In this modern world of highly processed fattening, adddictive junk food there seems to be a strange fashion for demonising one of our most healthy of foods; fruit.
For those readers not initiated into the field of nutritional science, allow me to add my professional stance on this matter: FRUIT IS ONE OF THE MOST NUTRITIONAL & HEALTHY FOODS ON THE PLANET.
...and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Here's a dissection of the top 10 myths and lies from the fruit-phobic hymn book.
1. Fruit is fattening
It is simply laughable that anyone would actually believe this. Obesity rates are rising while we eat less fruit than we ever have. Recent studies on diet amonst the lower-income demographic (which is where most obesity in the uk occurs) show that fruit is rarely, if ever eaten - less than 1 portion of 80g per day. [
Low income diet and nutrition survey - Food Standards Agency]
Obesity wasn't even a recognised condition before 1997 as it was so rare. Fruit consumption since the 1950s has been falling and so it doesn't take much of a leap of conciousness to see that it cannot be the fault of fruit.
You only have to observe what obese people eat to know that it isn't true. Every 'reality TV' shows about weightloss show the diets of obese people being made of cheap, stodgy junk foods like chips, pies, sausage rolls, bacon rolls, fry ups and soft drinks - no fruit at all.
Zoe Harcombe is a big promoter of this myth and despite her outspoken attempts to 'educate' us, she cannot even provide any science to back her up. One of her popular articles '
Fruit is fuelling the obesity epidemic' has only 3 references, 2 are about cancer one the third was about pesticides!!
Obesity levels only rise in previously unindustrialised countries, as incomes rise and the financial freedom to buy junk and processed foods. If one studies and tracks the epidemiology of obesity, we see it happens alongside industrialisation.
The obesity problem has many causes from eating too much, chronic yo-yo dieting, genetics, underlying illness, psychological problems, low income food budgeting (high fat junk is cheap) and food marketing - these guys spend MILLIONS on tests to work out how to make us eat more of their product. One thing is for sure, no obese person got that way from simply eating fruit.
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| Image crom: http://topnews.net.nz/content/220315-eat-healthy-shed-extra-weight |
2. Fruit is bad for you because it's hybridized
If hybridization is so bad for us, you better stop eating. period. Why? EVERYTHING you eat is hybridized unless you are roaming in the wilds and picking your own food. Every berry, leave, fruit, vegetable and domestic animal is hybridised.
But the anti-fruit brigade only ever tell us about fruit, and go on to extoll the virues of meat (Paleo fruit-phobes) or greens (raw vegan fruit phobes).
To illustrate, here's some images of the original wild counterparts to various hibridised foods:
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| Image source: http://tinycamper.wordpress.com/2010/05/14/wild-edible-foods-in-my-yard/ |
Wild lettuce has small thin spiky leaves and a very bitter taste. Nothing like our fat mild juicy Romaines, Butterheads and Icebergs.
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| image source: http://www.aphotoflora.com/d_daucus_carota_subspecies_carota_wild_carrot.html |
As you can see a wild carrot is tiny, tough and pale - nothing like those big orange juicy roots so popular for juicing in the health scene. Try and juice enough of those!
For those paleo fruit-phobes, the animals you eat are all domesticated and bred to be completely different from the original wild animals they were 'selected' from. (I won't show pix as I do not promote a meat-based diet for health or ethical reasons)
So if hybridisation is genuinely unhealthy, then the rule needs to be applied to every food on the planet pretty much. This should not be silly reason given as a need to avoid fruit.
3. Fruit causes tooth decay
If that was really true then most western civilisations (with their distinct lack of fruit in the diet) would have perfect teeth, no cavities and dentists would be out of work. What we really have is a nation with so much dental decay that when a new NHS dentist opens there are queues going on for miles in some cases. Nobody has good teeth anymore due to many factors which include our diet. Weston Price noted in his famous book Nutrition & Physical Degeneration that tooth decay, as well as a whole host of dental issues, was more prevalent in individuals and cultures that had moved away from a traditional wholefoods diet into a more western or industrialised diet that contain refined foods and junk foods.
The top 5 causes of tooth decay, according to dentists, are: Poor oral hygiene practices, Poorly formed enamel (pre-birth, childhood and genetic), poor diet - which includes lots of refined sugars, Dry mouth conditions (sub-clinical hydration is a known factor in tooth decay) and Tooth Grinding (Bruxism).
