Carbohydrates In Mangos!

Sweet and juicy, mangos sure know how to satisfy your taste buds. But you may be avoiding this delicious fruit because you heard that it was high in carbohydrates. Well, compared to other fruits, that's true – mangos are higher in carbs, but not by much and certainly not enough to make you want to avoid the tropical fruit altogether.

A Look at the Carbs One cup of fresh-cut mango has 25 grams of carbohydrates. By comparison, the same serving of sliced peaches has 15 grams and chopped apples 17 grams. If you’re counting carbs for a low-carb diet or watching carbs to manage your blood sugar, the difference may make you think twice. But if you’re following a 2,000-calorie diet, each of these fruits, including the mango, meets less than 10 percent of your daily value for carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are your body’s primary source of energy and should provide most of your calories, especially when from healthy sources like mangos. Sugar Content Like all fruit, most of the carbohydrates in mangos comes from its sugar content. One cup of cut mango has 22 grams of sugar, while the same serving of both the peaches and the apples have only 13 grams. While your body uses the sugar in mangos the same way it uses table sugar, mangos also come with vitamins A and C, potassium, folate and fiber. Table sugar offers none of these nutritional benefits. Fiber Content In addition to sugar, some of the carbs in mangos comes from its fiber content. One cup of cut mango has 3 grams of fiber, which is the same amount in a cup of chopped apples, but more than in a cup of sliced peaches, which has 2 grams of fiber. Depending on your age and gender, you need between 21 to 38 grams of fiber a day. One cup of sweet juicy mango provides 8 to 14 percent of your daily needs.

The fiber in foods like mangos slows down digestion to allow for a gradual release of sugar and aids in hunger control. The fiber in mangos may also help keep you regular.

Serving Suggestions- Mangos taste great all by themselves, but you can use them to add sweetness to plain yogurt or unsweetened cereal so you don’t have to add extra sugar. The slightly tart tropical fruit also pairs well with mixed greens and is delicious made into a salsa with diced red onions to use on grilled chicken or fish. You can also add mangos to your smoothie or use them as fruit in your favorite muffin recipe.