Fruit does contain sugar, the diet ‘gurus’ who shout about the dangers of eating an apple, sniffing a banana or even looking at a kiwi, are right about that.
What they are failing to tell you is that fruit is also a great source of vitamins and minerals, fibre and water. But it’s hard to sell to the masses based on the whole truth, so that’s why you’ll find people being very selective with which bits they publicise.
Whilst we’re talking about truth then it’d make sense to point out that fresh fruit doesn’t contain any added sugars, has little to no fat in it and has a negligible protein content.
Let’s also talk about some basic biochemistry:
- When you eat foods they are broken down before they can enter your bloodstream (no one wants whole strawberries flowing through their veins, right?)
- Carbohydrates, regardless of the form they went into your mouth in – bread, pasta, bananas, blueberries, oats or maple syrup – must all be broken down into simple sugars so that they can get into your blood and taken to the muscles and your brain that needs them
- Foods that are more sugary like syrups, breakfast cereals and sweets are broken down faster than things like potatoes and oats so the sugar gets into your bloodstream faster
- When fruits are compared to other foods that are high in carbohydrates, they mostly fall somewhere between the sugary stuff and the starchy stuff.
So now we know that all carbohydrates are broken down into sugars so your body can use them, we can see that those with less fibre and more added sugar are quicker to break down, whereas the ones with more fibre and in more of a natural state break down slower.
We know that fruit has fibre in it, and we also know it’s not packed with added sugar, so let’s stop demonising it and start eating it. When we talk about healthy diets then fruit can totally be included.