Is fruit fattening?
palomster
Posts: 6
I always hear about how fruit is loaded with sugar and that it's something to avoid when losing weight.
But I also hear how fruits are also essential because they also encourage weight loss.
Would I be correct to say that the sugar in fruit isn't the same as the sugar in, for example, a soda? I've also heard that the sugar fruits contain, since it's naturally produced, is actually necessary to your body for maintaining adequate levels of blood salts and sugar.
I'd like to rule out the misinformation. I have my doubts that all sugar is created equal. Thoughts?
But I also hear how fruits are also essential because they also encourage weight loss.
Would I be correct to say that the sugar in fruit isn't the same as the sugar in, for example, a soda? I've also heard that the sugar fruits contain, since it's naturally produced, is actually necessary to your body for maintaining adequate levels of blood salts and sugar.
I'd like to rule out the misinformation. I have my doubts that all sugar is created equal. Thoughts?
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Replies
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The only thing that encourages fat is a surplus of calories, that's any food eaten above maintenance.
I eat close to 100g+ sugar from various sources, not just fruit. Not only have I been able to lose weight, I've lost a considerable amount of fat. To lose fat the best thing to do is
Moderate calorie deficit
Good amount of protein
Resistance training, ideally weightlifting
patience0 -
Sugar is sugar whatever it's source. Fruit sugar comes along with lots of vitamins and minerals that are contained in the fruit. What makes you fat is eating more calories than you burn those calories can come from fat, protein anywhere. You could eat just sugar and as long as you eat below the calories required you would still lose weight. I eat tons of fruit and as you can see it's not stopped my weightloss.
Ignore all the unscientific this food is evil rubbish. Food is neither good nor bad it's just food. DOn't get carried away with one part look at your whole diet. Just aim for a balance diet within your calorie goals and you'll lose weight and get good nutrition. Don't deprive yourself have the occasional chocolate bar or ice cream within your goals and that's it.0 -
fruit and vegetables are the most valuable foods you could put into your body. i eat hundreds of grams of sugar from fruit every week and am maintaining my healthy slim figure. ps, i dont exercise. check out freelee the banana girl on youtube. although the way she eats may be considered excessive, it will show you that fruit is not fattening in the slightest!0
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some fruits are worse than others. like bananas, grapes, watermelon, pineapple are a lot more sugary than apples, pears and berries. i think fruit is still a good thing to include in your diet but you still have to be careful about which ones you're eating and how much.0
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Sugar is sugar whatever it's source. Fruit sugar comes along with lots of vitamins and minerals that are contained in the fruit. What makes you fat is eating more calories than you burn those calories can come from fat, protein anywhere. You could eat just sugar and as long as you eat below the calories required you would still lose weight. I eat tons of fruit and as you can see it's not stopped my weightloss.
Ignore all the unscientific this food is evil rubbish. Food is neither good nor bad it's just food. DOn't get carried away with one part look at your whole diet. Just aim for a balance diet within your calorie goals and you'll lose weight and get good nutrition. Don't deprive yourself have the occasional chocolate bar or ice cream within your goals and that's it.
Pretty much this...
Fruit has essential vitamins. Fruit tastes good. There is no reason to restrict fruit from your diet. Restriction of any sort can often lead to unhealthy behaviors and relationships with food. If you want to enjoy fruit, do so, but do so within your calorie budget.
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I eat mostly fruit and dairy and I am losing weight fine. Even the so called worse fruits, I have been known to have a mini watermelon for breakfast. The only problem with it is running out of calories slightly sooner than if I had say 2 grapefruits instead/0
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I eat 3 servings of fruit a day and have lost 130 lbs... fruit is nutritious and good for you. If one is diabetic, they can eat lower carb fruit (less fructose) and still comply with their diabetic regime.0
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Surplus in calories is what causes weight gain.. whether it comes from candy, fruit, or spinach. If you have issues with sugar, then Fructose will cause issues the same way sucrose will... Fruit also provides good nutrition so it is good to have. All things in moderation (unless medically contraindicated)...0
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No.
