Is Fruit Good For You? (surprising results)

Is fruit good for you? Surprising results suggest  that  eating fruit may not be as healthy as it’s generally thought to  be.

So, is fruit really good or bad for your health? Should you be loading up on bananas, or finding another way to reach your nutritional goals?

The good things about fruit

Fruit is packed with important nutrients such as antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and healthy fiber.

If you’re following the keto diet some fruits are sufficiently low carb that they can be included in small amounts while still keeping to your 20g net carb daily allowance.

These berries can be enjoyed occasionally, but you will need to limit how many you eat.

However, despite the vast amount of advertising and the well-known mantra to eat five a day (400g per day on average) there is little in the way of scientific evidence.

There a many studies looking at the consumption of both fruit and vegetables, but this muddies the water when we are discussing the value of fruits alone.

So given that fruit contains many micro nutrients and fiber, is there any science that says eating fruit is good for you?

While the nutrients in fruit are undoubtedly good for you, are there a few nasty items hiding in fruit which would mean it was healthier to find your vitamins and fiber in vegetables?

So, is fruit good for you or not?

Taken as a whole, it would seem that eating fruit is not good for you at all.

Yes, fruit contains some healthy nutrients, but it also contains way too much sugar and this can do a number on your health.

For example, the banana, a big favourite with gym goers, is 25% sugar.

Dr. Daryl Gioffre stated in the health magazine Cosmopolitan :

” You should beware your banana:

Bananas seem like the perfect option to grab and go in the morning,” he says. “But with a closer look, you’ll find that bananas eaten alone aren’t the best option because they’re 25% sugar and moderately acidic.”

Furthermore, its not just bananas that are tree growing candy and should be avoided.

Despite what you may have read, the sugar in fruit is no more good for you than the sugar in anything else.

Further, the riper a piece of fruit is, the greater its sugar content.

So, can you escape the high sugar content and eat unripe fruit?

No, apart from the fact that unripe fruit won’t taste nice, they contain high levels of lectins which will cause a number of health issues. These range from indigestion to disease causing chronic inflammation.

Yes, there are healthy nutrients and fiber in fruit, but these nutrients can all be found in vegetables, without the high sugar load.

Fruit Juice

There really isn’t anything good to say about fruit juice. Basically these drinks contain all the sugar of fruit, and none of the fiber.

The surprising truth is that both sugary sodas and fruit juice contain the same amount of sugar, around 25 grams for each cup/250ml serving.

Fruit juice is also stripped of the fruit’s fiber content.

The Health Promotion Board (HPB) stated that fiber in fruits helps to slow the absorption of sugars into the bloodstream.

“Without the fiber, the large amount of sugar from fruit juices enters the bloodstream quickly and causes a sugar spike, similar to what happens when we drink sweetened drinks like sodas,” a spokesperson said.

So the advice has to be to step away from the fruit juices. They may look super healthy, but they are no better than any other sugary soft drink.

Is fruit good for you when following the keto diet?

The main goal of the Keto diet is to reduce your daily carb intake to 20g net carbs or less.

This causes your body to switch to its secondary metabolic pathway. That is to say, it switches from burning glucose for fuel to burning fat for fuel.

This fat can come from either the fat you eat, or the fat you have stored in your body.

Fruit with its high sugar content has a correspondingly high carb count.

For this reason all fruit is off the menu except for a few low carb berries.(as seen in the low carb fruit chart above)

In summery, fruit does contain healthy micro nutrients and fiber.

However, it also contains a lot of sugar which has been demonstrated to be bad for your health and a major cause of chronic inflammation. This is turn will increase your risk of many serious diseases.

These micro nutrients and fiber are of course important for a healthy nutritionally balanced diet.

However, they can all be obtained by including a variety of healthy vegetables into your daily diet.

In this way you will be getting all the nutrients you need in the most sugar free and healthy way possible.