How much fruit should I eat/drink?

Einhard

So, contrary to what a lot of people have been lead to believe, fruit isn't the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Too much sugar, too much something else etc etc

Can anyone tell me though, why exactly fruit is now somewhat frowned upon? Is it just that it contains a lot of sugar? And is this a particularly bad kind of sugar?

Also, how much fruit can one eat before the negatives begin to outweight the negatives? I like a large glass of orange juice every morning. Is this somethng I should avoid if possible?

What alternatives would people recommend? I'd like to include more vegetables in my diet, but I'm not particularly keen on them cooked- probably due to the fact that the method of cooking when I was growing up was prolonged boiling!

Thanks in advance.

thegreatiam

Einhard wrote: »

So, contrary to what a lot of people have been lead to believe, fruit isn't the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Too much sugar, too much something else etc etc

Can anyone tell me though, why exactly fruit is now somewhat frowned upon? Is it just that it contains a lot of sugar? And is this a particularly bad kind of sugar?

Also, how much fruit can one eat before the negatives begin to outweight the negatives? I like a large glass of orange juice every morning. Is this somethng I should avoid if possible?

What alternatives would people recommend? I'd like to include more vegetables in my diet, but I'm not particularly keen on them cooked- probably due to the fact that the method of cooking when I was growing up was prolonged boiling!

Thanks in advance.

cos of the sugar.

stop looking at your food as individual items and look at your diet as a whole, if there is room for a whack of sugar in your diet then go for it.

Fruit juice on the other hand is fruit without the fibre, so its basically a glass of pure sugar.

as a comparison a glass of OJ is about 3/4 whole oranges. Would you ever eat 4 oranges in one sitting? probably not. But 4 oranges also contains the solid flesh and pith of an orange, this means that your body needs to break that down before it can digest the sugar so it is absorbed more slowly into your system.

Fruit juice removes all that solid matter so your body is much more capable of accessing it faster and it is injected into your system almost immediately. That is why you get a sugar high and why drinking a litre of orange juice is an easy thing but eating a litres worth of oranges is near impossible.

fruit is not frowned upon, excess fruit and excess sugar is frowned upon. You simply do not need that much sugar in your diet. The comparison which is often made is fruit juice and coke as they contain similar amounts of sugar. Their point being that just because one is fruit and one isn't doesn't make it a healthy option unless you consider it as part of a whole diet.

as an alternative eat veg, either cooked or raw, if you dont like them boiled then fry steam or roast them just get out of the mind set that you don't like veg. if you examine it properly from an objective position i would bet that you actually like quite a lot of veg, you just don't realise it.

Alternatively, as was mentioned in another similar thread, look at why you are eating the fruit in the first place. maybe you simply don't need to snack at all. Check your whole diet and see where things can be changed.

ford2600

thegreatiam wrote: »

cos of the sugar.

stop looking at your food as individual items and look at your diet as a whole, if there is room for a whack of sugar in your diet then go for it.

Fruit juice on the other hand is fruit without the fibre, so its basically a glass of pure sugar.

as a comparison a glass of OJ is about 3/4 whole oranges. Would you ever eat 4 oranges in one sitting? probably not. But 4 oranges also contains the solid flesh and pith of an orange, this means that your body needs to break that down before it can digest the sugar so it is absorbed more slowly into your system.

Fruit juice removes all that solid matter so your body is much more capable of accessing it faster and it is injected into your system almost immediately. That is why you get a sugar high and why drinking a litre of orange juice is an easy thing but eating a litres worth of oranges is near impossible.

fruit is not frowned upon, excess fruit and excess sugar is frowned upon. You simply do not need that much sugar in your diet. The comparison which is often made is fruit juice and coke as they contain similar amounts of sugar. Their point being that just because one is fruit and one isn't doesn't make it a healthy option unless you consider it as part of a whole diet.

as an alternative eat veg, either cooked or raw, if you dont like them boiled then fry steam or roast them just ge tout of the mind set that you dont like veg. if you examine it properly from an objective position i would bet that you actually like quite a lot of veg, you just dont realise is.

Alternatively, as was mentioned in another similar thread, look at why you are eating the fruit in the first place. maybe you simply don't need to snack at all. Check your whole diet and see where things can be changed.

