Fruit = fat?

catwrangler

For you sugar phobes... what's the top 3 reasons you fear it so much? Just curious.

Does sugar turn directly into fat? Or does it feed fat? Doesn't sugar feed cancer cells? ( I don't believe this myself but I would like your take)

stroutman81

For you sugar phobes... what's the top 3 reasons you fear it so much? Just curious.

Does sugar turn directly into fat? Or does it feed fat? Doesn't sugar feed cancer cells? ( I don't believe this myself but I would like your take)

Carbs being stored as fat is actually rare under normal diet conditions. Look up de novo lipogenesis. The first place carbs are stored (assuming they're not used or immediate energy) is in your liver and muscles as glycogen.

eeebee

I should have just looked it up online to begin with :ohwell:

http://www.naturalnews.com/002038.html

stroutman81

Mind you that I'm talking about direct storage. The above statement does NOT imply that you can eat unlimited carbs and never store fat. When we eat carbs, fat oxidation is reduced so more of the fat that you consume gets stored.

Ultimately though, energy balance is going to be the ultimate arbiter as to whether you're gaining or losing tissue. You're body's too damn smart.

The general pathways go like this:

Fat gets stored in fat cells. Some of it will wind up in the muscle as intramuscular triglycerides.

Carbs get stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen.

Protein gets used to build new things like muscle, hormones, etc.

If you ate lots of carbs, your body would burn less fat. So more of the fat that you ate would be stored. But if you're in a calorie deficit, your body, needing to make up the energy shortage, would tap into its stored forms of energy.

And if you cut out your fat intake in an attempt to halt fat storage, thus leaving the normal diet situation, de novo lipogenesis would ramp up thus causing the conversion of carbs to fat. And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.

Moral of the story...

Control calories.

Eat enough protein to support growth, repair, and muscle maintenance.

Eat essential fats due to your body's inability to make them and the laundry list of benefits they carry.

Eat some veggies and fruit to cover micronutrition needs, promote satiety, get your fiber, etc.

And after that... not much else is going to matter in the healthy individual who's trying to look better nekkid.

stroutman81

I should have just looked it up online to begin with :ohwell:

http://www.naturalnews.com/002038.html

That article is a bit shortsighted. I mean, the analogy implies that high GI sugars will ruin your metabolic engine. It implies that high GI carbs are harmful without context.

I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that mainlining straight glucose into your veins as your sole source of calories would pose some problems. But the typical dieter who's eating a balanced diet isn't a comparable situation. The big picture makes a big difference.

rachmaree

Mind you that I'm talking about direct storage. The above statement does NOT imply that you can eat unlimited carbs and never store fat. When we eat carbs, fat oxidation is reduced so more of the fat that you consume gets stored.

Ultimately though, energy balance is going to be the ultimate arbiter as to whether you're gaining or losing tissue. You're body's too damn smart.

The general pathways go like this:

Fat gets stored in fat cells. Some of it will wind up in the muscle as intramuscular triglycerides.

Carbs get stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen.

Protein gets used to build new things like muscle, hormones, etc.

If you ate lots of carbs, your body would burn less fat. So more of the fat that you ate would be stored. But if you're in a calorie deficit, your body needing to make up the energy shortage, would tap into its stored forms of energy.

And if you cut out your fat intake in an attempt to halt fat storage, thus leaving the normal diet situation, de novo lipogenesis would ramp up thus causing the conversion of carbs to fat. And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.

Moral of the story...

Control calories.

Eat enough protein to support growth, repair, and muscle maintenance.

Eat essential fats due to your body's inability to make them and the laundry list of benefits they carry.

Eat some veggies and fruit to cover micronutrition needs, promote satiety, get your fiber, etc.

And after that... not much else is going to matter in the healthy individual who's trying to look better nekkid.

Always, always enjoy reading your input Steve.

Sidesteal

energy balance is going to be the ultimate arbiter as to whether you're gaining or losing tissue. .

And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.
And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.
And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.

And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.

And even then, if you ate less energy than your body needed, the stored energy would be pulled back out for use.



Moral of the story...

Control calories.

Eat enough protein to support growth, repair, and muscle maintenance.

Eat essential fats due to your body's inability to make them and the laundry list of benefits they carry.

Eat some veggies and fruit to cover micronutrition needs, promote satiety, get your fiber, etc.

And after that... not much else is going to matter in the healthy individual who's trying to look better nekkid.

I'm going to highlight the above to simplify this excellent post. I spammed one sentence up there because this is where people get very short-sighted in their dietary theories. You can't look at the immediate effects of insulin without PUTTING INTO CONTEXT the big picture. This was a really good post and I hope it reaches some people.

Punkedpoetess

I recently have replaced most of my junky sweets with fruit and have found that this has helped me along in my journey. For most people. eating fruit in moderation within their calorie allowance for the day will not make them fat.

maryd523

For you sugar phobes... what's the top 3 reasons you fear it so much? Just curious.

