I can’t believe all the persistent misinformation out there regarding fruit and its connection to blood sugar problems. Just yesterday some friends were lamenting how they couldn’t eat fruit because of their blood sugar issues. It’s with this frame of reference that I went into my Cook’n article archives and found something I shared back in 2008.

The research hasn’t changed! Fruit does NOT cause blood sugar problems. Here’s what you may have read over 11 years ago if you were a Cook’n subscriber back then:

I’ve been doing some intensive research lately on the role fruit plays into the diets of those with blood sugar issues, and the facts are conclusively in: FRUIT DOES NOT CAUSE BLOOD SUGAR PROBLEMS.

At the risk of boring you to death, I’ll quote only one doctor, Dr. Douglas Graham (from his book the 80-10-10 Diet): “Consuming fruit does not cause blood-sugar problems, but overeating fat does. If you will eat just very low amounts of fat, in most cases blood-sugar levels return to normal, as does pancreatic functioning. The less fat you eat, the better! When we eat low fat, the sugar in fruits passes easily into, and then out of the blood.

“Sure, eating fruit will raise blood sugar, but so does eating other foods. Complex carbohydrates (cooked or raw) top the list of foods with the highest glycemic loads, meaning they cause the largest and most rapid spiking of blood-sugar levels.

“When eating whole fruits, you’ll find that its sugars pass easily into, and then out of the bloodstream in minutes, and causes no abnormalities in blood-sugar levels. We’re finding that a diet that includes fruit and very low fat has only a positive effect on triglycerides, for instance.

“The fat/diabetes connection goes back as early as 1927 with the work of Dr. E.P. Joslin of the famous Joslin Diabetic Center in Boston. In 1936, Dr. I.M. Rabinowitch of Canada presented 1,000 case studies demonstrating this connection to the Diabetic Association. In his presentation, he proved that the main factor inhibiting the metabolism of bloods sugar in the presence of normal insulin was too much fat in the blood.

“In 1979, an American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that medical research confirmed up to 50% of people with Type 2 diabetes can eliminate diabetes risks and discontinue medication within three weeks by adopting a low-fat, plant food diet and regular daily exercise.

“And in 1998, Duke University Medical Center researchers reported the findings of a study demonstrating that Type 2 diabetes can be completely reversed in mice by lowering dietary fat. The study showed that foods high in fat were responsible for the onset of diabetes in the mice, whereas sugar had no effect at all on diabetes symptoms. Their press release stated that without the fat, the diabetes did not occur, even in diabetes-prone mice. It said that when the high-fat diet is stopped in mice that have been raised on it, their diabetes disappeared.”

DISAPPEARED people! So with this truly happy news I went looking for medically-supported recipes involving fruit that I could share. In the book Juicing for Life, authors Cherie Calbom, M.S. and Maureen Keane, M.S., C.N., offer a couple great drinks you might want to try if you have a juicer. And with that, enjoy your fruit!

APPLE-LIME SPRITZER

1 apple, seeded

¼ lime

Sparkling water

Juice apple and lime together. Pour fruit mixture into a tall, ice-filled glass. Fill glass to top with sparkling water.

And while apples are still in season and so good for us, here’s another apple-oriented drink that’s also very good (and from the same book, Juicing for Life):

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APPLE-MINT FIZZ

4-6 sprigs fresh mint leaves

2 green apples, seeded

1 small lemon wedge

Sparkling water

Mint sprig for garnish, if desired

Bunch up mint and push through a hopper-type juicer with apples and lemon. Juice directly into a small pitcher filled with ice. Pour juice into tall glass and fill with sparkling water. Garnish with mint sprig.

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