By Heather Nicholds
I had a question last week after my post about coffee subs and natural energy boosters, about the simple sugars in fruit and whether they’re bad for you.
Simple sugars in refined sweeteners cause a blood sugar spike, insulin response to catch up, and an ensuing sugar crash.
The good news is that fruits have tons of fiber and water along with the simple sugars, so they’re absorbed slower into your blood stream.
Fruit also has lots of nutrients – vitamins, minerals and antioxidants – so they nourish your body to give you long-lasting energy, whereas refined sweeteners will have almost all their nutrients stripped from them and will rob nutrients from your body.
Some unrefined sugars maintain some of their nutrients, but whole fresh fruits have more.
For certain people, like diabetics or hypoglycemics or anyone super sensitive to sugars, fruits can still be a bit too high in glycemic index.
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To lower the glycemic load of the meal or snack, you can pair fruit with some nuts or seeds. I love having cashews with bananas, or almonds with plums.
Whole grains are another way to average out a high glycemic fruit. I love chopping apple or pear onto porridge for breakfast.
I love fruit, and eat some at least every day.
With Hallowe’en quickly approaching, you might have sugar on the brain. Fruit makes an excellent sweet treat – fresh, frozen or dried (like raisins or dried mango).
If that’s not enough, you can always make your own treats at home, like muffins or cookies with unrefined flours and sugars.
Here are some of my fave ways to get a chocolate fix:
- Healthy chocolate brownies
- Homemade chocolate bark
- Ricki’s chocolate-flecked pumpkin seed cookies
- Chocolate krinkles – regular or whole foods version
- Chocolate-banana pudding (just blend banana and cocoa powder)
- Chocolate macaroons
- Dreena Burton’s Chocolate Lollibats (so cute!!)
What kind of healthy treats do you like to make for yourself? Let me know below!
