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Does Orange Juice Raise Blood Sugar


Christmas Day Evening Nibbles

Can I Have Oranges or Orange Juice if I have diabetes?

Stick to the things you know work well: nuts, cheese, cooked meats, oatcakes, hummus, sour cream chive dip, vegetable sticks, celery filled with cream cheese, real potato crisps, popcorn, granny smith and peanut butter, high meat content sausages or pigs in blankets left over from dinner, scotch eggs, devilled eggs, olives, seeds etc.

Low Blood Sugar Levels In Diabetes

People with diabetes can have low blood sugar levels because of the medicines they have to take to manage their diabetes. They may need a hormone called or diabetes pills to help their bodies use the sugar in their blood.

These medicines help take the sugar out of the blood and get it into the body’s cells, which makes the blood sugar level go down. But sometimes it’s a tricky balancing act and blood sugar levels can get too low.

People with diabetes need to keep their blood sugars from getting too highor too low. Keeping blood sugar levels in a healthy range means balancing when and what they eat, and when they exercise with when they take medicines.


Does Orange Juice Raise Blood Sugar Levels

Orange juice contains natural sugar that will cause your blood sugar levels to rise after drinking it. Diabetics and people with hypoglycemia are often instructed to drink a glass of orange juice if blood sugar levels are low. Even though orange juice will raise blood sugar, it does not raise them as quickly as some other high-sugar foods and beverages.

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Focus On Portion Control

Monitoring portions of all carb-rich foods is an essential component for any diet aimed at managing diabetes and juice is no exception.

The portion size of a serving of 100% fruit juice is usually 0.5 cups .

Paying close attention to how many carbs you drink from juice in relation to the total amount of carbs you consume from other foods throughout your day can help you keep your blood sugar in check.


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What Are The Signs & Symptoms Of Low Blood Sugar

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Different people may feel low blood sugar levels differently. People with low blood sugar may:

  • feel hungry or have “hunger pains” in their stomach
  • feel shaky or like they’re trembling
  • have a rapid heart rate
  • feel sweaty or have cold, clammy skin
  • have pale, gray skin color
  • have a headache
  • have seizures or convulsions
  • lose consciousness

If you have diabetes, try to remember how your body reacts when your blood sugar levels are low. It may help you figure out when you’re having a low blood sugar level more quickly the next time.

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For Help With Party Food And Nibbles

My Gestational diabetes party food post has tons of party food ideas and recipe links so that you can make the most out of your gestational diabetes Christmas and New Year parties and enjoy some scrummy low carb food.


via GIPHY. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, With Love From Jo xx

For more ideas on what to eat with gestational diabetes, take a look at our membership options here.

Fruit Is Not Forbidden But Some Choices Are Better Than Others

If you have diabetes, chances are someone has mentioned that you should avoid eating fruit. In truth: Whole, fresh fruit is packed full of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making fruits a nutrient-dense food group that can certainly be part of a healthy diabetes treatment plan.

People with diabetes should be cautious, however, as certain fruit choices may affect blood sugar levels more than others. It’s important to learn which fruits affect you the most, plus how to make smart decisions about which fruits you consume, and understand proper portion sizes.

Verywell / Ellen Lindner


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Eating Fruit With Diabetes

How can fruit affect blood sugar, and are there certain types of fruit that are better for people with diabetes?

Its important for people with diabetes to be careful about what they eat, especially when it comes to sweet foods. Thats what can make eating fruit so tricky.

Even though fruits are natural and full of healthy vitamins and minerals, many of them also pack in fructose , a carbohydrate that can raise your blood glucose levels. The good news is that fruits are fine to eat so long as you monitor the types and amounts.

A High Glycemic Index

Do Fruit Juices Increase Blood Sugar?

The glycemic index is used to measure the effect of carbohydrate-containing foods on blood sugar levels. The higher the glycemic index, the more a particular food affects blood sugar levels. Orange juice has a glycemic index rating of between 66 and 76 on a scale of 100, depending on the type of juice. Many factors can influence the glycemic index of orange juice, including the freshness of the fruit used to make the juice, whether it is fresh or made from concentrate and whether it has pulp.


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Best Juices For Diabetics #4 Bitter Melon Juice

Bitter melon has been shown to lower blood glucose levels. It tastes very, very bitter, and you should not have more than 2 per day.

To make a juice from it, you can either juice it on its own , or add cucumber, lemon and an apple and juice them all together.

You can find bitter melon in Asian stores its used in Indian cooking and it grows in tropical countries across the world.

Are Bananas Bad For Diabetics

Bananas are a safe and nutritious fruit for people with diabetes to eat in moderation as part of a balanced, individualized diet plan. A person with diabetes should include fresh, plant food options in the diet, such as fruits and vegetables. Bananas provide plenty of nutrition without adding many calories.


