My hormone goddess, Dr. Sara Gottfried, has you now saying to yourself, “WHAT? Fruit?! But fruit is healthy!” Unfortunately the link we’re going to be talking about is Fructose. Scientifically, Fructose is the monosaccharide that is the “sweet” part of your fruit, veggie, or table sugar. Glucose, which you may be familiar with, is what our brain, muscles, and cells use for energy. Glucose doesn’t taste that sweet and is found in fruits and veggies. This is the good sugar. Our energy.
The difference is glucose is used by our bodies and excess is stored for reserved energy in the form of glycogen. Excess fructose, which we are bombarded with, is converted into fat. Sugar is making us fat. Other issues include insulin resistance, leptin (the “I’m full hormone”) resistance, chronic diseases linked to those hormone deficiencies, your immunity, and your reproductive system. There are more unfortunately.
“The problem in obesity is not excess weight,” Lustig says, in the central London hotel that he has made his anti-metabolic illness HQ. “The problem with obesity is that the brain is not seeing the excess weight.” The brain can’t see it because appetite is determined by a binary system. You’re either in anorexigenesis – “I’m not hungry and I can burn energy” – or you’re in orexigenesis – “I’m hungry and I want to store energy.” The flip switch is your leptin level (the hormone that regulates your body fat) but too much insulin in your system blocks the leptin signal. (Dr. Robert Lustig and Zoe Williams)
So what’s the deal with fruit? Well, fruit contains fructose. It’s simple: Fructose is fructose. And it’s metabolized in the same manner whether it’s in a piece of fruit or a candy bar. Most foods you are eating already have fructose added to them in various forms already- so adding even more is where the problem is with adding too much fruit. Knowing what you eat and making what you eat will determine how much fruit is a healthy amount.
If you decide you want to try the hormone reset diet, when you reintroduce fruit just remember these few tips to avoid high fructose options:
- Avoid dried fruit (you may as well eat candy).
- Stick to berries.
- Your smoothie should only consist of a handful of berries and mostly greens. The smoothies that are all fruit are actually just as bad for you as a few slices of cake.
- Your high fructose fruits include apples, grapes, mangoes, raisins, dates, and peaches.
- Aim for 1-2 servings of fruit per day (American Heart Association).
- EAT LOTS OF VEGGIES!
If fruit is a huge part of your life, just slowly decrease the amount you’re having and increase the amount of green veggies where you’ll be amazed how your palate changes. Too much of anything, even if it has a lot of nutrients, can be harmful.
(Dr. Sara Gottfried’s “Hormone Reset Diet” can be found on Amazon)
Energize Your Life-
Great article! Always refreshing to see new articles that put things into a
new perspective rather than just restating what
we already know. I personally was diagnosed with diabetes on put
on Metformin on June 1st, 2015, but I’m not letting it dampen my mood – things
like alternative reduction methods and gluten-free
dieting have helped. Anyway, I hope this article gets more traction and
I’m sharing it to social media. Good writeup!
I agree. Good article. Fruit is my cryptonite. I have some instead of candy, cake or smoothies etc. But I suppose I should cut back in it, too.