No mention of fruit then...
4. Fruit is just 'sugar and water'
I have heard several people say this, one being the afore mentioned Zoe Harcombe who seems to think that fruit is the devil's work and other poorly qualified or non-trained lay people. I once heard someone advise a dancer to eat 'hot cross buns for energy as fruit is just sugar and water'.
I need to stress at this point, if anyone does actually tell you this big fat fruit lie, they have NO knowledge of nutrition at all.
Fruit has a wide nutritional profile - anyone reading my blog will know this, as I often give the full nutrient breakdown of my fruit meals - including fats, healthy carbs, proteins, minerals and vitamins.
Just to illustrate, here is a breakdown of the minerals and vitamins in one of my favourite 800kcal breakfast smoothies:
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| Vitamin profile - look at all that Pro-vitamin A & Folate! |
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| Mineral profile - did you know that oranges are high in bio-available calcium |
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So much for being 'sugar water'.
5. Fruit is too high in sugar
Hopefully the above post already covered this somewhat but lets start with a little biological science for you. The primary fuel of the human body is Glucose, yes SUGAR. Sugar is so essential to cellular functioning that if we don't eat enough foods containing 'sugars' then our bodies cleverly break down fats to convert to glucose instead. This process is rather wasteful and inefficient, but it is necessary as without enough sugar we die - it's a simple as that. Consider how complex our blood sugar regulation systems are, we have special feedback systems with hormone activation for if the blood sugar is too high OR too low. Why is this so sophisticated? as I said before without a constant stream of glucose to our cells and especially to our brain, we die.
The problem is we've thrown out the baby with the bathwater and lumped all healthy carbs under the banner 'sugar' without differentiating between whole carbs and isolated sugars, or 'intrinsic' and 'extrinsic' sugars.
Intrinsic sugars are those that naturally occur inside a wholefood, such as the carbohydrates inside fruit, vegetables and grains. Extrinsic sugars are those that have been removed from their natural food source and isolated, this can also mean sugars that have been artificially manufactured.
To keep it simple just think: intrinisc sugars/carbs are ESSENTIAL and extrinsic sugars/carbs are to be avoided at all costs. All table sugars (no matter how 'raw' or 'organic') are extrinsic as are things like molasses, honey, agave nectar, date syrup, yacon, Xylitol, Sucanet, palm sugar, coconut sugar.
Healthy intrinisc sugars are whole fruits, whole grains and starchy vegetables like sweet potato and squash.
There is LOTS of confusion around this area and words like Carbs, Sugars and Starches are often used incorrectly.
To bust the lie apart though, fruit is not 'too high in sugar' as all natural whole fruits are low to medium on the Glycaemic Index and have a low Glycaemic Load - this by default makes them low sugar foods. Unlike refined grains (pasta, white bread etc) which is high on the glycaemic index (can you see the irony here about someone saying that fruit is just sugar but hot cross buns are ok) and therefore a high sugar food. The highest sugar foods are foods that are manmade with lots of refined sugar and refined grain (cake, chocolate and candy). Isolated sugars are all super-high on the glycaemic index with isolated glucose in pole position at 100.
6. Fruit juice is just as 'bad' as drinking coca cola/soda
I think my answers to 3 and 5 should already prove how ridiculous this myth is. However I have to ask - what do they mean by 'fruit juice' as there is a world of nutritional difference between freshly squeezed OJ from your own bought-in organic oranges and say, Sunny Delight - which at only 5% 'juice' and 95% a load of rubbish could be argued as being as bad as a soda - and rightly so (how they were ever legally allowed to refer to it as juice is anyone's guess).
Soda = water with a ton of isolated sugars added and some flavouring
Juice = freshly squeezed from naturally occuring fruits rich in many vitamins and minerals
You decide.
7. Fruit is just for dessert or snacks
Human biology does not recognise 'dessert' or 'snacks' it just recognises the need for fuel (glucose) and nutrients (fatty acids, protein, vitamins and minerals).
Eat nutritional foods at all times of the day and not according to some manufactured label of when and how to eat.