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You’ll Be Closer To Reaching Your Daily Recommendation For Fruit

There’s a positive of drinking too much orange juice?! While it’s still not good to drink too much at a time, if you drink OJ regularly, you are helping yourself meet your daily recommended intake of 1 to 2 cups of fruitwhich is particularly beneficial as 80 percent of the U.S. population does not meet fruit recommendations.

In fact, consuming juice has actually been linked to greater consumption of intact fruit and vegetables: a roundtable of experts concluded that removing juice from the diet would actually reduce daily fruit consumption and increase the number of sugary drinks people consume while another study found that those drinking 100% fruit juice were 42% more likely to meet their daily recommended fruit and veggies.

Even if fruit juice counts to your daily recommended intake, the USDA 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines still say that “at least half of the recommended amount of fruit should come from whole fruit, rather than 100% juice. When juices are consumed, they should be 100% juice .”

So Do I Need To Avoid Fruit Juices And Smoothies

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Although its better to eat whole fruit than drink fruit juice or smoothies, ifyou want to have some its better to limit the quantity to the recommended portion of 1 small glass a day and make sure your drink goes further by diluting it with water.


Be aware of the carb, sugar and calorie content and how this may affect your blood sugar levels, and if you drink them with your meal think about how much carbohydrate you are having overall.

For example, if you usually have a couple of slices of bread with your breakfast, on the day that you decide to have a small glass of juice, just have one slice of bread to make room for the extra carbs coming from the fruit juice. Its an option to ensure that you dont have to deal with high blood sugar levels as a result of having the juice.

Smoothies are also better if you make them yourself because you can put in the whole fruits, which include the fibre . You can also be sure that no other sugar has been added, which can sometimes creep into shop-bought ones.

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What Is Orange Juice

A pretty obvious question, but well cover it briefly anyway


Orange juice, probably more commonly known as OJ, is made by squeezing oranges and harvesting their sweet juice.

A variety of processing modifications can occur after that initial juice is harvested.

For instance, when its produced in large amounts, and needs to be stored for a long time, the water and oxygen are removed prior to storage, and then reintroduced later.

Of course, other things can happen during processing like straining the juice to remove pulp, or adding calcium and vitamin D to help boost the nutrition appeal.

While there are many different ways to drink a glass of orange juice, all varieties share the similarity of being a very high carbohydrate, high sugar drink!


And for you, that means OJ isnt an ideal drink to include in your diabetic diet.

Everyone Should Be Eating More Fruit And Vegetables You’re Probably Aware Of The Five

This is because fruit and vegetables are associated with lower risk of heart disease and certain types of cancers. They also provide fibre, minerals and vitamins.

You might think that the sugar content of fruit means that you cant eat it. But the sugar in whole fruit does not count towards free sugars, so it is not this type of sugar we need to cut down on. This is different to the free sugar in drinks, chocolate, cakes and biscuits, as well as in fruit juices and honey.

The amount of carbohydrate you eat has the biggest effect on your blood glucose levels after eating. A portion of fruit, such as a medium apple, generally contains about 15 to 20g carbs, a chocolate muffin has 55g carbs and a 500ml ordinary fizzy drink has 54g carbs. It is better to reduce your intake of chocolate, sugary drinks, cakes and other snacks than whole fruit when trying to restrict your carb intake to help manage your blood glucose levels. For people who follow a low-carb diet, it is important to identify the sources of carbs that are not healthy and cut those down first.

It is very unlikely that you need to reduce your fruit intake but you could keep a food diary to check how often and how much fruit you are eating. Many people eat fruit infrequently, but tend to have larger portions when they do eat them, so some people find that it is easy to overdo the dried fruit, grapes and tropical fruits.


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Gestational Diabetes Christmas Breakfast

Start the day off on a good foot, by having a really good, safe breakfast that will keep your blood sugar levels stabilised.

Smoked Scottish Salmon and Scrambled Eggs on Toast

Ingredients: plenty of Scottish smoked salmon trimmings or slices , Burgen soya & linseed, pumpernickel or rye bread, 6 eggs, 20g butter, 2 tbsp double cream, 1 tbsp chopped parsley or chives, a few drops lemon juice, freshly ground black pepper and salt

Recipe: Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk. Pop the bread under the grill or in the toaster. Place a frying pan over a medium to high heat, add the butter and melt but dont brown. Add the eggs and cook, stirring continuously with a heatproof spatula until it starts to thicken. Immediately take off the heat , add the cream, season with the salt and pepper and beat well. Pile a portion of scrambled egg onto the toast, top with the salmon, squeeze over a little lemon a grind of pepper and sprinkle over some herbs parsley or chives.

Gordons eggs Benedict

Have a change from the norm with some scrumptious eggs benedict. Gordon Ramseys recipe looks scrumptious for a special Christmas breakfast treat.

