Too much fruit?
fifi_fitness1
Posts: 13 Member
I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
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Replies
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There are no bad foods. It's all about calories in versus calories out5
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Unless you have a medical reason to limit sugar then don't worry about going over the sugar goal.4
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If you have a medical reason to restrict sugar or your eating plan requires it (like if you were trying to stay in ketosis or such), then natural sugars matter. For the rest of us, it's a lot of personal preference and choosing our priorities. I don't track sugar and don't worry about it as long as the rest of my goals are being met. Others do. It's up to you.1
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If you have a blood sugar issue, then you should consider it. If you're healthy and getting enough fiber in your diet, then eat that fruit! It comes with lots of great fiber and nutrients
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fifi_fitness1 wrote: »I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
Try eating fruits that are low in sugar, like berries, maybe that will help.1 -
I eat tons of fruit daily and haven't noticed any issues. I juice in the mornings, usually have banana mid morning, an apple and berries during lunch, and more berries and other stuff (kiwi, mango, pineapple) after dinner. My heaviest weight was 155lbs and now I weigh 113lbs - and have maintained 113lbs for a while. My bloodwork is great. I've been eating fruit like this for years and have not seen any loss of health from it. I do try to have nuts when I eat fruit so there is some fat along with the sugar lol. If you don't have a medical need to control sugar I wouldn't worry about eating a lot of fruit.0
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People with no medical reason to limit sugar may find Fiber a more useful nutrient to track than Sugar. For example, after I upped fiber I noticed I was staying fuller longer, and could skip a snack, making it easier for me to stay in a calorie deficit.1
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I agree none of us are here because we ate too many apples. However, I agree that fruit is a healthier alternative to many desserts and junk foods, but if fruit is a staple item at every meal and snack, you may simply be eating too many carbohydrates to allow your body to lose weight. And any time we eat carbohydrates our blood sugar goes up. That triggers our body to release insulin to lower the blood sugar. How does it do that? By converting it to FAT for storage! Moderation is the key! Eat 2-3 fruits a day but get in some lower carb veggies too! Are you eating enough protein? Healthy fats? If we want to lose weight and keep it off, we need to learn to balance our foods so we get the proper nutrients. Do you have a sweet tooth? Are you substituting fruit for other sweets that were unhealthy? That's possible. We get used to that "high" when we eat like that. But then that "high" quickly goes away and just like being addicted to anything else, we want more. Try eating more protein at every meal. It will help control your hunger and cravings. Good luck!! Keep your chin up! Remember, this is a learning experience! Stick with it! You'll make it!6
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As some other people have previously stated unless you have blood sugar issues there's no reason to limit your fruit intake.
As far as weight loss it's a simple matter of calories in vs. Calories out.as long as you're eating less calories than your body burns you will lose weight.
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Aussie guidelines suggest 2 fruit and 5 veg a day.
Although this isn't intended to be a prescription or right for everyone, it seems like pretty sensible advice to me - with more of a focus on veggies, but still plenty of room for fruit.
Really though, it depends on what else you are eating - if you are feeling good, are healthy and are losing weight at a moderate rate, you are probably just fine.
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@STEVE142142 I take it you have no medical background because it isn't really that simple.1
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Barring medical issues/allergies, you can eat as much fruit as you can fit in your goals! Don't worry about the sugar on MFP, in fact you can switch it out for another nutrient in your diary.0
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The issue is that it is likely too much fruit/sugar for you. How many servings of veggies are you getting each day? How many servings of fruit?
I have medical issues that force me to reduce carbs--I can easily gain 10 pounds every June just by eating an extra serving or two of fresh fruit when it is local, cheap and delicious every year. Some of us DO gain weight by eating too much fruit.
Subbing out some of your fruit for non-starchy veggies is a place to start. You might also see if fruits that are low on the GI index work better for you. For example, cherries are low GI and in season right now--they freeze well too.1 -
pebble4321 wrote: »Aussie guidelines suggest 2 fruit and 5 veg a day.
Although this isn't intended to be a prescription or right for everyone, it seems like pretty sensible advice to me - with more of a focus on veggies, but still plenty of room for fruit.
Really though, it depends on what else you are eating - if you are feeling good, are healthy and are losing weight at a moderate rate, you are probably just fine.
This is what gets me, every country has different recommendations, in the UK its 5 portions of fruit & veg a day. Does this mean if I go to Australia I automatically need different portions of fruit & veg 1 -
I eat fruits at breakfast and my main source in snacking I don't worry about it.1
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This isn't true. Not one bit. A calorie deficit (eating less calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight) is all that is needed to lose weight. High carb, low carb, it doesn't matter. If you're in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight. Some of my days are higher carb than others, and I eat chocolate, too....I'm always over on my mfp for sugars, so I just stopped tracking sugar and track fiber instead, which is more important to me....nearly 90lbs down.atitagain1958 wrote: »you may simply be eating too many carbohydrates to allow your body to lose weight.
