No one food, on its own, will make you fat.
Obviously fruit contains sugar. Sugar is considered to be ‘bad’ or unhealthy. It is certainly something that we all need to reduce in our dietary intakes. Excessive amounts of sugar eaten regularly can lead to insulin resistance, weight gain, and ultimately obesity and diabetes. BUT…
Fruit is not to be feared.
- For starters it is low in calories – a cup of raspberries (approximately 60 berries) = approx. 60 calories. 1 banana = approx. 100 calories. 1 apple = approx. 100 calories. 6 large strawberries = approx. 40 calories.
- Fruit contains fibre.
- Fibre increases satiety (makes you feel fuller) = you will eat less.
- Fibre actually reduces blood sugar levels and therefore reduces insulin levels.
- Therefore fruit high in fibre releases energy more slowly (low glycemic index).
- Increased fibre intake has been shown to be linked with reduced likelihood of diabetes as well as cancer and heart disease (due to some of the above reasons).
- It also improves gut health and any number 2 issues you may be having.
- Not to mention that fruit contains loads of amazing vitamins and minerals that we require.
There are some fruits that are higher in fibre and lower in sugar than others:
- Avocado – what an amazing fruit. 1g of sugar and 13g of fibre per fruit! Not to mention the incredible healthy fats it contains.
- Berries – In most berries there are at least 8g of fibre per cup. A cup of raspberries (about 60 berries) contain only 5g of sugar and 8g of fibre.
- Asian pears – contain about 10g of fibre.
Lemons, limes, passion fruit and other similar citrus fruit may not be as high in fibre but are not excessively high in sugar either and have an amazing fibre to sugar ratio.
If you are trying to reduce your sugar intake (as it should be well below 25-30g a day) then avoid tropical fruits such as mango (46g of sugar) and pineapple (89g in a whole pineapple).
Fruits such as apples, oranges, nectarines and bananas contain approximately 10-15g of sugar per fruit but the easiest way to find out the sugar content of something is to type in ‘nutritional value of <insert fruit>’ into google.