Fruit: is it necessary?
leanitup123
Posts: 489 Member
"EAT 4 SERVINGS OF FRUIT PER DAY BECAUSE HEALTH!!!"
"FRUIT IS GOOD FOR YOU EAT MORE FRUIT!"
"I'M SO HEALTHY BECAUSE I EAST FRUIT!!!"
Okay, okay don't get me wrong... I get that it's "healthy" because of the fiber, vitamins and minerals - but it also has plenty of (natural) sugar. I eat plenty of vegetables but veer away from fruit.
What are your thoughts - is it really necessary to eat fruit every day? I could easily go a week, a month - heck even a year without eating it.
"FRUIT IS GOOD FOR YOU EAT MORE FRUIT!"
"I'M SO HEALTHY BECAUSE I EAST FRUIT!!!"
Okay, okay don't get me wrong... I get that it's "healthy" because of the fiber, vitamins and minerals - but it also has plenty of (natural) sugar. I eat plenty of vegetables but veer away from fruit.
What are your thoughts - is it really necessary to eat fruit every day? I could easily go a week, a month - heck even a year without eating it.
6
Replies
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It has some vitamins that are good for you. And a bit of natural sugar is also good for you to an extent. But I suppose as long as you are getting all the sugar and vitamins you need from another source then you could ignore fruits.4
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I have Oral Allergy Syndrome and cannot eat most fruits. So no it's not necessary for weight loss or life.2
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You can get the nutrients supplied by fruit elsewhere of course, so I would not call omitting it problematic. But since I happen to enjoy fruit myself, It would not be my preferred way to proceed.4
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I hate fruit with a passion. I eat huge amounts of vegetables. I cannot find one nutrient that I'm missing by not eating fruit.6
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Alatariel75 wrote: »I hate fruit with a passion. I eat huge amounts of vegetables. I cannot find one nutrient that I'm missing by not eating fruit.
You and me both. Only fruit I ever eat and enjoy is raspberries or blueberries.2 -
Personally I love fruit. I'd be unhappy if I had to go without it. But I understand that not everyone likes it, or can tolerate it, and that's fine, too. My philosophy is, if it works for you, then you do you, boo.7
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I think one of the most wonderful things about being born an omnivore is that we get to make decisions like this. No, I don't think excluding fruit long term is unhealthy. I do think its important to have vegetables, though, and that to remove those from a diet would be terrible for your health.
My take on fruit: I would be sad without the occasional banana or slice of watermelon.5 -
leanitup123 wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »I hate fruit with a passion. I eat huge amounts of vegetables. I cannot find one nutrient that I'm missing by not eating fruit.
You and me both. Only fruit I ever eat and enjoy is raspberries or blueberries.
The raspberry and blueberry are extremely worthy additions to a person's food plan, and are frequently used as ingredients in many 'not fruit' products.1 -
I adore fruit nowadays (mostly the sweeter stuff like grapes, strawberries and pears) but no, I used to barely eat any of it and I was totally healthy!!
I find pears to be useful as they fill me up, but that job could be done by a whole host of other foodstuffs.2 -
I eat my fruit last which drives my husband crazy. After all they are so good for you. I find if I get behind eating my citrus fruits I'm more vulnerable to sore throats.0
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Ok, fruit contains sugar, and?
Sugar is need in the proper amounts, and it widely changes depending on the type of fruit.
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fpmferreira wrote: »Ok, fruit contains sugar, and?
Sugar is need in the proper amounts, and it widely changes depending on the type of fruit.
Just to clarify something for you - your body does not 'need' sugar, any glucose that the body needs can be manufactured from fat so there are no dietary 'needs' for sugar.7 -
Just to clarify something for you - your body does not 'need' sugar, any glucose that the body needs can be manufactured from fat so there are no dietary 'needs' for sugar.
As you started to be the picky one: The body needs, like you said, glucose. Glucose is a sugar. So technically, the body needs sugar. That it can get this monosaccharide from different sources is a different point.7 -
fpmferreira wrote: »Ok, fruit contains sugar, and?
Sugar is need in the proper amounts, and it widely changes depending on the type of fruit.
Just to clarify something for you - your body does not 'need' sugar, any glucose that the body needs can be manufactured from fat so there are no dietary 'needs' for sugar.
If you want to be really pedantic, you should say that your body doesn't need to ingest sugar. Because your body most certainly does need glucose so much so to the point that if none is ingested, it will make its own.
On the subject of fruit, I don't agree with the demonization of the sugar in it and personally love it, but I don't think it offers anything nutritionally that you can't get from vegetables.
If you don't want to eat it, don't eat it. I don't think this needs to be a polarizing discussion.6 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »fpmferreira wrote: »Ok, fruit contains sugar, and?
Sugar is need in the proper amounts, and it widely changes depending on the type of fruit.
