Can You Eat Mangoes and Bananas With Diabetes?

Mango, banana and grapes are the three fruits people with diabetes are most often told to give up. For most people that is unnecessary — and it distracts from the change that matters more.

Whole fruit is not the problem. Juice usually is. When fruit is juiced or blended, most of the fibre is removed, which lets you take in a large amount of sugar very quickly. Diabetes UK makes the distinction plainly: the sugar in whole fruit does not count towards your intake of free sugars, while the sugar in juice does. If you drink juice at all, the advice is no more than one small glass, 150 ml, a day, ideally diluted with water.

India's dietary guidelines suggest around 100 g of fruit a day, against 400 g of vegetables — so fruit is meant to be a modest part of the day, not the bulk of it.

How to keep mango in your life

• One portion, not a plateful. A small mango, or half a large one.
• Eat it with something. After a meal that had protein in it, rather than alone on an empty stomach.
• Whole, not as juice or a shake.
• Check afterwards, once. Test two hours later and you will know what that fruit does to you, rather than guessing.