8. Fruit is expensive
So is ill-health. But more to the point, says who?? I know plenty of people who play the 'too expensive' card when faced with a £1.50 mango but say nothing when buying a £3 pint of beer (or even several £3 pints of beer). Compared to takeaways, smoking, DVDs, Sky Sports subscription, Dominos Pizza, alcohol, following fashion, fase nails, fake tan, glossy magazines (can't believe some of these are a fiver!).
You get the picture. Fruit is crazily cheap compared to all of the above and yet those saying it's expensive are usually the ones paying for those items.
If you care about your health, start by stopping lying to yourself. Fruit is not expensive compared to the other 'luxury' items in your budget.
I have known people to claim 'I can't afford to eat organic' while buying £45 worth of cannabis.
Not judging. what you spend you money on is your business, but be honest. It's not that fruit is expensive its that you would prefer to spend your money on other stuff. Health is not your priority, I understand that. Health isn't for everyone - just for the elite. JUST KIDDING it is available to everyone so get off your bum and stop making excuses.
NB I used to be one of those people, I was a party girl and could easily rack up a £70 bar bill in a weekend and I still had to buy my shopping (about £30 a week back then) plus my smoking habit (£20-£30) a week. So that all added up to £130 per week. I now spend just £100 and it's all on food, mostly organic fruit. I am healthier and happier and it was cheaper to become healthy.
9. Fruit causes diabetes/cancer/candida/other scary disease
And cakes cure leprosy. Just like with obesity, fruit is getting the blame for a whole host of serious health complaints and yet - FRUIT CONSUMPTION IS VERY LOW!! Diabetes type 2 is very well researched and the epidemiology is very clear - it is mostly found in overweight, males over 40 who lead a sedentary lifestyle and have a diet high in animal foods (fat and protein) and refined industrialised foods. I suggest you hop onto PubMed and have a little search about in the vast database of real science and see for yourself.
Cancer, diabetes and every single other degenerative disease are also known as 'diseases of civilisation' why is this? because they are mostly unheard of in cultures who still live a natural ife with a local diet of wholefoods and plenty of physical activity. Certain cancers are correlated with red meat intake, and others with dairy intake - whether that is down to the food itself or because of all the hormones and other additives used in factory farming, hasn't yet been ascertained.
Fruit being low GI is neither a cause nor an issue for diabetics.
As for cancer, fruit is the one main source of anti-cancer phytochemicals and much research has been done about the cancer-fighting and cancer-preventing properties of fruit.
"It has been estimated that 30–40 percent of all cancers can be prevented by lifestyle and dietary
measures alone. Obesity, nutrient sparse foods such as concentrated sugars and refined flour
products that contribute to impaired glucose metabolism (which leads to diabetes), low fiber
intake, consumption of red meat, and imbalance of omega 3 and omega 6 fats all contribute to
excess cancer risk." [Donalson, M. Nutrition Journal 2004, 3:19]
Do the research, we live in a toxic world with toxic manmade foods - and we're blaming industrialised diseases on fruit? It's comical, it really is.
10. Fruit gives you diarrheoa
Hmmmm this can seem to be true but lets have a closer inspection. When one experiences bowel disfunction after fruit it is usually a combination of things. Fruit is a fast digesting food and only stays in the stomach for 30 minutes before being shown the door and pushed into the small intestine where it remains to be broken down. When fruit is eaten as 'dessert' after a heavy meal it gets trapped in the stomach for longer and it's transition time through the GI tract is increased, this leads to fermentation.
Because fruit is so quick to digest it is best eaten before a heavy meal and best eaten with other fruits or salads not mixed in to some heavy high fat concoction. Never eat fruit as a dessert.
If one rarely eats fruit then switches to a diet much higher in fruit, there can be a transitional period where the digestion becomes out of sync and needs to readjust. This can show up as both constipation or diarrheoa. This is also sometimes called 'detox' where your body uses the fuel and the fibre from fruit to 'clean house' and get rid of old matter that might've been stuck to the colon (yuk!)
Not all of the body's functions are a bad thing.
11. You can get potassium poisoning from bananas
And pigs might fly. If you ate 4000 bananas in 10 minutes then yes it is possible. Is that humanly possible? doubtful. It takes 10 bananas just to get the RDA for potassium which is the minimum you need to prevent a deficiency.
So that's a big fat NO.
(see how I snuck an extra one in there!)
In beauty,
Star XOXO
