Should you eat fruit on a diet because it contains sugar?


You shouldn't eat fruit on a diet because it contains sugar...


You should eat fruit full stop.... because its good for you!

Now with other diet Mondays I have done to date (check back for more myths busted), we have discussed many myths around weight management

Fruit is another one, that the sugar is detrimental to a diet

The advice always seems to stick when you're on a diet, not at any other time, how come?

Because for some, sugar apparently causes fat gain, BUT, simply eating too of anything much causes fat gain

What we have to appreciate is that yes, 100%, having a diet that is SUGAR dense, from processed sources, is not good, we do want to be consuming a diet that is mostly whole nutrient dense foods

But if you consume sugar from fruit, vegetables, rice, pasta, caster sugar, sugar in any form, it's all the same thing when it's broken down to it's most simple form, glucose.

We can indeed argue that when consuming sugar containing foods, eaten in isolation, there are better choices to make

When eating fruit you get fibre and fructose, which will give a slower energy release than something without fibre, like sweets

Sugar as a whole is useful to the body, it's a raw fuel source

What we don't want to to do is consume a lot of it with NO nutrition to accompany it, it's empty calorie consumption

Fruit is full of good stuff; fibre, vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, anti-oxidants...

BUT, if you are on a diet, because fruit is often 'higher' in sugar (carbohydrates) than vegetables per volume eaten, vegetables might be a better choice as they are often lower in calories for the volume you eat

But that doesnt make them better or worse, just appropriate given a certain context, like, when trying to maximise dietary density when on a low calorie intake in an attempt to keep you full for as long as possible

So enjoy fruit, it won't make you fat, or keep you fat, eating too much in general will!

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