confused about fruit

[BlueBear]

I hear alot about how carbs are bad and that if you eat more that this many carbs you will get insuline resistance and other problems. I also hear that fructose is the worst (HFCS), and that a diet high in PUFA (especially omega 6) makes thing a lot worse.

On the other hand I hear that fruit is awesome, people can digest it easily in a raw state and it gives good energy. And indeed, eating fruit makes me feel energized and fresh.

So I was wondering. When you eat alot of fruit, say over 50% of your calories. And you eat little PUFA. Can that lead to insuline resistance etc.? Are there any studies on this?

[Alison Jenkins]

It's about eating everything in balance. The body copes better with whole fruits as it takes time to digest and doesn't spike the insulin levels in the same way as concentrated sugars do. Your body needs carbs, protein & fat but you don't have to eat refined foods.

Alison

[BlueBear]

Originally Posted by Alison Jenkins

It's about eating everything in balance. The body copes better with whole fruits as it takes time to digest and doesn't spike the insulin levels in the same way as concentrated sugars do. Your body needs carbs, protein & fat but you don't have to eat refined foods.

Alison

I don´t eat refined foods and ofcourse it´s about eating balanced. But what is a good balance? 80/10/10 or 60% fat? Sugar or starch? etc. It's just that the information on healthy dieting is so opposing. And I wan't to find something that feels good and isn't unhealty in the longrun.
Right now I eat 40 - 50% in calories of fresh fruit and thats alot of fructose. And eventhough it feels good to eat fruit I want to know that it isn't bad.

[Alison Jenkins]

50% in fruit isn't balanced. If you take a plate and eat 50% of veg, 25% protein and 25% carbs you will be on the right line. As for fat I have 1 tsp oil or 1 tbsp of cream at each meal. Then have 1 - 3 pieces of fruit per day. Obviously this is an approximate amount and on some days you will have more of one thing and less of another.

Lots of people dieting miss out the fat but what happens is they start to lose their hair as a result.

Alison

[BlueBear]

Originally Posted by Alison Jenkins

50% in fruit isn't balanced. If you take a plate and eat 50% of veg, 25% protein and 25% carbs you will be on the right line. As for fat I have 1 tsp oil or 1 tbsp of cream at each meal. Then have 1 - 3 pieces of fruit per day. Obviously this is an approximate amount and on some days you will have more of one thing and less of another.

Lots of people dieting miss out the fat but what happens is they start to lose their hair as a result.

Alison

Thats just your take on a healthy diet. I'm really looking for quality information, say a quality study or atleast information about people who have been eating lots of fruit for years.
Oh and I definately get enough fat and protein. Because I don't like starchy stuff the other 50% in calories is mostly fat and protein.

[Dimond]

I definitely feel that low fat, high fruit, moderate greens is the best way to eat for most. People can have issues when they're not balancing the fruit with high mineral foods (leafy greens, celery). Quality green supplements can also be used if you don't want green all the time. So whenever you eat fruit, it's a good idea to have greens either at the same time or within a couple of hrs or so. If you're eating only good fats and the rest of your diet is relatively healthy, this is how you can eat. Everything always depends on someone's health, which they're not always completely aware of. If the other part of your diet isn't that healthy, then this is where things may differ for you. High amounts of fruit with minerals is usually perfectly fine. Being active also helps you assimilate the nutrients and digest them better. High veggies don't work because they're very low in calories. So other than greens, you don't have to eat tons of them. You're mainly eating them for the nutrients. I'm working towards permanently eating at least 60-70% fruit, 10-20% fats. I've progressively lowered fats over the past couple of years and have tons of long, thick, beautiful hair. If anything eating raw has increased hair & nail growth.

[Alison Jenkins]

Search a medical site like Entrez Pub Med where you can find medical studies. You may like to look at eating disorder articles too as there is a new classification of eating disorder called Orthorexia which is focused on eating high amounts of food considered healthy. You may find some statistics there.

Alison

[curiouslyrandom]

I also hear that fructose is the worst (HFCS)

HFCS is high fructose corn syrup. Fructose on its own isn't so bad, but the refined stuff isn't so good for you.

