5 Reasons why I eat tons of fruit as a Type 1 Diabetic

Yes, another post about fruits.

Fruit tastes like magic

I mean, come on. I’ll start from the basics: fruits are pure Nature’s magic given to us in the form of food. They are colourful, refreshing, energising, packed with nutrients and packed with joy. They are a Mastering Diabetes Green Light Food (aka: eat as much fruit as you want).

It is impossible to not feel amazing after eating fruit. If you don’t like fruit, it’s probably because your taste buds are atrophied by extra processed sugary and/or salty food. Get rid of that and feast on Nature’s candies as soon as possible. Like, now. Go grab an apple and eat it!

*You’re allowed to take a break from reading this blog post. Actually, I’ll take a break from writing.*

Now you’re ready to read the rest.

Fruit Is Essential for Metabolic Health and Longevity

I’ve been reading Peter Attia’s “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity”, and boy, is that a powerful book.

In a nutshell, he advocates for an increasingly proactive approach to health (Medicine 3.0), moving from the reactive approach of Medicine 2.0. Medicine 2.0 is discovering you have Type 2 diabetes because some analysis reveals that your fasting blood glucose is elevated. Medicine 3.0 is wearing a CGM and witnessing how the way you eat impacts your blood glucose.

Medicine 2.0 is realising the damage once damage is done. Medicine 3.0 is understanding the danger long before, and giving ourselves the chance to fix our trajectory: the patient must act and take responsibility.

Think how you want to live your “Marginal Decade”, the last 10 years of your life, and reverse engineer from that: what do I need to do NOW, in order to be in my best health? To avoid or minimise the risk of such things as cancer, Alzheimer disease, physical inability? Turns out that good metabolic health is essential for longevity.

Quoting from the book:

If you find yourself anywhere on this train line [the train line of Type 2 diabetes], […] you are likely also en route to one or more of the other three Horsemen diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease).

[…]

Metabolic dysfunction vastly increases your risk for all of these. So you can’t fight the Horsemen without taking on metabolic dysfunction first.

Let’s break this down.

Understanding Insulin Resistance

If you are insulin resistant, you’ve got a problem. Insulin is an hormone that decides where to store energy coming from food: it sends glucose to the locations where it is needed while maintaining glucose homeostasis (“time in range”).

When you are insulin sensitive, your body needs relatively small amounts of insulin to keep everything in balance. But when it reaches capacity (for instance: eating in excess, or eating many insulin resistance promoting foods like fats and processed foods), all that energy must be stored somewhere.

That is when the excess energy starts to be converted into fat. The more fat is accumulated (especially in the muscles), the more insulin resistant you become. It’s a vicious cycle. Quoting Dr. Attia:

“Fat spillover helps initiate insulin resistance, which results in the accumulation of still more fat, eventually impairing our ability to store calories as anything other than fat.”

From Insulin Resistance to Insulin Sensitive with Fruit

So we need to stay away from foods that promote insulin resistance. These include fatty foods, highly processed carbohydrates like bread, and things like energy drinks and juices.

Put simply: don’t eat packaged stuff. Eat stuff as close as possible to how nature provides it. Like whole fruits.

There’s a caveat, tough: excess fructose can be a driver of metabolic dysfunction.

Why? From an evolutionary perspective, as humans spread all over the globe, they had to store all the available energy, including that coming from fruits, into fat to survive testing environments and periods of scarcity such as long winters. Made sense back then, but today we’re overwhelmed by food and don’t need to go foraging for survival.

Fruit is not a problem when consumed as Nature provides it (whole fruit pieces): there’ a physical limit for the amount of stuff you can squeeze in your stomach at one time. However, it does become a problem when one starts to drink fruit: one juice here, one smoothie there, a fruit yogurt…all of a sudden you’re throwing tons of excess fructose to your body, which turns it into fat. Plus, since they’re deprived of the fiber that is naturally contained in a whole fruit, their effect on blood glucose levels is much more immediate.

*Feel free to take another break if needed.*

Whole fruits, being low in fat and high in fiber, are excellent choices for improving insulin sensitivity. The fiber slows down the glucose absorption, helping to maintain a good level of blood glucose (“time in range”).

As long as one limits the intake of fats, there will not be spikes caused by eating fruit. A diet rich in whole fruits can thus help your body utilise insulin more effectively, reducing the need for the larger doses that an insulin resistant body requires.

Insulin resistance is linked to numerous health risks, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and more. By keeping insulin sensitivity high through a fruit-rich diet, you can help protect yourself from these dangers.

Take-home message: keep the fats low, whole fruits are good for you, they minimise insulin resistance and help you keep good metabolic health.

Fruit is Packed with Essential Nutrients and Water

Whole fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are essential for overall well-being. I use them to fill potential nutritional gaps in my diet.

I also feast on fruit because they are an incredible source of hydration due to their high water content. There’s nothing better than a huge slice (or two, or three…) of watermelon after a long summer run! Not only it rehydrates me, it also replenish my glycogen stores. Two birds with one stone!

So, if you’ve ever rolled your eyes when someone reminded you to “stay hydrated”, you have now a more colourful and tasty option to solve that problem.

*A physical and juicy representation of the old saying '“two birds with one stone”.*

Fruit for Satiation, Low Stress on Digestive Tract and Energy

The fiber in fruits aids digestion and promotes gut health. I’ve noticed that when I eat more fruit I am less bloated and just feel better (indeed, fruits help with constipation and promote a healthy gut microbiome, which is important for anyone, including us people blessed with diabetes).

Because your digestion is much faster and smoother, you’re likely to experience higher energy levels: no spikes in blood glucose, no post-meal slumps, only pure, good nutrition.

Also, eating whole fruits makes it much harder to consume excess calories: you can only eat a certain amount of apples before feeling full. This does not happen when you drink a fruit juice: drinking your calories will not make you feel full, and you’ll keep drinking, and adding excess calories without even realising. This, as we saw earlier, is a big problem in terms of insulin resistance, metabolic health, and longevity.

Fruits for Mindful Eating and Portion Control

Incorporating whole fruits into your diet encourages mindful eating and portion control. I’ve struggled with this in the past, and enjoying whole fruits has made me aware of my food choices and portion sizes.
Not surprisingly, this has contributed to stable blood sugar levels, lower insulin needs, and better diabetes management.

I hope I persuaded you to eat more fruit. If I failed, go grab a big juicy fruit and have a bite. I am sure that will do a much better job than me at convincing you.