You could nearly close the thread after that

Einhard

Thanks for that reply. Very informative. I didn't realise that a glass of OJ had about the same sugar as a glass of coke!! :eek:

Would both be equally bad/not good for you, or does OJ at least have something healthy floating about in it that coke doesn't?

Or should I just cut OJ out completely?

Alf Veedersane

Einhard wrote: »

Or should I just cut OJ out completely?

If you're not consuming a lot of sugar elsewhere then a glass of proper OJ has vitamin C in it but the problem is when people think it's ludicrously healthy and drink gallons of it.

thegreatiam

Einhard wrote: »

Thanks for that reply. Very informative. I didn't realise that a glass of OJ had about the same sugar as a glass of coke!! :eek:

Would both be equally bad/not good for you, or does OJ at least have something healthy floating about in it that coke doesn't?

Or should I just cut OJ out completely?

some vitamins

as for cutting it out completely that would depend on your diet as a whole
if your diet has room for a glass of sugar then by all means have either. if it does not then have none.

a glass of orange juice, or a glass of coke for that matter, is not going to break or repair your diet unless you take into account everything you eat and drink and adjust it to your goals. there are no single food items which you have to eat same as there are no single food item you should not eat, provided they fit into a balanced and varied diet

Einhard

Thanks. I understand about the whole balanced diet thing, but what I was getting at is, all things considered, the glass of OJ probably isn't particularly beneficial to me, and it would likely be a good thing to cut it out. Sound about right?

Idunnowho

To add to thegreatiam's post... It's all about managing your blood sugar (and therefore insulin) levels: some fruit is better than others, in general some of the tropical fruits, eg. melons contain more sugar. Try stick more to berries which have great antioxidant benefit and an apple or pear. Try to reserve oranges or bananas for post exercise - the exercise part is just as important!

ch750536

Idunnowho wrote: »

To add to thegreatiam's post... It's all about managing your blood sugar (and therefore insulin) levels: some fruit is better than others, in general some of the tropical fruits, eg. melons contain more sugar. Try stick more to berries which have great antioxidant benefit and an apple or pear. Try to reserve oranges or bananas for post exercise - the exercise part is just as important!

Commonly misunderstood. Fruit is fructose, no effect on insulin. Can be an issue if your glucose is already high though.

Alf Veedersane

ch750536 wrote: »

Commonly misunderstood. Fruit is fructose, no effect on insulin. Can be an issue if your glucose is already high though.

That said, it hasn't been studied hugely in humans, afaik.

Idunnowho

ch750536 wrote: »

Commonly misunderstood. Fruit is fructose, no effect on insulin. Can be an issue if your glucose is already high though.

No misunderstanding - yes fructose has a much lower effect on blood sugar, e.g agave syrup (c. 90% fructose and therefore low GI) - doesnt mean its ok for you though and one of the reasons EFSA does not allow reference to the GI on food packaging (that's a whole other debate). That said fruit can raise your blood sugar levels, and some more than others - I suggest having certain fruits after exercise which is beneficial.

https://www.diabetes.org.nz/food_and_nutrition/questions__and__answers/answers/fruit_blood_glucose

http://www.battlediabetes.com/articles/diet/bananas-and-diabetes

thegreatiam

Einhard wrote: »

Thanks. I understand about the whole balanced diet thing, but what I was getting at is, all things considered, the glass of OJ probably isn't particularly beneficial to me, and it would likely be a good thing to cut it out. Sound about right?

Are you not getting the "diet as a whole" concept?

All things considered means take your whole diet into account, if there is room for a glass of juice then have a glass of juice.

Without knowing what you eat on a regular basis or even what your goals are there is no way anyone can advise on if you should drink juice or not. As a general rule you should drink nothing but water so replace the juice with water and get your calories from food. But saying that if you exercise a lot and have a mostly sugar free diet and need extra carbs quickly then by all means have a juice.

Do it like this: track your daily calories by measuring all the food and drink you consume. Work out how many of each macro you consume then assess this against your goals and current physical make up. Determine, by subtracting your consumed total from you body's requirements plus your exercise, if there is sufficient requirements to take on board more carbs and then assess if they need to be fast digested or you require a level of satiety to reach your desired targets. From this you can reason if you require juice in your diet.

Or if you want juice have juice. Just work it into your diet so you still reach your golf whatever they are.

Better yet keep it simple and drink nothing but water.