Recently I've been trying to decide where fresh fruit fits into my plan... and I guess more importantly how much fruit to fit into my plan...
Currently I include 2 to 3 pieces of fresh fruit or roughly its equivalent in servings of fresh berries a day... and I could easily eat more and not have it affect my weight because of my activity level and the amount of running that I do... but I do worry sometimes about the amount of fructose that I'm consuming and its possible negative health implications, even if it isn't affecting my weight...
So I'm interested to hear what other people are doing when it comes to the amount of fruit that they're eating on their plans... and how did you figure out how much was too much for you?
I just started adding fruit back in, but I'm doing it slowly. I'm adding 100 grams of strawberries to my daily diet and seeing how it affects my weight. I eat about 30 net a day.
Ah yes the eternal question about fruit - how much we should have. The bottom line on that is your temptation threshold and the "just one more won't hurt" syndrome.
There are however two things that you can do to help yourself. Stay away from temptation [maybe] and still feel like you're eating lots of fruit and that is to choose vegetables that have a similar consistency to the fruit you want to eat and chop up smaller pieces of fruit into the roughly chopped vegetables. That way you get the sweetness and taste of the fruit without consuming high levels of fructose and remember to choose as much as possible fruits that are low in carb.
Thanks for the feedback StephanieM and Jez... I really appreciate it...
And thanks MarkMoxom for the suggestions... that's a really good idea... and actually I've already been doing something like that... I'll add maybe a little bit of chopped apple to some tunafish salad or maybe a few orange sections or other citrus fruit to a fish dish, so one piece of fruit is enough for 2 to 4 servings...
Actually after starting this thread I've thought about doing a short 2 week "induction" and then see if fruit maybe has been part of my problem with some of my sugar cravings lately... so we'll see...
I've stopped having fruit for a while, as well (as the nuts, and low carb wraps) because those sneaky cravings were starting back up....and also because I want pull out the stops and make better progress.
You have only 5 lbs to go...I so want to be in your shoes !
I'm ok abstaining from pretty much all fruit. I mean, berries are ok, but I'm not a super fan of them, so I don't bother.
that's where I am right now. When summer fruit comes out, I will probably experiment with having a small amount and see how it goes. I think I would be ok if it slows my loss a little bit but not ok if it stalls it completely or sets up any cravings so I'll just have to see how it goes.
But I am also amazed at how much I enjoy roasted veggies now and therefore don't miss fruit nearly as much as I would have thought.
I have about 1 1/2 cups fruit (3 servings) a day. I've never really found that fruit triggers me to want sugary stuff, so my only issue with fruit is to make sure I stay within my carb allotment for the day.
One weird thing I've found is that combining fruits makes my brain thinks it's getting more fruit. Like, if I eat 1/2 cup blueberries, my brain is all like, "I want more!" But if I eat 1/4 cup blueberries with 1/4 cup sliced kiwi, my brain is satisfied. Combining fruits also enables me to eat higher carb fruits. Like, 1/2 cup of sliced banana is 18 carbs, but if I do 1/4 cup of sliced banana with 1/4 cup sliced strawberries it's only 11 carbs. I still get to eat banana but it's less carbs.
But even with the apple, for example, I'll have it with a nut butter (usually almond or cashew) because I need to balance it out.
This is exactly what I do too... Although in a moment of weakness recently I bought a jar of caramel almond butter and rationalized the 10g's of sugar per serving it contains as better than dipping my apple in Nutella like I had been known to do in the past
I aim for 50 carbs/day or fewer, and 15 carbs/meal or fewer, so while I might have some berries now and then, I'm not likely to eat a whole apple.
When pit-fruit comes into season, though, I definitely eat a plum or peach now and then. And sometimes watermelon or cantaloupe. But I measure it all, and balance it with the other carbs for that day.
I make sure to have a little fresh fruit everyday. Maybe one banana or an apple now in the winter. In the summer time I do not limit my consumption of canteloupe, watermelon, figs, or berries. Low carb or not fruit is delicious and important in overall nutrition. I don't see it as sugar.
I'm still tying to figure out if fruit is stalling my weight loss... and while I'm not exactly sure of this for me yet... it does seem since I'm not really eating any "added sugars" anymore that I do notice that fruit seems to set off some sugar cravings, but I'm not certain of it yet...
I definitely know that since I think that fruit is "healthy" for me... I can easily overeat it... for instance yesterday I cut up a whole cantaloup which should have lasted for a few days... well, I wound up having some with all of my meals and it was gone by the end of the day... although in my defense some other family members did have some as well... but that's not the point really... for some reason when it comes to fruit I have a real hard time with portion control...
I'm debating on whether I should do a little fruit "fast" for a week or two... and then really start weighing and measuring again... But it's looking like that's what I might have to do...
How Much Fruit In Your Low Carb Plan?
Combining fruits also enables me to eat higher carb fruits. Like, 1/2 cup of sliced banana is 18 carbs, but if I do 1/4 cup of sliced banana with 1/4 cup sliced strawberries it's only 11 carbs. I still get to eat banana but it's less carbs.
