Fruit Used to be Healthy
Here’s a controversial topic and this is my take on the question: Is fruit healthy?
Fruit today is not the same as the fruit of yesterday. What do I mean by that? Well, fruit from thousands of years ago was a lot more tart in taste and contained far less fructose (sugar) than the fruit of today. Fast forward to today and be aware that the fruit that we are consuming are actually hybrid fruits. They have been genetically modified, so as to contain a lot more fruit sugar and to therefore taste nicer. Also be aware that fruit is meant to be seasonal, so we were only meant to be consuming it during certain times of the year – not all year round!
Why is Fruit Unhealthy?
The sugar contained in most fruit is called fructose and whereas most sugars can be distributed into the cells by our bodies, fructose cannot and therefore, it has to be dealt with immediately by the liver. However, too much fructose will overwhelm the liver and over time, this will lead to numerous health complications.
Occasional consumption of fruit is ok, but it should not be an integral part of the human diet.
What Health Problems can Fruit Cause?
A high consumption of fruit will lead to health problems such as insulin resistance, non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL), high cholesterol and high triglycerides. Science is now also linking high fructose consumption with an increased risk of stroke and heart attack!
Fruit consumption can also lead to a number of gut problems, such as IBS, diaorrhea, constipation and inflammation. This is because high quantities of fruit sugar will overfeed the less healthy bacteria in our gut and this will result in overgrowth of the unhealthy bacteria – which will overwhelm the good gut bacteria.
Leptin Resistance
Fructose doesn’t fill you up so there’s more chance of you over-eating and this can lead to leptin resistance – basically you don’t turn off the hunger signals and we remain hungry. To make matters worse, the sugar spikes a hormone called ghrelin, which actually makes us hungry!
Surely Juice is Healthy?
Actually, juice is worse because it has had all of the fibre taken out of it and in most cases, it has been pasteurised at high heat – destroying any remaining health benefits.
Should I Avoid Fruit Completely?
My take on this subject is that a young and healthy individual should have no problems eating fruit in moderation. However, in my case, I rarely consume typical fruit (like apples, pears and oranges) and instead, I stick to berries. With regard to bananas – yes they do have some good stuff in them, but they contain far too much sugar and should be avoided. Why not switch to avocados and get even more healthy nutrition?
Tip:
- Try cutting down on all or a lot of sugar for one week and see how many ailments disappear!
- Did you know that fruit sugar (fructose) is actually more damaging to our health than white cane sugar is? It’s hard to believe but fructose actually registers a higher glycaemic index score and that is why it should be avoided.
- Do you suffer from joint pain or even arthritis? Do the one-week sugar-less challenge and see how those aching joints miraculously heal!
Resource
What does Doctor Berry Say?
In this short video, Dr Ken Berry answers the question: Is Fruit Healthy? What do you think? It goes without saying that the food industry wants us to believe that fruit is healthy, but hybrid fruit has been genetically modified, so that it tastes more sweet and becomes more addictive – and then the myth is fulfilled.
