins,
the minerals, and fibers. Whatever you
call it. They protect the body from the
environmental damage such as
oxidative damage. These fruits are also a
great source for healthy food for
diabetic people who are very concerned,
just like you, about what to eat and what
not to eat. But besides their countless benefits,
these dry fruits can actually cause
several harms to your body as well.
Therefore; they must be used in a
balanced way. Warning! Eating dried fruits
mindlessly can cost you big time. Yes,
they can be part of a healthy diet, but
as a diabetic you should know everything
about them before declaring a food item
healthy or unhealthy. Well, yes, there is
plenty of literature on dry fruits, but
it is all confusing and conflicting.
Let's dive into further detail, without
being boring. I promise! So, water removal
from the fruits can be done in many
different ways.
It can be through the sun drying or it
could be special dehydrators or dryers.
No, not your hair dryer.
This process produces a shrunken energy
and carbohydrate-rich fruit full of
essential nutrients. Also, dried fruits
deliver vital nutrients in a balanced way
with increased bioavailability,
meaning that your body can readily
absorb and use that easily. What else?
Well, not surprisingly dry fruits contain
many medicinal properties, due to the
vast amount of nutrients present in them.
They contain minerals, vitamins and
enzymes, along with
polyphenols. Remember, polyphenols are
substances high in antioxidant activity.
These polyphenol antioxidants reduce the
oxidative stress, they improve the blood
flow, they help the digestive system, and
they can decrease the risk of many
inflammatory disorders. In addition to
that, dried fruits are poor in fat, sodium
and cholesterol, which is great.
Some people use them to sweeten the food
without adding those refined sugars, and
those fruits also give their natural
color to the food, which makes it fun. So,
what to look for when purchasing the dry
fruits? First of all, eating dried food
should be limited with portion control.
Because too much of anything can be
harmful and unwanted. Some dry fruits are
coated with sugar, before drying, to make
them sweeter. These are referred to as
candy fruits. So, avoid these processed
fruits, because you can get, or they can
give it to you, the exact opposite of
what you're looking to get, which is
heart disease obesity and even cancer
that you're trying to avoid, but if you
are not avoiding those fruits covered
with sugar, you may get the exact
opposite. Also since dry fruits contain
fiber, too many dry fruits can cause problems in
your GI tract. Especially in those with gastroparesis.
So, the symptoms can be abdominal cramps
the gas, the bloating, and even diarrhea.
So, excessive dry fruit consumption will
also possibly cause weight gain, because
most dry fruits contain natural fruit
sugar in the form of fructose. And some
others even have like artificial sugars,
like we discussed before, for the drying
purposes. Also if taken in excess,
the tooth decays may happen, due to too
much sugar in your teeth, especially if
you're snacking on them frequently.
So, a lot of dry fruits, especially sugar
coated ones, have a high glycemic index,
guys. You will remember that from our
previous videos as well. When you have
high glycemic index food, it spikes your
blood sugar immediately. It may give you
a sudden energy spike and followed by a
sudden crash, once the glucose is out of
your system. This is seen a lot with
insulin resistant patients, and
occasionally blood sugar can actually
drop below the normal levels after
ingestion of this high amount of carbs.
We call that actually reactive
hypoglycemia, which is not uncommon. Also
I pay attention to the preservatives
such as sulfatides,
that are added to dry fruits to prevent
the discoloration during the drying
process. These preservatives can actually
cause serious abdominal cramps, even
rashes on your skin. So, even asthmatic
attacks have been seen due to allergies
caused by these substances. Last but not
least, improper handling and storage can
lead to growth of fungus and toxins such
as aflatoxins, that can cause severe side
effects, and in the long term, possibly
cancer. So, as a diabetic, you must be
wondering then how much dried fruit can
I eat. So, a typical
one-fourth of a cup of is one serving
for a dried fruit, which is around 15
grams, if you remember that from our
"understanding carbs" video. You can call
that one exchange or one serving, but
one-fourth of a cup is 15 grams. So, you
can include dried fruits, you can
mix it with nuts in your daily meal plan,
or as a fruit alternative, provided
that you do not use added sugars, and you
are staying on top of your daily carb
intake allowance. Unfortunately, due to
dehydration process, dry fruits will
always be higher in sugar, even in a
smaller serving. Let's talk about the
glycemic index of individual dry fruits.
So the glycemic index of some of common
fruits are, or dried fruits are: the dates
would be 62, the dried apples are 29,
dried apricots are 30, dried peaches are
35. And remember, anything less than 50 is
actually not bad. The plums are 21, the
figs are 61. Raisins are 59. Prunes are
38. And about 25 to 50% of this sugar
comes from fructose, which can actually
cause problems, such as weight gain, fatty
liver disease, and heart disease.
So here are some low glycemic fruits
the dry fruits are prunes, the dried
apples, the dried apricots, the dry
peaches, and dried plums. So, the figs are
considered a medium glycemic index, but
again, it can put you at risk for serious
spikes. Dates and raisins should
definitely be limited quite a bit in a
diabetic diet, due to their high glycemic
load that comes with them, guys. So I hope
this video was helpful. If so, please
subscribe like and share. And I will see
you in the next video.
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