Sugar is sugar is sugar. Calories from fruit are the same (for weight purposes, anyway) as calories from fish & brown rice.0 -
Since last summer when I started losing weight, I've eaten more fresh fruits than ever before. To me they are an essential part of my new healthy eating lifestyle. Many fruits are good fiber sources, too.0
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Fruit is, in general, the healthiest food you can consume. It is loaded with over 10,000 nutrients, has a low effect on your blood sugar, provides you with a very healthy ratio of fats, proteins, and carbs, and will satisfy our natural sweet-tooth.
Thousands of people have completely cured themselves of type II diabetes eating a high fruit diet. It is ironic that fruit has been demonized, especially to diabetics. The medical community has gone so far as recommending a high fat diet to diabetics. But this is folly because it is the fat in the pancreas that causes insulin resistance, not blood sugar.0 -
Yes, sugar is sugar, but sugar in most fruit also comes with essential vitamins and fiber so it is better than just drinking a soda which essentially has no nutritional value.0
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If it fits into your macronurtrient goals (Protein, carbs and fats), it won't make you gain any weight. The only way you will gain weight is if you're in a calorie surplus. Fruit is digested differently than a complex carb like oats, and the "high sugar" might cause the misconception that it will make you gain weight. There are so many micronutrients and various health benefits to fruit, if you can fit it into your cals/macros, then do it!!0
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A simplified chemistry explanation for the OP:
Fruit sugar is fructose - a monosaccharide (simple sugar).
Another simple sugar is glucose (also from plants).
Table sugar (sucrose) and sugar used in soda (high fructose corn syrup - HFCS) are a bonded pair (disaccharide) of fructose and sucrose.
It's all the same "stuff" as far as your body is concerned. The only minor difference is your digestion breaks the sucrose/HFCS down into simple fructose and glucose before it uses it.
Given the above, sugar is sugar. Fructose is no better or worse than any other kind, and it doesn't "encourage" your body to do anything - it's just fuel for your body.0 -
Only if you eat more than you burn off.0
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I always hear about how fruit is loaded with sugar and that it's something to avoid when losing weight.
But I also hear how fruits are also essential because they also encourage weight loss.
Would I be correct to say that the sugar in fruit isn't the same as the sugar in, for example, a soda? I've also heard that the sugar fruits contain, since it's naturally produced, is actually necessary to your body for maintaining adequate levels of blood salts and sugar.
I'd like to rule out the misinformation. I have my doubts that all sugar is created equal. Thoughts?
Eating more food than your body needs is fattening0 -
There is no such things as a "fattening" food...eating too much food is "fattening"...but there is no one particular food that is "fattening" in and of itself.0
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the sugars in fruits are WAY healthier than all the sugars found in artificial processed junk. even if you eat the same number of calories and sugar from an apple and some synthesised piece of crap in a plastic wrapper that probably contains all sorts of chemicals that mess up your hormones and may lead to weight gain in the long term , im all in on natural healthy whole foods0
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the sugars in fruits are WAY healthier than all the sugars found in artificial processed junk. even if you eat the same number of calories and sugar from an apple and some synthesised piece of crap in a plastic wrapper that probably contains all sorts of chemicals that mess up your hormones and may lead to weight gain in the long term , im all in on natural healthy whole foods
I raise your run on sentence with 4 twinkies. 4 twinkies vs the same calories and sugar content as fruit. Difference? Fruit will probably have more vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The sugar will be digested the same. My body doesn't care where it comes from. If I've already gotten the necessary nutrients my body needs, there's nothing wrong with twinkies within my calorie goal.
