You hear it all the time… People who want to lose weight and the first thing they say is that they will start to eat more fruits and vegetables. Many people think that this is the key to weight loss, but this simple statement may not be as simple as it sounds.
Eating more vegetables in your diet can have a big impact on your weight loss. They are a great way to remain full without adding a bunch of calories. They are also high in fiber and other nutrients that are essential to your health. Adding fresh vegetables to your diet is a great way to begin structuring your meals and snacks.
But what about fruits?
If you ask most people, they would tell you, yes! Fruit is healthy and great for weight loss! But how true is this?
Ok, yes, they are healthy and provide your body with tons of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Plus, they taste amazing.
Fruits Are Nature’s Sugar
Yes, fruit is considered to be nature’s candy… nature’s sugar…
And, that is just it! They are sugar! Natural sugar, but at the end of the day, fruits are still made up of a type of sugar and too much of this sugar can impact your fat loss goals.
Too much sugar, even natural sugar, can cause you to gain weight, rather than lose it.
Now, don’t get me wrong. The natural sugar that you find in fruit is much better for you than the added sugars and artificial sweeteners you find in processed foods, but this doesn’t mean that you can overload your body with it.
Fruits contain the sugar fructose, and in large amounts, this can still be harmful to your health. When you limit your fruit intake, it may not have much of an impact on your body, as it is used to metabolizing small amounts of fructose. However, when you eat a lot, your body cannot metabolize it in the same way.
According to studies, high amounts of fructose has been linked to weight gain (including obesity), diabetes, and heart disease.
Being high in fructose is one reason, aside from the added sugars, then fruit juice is so bad for you. It contains tons of sugar, and it is very easy to over-consume.
Eating a lot of sugar can make fat loss especially difficult, even if that sugar is coming from natural fruits. Over time, you can develop a fatty liver, elevate your insulin, and store fat.
If you are trying to lose weight, limit your fruit consumption. If you are failing to lose the weight you want, overeating fruit may be the culprit.
When Fruit is Beneficial to Weight Loss… And When It’s Not
If you are trying to lose weight and coming from a diet full of processed foods, making the switch to fruit will help you lose weight.
Instead of a candy bar, grab an apple, or better yet, some blueberries.
Yes, fruit includes a lot of sugar, and this can be bad for fat loss, but if you are eating processed food, grabbing any type of fruit is better than reaching for a candy bar.
Fruit is a great way of satisfying your sweet tooth until you begin to remove processed foods, added sugars, and artificial sugars from your diet. The natural sugar that is found in fruit is better for your health than these processed alternatives.
However, if your nutrition is already dialed in and you are focused on whole foods, yet are still not losing weight, the fruits you are eating may be impacting your results.
If your goal is fat loss, and you are already committed to eating a diet made of natural, whole foods, then you may want to rethink the fruits you are eating, especially if they are a major part of your diet.
All Fruit Is Not Bad! Here’s How to Choose What to Eat
Fruit naturally contains sugar, but this doesn’t mean you should avoid all fruits. Remember, natural, fresh fruit contains tons of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that are really beneficial to your body.
The trick to getting the most nutrients, with the smallest impact from natural sugars, is to know which fruits to eat and which ones to avoid.
If you want to eat fruit as a snack, then, by all means, do so! However, try sticking to fruits that are low glycemic. This means that the fruit ranks low on the glycemic index (GI) scale. This scale rates food based on how they spike your blood sugar; the higher the rating, the more they spike your blood sugar. This can lead to your body storing more fat, and this is what is keeping you from losing weight.
When you choose your fruits, you want to be sure they are low glycemic… here is the difference between low and high glycemic:
Low Glycemic = < 55
High Glycemic = > 55
Fruit that is low glycemic rate 55 or less on the GI scale. If your goal is fat loss, stick to anything with a rating lower than 55. This means the lower the score of the fruit, the better the fruit.
In my opinion, the best fruits you could be eating for fat loss are grapefruit, and berries, such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.
These are all low glycemic and have tons of health benefits due to their vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. They make great snacks, or as an addition to your favorite breakfast foods.
Grapefruit and berries are among the best fruits you can eat, as long as they are fresh. Stay away from packaged fruits and dried fruit.
Berries are a popular fruit that is sold dried, especially in trail mixes. These berries have added sugar and, because they are smaller, it is SO EASY to overeat.
If your nutrition is dialed in, but are consuming a lot of fruits, and you can’t see to lose weight, try cutting that fruit from your diet for the next seven days and see what type of progress you make. Chances are, you will see a drop in body fat as you are no longer consuming large amounts of sugar.
