Smoothies and diabetes

Question: diabetes & smoothies?
I have type 2 diabetes.  I am wondering if I could have fruit smoothies?  If I can, which ingredients I should include and avoid?

Answer:  Yes, there are no foods that are off limits when you have type 2 diabetes.  Smoothies are often filled with many of the healthy carbs that we want to have in our diet.  What you want to be careful with is the portion and amount of carbs you are consuming.  For example, a smoothie made with 1 cup yogurt and 1 cup of berries would provide about 30g carb and an ounce of protein and would make a very healthy snack or part of a meal.  A smoothie made with 1 cup yogurt, 1 banana and 1 cup berries would provide about twice the amount of carbohydrate and would give you a meals worth of carbohydrate by itself.

I think a safe rule of thumb would be to limit the portion size of any smoothie you consume to 8 oz. and this should keep you at 30g carbohydrate or less.

Be leary of smoothie shops.  Try looking up their nutrition information at sites such as http://www.calorieking.com/ or http://foodpicker.org/.  Usually the smallest sizes are pretty big and have loads of carbs and calories, despite their healthy ingredients.