Too much fruit in diet - bad thing?

mazken

Hey there,
I'm just wondering if there's such a thing as too much fruit in a diet? While I'm very much aware of the benefits of fruit and all the good things it does for you I'm also conscious of the high sugar content.
Every day I eat a very generous bowl of fruit salad (maybe 3-4 ladels of fruit) which includes melon, pineapple, apples, oranges, blueberries, grapes. If i add that to all the other sugars I intake is it too much (i.e. honey in my porridge..can't have it without it!, a biscuit or two a day, raisins etc.)??
While I'm not over weight (5ft 9, 65kg) I do have a "pot belly" which just gets me down..especially when I had to put a bikini on this summer I just want to feel good in my skin so any advice would be great.
Prob should add that I have started to incorporate some ab crunches into my cardio workout (aiming for 30-40 mins a day, 4 days a week)
Thanks guys
M

ApeXaviour

Too much of anything is bad, and while fruit has a lot of good things going for it... modern fruits you buy in the supermarket have been bred for their high sugar content.

A "pot belly" is correlated with insulin resistence. So eating a lot of sugar in one sitting with nothing else isn't perhaps a great idea. Usually upping your protein (triggers glucagon, insulin's counter hormone) intake can help. Your best bet is to switch the type of fruit you're eating. Sticking more to berries and citrus fruits. And eat something else with it. Some greek yogurt or cheese on the side.

Any safe exercise is good exercise... but those crunches probably won't do as much as you think they might. Adding in some walking (instead of driving?) and lifting some heavy things now and then could do wonders.

How much honey do you put in your porridge? A teaspoon aint so bad but 3 table spoons is.

mazken

Thanks so much...advice like that is just what i need - great motivation!! as for honey...i take a v. generous teaspoon. Will try and cut it back.
Think lunch may be my downfall as it would be 3 slices of homemade brown bread with a banana and then the massive bowl of fruit. Will do as you suggest and subsitute some of that fruit for protein...never really tried greek yogurt as have always stuck to low-fat natural yogurt. Even though low-fat means high sugar - eeek!! Will give it a go though!
I exercise in the gym - mixing up threadmill, crosstrainer, stepper. I do free weights...but only lift 2kg dumbells. i don't think I'm ready or able to lift anything heavier! I suppose I'm also conscious of the fact that I want to "tone up" and not become too bulky.

moonage

A high intake of fructose, the sugar found in fruit, is thought to be linked to hypertension, diabetes, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease:

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/86/4/899

ApeXaviour

mazken wrote: »

Think lunch may be my downfall as it would be 3 slices of homemade brown bread with a banana and then the massive bowl of fruit. Will do as you suggest and subsitute some of that fruit for protein...never really tried greek yogurt as have always stuck to low-fat natural yogurt. Even though low-fat means high sugar - eeek!! Will give it a go though!

Cool . Yeah that lunch has very little protein... Protein (and fat actually) help keep you fuller for longer. They also don't cause insulin spikes which are pretty ruinous if you're trying to lose weight. Why not substitute some ham for that banana, throw in some lettuce and tomato for flavour. You can put tuna/chicken/beef slices/parma ham/salami/bacon/turkey breast/chorizo/egg... there are so many choices

mazken wrote: »

I suppose I'm also conscious of the fact that I want to "tone up" and not become too bulky.

lol don't worry about that! Whoever told you that is talking nonsense. You need to be lifting really heavy things all the time and have much more testosterone, and even then it's really difficult.
I've a friend who's powerlifting competitively (pretty much at a world standard). She can squat nearly double her bodyweight... and she has a very effeminate shape and could never ever be described as muscley or bulky!

You can go a bit more than 2 kilos! Resistance exercise is also really really good for your bones, muscle tone etc. Ask your gym instructor what kind of things you can do with dumbells and barbells... lunges, rows, presses, squats, deadlifts come to mind... the latter two will really help tighten your tummy muscles!

Dixie Chick

Hi there

Just a small suggestion for the porridge, if you try and reduce the honey and use a sweetner called Xyitol thats natural and wont play havoc with your insulin then you may not even notice the change in taste. Its available in health shops and tesco.

mazken

Thanks so much for your replies...started a new "me" today. Lunch was two slices of brown bread with 2 slices of turkey (very yummy...surprised I didn't eat it before really...must disassociate it from the excess of xmas turkey ) and one ladel spoon of fruit with natural yoghurt on top
I also popped down to the health shop and bought some of that xylitol so will try that with tomorrow's porridge - thanks so much for that tip!
Going to try and lift more at the gym tomorrow...just did 45 mins of cardio today and leg weights after. Will try and lift heavier dumbells tomorrow!
P.S. can't recommend the no added sugar peanut butter enough - defs fill the gaps...and from what I can tell is essential fat?
Thanks again!!

