Forget The Sugar and Eat Your Fruit

Ever since I started my weight loss journey It seems like everywhere I go I notice weight loss, health and fitness topics and issues much more frequently. They are everywhere and everyone is talking about them.

The same thing happened when I took up running road races. I was more aware of running in advertisements (billboards,TV and newspaper/flyers), more runners on the streets and more races announced in the papers.

The latest incident happened 2 days ago when I went to a local Tim Hortons for lunch. I was waiting in line ready to order my chicken club. There were 2 ladies behind me talking about going to the gym and other random stuff.

Then one of the women said something that caught attention (yes I was listening in on their conversation, you can only read the menu so many times before you get bored). She said “I’m off fruit, it adds too much sugar to your diet. I can lose more weight without the stuff anyway” interesting view I thought. The other women with her thought so as well, as she called the “no fruit lady” crazy and said she couldn’t live without bananas and some other kinds of fruit that I can’t remember right now.

I ordered my food and waited off to the side. The no fruit lady came up after me and ordered the chili meal deal. Which includes a bowl of chili, a donut and a drink. Her donut was a chocolate dip and her drink was a medium double double (the official beverage of Canada ) which is basically coffee with 2 milk packs and 2 sugar packs.

I stood there thinking to myself are you kidding me?

I really don’t like to pass judgment on others as I know I am no where close to being perfect myself. But when someone makes a statement like “I’m off fruit, it adds too much sugar to your diet” and then order a super sugary donut and coffee I have to question their intelligence.

Fruit is good for you, period.

Yes fruit has sugar in it, that is a given. A typical medium apple has about 14 to 16 grams of sugar in it. That is roughly the same amount as the coffee and donut mentioned above. So based strictly on sugar content fruit is not that great.

Forget The Sugar

Fruit has so much more to offer including vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Most fruit is low fat, low calorie and is full antioxidants that may protect you from certain cancers and other diseases.

As far as taste goes you can’t beat the fresh crisp taste of an apple, the sweetness of a pineapple or the juiciness of a fully ripened orange. That is just the tip of the iceberg there are literally hundreds of different varieties of fruit for you to try.

Fruit is a great snack in between meals, as a side dish or even as a dessert.

Don’t Be Fooled

Yes I understand that sugar is important to watch while trying to lose weight. Natural sugar is just as bad as the refined stuff, gram for gram they are the same (4 calories).

What I am saying is that by cutting out fruit completely you are robbing yourself of valuable nutrition and can actually hurt your weight loss efforts. While changing my body I have continued to eat plenty of fruit daily (2-3 servings at least).

Too often we get caught up in seeing the numbers on the scale move that we forget that one of the reasons for losing weight in the first place is to be healthier. Why give up the benefits of fruit for a small change on the scale? Remember that just because you weigh a little less doesn’t mean you are necessarily healthier.

Here is a couple of really good sites on the benefits of fruit as well as recipes and proper storage and selection guides.

Center For Disease Control (CDC) – Some good recipes and facts on fruit.

Fruit Storage Guide – Good guide on storing fruit and veggies. (scroll down)

Fruit Selection Guide – Some good tips on selecting fruit.

The Benefits of Fruit

What are your thoughts? Are you a no fruit guy or lady?

Are there any other sites that you recommend related to fruit?