[votoshka]

Originally Posted by BlueBear

I hear alot about how carbs are bad and that if you eat more that this many carbs you will get insuline resistance and other problems. I also hear that fructose is the worst (HFCS), and that a diet high in PUFA (especially omega 6) makes thing a lot worse.

On the other hand I hear that fruit is awesome, people can digest it easily in a raw state and it gives good energy. And indeed, eating fruit makes me feel energized and fresh.

So I was wondering. When you eat alot of fruit, say over 50% of your calories. And you eat little PUFA. Can that lead to insuline resistance etc.? Are there any studies on this?

Read The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham - it clears up a LOT of the misconceptions regarding sugars in fruit and insulin resistance etc. etc.

Essentially, his recommendation is that people eat a diet very high in fruit, but low in fat, as it's the fat that blocks the absorption of sugars in the body, thus leading to insulin problems, not the sugars from fruits themselves.

[votoshka]

Originally Posted by Alison Jenkins

Search a medical site like Entrez Pub Med where you can find medical studies. You may like to look at eating disorder articles too as there is a new classification of eating disorder called Orthorexia which is focused on eating high amounts of food considered healthy. You may find some statistics there.

Alison

Sorry but orthorexia is THE MOST BS thing I've ever heard of... Geez... I mean people who choose to eat healthy food now have an EATING DISORDER? What will they think of next??!!

[joelr]

Fruit is ok, the fiber slows the absorption of the fructose.

[BlueBear]

Originally Posted by votoshka

Read The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas Graham - it clears up a LOT of the misconceptions regarding sugars in fruit and insulin resistance etc. etc.

Essentially, his recommendation is that people eat a diet very high in fruit, but low in fat, as it's the fat that blocks the absorption of sugars in the body, thus leading to insulin problems, not the sugars from fruits themselves.

Thanks for the replies everyone. So according to Graham fat and fruit sugars is a bad combination? Does he make a destinction between types of fat? I have heard that PUFA's and sugars are a bad combination and that, in nature, their only available together for a very short time right before winter when people used to benefit from getting a little fatter.
Also, 80/10/10 is not something I am able to do (atleast not yet). What I want to know basically is if it is healthy to get 40-50% of the calories from fruit when about 30% comes from fat(mostly saturated or monounsaturated)?
And if that is how it works, wouldn't eating the fruit and the fat at seperate times eliminate the problem fat has with sugars?

[Andrew Brunelle]

A whole fruit is full of enzymes and fiber that help you metabolize the sugar, but too much fruit can cause problems as well. That is, too much fruit with too much fat. I don't agree with low fat diets, and all fruit diets are very dangerous in the long term. A well-balanced diet goes a long way, but any deviation can lead to malnutrition and deficiency, which is not something anyone wants to go through

[russianrocket]

Originally Posted by BlueBear

Thats just YOUR take on a healthy diet.

BINGO. Thread over.

[Acting Like Godot]

If you take that kind of argument far enough, every thread in these forums is over.

[russianrocket]

Originally Posted by Acting Like Godot

If you take that kind of argument far enough, every thread in these forums is over.

true . In reality, all arguments are nothing but a form of word games that we play with one another, and as no bearing on real life. And are more or less pointless. We seek outwardly, what we already have inside. After all, just about every argument is the same argument, going around in circles and circles, using different words, phrases, quotes, and general perceptions.

Tho, in the context of this thread, it makes perfect sense. I'm a car guy, and it would be like coming to me and asking me which oil is best for every car. Or which tire is best for every single kind of driving. At the end, it always comes down to " well, what kinda car? How do you drive it? How often do you want to change the oil?"

Looking for a one size fits all approach to life, really isn't the best way to go. People are responding with what they feel is the best diet. And that's usually how ever single food thread on this board goes. And at the end, either no one agrees, or someone comes out with " well, no one diet is perfect for every single person".

So really, unless the person askign the question, brings up everything they eat, their daily activities, how much money they have to spend on food, if they can or can't cook, and or what they can or can't cook. How much time they have in the day. What their blood type is. What kind of goals do they have for themselves. Are they doing it for themselves, or for others. What is their overall health and physical condition. Do they have any medical problems or take drugs, legal or otherwise. And after all that, the people who are answering should probably be very well verses in the health field. Otherwise each person is only bringing up what works best FOR THEM.