Watch the lecture "Sugar, the bitter truth" on Youtube.

maryd523

The sugar in fruit is unprocessed so your digestion needs to go through more steps to break it down than with something like HFCS or other refined sugars. That makes a difference, metabolically speaking.

This is completely false. Fructose is very quickly absorbed by the body.

stroutman81

For you sugar phobes... what's the top 3 reasons you fear it so much? Just curious.

Watch the lecture "Sugar, the bitter truth" on Youtube.

Already did. A lot of alarmism in that video. Check out my buddy Alan Aragon's response to that video. Dr. Lustig even chimes in for some debate in the comments section.

http://www.alanaragonblog.com/2010/01/29/the-bitter-truth-about-fructose-alarmism/

InvictusPheonix

I'm sooo glad someone asked this finally!
I'm close to vegetarian (by chance, not by life choice) so I eat a ton of fruit!
my diet ends up usually pretty low in fat, but high in carbs and spot on in protein...
I always wondered if (most my carbs are from fruit generally) i was shooting myself in the foot by training so much, but then eating so many fruit-y carbs

CaptainMFP

If you eat fruit as a snack within your calorie limits, you won't get fat. Some people are concerned because of the high sugar levels in fruit, but it's paired with fiber, and its not processed sugar. Think about it.. what do you think is better for you, getting some natural sugars in an apple or eating a donut? Big difference in the nutritional makeup of those foods.

And in fact it's not just the fiber. We need many micronutrients (particularly vitamins) which are crucial for normal cellular chemistry. Deficiencies in these nutrients can actually SLOW metabolism at the cellular level because many of these vitamins are coenzymes for the reactions of cellular respiration. There is a simple answer that's been echoed above. Weight gain is about calories, not sugar. You can eat a low sugar diet and gain weight and a high sugar diet and lose weight depending upon your total calories. Personally I do not track sugar. The vast majority of my sugar comes from sources (like fruit) that are highly nutritious in other ways (like fiber and vitamins) and as part of a balanced, calorie controlled diet have allowed me to lose nearly 50 lbs. in six months. If you're diabetic or have a diagnosed medical reason to watch sugar super closely then circumstances are different to be sure. But in general, fruit is a great part of a weight loss plan provided it isn't overdone (or some other part of the diet isn't overdone).

For the record, the natural/processed sugar argument is moot. At a cellular and calorie level they are no different. It's the other components of fruits (and veggies) that make the naturally sweet ones a better, healthier option that sugars in processed foods. It's not that the sugar is processed that matters; it's what it is combined with. And don't forget -- all carbohydrates become sugars in the bloodstream!

prdough

This is interesting because has anyone ever KNOWN someone who ate a bunch of fruit and got fat? Back in our ancestoral days, if we were wanderers and gatherers, than the human body surived on fruits and things from the land.....

Personally, I always do lower carb eating plans so I rarely eat fruit of any kind. :frown: I'm trying to reincorporate some fruit into my diet now and get over the whole "its full of sugar - don't eat it" stereo type fruit has been given.

I don't think anyone is arguing that you can't live off of it. But back in the day we would want to be putting on fat during certain seasons, as it is stored energy for when a draught came, or when we couldn't kill any game.

Just because something is natural doesn't mean its all good.

The human body (as well as squirrels, bears, deer, and a whole heck of a lot of animals) would try to eat whatever gave them the most energy with the least exertion.

Take black bears as an example. They gain weight like crazy before the winter months, eating a lot of BERRIES! and fruits. They do eat meat, but a good portion of their diet is fruit.

Not arguing that fruit is bad. Fruit is very good for you. But in moderation! I try to eat more veggies and if I do eat fruit, 2 servings of low sugar fruit per day. And if that puts my sugar over, so be it.

Hirundo

We all know fruit is good for us, lots of nutrients and vitamains, that is a given.

If most fruit = high sugar levels (albeit in fructose form, not processed), then surely high sugar levels = fattening?

So really, fruit is beneficial to our weight loss but it appears it can also be detrimental. Right or wrong?

A contradiction in nutritional terms if ever there was one...discuss.....

what ? !?!

Silverkittycat

Take black bears as an example. They gain weight like crazy before the winter months, eating a lot of BERRIES! and fruits. They do eat meat, but a good portion of their diet is fruit.

probably not the best example.

prdough

I thought it was ok. I like bears

eeebee

So...say you hit your target calorie goal of 1,500 for example, spot-on.

But your sugar intake is DOUBLE your RDA......then will that then indirectly up the calories (ie would this sugar eventually turn into hidden calories)?

MikeSEA

I thought it was ok. I like bears

I'm a bear, does that count ? Prolly not the kind of bear you were thinking of. I do like berries though...

stroutman81

So...say you hit your target calorie goal of 1,500 for example, spot-on.

But your sugar intake is DOUBLE your RDA......then will that then indirectly up the calories (ie would this sugar eventually turn into hidden calories)?

What do you mean by hidden calories?

That's like asking, "if I used two rules instead of one to measure the length of this wall, would they wind up showing hidden inches?"

Calories are simply a unit of measurement.