I've heard different amounts from different sources and I think the food pyramid is all off. so how many servings of fruit have you eaten a day and successfully lost or losing?
I love fruit. and lets face it none of us got obese by eating to much fruit. But i keep hearing that you shouldn't eat that many a day because of the sugars or that you should only eat them in the morning?
whats your opinion?
Last edited by mariamherrera; 08-25-2009 at 06:35 PM.
I've never been a junk-food junkie, so I very much have gotten fat on too much fruit and other healthy foods. Some fruits are very easy to overindulge in, because they can pack a lot of calories into small packages. Also, being carb-sensitive (I don't like the word carb-addicted, but sometimes it comes close) I do find that foods high in sugars and starches (even naturally occuring ones) are more likely to trigger cravings and hunger spikes.
Lunch for me today, was a good example. I ate about 500 calories of watermelon. I did plan for it, and it was my entire lunch. I'm paying for it now, though as I'm now REALLY hungry as it approaches dinner time. That tends to happen to me when I have a meal too high in carbs - a few hours later and I'm ravenously hungry. If I'd had some protein and/or a bit of fat with lunch (even an ounce or two of cheese, or a carton of yogurt for example), I probably wouldn't feel absolutely starving right now. I should have cut back on the fruit, and included some protein/healthy fat.
I think a lot depends on the kind of fruit you choose also. Dried fruit and fruit juices are obviously more concentrated in calories than fresh, but a cup and a half of strawberries has about 70 to 80 calories, while one large banana can have 150 or more calories.
There was an episode of a weight loss show up here called X-weighted that featured a girl who commuted 2 hrs each way to and from work. On the way to work, she ate an entire BAG of apples. As in, at least 12 apples. 12 apples at 90-ish calories = 1080 calories. As a snack. On the way to work. She weighed in at 280lbs. Thats a whole lot of calories for a snack...
Calories count! Doesn't matter what form they are in -- if you eat more calories than you consume, you'll store the excess as body fat. Your body doesn't say "OH here come an extra 90 calories over what I need BUT it is a cup of cherries so I won't store it!". It says "90 calories too many -- gotta store the excess". So calories do add up and you can gain weight if you overeat ANY type of food. SO, if you are calorie-counting and have no issue with the sugars/starches in some types of fruit (grapes/bananas for example), then eat what you like and count the calories...
IMHO I think that worrying overly about diet composition when you don't have any food-type issues might be not as productive as simply counting the calories and focussing your energies elsewheres!
I eat more fruit now than I ever did at my high weight. I chose my fruits wisely, and plan for their calories. Portion size is something to consider when you eat fruit. Many, many fruits have very small portion sizes.
And, unlike some others, I DO need to balance my carbs/protein/fat to keep my cravings and mindless eating at bay.
I aim for two fruits per day (again - think small servings), and at least 4 vegetables. That gives me six fruits and veggies for the day.
I never go over my calorie budget by eating fruit, i always stay with in. but my question is how many servings is recommended per day? I tend to have 4-5 all with in calorie limit of course. and a few people have told me i need to cut back to only 2 and only eat fruit in the morning. for me I find that when i crave something sweet i can eat a few chunks of pineapple or a few grapes or slices of apple and my craving to eat something sweet is satisfied and in my opinion It would be more healthy to eat the fruit then some cookies.
Last edited by mariamherrera; 08-25-2009 at 07:49 PM.
I often eat my fruit as a snack - usually something like half a banana and a piece of low-fat string cheese. I always try to eat protein with my fruits. And, I eat them any time of day - sometimes as my evening snack.
I usually eat no more than 250 calories of fruit per day, often less. And, like Colleen, I'm more likely to plan number of calories, than number of fruits because they do vary so widely in calorie and nutritional content.
I usually have 3-4 servings, sometimes more if I feel like it. I seem to lose better when I'm eating plenty of fruit. And the more fruit I eat, the less junk or dessert I feel like eating.
Some fruit are better than others, right? The sweeter, the higher in sugar. Therefore, fewer calories in green apples than red ones? Grapes and pineapple are high, most melons are lower. I cup of watermelon is only around 50 calories!!! 1/2 cantaloupe around a hundred. Add a bit of cottage cheese and yum!
I eat as much fruit as I can, often 3 a day, and it's never been a cause for trouble in my plans.
I never go over my calorie budget by eating fruit, i always stay with in. but my question is how many servings is recommended per day? I tend to have 4-5 all with in calorie limit of course. and a few people have told me i need to cut back to only 2 and only eat fruit in the morning. for me I find that when i crave something sweet i can eat a few chunks of pineapple or a few grapes or slices of apple and my craving to eat something sweet is satisfied and in my opinion It would be more healthy to eat the fruit then some cookies.
If your weight is going in the direction you want it to, you're feeling good, and in general, overall eating a wide variety of foods, and aren't experiencing hunger and/or fatigue spikes in reaction to some foods - you're good to go. Even the food pyramid is meant to be a guideline for healthy eating, not a set of food commandments set in stone.
I follow an exchange plan (where each exchange contains about the same number of calories). For example mine is 2 dairy (90 cal), 2 fruit (70 cal), 2 starch (80 cal) 3 fat (45 cal) 6 protein (60 cal), and 4 veggie (25 cal), and then 8 servings of "flex" exchanges that I can "spend" on any food as long as the contain about 60 - 80 calories each.
I LIKE exchange plans, and also I tend toward vitamin absorption issues, so I think exchange plans make more sense for me (for me, not for everyone), because it reminds me to get in foods I sometimes would otherwise forget.
But those 8 "flex" exchanges mean that some days I might have a very fruit-heavy diet (I could, in theory use them all on fruit, having 10 fruit servings a day - and I've done that before - though usually there are some potty issues to contend with).
There are no hard and fast rules here. If you're feeling good, losing weight, and not having hunger issues - don't worry about what other people tell you that you need to be doing.
There's a book The 80/10/10 Diet by Dr. Douglas N. Graham that argues (somewhat persuasively) that humans may have evolved as primarily (and almost exclusively) eating fruit, and just a bit of greens.
I personally, think that humans can thrive on many different diets. Native Eskimo (eating a traditional diet, and living a traditional lifestyle) did very well on a mostly meat and fat diet (with only small amounts of fruits, vegetables and herbs available only a small portion of the year).
Ya, but the average lifespan of an Inuit was around 50 years on that diet, so whether or not they did very well is somewhat debatable.
I know the general recommendation is 5 servings fruits/veg per day. Some days I have 3 fruit/2 veg, other days 4 fruit/1 veg, and on others 1 fruit/4 veg. I just make sure I account for the caloric intake, that's all...
In a day I consume about...5 or more servings of fruit (yes, I eat a lot of fruit as a fruit salad with yogurt tends to be lunch, and a smoothie is breakfast), but I also take a multi vitamin to help with what I'm missing and have tons of veggies with supper.
Overall I think that you need to do what's good for you, if you can do well on 2 servings then great, 5 then thats good too. I personally go with what I want, figure out how much of that I can have (calorie wise), and then I have a meal plan to go with.
I have 3-4 most days, sometimes more. I'm not really big on veggies since I can't digest them well but fruit is easier to digest so I have some with every meal and often as snacks. My Daily Plate lists 'Peach' currently as my most eaten food item, been on a pech kick for a like 2 months now. My 4th is mixed fruit from what I have almost everyday at my fave breakfast place.
servings of fruit a day?