Just to clarify something for you - your body does not 'need' sugar, any glucose that the body needs can be manufactured from fat so there are no dietary 'needs' for sugar.
If you want to be really pedantic, you should say that your body doesn't need to ingest sugar. Because your body most certainly does need glucose so much so to the point that if none is ingested, it will make its own.
On the subject of fruit, I don't agree with the demonization of the sugar in it and personally love it, but I don't think it offers anything nutritionally that you can't get from vegetables.
If you don't want to eat it, don't eat it. I don't think this needs to be a polarizing discussion.
Yes, I should have qualified that with the need to ingest sugar
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fpmferreira wrote: »Ok, fruit contains sugar, and?
Sugar is need in the proper amounts, and it widely changes depending on the type of fruit.
Just to clarify something for you - your body does not 'need' sugar, any glucose that the body needs can be manufactured from fat so there are no dietary 'needs' for sugar.
Not exclusively from fat... glucose can be manufactured from protein - either dietary or body protein (muscle).
We need about 120g-130g of glucose per day (it varies slightly from person to person) for our brain and central nervous system. Except if you are in ketosis, when that amount decreases at a rate of approximately 10% per mmol/l of blood ketones.
Muscles can directly oxidize fat (dietary or body) for energy, so they do not need glucose. However, people who consume glucose (carbs) on a regular basis have muscles that are adapted to be most efficient at using carbs glucose and not fat. This is why it isn't wise to just suddenly stop eating without researching to know what you are doing. Same goes to those eliminating carbs suddenly without doing their research first so that they understand what to expect while muscles adapt to become more efficient at oxidizing fat.
While humans do not need to consume carbs / glucose at all, one should understand certain things before eliminating all carbs. No worries, though... if you only cut fruit from your diet, you will still likely consume a lot of carbs from vegetables, grains, legumes, and certain types of dairy.
*Edit shown above.0 -
I don't think it's necessary. (I do think vegetables are basically necessary although of course you can manage to live even without eating them, and some rare people have problems digesting them.) I also find it annoying that they get grouped together in recommendations or that people read "10 servings of fruit and veg" as meaning 5 servings of fruit and 5 of veg," since I think veg are more important and really those kinds of recs should be fulfilled primarily with vegetables, with fruit as a nice extra. (This could be me being a crank, though.)
I do think the idea that fruit is bad for you or must be limited, because sugar, is an outgrowth of the current demonization of sugar and carbs and should go away. That people think they need to avoid fruit for health is messed up, IMO, and shows that nutrition advice is being communicated poorly.
Some people (although again I think this is rare) may find that they have a blood glucose reaction to some fruits that means they should be limited or not eaten alone. Others may find that they do better on a very low carb diet, so end up limiting fruit as a result, and I think that's fine, of course (although for me the pleasures of in-season, local fruit are not something I would give up, and I think they contribute to a healthy diet).
And obviously some people may have allergies or digestive problems with some foods, some of which may be fruits, and those people should not eat those foods.1 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »fpmferreira wrote: »Ok, fruit contains sugar, and?
Sugar is need in the proper amounts, and it widely changes depending on the type of fruit.
Just to clarify something for you - your body does not 'need' sugar, any glucose that the body needs can be manufactured from fat so there are no dietary 'needs' for sugar.
If you want to be really pedantic, you should say that your body doesn't need to ingest sugar. Because your body most certainly does need glucose so much so to the point that if none is ingested, it will make its own.
On the subject of fruit, I don't agree with the demonization of the sugar in it and personally love it, but I don't think it offers anything nutritionally that you can't get from vegetables.
If you don't want to eat it, don't eat it. I don't think this needs to be a polarizing discussion.
Yep, all this.0 -
Yesterday I hit over 1,000 grams of produce and around half of that was fruit. I definitely put emphasis on veggies but the fruit breaks things up and adds a bit of variety to my diet.2
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JeromeBarry1 wrote: »leanitup123 wrote: »Alatariel75 wrote: »I hate fruit with a passion. I eat huge amounts of vegetables. I cannot find one nutrient that I'm missing by not eating fruit.
You and me both. Only fruit I ever eat and enjoy is raspberries or blueberries.
The raspberry and blueberry are extremely worthy additions to a person's food plan, and are frequently used as ingredients in many 'not fruit' products.
Flavonoids - extremely beneficial. You don't necessarily have to get these from fruit e.g. if you have an allergy you can still get these via supplementation - teas, pills, etc.0 -
leanitup123 wrote: »"EAT 4 SERVINGS OF FRUIT PER DAY BECAUSE HEALTH!!!"
"FRUIT IS GOOD FOR YOU EAT MORE FRUIT!"
"I'M SO HEALTHY BECAUSE I EAST FRUIT!!!"
