‘I love eating fruit. Is there such a thing as eating too much fruit?’
^^^ Question I got this week
And the answer?
Yes
And
No
Because it depends where you are right now with your eating habits
And what the alternative is
I mean, in general if you go from eating, say 1 piece of fruit per day to 2/3 pieces…
You’ll probably feel more full up
More satisfied.
And end up eating less of something that is higher in calories (like cake…)
Which could be contributing to your increasing waist line?
But there’s more.
People who increase their fruit (and veg) intake to 5 per day often see:
* Reductions in ‘bad’ cholesterol and heart disease risk
* Reduced risk of cancer
* Reduced risk of diabetes
BUT…
As with most things
Too much isn’t necessarily a good thing.
And with the above benefits you can get from eating more fruit (weight loss and reduced risk of disease)
Just simply eating more and more thinking that you’ll get more benefits probably isn’t going to be the case.
Particularly as many of the benefits will coming from the VEG, too.
So, why does fruit get some bad name?
1. ‘Fruit contains a sugar called fructose. Fructose is converted to fat’
Fruit does contain fructose which can only be ‘stored’ in the liver.
Now, the sugar found in potatoes, rice, and pasta (glucose)
Can be stored in the liver and all of your muscles (which are burning the sugar up everyday when you exercise, right?)
So, we MAY not handle fructose as well as glucose (which is why you’ll often hear people say that ‘fruit makes you fat’…I’m not too sure on that one…)
2. ‘High fructose corn syrup makes you fat’
Also known as glucose-fructose syrup on food labels…
^^^ Be careful in those American Food isles…
It’s found in your full-sugar fizzy drinks (not the diet ones)
They add the FRUCTOSE to the glucose because it’s sweeter and cheaper.
And this can make you HUNGRY and craving more FOOD
^^ So we eat more and buy more of these delicious treat!
Does this mean fruit is making us fat?
No.
Because with fruit, we get the fibre, vitamins, minerals…
AKA…The roughage (which helps you poop) along with a bit of fructose
And this keeps us full and more satisfied (so you are less likely to overeat)
3. The ‘Detox smoothie’ Craze!
Put simply…
Try eating two handfuls of blueberries, 2 handfuls of grapes, and 1 banana.
Then wash this down with a glass of milk and a yoghurt.
Notice how long this takes you to eat.
How satisfied you feel.
Now, blend all the above…
^^^ Let me know if you actually do this (try it for the next two consecutive days at breakfast!)
And notice how long this takes you to DRINK.
How satisfied you feel.
For the record…
That’s about 56 g of sugar in just one of these smoothies!
And one Dairy Milk (caramel, obviously) has 24 g of sugar
^^^ I’m not saying eat Dairy Milks instead (as it won’t have the vitamins and goodness of the fruit)
BUT…it’s context which is key!
In summary…
You can overeat on fruit
^^^ ‘Pick one, eat four’ my dad would teach me when strawberry picking
IF…
It means you overeat carbs, sugar and calories across the day / week!
So consider whether all your carbs are coming from fruit.
Did you even know that fruit was a carb?
How much veg you are eating?
Speak soon,
Matt ‘pick one, eat four’ Fruci
PS. How many fruit and veggies do you eat per day? Do you try to eat lower sugar fruits?
