In place of fruit?

terri092990

I love eating fruit as I could eat it all day, but it's high in sugars. Please give me ideas what you have for snacks that are healthy. Thanks in advance!

middlehaitch

Fruit, it’s nutritious.

As long as it fits in my calories and nutritional goals I am not concerned about the sugar. I have no health problems so not worried about my sugar/carb intake form that view either.

Cheers, h.

MargaretYakoda

Fruit is healthy.
Everything in moderation.

Is your problem fruit? Or not finding it easy to eat one portion and then stop?

Those are different issues.

lorib642

Is there a reason to cut back on sugar? Some fruits have less sugar. Berries have fiber. I don’t eat much sugar but I do allow myself a small portion of berries.

nooshi713

Fruit is healthy.

Redordeadhead

Vegetables

springlering62

Old me would scarf several pounds of candy and carbs per day.

Perhaps not everyone’s problem, or not to my degree.

But rather than feeling guilty about enjoying lovely, healthy fruit, I just tell myself, “It’s better than it was before”.

And it seriously is.

cmriverside

I eat 200-500 grams of whole fruit daily. It doesn't do anything bad. Unless you're instructed by your medical team to limit sugar, then fruit isn't a bad thing.

My "sugar" on this site includes all sugar from fruit, vegetables, dairy and added sugars. I try to stay under 100g a day for my total amount, but other than that don't try to limit fruit.

If you are really eating it all day, then I guess that could be a problem but two or three servings wouldn't be.

westrich20940

Unless there is a reason to cut back on sugar...eat fruit.

sijomial

Not all fruit is high in sugar - what you are currently eating and why is the sugar in fruit a concern to you would give some much needed context.
Berries in particular have a lot of (flavour) bang for the (calorie/carb/sugar) buck.

Personally I tend to prefer savoury snacks but also look at my diet as a whole in regards to being healthy or not, often my snacks are purely for flavour and enjoyment but that's a lot easier to fit in a big diet.

kshama2001

In the nutrients I track for MFP, I swapped out sugar for fiber.

When I was in Costa Rica for 6 weeks I ate tropical fruit all day long and dropped a size without even trying. How? I created a calorie deficit because the higher calorie foods I normally ate were not available.

However, these days I do add a protein with fruit snacks - for example 112 g cottage cheese. When I was eating higher fat I would have a small amount of PB and/or cheese with apples.

OOO, I wonder if my local apple orchard has Honey Crisps in yet...

Speakeasy76

Umm, out of all the snack options out there, I'd say fruit is a healthy one! The only thing I would do is add some protein plus a bit of healthy fat. For example, I'd add some nuts or have apples with nut butter, part-skim string cheese, plain greek yogurt topped with fresh fruit and a bit of honey, or even some nitrate-free lunch meat.

AnnPT77

If you're not diabetic (or some similar health condition that requires you to limit total carbohydrates including inherent sugars in no-sugar-added foods), there's no need to limit fruit unless you eat so much that it either:

1. Prevents you from staying at reasonable calorie totals, or
2. Drives out other essential nutrition while you're staying within calorie goals.

Even the national/international health organizations (USDA, WHO, etc.) recommend limiting *added* sugars. That's for the above 2 reasons, plus the risk of dental cavities, if you read the detailed text explanations of their recommendations.

Fruits have fiber, micronutrients, and (depending on the specific fruit chosen) possibly some macronutrients beyond carbs. Many people find them filling. They're more nutrient-dense, less calorie dense than common sugar-added sweets (cookies, candies, cakes, etc.). Some people find that eating fruit helps reduce their cravings for less nutrient-dense sweets (baked goods, candy). That was true for me.

Fruit is fine, as long as you don't regularly have either of the two numbered problems above, with the amount of fruit you eat.

I went over the MFP default sugar goal every day while losing weight, when the only added sugar I ate was a single daily 30-calorie tablespoon of all-fruit spread in which concentrated fruit juice (which counts as added sugar) well down the ingredient list. The rest was inherent sugars in fruit, veggies, and no-sugar-added dairy foods. Once I realized that, and saw that I was getting enough protein & fats within calorie goal alongside the fruits, I swapped out the sugar column in my diary display for fiber.

I lost weight fine (class 1 obese to healthy weight in less than a year), and have maintained a healthy weight for 5+ years since, eating multiple servings of fruit most days, and getting lots of milk sugars from no-sugar-added dairy foods, especially plain Greek yogurt (with its ample protein, good micros, and versatility).

russellholtslander1

There is a big difference between grapes, and raspberries. Maybe just change type of fruit consumed. Maybe have less fruit.

