It might seem silly that we are always urging you to eat what’s in season when fruits and vegetables are in the supermarket year-round. But we have two reasons for saying it. They are usually of higher quality when they are in season. And, when you eat seasonally, you change up your diet and try more things. It’s good to add more variety to your diet. We all get stuck in ruts; eating seasonally causes you to branch out and get more nutrients and options in your days.
Mangos are in season. We’re fans. We’ve shared mango recipes in the past. Whether you’re cooking with them or just eating them raw, we recommend enjoying them from May through September while they are at the peak of their season.
A cup of mango has 99 calories, 25 grams of carbs, 2.5 grams of fiber and 1.4 grams of protein. It also has 67 percent of your daily vitamin C, 20 percent of your copper, 18 percent of your folate, 10 percent of both your vitamins A and E and six percent of your potassium. While 90 percent of the calories in the fruit come from sugar, it contains fiber and antioxidants that keep it from spiking blood sugar as long as it is eaten in moderation. Foods with a GI under 55 are considered low. Mango is 51, so while it’s not an extremely low GI food, it won’t upset your blood sugar as long as you pay attention to your portion size.
In a study of people with obesity, eating mango daily for 12 weeks lowered their fasting blood sugar. And it reduced the hip circumference of men in the study, but it didn’t lower their weight. While you may be interested in mango juice or dried mangos, remember that the sugar is highly concentrated in those products. It’s better to enjoy it fresh. As it can be very slippery when peeled, slice it before peeling. In our supermarkets, you can buy them pre-sliced in the produce department. But we’re not sure if that’s true across the country — mangos are grown here in California, so it might just be a local quirk. They are treated as a run-of-the-mill fruit and kept in the prepared case next to the pre-cut cantaloupe.
Foods impact people’s blood sugar differently. If you think mango might be too high in sugar for you, we suggest starting with a half-cup serving that has 12.5 grams of carbs and 1.25 grams of fiber and seeing how it impacts you. If you don’t eat fresh mango normally, you’ll find out how it affects your blood sugar and if you like it. After that, you can decide if mango is something you need in your diet. We think it might become a summer staple!
