We know fruit is good for us, but if we’re prediabetic should we eat fruit? How much? It can be tricky working out what you can and can’t have. Let’s take a closer look.

Should you avoid fruit as it’s high in sugar? The simple answer is no. Fruit is good for everyone.

Fruit does contain sugar, but it’s natural sugar, meaning it occurs naturally within the fruit. This is different to the added sugar (also known as free sugars) found in processed foods like chocolate, biscuits and cakes.

Here’s some things to keep in mind so you can enjoy fruit when you’re prediabetic.

Choose whole over juice. Opt for whole fruit over juice as fruit juices can be high in natural sugars and contain less fibre than whole fruits. It doesn’t have to be fresh though, frozen or tinned (in juice rather than syrup) count as whole too. If you really love juice, try to limit yourself to a small glass (150ml) a day.

Spread it out. Rather than having a large portion once a day, spread it out and have smaller amounts throughout the day, to help keep your blood glucose levels in check. Think half a banana sliced over your morning porridge, then the other half of the banana as an afternoon pick me up.

What about dried fruit? You can enjoy small amounts of dried fruit, just remember that the sugars in dried fruit are more concentrated than in fresh fruit so you’ll want to keep your portions small. Get yourself out a handful (around a tablespoon) of raisins to nibble on and put the pack away, it can be all too easy to keep reaching for more.