Diabetes is the most common dangerous disease which is affecting many people today. Diabetic patients should be very careful regarding food habits to maintain a well-balanced diet. Recommended amount of nutrients and vitamins should be present in the diet to live a normal life. Along with proper diet, blood glucose levels need to be monitored regularly and regular exercise also helps. Let us see in this article “Can diabetics eat Guava?”

Nutritional Facts about Guava Fruit

Before knowing the benefits of any fruit, it is always good to know its nutritional value. Guava is rich in Vitamin C and fibre. One guava fruit contains 45 calories, 10 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of protein and 5 grams of dietary fibre. It contains maximum percent of vitamin C with 280% of daily value, 15% of daily value of vitamin A. Smaller amounts of other vitamins like niacin, folate, riboflavin, thiamine and vitamin B-6 are present. 2% of daily value for minerals like calcium, iron, phosphorus and magnesium is present. As it contains proteins and fibre, it is an excellent source to reduce diabetes. It is recommended to use guava in everyday diet.

Benefits of Taking Guava for Diabetics

Below are the advantages for diabetic patients when they include guava in their daily diet.

High Fibre

• Guava contains high level of dietary fibre. Dietary fibre contains pectin which delays intestinal absorption of glucose. This improves glucose tolerance.
• The high fibre helps to regulate blood sugar levels. As fibre takes long time to digest, sugar wont be released into the blood immediately after consuming.
• Diabetic patients usually complain about the constipation problem. High fibre also helps in easing the bowel movement.
• High fibre helps to lower type-2 diabetes.

Low Calorie

• Diabetes is known to increase your weight. It is always better to maintain your weight to control diabetes or maintain it.
• Guava contains very low number of calories. 100 grams of guava just contains 68 calories. Hence, including guava in your diet helps to control your weight and in turn helps to reduce the risk of diabetes.

Low Glycaemic index

• Glycemic index is the measure of level of glucose absorbed in the blood due to the carbohydrates present in the food. If the glycaemic index is low, food is slowly digested, absorbed and hence, the glucose level in the blood spikes very slowly.
• It is always better to prefer food items with low Glycaemic index for diabetic patients as well as for those people who are at risk of getting diabetes.
• Guava is counted as one of the low Glycaemic index food. Hence, it is very effective for diabetic patients.

Without peel

• The skin of guava contains high simple sugars like glucose which instantly spikes blood sugar level.
• There will be less benefit if diabetic patients consume guava with skin. In fat, it might not have any effect.
• So, it is best for diabetic patients to peel the skin and consume it. It has positive effects rather than keeping the skin on the fruit.

Other Factors

• As Guava is rich in Vitamin C, it lowers the chance of getting cancer and helps prevent cell damage.
• Guava helps to boost brain function by regulating blood pressure and hence improving circulation.
• Because of the presence of high concentration of lycopene, guava helps to fight prostate cancer.
• Guava helps in decreasing bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol which serves heart health.
• It relieves menstruation pains, improves your skin and helps to boost your immunity

Guidelines to include guava fruit in your diet

Below are the guidelines on including guava fruit in diabetic diet.

• Peel the whole guava fruit and eat it as a whole or cut them into pieces and have it.
• Guava juice is another way to include it in your diet. Again, peel the guava skin, add it to a blender and make the juice. Sugar should not be added to the juice.
• You can make jam out of guava fruit and add it in your diet.
• Add the guava pieces to any salsa recipe. In that way guava can go into your diet plan with your favourite recipe.
• In recent times, the most effective way of including guava in your diet is to make tea from the leaves of guava plant. Compounds in guava leaf tea helps in absorption of certain types of sugar. In recent studies, people who drank guava leaf tea after having their meals with white rice, had very less glucose rise than people who drank hot water. So, it is better to start drinking guava leaf tea, which has proven results of reducing your sugar levels. You can extract the tea directly from the leaves or can buy the tea directly.

With this article, you came to know about some of the facts of guava fruit in helping diabetic patients. Ensure to include one guava a day to stay healthy.