Okay, okay don't get me wrong... I get that it's "healthy" because of the fiber, vitamins and minerals - but it also has plenty of (natural) sugar. I eat plenty of vegetables but veer away from fruit.
What are your thoughts - is it really necessary to eat fruit every day? I could easily go a week, a month - heck even a year without eating it.
I tend towards a serving or two of fruit...mostly berries and right now cherries are in season so I'm eating a lot of those. I put an emphasis on veg, but fruit is very good for you and is chalk full of antioxidants. I get a little weary over all of the sugar fear mongering...when people are avoiding fruit because they're afraid of sugar, you know things have gone too far...ridiculous.7 -
I find that a lot of low-calorie desserts use fruit to replace higher-calorie options. I made a peach-nut pudding cake this week. 8 servings. 99 calories/serving. Because it's got 1/4 cup of white flour, 1/4 cup whole wheat, 1/3 cup of sugar and 1.5 cups of peaches. Everything else? Baking powder, extracts, 2 tbsp chopped nuts. The fruit provides much of the bulk that would normally come from the flour and sugar. The fruit sugars mean less added sugar. The cake is delicious; I've made it before. It's one of those low-cal options that doesn't taste 'diet'. And the peaches are the main reason why.
Maybe I don't 'need' fruit in my diet. But the cake sure does.2 -
That sounds worth trying out. (Also, peaches are amazing.)0
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When I could still have gluten, I loved pudding cakes. Peach anything was my favorite. That sounds like an incredibly tasty treat.0
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It is. I'm not up on the ratios for substituting gluten-free flours, but I can PM the recipe if you like.0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »leanitup123 wrote: »"EAT 4 SERVINGS OF FRUIT PER DAY BECAUSE HEALTH!!!"
"FRUIT IS GOOD FOR YOU EAT MORE FRUIT!"
"I'M SO HEALTHY BECAUSE I EAST FRUIT!!!"
Okay, okay don't get me wrong... I get that it's "healthy" because of the fiber, vitamins and minerals - but it also has plenty of (natural) sugar. I eat plenty of vegetables but veer away from fruit.
What are your thoughts - is it really necessary to eat fruit every day? I could easily go a week, a month - heck even a year without eating it.
I tend towards a serving or two of fruit...mostly berries and right now cherries are in season so I'm eating a lot of those. I put an emphasis on veg, but fruit is very good for you and is chalk full of antioxidants. I get a little weary over all of the sugar fear mongering...when people are avoiding fruit because they're afraid of sugar, you know things have gone too far...ridiculous.
I mostly use fruit to make my green smoothies bearable, (bananas and berries), but the one fruit I actually look forward to coming into season every year and love by themselves is cherries! They're definitely skewing my fruit intake numbers right now
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Fruit necessary daily? No.
Delicious and desirable? Yes, for me.
Today I ate about 11 servings of vegetables total, and about 2 of fruit (assuming you count tomatoes and cucumbers as veggies as per normal culinary/dietary practice, rather than as fruit as per botany . . . .).
Is the fruit sugar "bad"? Since I'm not even remotely close to diabetic . . . no.
And I suspect my no-sugar-added dairy foods today had more sugars than my fruits, anyway. Not sure, though - I don't bother to track sugar.
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estherdragonbat wrote: »It is. I'm not up on the ratios for substituting gluten-free flours, but I can PM the recipe if you like.
I'd have to look up a specific gluten free pudding cake, and it would likely have eggs. I think gluten makes pudding cakes, well, pudding-y. Thanks for offering, though!0 -
It's not necessary but it is delicious and nutritious and for the most part low calorie. It would be difficult to get all the known nutrients from fruit without supplementation, and there are whole classes of nutrients which were not known twenty years ago - which strongly suggests there are others we don't understand today.
The fruit in sugar is not problematic for most people unless you're trying to do a keto diet, since the fiber slows down processing enough that it has less of a tendency to spike blood sugar - not making that up - I'm a diabetic and testing after eating fruit shows it does not spike my blood sugar nearly as much as the same amount of processed sugar - nice to be able to run my very own tests! But my results are also in line with research, which shows that eating more fruit tends to prevent insulin resistance, not increase it. Eating several pieces of fruit a day, I have lowered my A1c from 11 to 4.9 and gotten off all medications but metformin. Restricting fruit because of concerns about insulin resistance is counterproductive.
The most important reason for me in particular to eat fruit is that it satisfies my sweet tooth, instead of foods such as cookies, cakes, and candy which really do spike my blood sugar dangerously. If you never eat anything sweet anyway, go ahead and avoid fruit. But if you are tempted by these sorts of foods, try eating fruit instead, and see if it becomes a new habit.9 -
Cost prohibits fresh fruit in my area (for me). I take a multi along with a vit C w/ flavonoids from Costco.
Why does the government subsidize corn and wheat but not fruit?
I simply will not pay $1.50 for an apple. Not worth it.3
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