I am wondering what fruits are the best to eat? And which ones are high in sugar? I thought all fruits were good. I know they all have sugar but I thought it was a good natural sugar. So which ones should I limit and which ones can I eat more of? Thanks
Are you on a certain plan? Are you counting calories? If so, just find out how much each fruit weighs (usually by oz) and decide from there which ones you want to add into your diet. Or pick your favorite fruits and go from there. Fruits aren't a "free" food - but they are good for you - some have more fiber that others - some more antioxidants... I usually aim for 2 "fruits" a day - I'm boring recently though - they are almost always either strawberries, bananas & apples. Cannot wait for summertime when there will be more in season. WATERMELON!!!!!
There are no 'bad' fruits. There are those that are higher on the glycemic index--mostly the tropicals (banana, pineapple, mango, papaya)--but those still are 'softened', if you will, by the fact that all fruits contain fiber and a host of vitamins.
There has been a lot in the news lately about "HFCS" and "fructose makes you fat" and all that. Keep in mind that what they're talking about is manipulated fructose, added to other sugars, and in vast amounts. An apple has, if I remember right, 5 or 10 grams of fructose. That's totally within your body's ability to handle. HFCS starts to interfere with body weight and metabolism when it accumulates (through various foods) to 'tablespoon' amounts. Fruit is fine.
I love going to the farmer's market in the spring and summer--so much fruit so little time. I love the variety and freshness. The only thing I worry with is how different fruits and the concentrated fruit sugars, especially dried fruit effects my blood sugar.
The Glycemic Index site has a database you can use to look up various foods and see where they stand on the glycemic index. They have a pretty thorough explanation of what that means, too.
I eat a wide variety of fruits, since I don't in any way think that is the same as eating processed sugars! In fact some of my favorites... bananas, grapes and pineapple... are often "put down" as bad. But hey, I eat them and it works for me!!
We eat a lot of blueberries (frozen, on our cereal), bananas, strawberries and apples. Berries are terrific for you, packed with antioxidents and vitamins.
I eat lots of apples too, especially since I live in WA and we grow the most fantastic ones here and they are MUCH better tasting when they are local!!! Mmmmmmm... cherry season will soon be here too! Yippeee.. they are sooooooo good when they are local!
I have always liked eating apples but would not eat them as often as I wanted because of the hassle of cutting one up. At least that was until I bought an apple corer/wedger from Walmart about two months ago. Just place the contraption over the apple, push down, and it's cored and sliced into eight pieces in less than 5 seconds. I love it! I never knew they made things like that. My friends and family thought I was crazy because I went out and bought them all one (why not, they were only $3.00 a piece). Now, I've got one in my house and at the office -- I've gone completely apple crazy!
I'm with Gardenwife on the blueberries or bananas on cereal thing. My daughter eats frozen blueberries like candy. My breakfast usually consists of cottage cheese and an apple or orange.
Some fruits are higher in natural sugars than others, if you are watching your carbs. Their natural fibers help compensate for that. The Glycemic index is a good indicator. I almost never drink fruit juice anymore, but I still try to eat a lot of whole fruit, even though I limit some other carbs.
If you are looking for fruits that are lower in natural sugars than others, go for any of the berries first. They are powerhouses of nutrients and fiber. After that, I'd look at plums, melons, peaches, pears, and apples. Tropical fruits like bananas, citrus, pineapple, gooseberries (kiwi fruit), and mangoes tend to be higher on the sweet scale. And dried fruits are even more so, because their sugars are so concentrated.
Thank you guys so much. That really helps. I am trying to be so carefull about what I eat and put in my body.
Tip: if it grew that way (or close to that way; no one expects you to eat raw meat), it's probably good for your body. If it's been messed with and engineered and manipulated and you can't identify, much less pronounce, half the ingredients (those little 100-calorie packs horrify me), it's probably safe for your body. All fruits, all veggies, grains that haven't had their guts processed out of them, lean protein sources...good choices.
In my opinion, all fruit is good. I eat 2-3 servings of different fruit every day, I try to get a wide variety. Eating so much fruit didn't stop me from losing weight and isn't stopping me from maintaining. Fruit is good for me and satisfies my sweet tooth - double win.
I love this site, shows the nutritional power of food!
Mmmmm...I love frozen blueberries in my cereal in the mornings...it makes the milk even colder and turns it blue. Some days I have more blueberries than cereal in the bowl...
Good fruits and Bad fruits?