ApeXaviour

mazken wrote: »

Thanks so much for your replies...started a new "me" today. Lunch was two slices of brown bread with 2 slices of turkey (very yummy...surprised I didn't eat it before really...must disassociate it from the excess of xmas turkey ) and one ladel spoon of fruit with natural yoghurt on top
I also popped down to the health shop and bought some of that xylitol so will try that with tomorrow's porridge - thanks so much for that tip!
Going to try and lift more at the gym tomorrow...just did 45 mins of cardio today and leg weights after. Will try and lift heavier dumbells tomorrow!

Good lass well done!

mazken wrote: »

P.S. can't recommend the no added sugar peanut butter enough - defs fill the gaps...and from what I can tell is essential fat?
Thanks again!!

em... not quite, but if you like it don't worry too much about it.

Just a quick (and by no means comprehensive) list of good fats vs bad fats:
Good:
Avocado
Olive oil
Oily fish (mackerel, salmon, herring, sardines)
Coconut oil
Most nuts (walnuts, brazil, cashews, almonds etc.)
Dairy fats

Bad:
Seed oils (sunflower sesame etc.)
Vegetable oil
Legume oils (including soy beans peanuts)
Margarines (flora, vitelite, stork etc)

Many of the above bad ones are very very cheap to produce and so put into processed food a lot like cake mixes, salad dressings, pastries etc. There's a load of information about this in this thread: this recent thread.

Catari Jaguar

ApeXaviour wrote: »

Good:
Dairy fats

Bad:
Seed oils (sunflower sesame etc.)

Eh??

ApeXaviour

Hi yeah sorry about getting back to this so late. Seeds are fine. Oils extracted from them though are just too much. They tend to be high in omega-6, which in a western diet we tend to get way too much of. Similar to veg oil it's linked to all sorts of inflammation things etc. See the butter vs spread thread I linked in the last thread. El_Dangeroso and Sapsorrow delve much deeper than I could.

Dairy fats are just great. Soaked up with fat soluble vitamin k and whatnot. It's been correlated with higher fertility in women in a recent harvard study, which can only equate to better health. Any links to weight gain and heart disease have been heavily discredited in recent research. Anecdotally I've heard a tub of whole cottage cheese a day does wonders for your skin. Unless you're dieting and counting calories fastidiously, only go with full-fat dairy products.

mazken wrote: »

I exercise in the gym - mixing up threadmill, crosstrainer, stepper. I do free weights...but only lift 2kg dumbells. i don't think I'm ready or able to lift anything heavier! I suppose I'm also conscious of the fact that I want to "tone up" and not become too bulky.

I just wanted to go back to this since I've been training a bit with a friend of mine who's prepping for a competition. Now I can lift fairly heavy... but my friend, who's only 60kg, can lift heavier. To top it off she's never looked better. The women with the best bodies out there lift heavy. While admittedly that's a personal observation, you can see plain as day out there in the media. Beyoncé is one good example, as well as many of those women you see on the front of magazines showing their tummy. Here are two great examples of women lifting heavy recreationally and for fitness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD10ywokBek
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=don7aNiNALA


It comes down to confusion between weight lifting and bodybuilding. I'm not going to go into the topic... it's already been done to death in the fitness forum with g'em (fitness moderator, weight lifter and could never ever be described as "bulky"). She's doing a great job, definitely have a look at these threads she started.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055895244
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055897650
g'ems second post (no 14) in that second thread is truly inspiring

mazken

Thanks for all your info ApeXaviour. Have taken it all on board and have read those posts by g'em. While I'm increasing the weight I'm using for leg extensions and leg presses , I tried upping my free weights for arm exercises......good god was it practically impossible. As I have absolute crap upper body strength I think I might need to perservere with what I'm at and gradually up it after another week or two - a work in progress indeed

Kinda off-topic but anyone got any suggestions for snacking food in the evening...while I'm watching what I eat all day when it gets to the evening my will power is practically non existant.
P.S have dropped nearly 2lbs in one week - woohoo! Think majorily lowering fruit and upping the protein intake has majorily helped!! Just have to work on losing those inches around the belly now!! thanks again!!!!!