This particular question and topic came from a member of the Making FIT Work community, and to be honest it comes up a lot! I kind of feel bad for fruit, lol. In recent years it’s been painted as this little sneaky devil that is hiding all things sugar that must be the culprit of our stalled progress or weight loss.
People seem to be particularly concerned with which fruits are ok? How much of it can they have? And should they avoid it at night?
So let’s start with is Fruit ok? YES! Of course, it is. And, yes I know it has sugar in it but so do cookies, ice cream, muffins, etc. and if we’re truly being honest with ourselves and looking back at our eating habits over the last 3-12 months, can you honestly say that fruit is the thing that got you to the place where you are now? The very honest answer is almost for certain, NO.
And if fruit is not the thing that got you here, it’s probably not the thing that is holding you back!
With that being said, of course, it is possible to overconsume foods that are healthy for you as well. In the end, if weight loss is the goal there does need to be a calorie deficit. So although it is possible to overconsume fruit, in over 12 years of working in this industry I have only ever ONCE told a client to cut back on the amount of fruit he was consuming. But that was because there was no balance. He was consuming fruit upwards of 5-6x/day with no vegetables.
So in this particular case, the goal was to replace some of the fruit servings with vegetable servings for a more well-rounded and nutritious diet.
Some fruits definitely carry a higher source of nutritional value for instance;
- Berries are very high in antioxidants
- Nectarines & Peaches have a high source of potassium
- Apples, Grapefruit & Kiwi are great sources of fiber
Now that we got that cleared up, let’s talk about where this idea came from anyway. How and Why did fruit become the bad guy? Personally, I feel like this idea trickled down from the level of elite fitness professionals or athletes. Those who are competing at a level where it is necessary to get down to an extreme level of leanness that is unmaintainable for the long-term, and then decide that it is a good idea to share their meal plan or their “how-to’s” with the rest of the world.
Of course, getting into competition or photoshoot shape means dialing back to the necessities and cutting out any and all sugars for a short period of time. But unless you are at a point in your fitness journey where you are trying to dramatically decrease your body fat to this degree, you don’t need to worry about fruit hindering your progress.
Instead aim to eliminate the processed sugars in your diet first before hating on good ole fruit.
As always I hope that you found this episode to be helpful, and would love to connect with you further in our Making FIT Work community on Facebook or on Instagram at @fitwith_nina.
Until next time...be strong, be healthy, be happy!
