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Issue No. 045 · Fruit Bowl
Your fruit bowl has a ranking
Three swaps, real GI numbers, and not one fruit banned.
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I got the fruit lecture.
My doctor called fruit “sugar with a peel” and told me to cut it. So I did, for a whole year.
Then I looked up the numbers… and that lecture fell apart.
Fruit is not one food. On the glycemic index, a pineapple and an apple sit 20 points apart. In other words, which fruit you pick may matter more than whether you eat fruit at all.
So I kept the bowl and changed what goes in it.
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🍍
Pineapple chunks
59
GI score
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-20
GI pts
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🍎
Apple slices
39
GI score
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Pineapple scored 59 and an apple scored 39 in the International Tables. That apple brings firm flesh and fiber in the skin, which may slow how fast its sugar reaches your blood. If you love pineapple, put it on top of grilled chicken, where the protein may soften the rise.
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🍇
Grapes
59
GI score
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-19
GI pts
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🍓
Strawberries
40
GI score
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Grapes scored 59 and strawberries scored 40. A bowl of grapes is easy to finish without noticing, while strawberries bring more fiber per bite. But grapes are no enemy… a large Harvard study linked them to lower diabetes risk.
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SPONSORED
The Kitchen Habit Memory Researchers Want You to Drop
If you have been dealing with embarrassing memory lapses lately, this is worth a few minutes.
Not the dramatic kind. The everyday kind: forgetting where you left your keys. And the ones that bother you more: names, faces and dates.
Most of us file this under age. Helen K. from Denver did too:
“I thought memory loss was just aging. Turns out I was wrong — and so was my doctor.”
That is the part worth sitting with. If the cause is not just the calendar, then it is not something you simply have to accept.
Where researchers are looking instead
Top memory researchers from the University of New Mexico point to one everyday kitchen habit and recommend you stop it right away.
If you want to boost your memory and feel sharp again, here is what to stop doing:
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🥭
Ripe mango
51
GI score
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-13
GI pts
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🍐
Pear
38
GI score
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Ripe mango scored 51, which still counts as low GI. A pear scored 38 and carries more fiber, so it may work better as a snack on its own. If mango is your favorite, eat it after dinner instead of on an empty stomach.
GI numbers are lab averages. Ripeness, portion size, and your own body may change the result. This is not medical advice, so talk to your doctor before you change how you eat.
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My doctor never mentioned any of this. The advice was simple: cut fruit.
That rule cost me a year of strawberries.
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Where this comes from: GI values for pineapple (59), grapes (59), mango (51), apple (39), and pear (38) come from the International Tables of Glycemic Index (2008), as listed by Harvard Health. Strawberries (40) come from the University of Sydney GI database. A 2013 BMJ study of about 187,000 adults linked more whole fruit, including grapes and apples, to lower type 2 diabetes risk, while fruit juice was linked to higher risk. Honest note: GI numbers shift by lab, variety, and ripeness, and pineapple has tested anywhere from 51 to 66. Answer to the guess below (no peeking first): grapefruit scores 25. |
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They told me to quit fruit.
The numbers said swap it.
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★ Welcome to the revolution
Jackie
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