A good friend of mine has type 2 diabetes, and I often hear him say that what he misses most are banana splits. I want to make him a diabetic safe split for Christmas and the bananas are the hard part since they are high in sugar and don’t exactly come in sugar free. But I’ve heard that fried bananas are much better for a diabetic diet then raw. Is this true?
Are fried bananas better for a diabetic diet?
22
Feb
Erin
February 22, 2010 at 9:26 pm
It depends.
The fat would slow down the absorption of carbs. Its the same as fried potatoes (fries, hot chips) being technically better then mashed potatoes if you are following a low GI diet.
However, if they are watching their calories then it would be better to have it raw. Why not give them half a banana or a small one instead of a big one? All things a fine in moderation and you can’t cut sugar/carbs from your diet completely. Bananas do have other health benefits as a source fibre and vitamins and they aren’t really that bad for a diabetic.
Roger K
February 22, 2010 at 10:00 pm
Bananas are not the problem. Fruit is a recommended part of a diabetic diet.
The problem with a banana split is the usual overabundance of ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
You can get sugar free ice cream (but – the carbohydrate count is not much less than standard ice cream since a lot of the carbs come from the milk portion); you can get sugar free chocolate syrup (again, however, the carb count will probably only be slightly less than real syrup); and whipped cream really does not contain much in the way of carbs.
Diabetics can eat everything that a non-diabetic can eat — they simply have to account for the carbs much more carefully. Does your friend exercise as part of his way of controlling blood sugar levels? Then have a small banana split, and 20 minutes later, go for a half hour walk.
Jeremy
February 22, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Bananas are very high in sugar, but some diabetics can tolerate them.
The LESS RIPE a banana is, the less sugar content it has. Fried green bananas are not too high in carbs.
As for the ice cream, check out the Breyers Carb Smart (if it’s available in your area). It only has 4g of carbs per serving, and I find that I can eat this without any blood sugar rise at all. I get the vanilla, and mix in a couple of tbsp of peanutbutter.. I would imagine some banana mixed in would also be very good.
Even diabetics need a sweet treat every now and then.