If you're getting your daily nutrients (aka all the vitamins, minerals, etc) that your body needs, there's nothing wrong with any food. You can label it, demonize it, maybe even put some devil horns on it, it doesn't matter. Calories in vs out for weight loss. Balancing your nutrient intake for health.0 -
I like fruit! It is actually pretty filling. The secret is, as always, portion control. Fruits have fiber and necessary vitamins. I wouldn't get caught up on "fattening" I just had some pineapple for a snack (7 oz) and it hit the spot and only 70 calories.0
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Don't avoid fruit. Fruit has fiber and vitamins that your body needs.0
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I eat sweets all the time. I'm down 6 pounds since the beginning of May and 20 since last August. I love fruit, but I also love candy. As long as I log it accurately, it hasn't slowed me down when I eat more of one.
Weight loss is about deficit. As long as you're getting the minimum for nutrition, it doesn't really matter if you have one kind of sugar over another. Just log it.0 -
If you are young,Sugar won't affect you as much for weight loss.
Some folks are sensitive to blood sugar spikes(not talking about diabetes),,if they are sensitive they are better off with low glycemic index foods.On a different note,sugar reduces the effect of stomach acid in digesting food,again this is at a molecular level and won't necessarily show any effect if you are young.
I eat upto 3- fruits each day,I can handle certain types of sweets and candy and some throw my sugar levels off(i experience yawning,sluggishness and sleep after eating)-I avoid those I can't handle and eat those I can,but limit them to 1-2 pieces a day.
If you have digestive issues maybe it would help to reduce sugar intake.0 -
Sugar in fruit is not the same as sugar in soda. There are various types of sugar. But the biggest difference is not the sugar itself, but the package it comes in.
Sugar in liquids like soda is very quickly absorbed and causes a sharp rise in blood glucose, followed by a sharp drop. And soda has little nutrition to offer other than sugar.
Sugar in fruit comes with fiber and micronutrients. The fiber can slow digestion and release glucose to the blood stream more slowly.0 -
2 or 3 pieces of fruit in the day, as snacks is fine. Fructose (fruit sugar) is nothing like the refined white sugar you get in a packet.
Dont worry about the sugar in Fruit, there are alot more good nutrients in fruit alongside the sugar content, whereas refined sugar contains nothing.
Another tip is to vary the fruit you eat. Dont just stick to the normal Apples, Bananas and oranges. Try Grapefruits, Pineapples, Papaya, Kiwi, Berry fruits, dried fruits, peaches, plums, avacadoes and so on. Papaya is very good for you girlies, as it combats the bloating women experience every month.0 -
If you eat more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. It doesn't matter where those calories come from.0
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the sugars in fruits are WAY healthier than all the sugars found in artificial processed junk. even if you eat the same number of calories and sugar from an apple and some synthesised piece of crap in a plastic wrapper that probably contains all sorts of chemicals that mess up your hormones and may lead to weight gain in the long term , im all in on natural healthy whole foods
I raise your run on sentence with 4 twinkies. 4 twinkies vs the same calories and sugar content as fruit. Difference? Fruit will probably have more vitamins, minerals, and fiber. The sugar will be digested the same. My body doesn't care where it comes from. If I've already gotten the necessary nutrients my body needs, there's nothing wrong with twinkies within my calorie goal.
If you're getting your daily nutrients (aka all the vitamins, minerals, etc) that your body needs, there's nothing wrong with any food. You can label it, demonize it, maybe even put some devil horns on it, it doesn't matter. Calories in vs out for weight loss. Balancing your nutrient intake for health.
This isn't exactly true. First off, highly processed foods will cause an insulin spike which can increase your desire for more food. Also, you are creating a lot of free-radicals during its metabolization, and it will have little or no anti-oxidants in the food to counter the free-radicals. So, it has a much greater negative effect on the body than foods loaded with micro-nutrients.
Studies suggest that certain foods will increase weight gain even when adjusted for total energy input. The EPIC study suggests that meat, poultry, oils, and processed sugars caused increase in weight despite the same number of calories consumed when compared to plant-based whole foods.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/205921310 -
as long as you don't eat high fat foods (i.e.. meat, processed foods, etc) you should be fine..0
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