Diabetes lesson number 5,738: When told something is unsweetened, ask exactly how it’s made before eating or drinking it.
When I picked up some local raspberries this morning at one of those much-beloved roadside operations, the woman manning the stand asked if I wanted a cup of raspberry juice before leaving. Without thinking, I scrunched up my nose and was audibly hesitant:
Princess: Hmm, I don’t know, is it sweetened?
Mrs. Raspberry: No.
––– Super wide grin on my face before taking a super-sized gulp. –––
Princess: Wow, this is really good, and it’s just straight raspberries?
Mrs. Raspberry: Yeah, my sister has a juicer and sticks the raspberries in there and adds 7Up and apple juice…
Uh what? Excuse me while I go gag on that pure sugar you just gave me, thank you very much!
Now, I know it was just the other day when I was going on and on about how sugar is no longer the devil for diabetics and how I can eat chocolate and Ben and Jerry’s, and that’s true, I can. However, I still require insulin management and exercise to balance out pretty much everything I eat. And so, I prefer my indulgences to be on something I’m truly going to appreciate, something that to me feels like it’s a real treat. And I’m sorry, but as much as I love local raspberries, I can go without sugar-infused raspberry juice. I’ve never really been a huge pop fan, and I only ever have juice when my blood sugars are low. My top drinks of choice are water and tea, which coincidentally are the world’s top two drinks of choice too, and which don’t require me to rage bolus to combat a sugar spike.
Maybe Mrs. Raspberry got offended with my scrunched up nose and decided to mess with me … OR maybe she just didn’t know the definition of unsweetened. Well Mrs. Raspberry, straight from the Oxford, here you go:
UNSWEETENED:
- (of food or drink) without sugar or a similar substance having been added.
Enjoy the long weekend POP peeps, I hope you’re better equipped to avoid the Mrs. Raspberries of the world 😀