If you have diabetes, a proper diet is an important part of managing your health. The foods you eat affect your blood glucose levels. Depending on the choices you make, your diet can either benefit or harm your diabetes health. According to the American Diabetes Association, including bananas as part of your balanced diet may prove beneficial.
Fruit and Diabetes
You may think you should avoid eating fruit, as it contains sugars. However, the American Diabetes states that fruit can -- and should -- constitute an important part of your diabetes diet. Most fresh fruits have a low glycemic index, meaning they are unlikely to cause your blood sugar levels to spike to potentially unsafe highs. Fruits that contain edible seeds, such as bananas, generally have particularly low glycemic indexes because of their high fiber content.
Fiber
Bananas, a high-fiber food, may help prevent cardiovascular disease and combat obesity, two health issues often associated with Type 2 diabetes. The fiber in bananas may help reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease by helping to lower your blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. In addition, fiber-rich foods may promote weight loss by helping you to feel fuller on fewer calories. Bananas have only 105 calories, yet they have substantial volume. Losing just 5 to 10 percent of your overall body mass may help lower your blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Potassium
Bananas are an excellent source of potassium. An average-sized banana contains approximately 422 mg of potassium. According to the American Heart Association, eating potassium-rich foods, such as bananas, may help lower your blood pressure. If your body contains too much sodium sodium, you can develop -- or exacerbate -- high blood pressure. Potassium works to lower your blood pressure by combating the negative effects of sodium. If you have diabetes, you're more likely to have high blood pressure and suffer from heart disease than people who don't have diabetes. For this reason, it may be particularly beneficial to include potassium-rich foods, such as bananas, in your diet.
Considerations
Consult your doctor before making any dietary decisions or changes. If you do choose to eat bananas, integrate them into an overall healthy, balanced diabetes-friendly diet. The American Diabetes Association recommends that you eat one piece or 1/2 cup of fresh fruit with lunch and dinner. For breakfast, it recommends that one-fourth of your meal is made up of fresh fruit. Besides fruit, your meals should consist of the proper balance of nonstarchy vegetables, starchy foods such as grains and legumes, protein and nonfat dairy.
References
- American Diabetes Association: Fruits
- American Diabetes Association: Glycemic Index and Diabetes
- American Diabetes Association: What Can I Eat?
- MayoClinic.com; High-Fiber Foods; November 2009
- American Dietetic Association; Health Implications of Dietary Fiber; October 2008
- American Diabetes Association; Diabetes Statistics; January 2011