As many have said here... if you don't have a medical condition that requires a reduction in carbs and sugar, then there is no need to worry. Weigh all your food on a food scale and log accurately.atitagain1958 wrote: »@STEVE142142 I take it you have no medical background because it isn't really that simple.
Sorry, but @STEVE142142 is absolutely right. A calorie deficit CICO is all that is needed for weight loss. Science.
Read what I said above. If what you said is true (carbs cause weight gain and make it difficult to lose weight) , then I shouldn't have been able to lose almost 90lbs.
/thread.
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fifi_fitness1 wrote: »I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
Looking at your food diary it's not the fruit that's pushing your sugar intake up. I wouldn't worry about the fruit, but if you are concerned about sugar look at the other foods it's coming from.
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Calories are all that count to lose weight. Macronutrients (including sugar as a carb) are down to personal preference.0
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cerise_noir wrote: »
This isn't true. Not one bit. A calorie deficit (eating less calories than your body needs to maintain its current weight) is all that is needed to lose weight. High carb, low carb, it doesn't matter. If you're in a calorie deficit, you'll lose weight. Some of my days are higher carb than others, and I eat chocolate, too....I'm always over on my mfp for sugars, so I just stopped tracking sugar and track fiber instead, which is more important to me....nearly 90lbs down.atitagain1958 wrote: »you may simply be eating too many carbohydrates to allow your body to lose weight.
As many have said here... if you don't have a medical condition that requires a reduction in carbs and sugar, then there is no need to worry. Weigh all your food on a food scale and log accurately.atitagain1958 wrote: »@STEVE142142 I take it you have no medical background because it isn't really that simple.
Sorry, but @STEVE142142 is absolutely right. A calorie deficit CICO is all that is needed for weight loss. Science.
Read what I said above. If what you said is true (carbs cause weight gain and make it difficult to lose weight) , then I shouldn't have been able to lose almost 90lbs.
/thread.
Fruit is high in the simple sugar fructose, which is the main reason why many people trying to lose should limit it when they're trying to lose weight. Unlike glucose, the most common simple sugar that's sent to your muscles, brain, and other organs for them to use as energy, fructose is only processed by your liver. Why is that bad? If your liver already has ample energy, there is a higher likelihood that your liver will repackage the excess fructose as fat, saving it for use at a later time. While this is a biochemical truth, its impact on your waistline is blown out of proportion, especially when you consider that fruit isn't even one of the top five sources of fructose in the American diet.
It's science people. I'm glad eating a lot of fruit hasn't affected weight loss for a lot of you! But it's not like that for ALL of us! I think @fifi_fitness1 deserves to know the science behind why she's reading articles that it affects it. She also reads articles that it doesn't because, like some of you know, it hasn't affected you...yet. That doesn't mean it will. But it doesn't mean it never will either. Everyone is different. Everybody is different. Everybody loses weight differently. What's right? What's wrong? IT'S WHATEVER WORKS FOR YOU IN A HEATHY MANNER! Not 5 fruits a day vs 2.3 -
atitagain1958 wrote: »I agree none of us are here because we ate too many apples. However, I agree that fruit is a healthier alternative to many desserts and junk foods, but if fruit is a staple item at every meal and snack, you may simply be eating too many carbohydrates to allow your body to lose weight.
No, not unless you are going over calories or having more trouble staying full. It's also ideal (although not necessary for weight loss) to make sure you aren't low in protein, healthy fats, and vegetables due to unbalanced fruit consumption. But plenty of 80-10-10 vegans seem to lose weight fine, although not a way I'd personally enjoy eating.And any time we eat carbohydrates our blood sugar goes up. That triggers our body to release insulin to lower the blood sugar. How does it do that? By converting it to FAT for storage!
(1) Only if your glycogen stores are full up, which is unlikely if in a calorie deficit.
(2) If you have an overall calorie deficit for the day/few days/week it wouldn't matter anyway, because you'd not gain net fat, but end up using more fat than you put on.
It simply makes no sense that if you eat lots of carbs your body magically is able to run on less energy than it would otherwise need, which is in essence what you are claiming.Moderation is the key! Eat 2-3 fruits a day but get in some lower carb veggies too! Are you eating enough protein? Healthy fats? If we want to lose weight and keep it off, we need to learn to balance our foods so we get the proper nutrients.
From a nutritional perspective I actually agree with this (and eat a lot more vegetables than fruit, personally, although I eat more fruit in the summer than at other times of year because I like local seasonal fruits), but not because of the myth that CICO won't work if you eat carbs.1 -
atitagain1958 wrote: »@STEVE142142 I take it you have no medical background because it isn't really that simple.