If you DO decide fruit is necessary to cut completely, just eat a little bit larger servings of other foods.

If you have no medical reason to cut sugar though, and you are going to have sugar in your diet, I would cut all added sugar first, and leave the sugar in fruits & veggies. You DO know that veggies have sugar too, right? You aren't cutting them, because of sugar, are you?

Good Luck, whatever you decide.

terri092990

Thank you all for your comments and advice. I will take to heart. No, I am not diabetic and have not been told to cut down on sugar. It's that I can't stop at one serving as I love fruit. I am losing weight, so guess I shouldn't worry about it so much. Cheers to all!

cwolfman13

terri092990 wrote: »

I love eating fruit as I could eat it all day, but it's high in sugars. Please give me ideas what you have for snacks that are healthy. Thanks in advance!

Fruit is healthy and packed with necessary vitamins and minerals and fine so long as it's not crowding out other necessary nutrition. You can also manage the sugar aspect by selecting different fruits...ie bananas are pretty high sugar content, but most berries aren't. Rather than cutting it out, I'd aim for more variation. If it's crowding out other nutritional necessities, you can just cut back a bit. I'm not a big snacker, but when I do it's usually jerky or little individual cheese squares, but that's a pretty minimal part of my diet as I'd much prefer larger meals to snacking.

lemurcat2

Fruit is healthy.

I have lately been eating home-grown tomatoes as a snack, as I have so many of them I have to use up, and they are delicious. Technically a fruit but culinarily a veg, and lower sugar by comparison. If you want lower cal, lower sugar snack options, any veg, like carrots, cucumbers, radishes, kohlrabi, etc. Maybe dip in hummus if you don't like it on its own.

Other ideas: If you want more protein, cottage cheese or some greek yogurt. If you can control the amount you eat, nuts. I'm also a huge smoked salmon fan.

neanderthin

If your goal is to minimize your overall sugar intake there's nothing in fruit that you can't get in vegetables.

Mellouk89

Berries have more fiber than sugar, particularly raspberries and blackberries.

WailingDusk

Certain fruits are higher in sugars than others, but you also need to remember that fruit is very high in fiber, so you're definitely not going to be able to overeat it without feeling really full.

If you're concerned about sugar, try going for berries (I buy frozen mixed berries and blend them), granny smith apples, kiwi (I usually have two of these before bed. They help you sleep), cantaloupe, watermelon. If you're craving something sweet, Fruit is going to be your best, most nutritious option. Yeah you could go for something that's artificially sweetened, but you're not going to get the extra benefits.

Eat fruit. Don't be scared of it. I eat it all the time and still manage to lose weight. Stay away from fruit juices or dried fruits though.

AnnPT77

WailingDusk wrote: »

Certain fruits are higher in sugars than others, but you also need to remember that fruit is very high in fiber, so you're definitely not going to be able to overeat it without feeling really full.

If you're concerned about sugar, try going for berries (I buy frozen mixed berries and blend them), granny smith apples, kiwi (I usually have two of these before bed. They help you sleep), cantaloupe, watermelon. If you're craving something sweet, Fruit is going to be your best, most nutritious option. Yeah you could go for something that's artificially sweetened, but you're not going to get the extra benefits.

Eat fruit. Don't be scared of it. I eat it all the time and still manage to lose weight. Stay away from fruit juices or dried fruits though.

For me, dried fruit seems over-demonized at times, too. Yes, it's calorie dense (less water), but the fiber and nutrients are similar to fresh fruit. In a calorie counting context, reasonable portioning is possible.

I eat prunes regularly out of hand, and dried mango fairly often, others occasionally. I always have a beverage (usually water, but maybe coffee or matcha) alongside, and usually do a "nibble and sip" kind of thing, enjoying the concentrated flavors of the dried fruit. The combo of the dried fruit and fluid can be pretty filling, similar to whole fruit.

It's helpful that dried fruit travels well (small/light), without bruising or spoiling, like as a snack while walking or biking if desired, or to have on hand on long car trips. (Anything long enough for a snack, I'd always have a water bottle, too.)

I'm not a big juice drinker, don't know whether it may work for others. I prefer vegetable juice (V-8 or tomato), if I'm having juice. It's not a calorie/satiation thing, though, so much as not being a fan of sweet drinks.