[Lifeisamazing]

• Why is fruit and fat together bad?

• What misconceptions does Graham clear up regarding fruits?

• Why is moderate vegetables, a lot of fruit and low fat the best for most people?

[Cable]

There are no essential carbohydrates; your body can make them from proteins and fats as needed, via several metabolic processes, or can use ketones instead. There *are*, however, essential amino acids, and essential fats.

Insulin switches off fat metabolism, so eating significant amounts of fats and carbs together is kinda pointless. Of course, if you keep eating carbs when your glycogen stores are full, they'll all be rapidly converted into palmitic acid, which is one of the less-healthy types of saturated fat. (The body has to get rid of the sugar *somehow* lest one go blind, lose their fingers and toes, and get all those other nasty symptoms that happen to diabetics.) So all those excess carbs aren't just wasted, they're contributing to things like obesity and (by raising triglycerides) heart disease. This all leads me to think that a high-fat, high-protein, moderate-to-low-carb diet is the way to go, combined with enough moderate exercise to keep glycogen stores low (but not the more-intense chronic cardio that raises cortisol levels.)

A good fat breakdown is mostly monounsaturated, some saturated, and has a low amount of PUFA's with omega-3's and omega-6's in a roughly 1:1 ratio (unlike the 1:10 or worse of the standard american diet), and none of those artificial trans fats.

I would suggest keeping the high-glycemic-load fruits, such as bananas and mangoes, in moderation, but I see no reason to limit the lower-glycemic-load fruits, such as most berries and melons, that provide lots of micronutrients per calorie. (Though, when it comes to micronutrients per calorie, veggies win hands-down.)

Of course, the right answer is ultimately whatever works for a person in practice

[ginkgo]

Are all black people good or bad? Is it possible that some are good and some are bad? There are good carbs and bad carbs. Dr Oz says to eat foods with no ingredient list.

Now there are thousands of fruits containing thousands of phytochemicals. Then there is cake, donuts, cookies and more, Oh My. All the above are carbs. So do you think that eating an apple is just as good as eating cake?

Fruits are the healthiest foods and make up most of the super foods like Oprah promoting acai berries. Then there are yumberries, blueberries, goji berries and hawthorn fruit. I have never seen a hawthorn berry but they are sold as a supplement since they are very good for heart health.

Some fruits are not very sweet. Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are fruits. Hard fruits are high in protein-- nuts and seeds. You do not need to kill a plant to eat fruit.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by joelr

Fruit is ok, the fiber slows the absorption of the fructose.

I saw an N.D. say the same thing in an article. But actually glycemic index is not guessed but tested. The glycemic index of pure fructose, meaning no fruit or fiber is very low.

[votoshka]

The problem here, folks, is you'll NEVER get an agreement on this topic. NEVER EVER EVER EVER. Why? Because even the experts can't agree...

As you'll see, there are some who recommend high fruit/low fat (eg Dr Douglas Graham), and others will recommend low or no fruit, with higher fats and proteins.

And others... well they'll just recommend something else!!

The thing with fruits and fats is that even when eaten separately, the fats take a lot longer to clear out of the system, so even hours later they will impede the absorption of fruit sugars. It makes a lot of sense when Dr. Graham says it

But of course, you're going to get others who completely, utterly disagree.

All you can do is read about it for yourself and reach your own conclusions! And by this, I mean, you need to read both sides... Then once you've considered everything, you need to work out what works for YOU and which makes the most logical sense for your lifestyle.

It's a minefield out there

[Doc Holliday]

I eat only raw fruits and vegetables.

You prevent insulin problems, IE, the development of type two diabetes, by eating a very low fat diet.

Originally Posted by BlueBear

I hear alot about how carbs are bad and that if you eat more that this many carbs you will get insuline resistance and other problems. I also hear that fructose is the worst (HFCS), and that a diet high in PUFA (especially omega 6) makes thing a lot worse.

On the other hand I hear that fruit is awesome, people can digest it easily in a raw state and it gives good energy. And indeed, eating fruit makes me feel energized and fresh.

So I was wondering. When you eat alot of fruit, say over 50% of your calories. And you eat little PUFA. Can that lead to insuline resistance etc.? Are there any studies on this?