Actually it is just that simple. To lose weight one must be in a calorie deficit, period. How you achieve that calorie deficit is up to the individual but unless there is a medical reason to restrict sugar, what the OP is describing would not preclude him or her from losing weight.3 -
fifi_fitness1 wrote: »I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
After all this, I'm sure you're more confused than before. As you can tell, everyone has a different opinion, hence the variety of articles you read. I hope you find what works for YOU! Good luck in your weight loss journey!!1 -
atitagain1958 wrote: »fifi_fitness1 wrote: »I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
After all this, I'm sure you're more confused than before. As you can tell, everyone has a different opinion, hence the variety of articles you read. I hope you find what works for YOU! Good luck in your weight loss journey!!
This is what I said in a different post, wanting websites for info on nutrition and someone said ask on here. I replied you get more opinions than facts on here.1 -
Looking at your diary, I would be way more concerned that you're eating far too little protein, rather than worrying that you're eating too much sugar (since most of your sugar is coming from your fruit and your Clif bars, it looks like).
And I'm not an advocate of huuuuuuge amounts of protein, either, but 32g one day, 23 another, 21 in one case? No one knowledgeable about nutrition would consider that adequate for a typical-sized adult woman. Scrolling back a ways, the highest protein I saw you log was 43g, which is a truly minimally-adequate level according to any reasonable expert source - and someone trying to lose weight needs more than a minimal level.
Your calories consumed are very low, as well, at least on the fraction of days when you're logging. Please eat enough to stay strong and healthy!
Like others have said, I stopped tracking sugar and tracked fiber instead, once I realized that I was going over my sugar goal daily when the only added sugar in my day was a bit of fruit juice concentrate in my daily 30 calories worth of all-fruit spread. The rest was coming from no-sugar-added dairy foods & whole fruit. I had no trouble losing weight (and I'm old besides).
People with insulin resistance or other medical conditions may have different experiences, but it is added sugar (not the inherent sugar in fruit and dairy) that mainstream authorities like the World Health Organization say the rest of us should limit.
And there's nothing wrong with chocolate, especially dark chocolate, in moderation. It has helpful anti-oxidants.2 -
I don't put on weight eating fruit. Eating fruit is good for you0
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Keep eating the fruit and forget those that say it's bad, they don't know what they are talking about.2
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fifi_fitness1 wrote: »I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
If you are eating whole fruit I don't think the sugars in the fruit are an issue. Fruit has a lot of fiber and that will force it into the intestines where bacteria can work on it. If you are drinking juice, most of the fructose ends up going straight to your liver where it will end up being bad for your metabolism.
If you want to learn details of what happens go to youtube and search on "Sugar: The Bitter Truth". Basically it breaks down why fructose is bad for us but near the end Dr. Lustig explains why whole fruit isn't harmful and is actually good for us.0 -
Och, this insulin thing again. "carbs make you gain weight because they make you release insulin". I can only assume the converse is "fat doesn't make you gain weight because it doesn't make you release insulin" - which should be given a Nonsense Prize.
Fat doesn't need insulin to be stored, you just store it, straight into the love handles, like a can on a shelf. The fact carbs need insulin in order to repackage them before they can go in the cupboard makes zero difference to the final result - which is that if you eat too much, it will be stored as fat. If you don't, it won't.
OP, I'm another that eats as much fruit as I like, provided I'm not over my calories. The vitamins, minerals and fibre are worth any mild disadvantage, imo.4 -
fifi_fitness1 wrote: »I usually go over my sugar limit for the day because I eat lots of fruit. I cant live without it. I've read many contradicting articles that either say its okay or it isn't. Its not like I'm eating chocolate, but is it still bad?
If you are eating whole fruit I don't think the sugars in the fruit are an issue. Fruit has a lot of fiber and that will force it into the intestines where bacteria can work on it. If you are drinking juice, most of the fructose ends up going straight to your liver where it will end up being bad for your metabolism.
If you want to learn details of what happens go to youtube and search on "Sugar: The Bitter Truth". Basically it breaks down why fructose is bad for us but near the end Dr. Lustig explains why whole fruit isn't harmful and is actually good for us.
Yo, @Nova How about program the auto-censor to turn Dr. Lustig into a kitten?5 -
Looking at your diary, I would be way more concerned that you're eating far too little protein, rather than worrying that you're eating too much sugar (since most of your sugar is coming from your fruit and your Clif bars, it looks like).
And I'm not an advocate of huuuuuuge amounts of protein, either, but 32g one day, 23 another, 21 in one case? No one knowledgeable about nutrition would consider that adequate for a typical-sized adult woman. Scrolling back a ways, the highest protein I saw you log was 43g, which is a truly minimally-adequate level according to any reasonable expert source - and someone trying to lose weight needs more than a minimal level.
Agree with this--I didn't look at the diary.
My rule of thumb is that too much fruit is one of the following: (1) more than you like; (2) leaves you hungry; (3) results in you going over calories (although look at what else you are eating too); (4) displaces adequate protein; (5) displaces healthy fats; or (6) displaces adequate vegetables. I guess another, if you find fruit filling, is prevents you from eating enough.
Here it sounds like the issue might not be too much fruit, but too few calories. Maybe more protein could be added in without lowering fruit, maybe not.
But of course OP's business and I still haven't looked at the diary.0
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