Almond and Flaxseed Pancakes

Fed up with eggy egg breakfasts yet struggle to tolerate other things, or you dont like the texture or taste of banana pancakes? Time to try another pancake alternative!


Festive Spiced Orange Pistachio Pancakes

Keep An Eye On Portions

Orange Juice – Sugar – Colds & Fasting

When choosing fruit, try to stick with one fruit serving per meal or snack.

Keep in mind that one serving of fruit equals about 15 grams of carbohydrates. How much of each fruit you can eat within that one-serving limit will depend on the type of fruit. Here’s a list of what is considered one serving for common whole fruits:

  • 1 small piece apple, orange, peach, pear, or plum
  • 1/2 medium banana
  • 3/4 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup raspberries or blackberries

You’ll have a better chance at controlling your blood sugar if you avoid dried fruit and juice, and pair your fruit with a protein and/or fat, like topping cottage cheese with pineapple, adding berries to a protein smoothie, or dipping apple slices into nut butter or tahini.

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How To Control Your Blood Sugar

To prevent your blood sugar levels from rising too high, you might want to stick to one 4-ounce serving of orange juice a day, says Palinski-Wade. If you like to have orange juice in the morning, she recommends cutting a glass of OJ with some water or a club soda or seltzer. “It makes it bubbly and a bit more fun,” she says. “You’re still getting the same flavor, but a larger volume for the same amount of carbohydrates.”


Fresh, whole oranges can be part of a healthy diet to help control diabetes, too. The peeling will slow you down, and the higher fiber content of oranges will increase your satiety levels, helping you feel fuller with fewer carbohydrates and calories.

Types Of Fruit To Include

There are no “good” or “bad” fruits , but if you’re looking to get the most nutritional value, set your sights on fruits that are high in fiber. For example, you can eat 1 1/4 cup of strawberries for 60 calories, 15 grams carbs, 3.5 grams fiber, and 7.5 grams sugar, or only 1/2 medium banana, which is 60 calories, 15 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, and 8 grams sugar.

Consuming more fruit may also improve inflammation, a major issue in chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes. A higher intake of fruit and vegetables results in reduced inflammatory markers and an improved immune cell profile, according to one review which examined 83 separate studies.

It’s also important to choose a wide variety of fruitone study found that a greater variety in fruit and vegetables was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

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Orange Juice Compared To Other Beverages

Additionally, 100% orange juice may have a distinct advantage over sugary beverages. For example, two independent clinical studies comparing 100% orange juice to a glucose drink or water consumed alongside a high-fat/high carbohydrate meal noted more gradual rises in blood glucose and insulin with orange juice when compared to sugary water.24-25

A cohort modeling study found that substituting 100% fruit juice for sugar sweetened beverages resulted in a significant decreased risk for several cardiometabolic markers, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease. Modeling a substitution of 100% juice for whole fruit did not result in adverse impacts on any cardiometabolic risk factor. These results suggest that although 100% fruit juice and sugar sweetened beverages have similar sugar content, they are not comparable with regard to cardiometabolic risk and that 100% fruit juice and fruit may be comparable regarding their impacts on cardiometabolic risk.36

What Fruit Juice Can People With Diabetes Drink

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Fruit juice contains a large amount of sugar which raises blood sugar levels very quickly. Therefore, people with diabetes are usually best to avoid drinking fruit juice.

As a general rule, eating whole fruit is healthier than drinking fruit juice or fruit smoothies.

Once regarded as a healthy drink, recent research indicates that that regular consumption of fruit juice may increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Aside from vitamin C and calcium, fruit juice contains:

  • Calories – 250ml glass of unsweetened orange juice typically contains around 100 calories, compared to the 60 calories in an actual orange
  • Fructose – half a pint of fruit juice contains more sugar than the World Health Organization recommends ideally having in a day
  • A lack of fiber – juice always contains less fiber than whole fruit and highly processed juices may not contain any fiber

Sugar levels in fruit juice can cause a significant spike in blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of hyperglycemia .

The glycemic index, which is used to reflect the impact on blood sugar levels of individual foods, places orange juice between 66 and 76 on a scale of 100. This makes fruit juice a high GI drink and high GI foods and drinks are best avoided by people with diabetes under most circumstances.

One situation in which fruit juice can be useful is to raise blood sugar quickly in response to hypoglycemia .

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You May Increase Your Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes

Results from a 2013 BMJ study of over 180,000 participants that was conducted over the course of 24 yearsfound that drinking a serving of fruit juice every day was associated with as much as a 21% increased risk of developing diabetes, whereas a greater whole-fruit consumption was significantly associated with a 23% lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

Senior author Dr. Qi Sun, assistant professor in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health, explained the reasoning: The juicing processes lead to lower contents of beneficial phytochemicals and dietary fiber. In addition, juice fluids are absorbed more rapidly and lead to more dramatic changes after eating in blood sugar and insulin levels than solid whole fruits.

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