With diets out there, telling people to almost completely avoid eating fruit, it’s no wonder people are questioning their consumption of it. We’ve been historically led to believe that fruits are healthy and we should readily consume them. Contradictory messages from the Ketogenic diet in particular, makes things quite confusing. Yes, there is sugar in fruits, but fruit sugar is different from other types of sugar.
Differences Between Fruit Sugar Versus Table Sugar
First of all, it’s important to understand the difference between fruit sugar and table sugar.
Yes fruit contains sugar, in fact, a banana has 4 teaspoons of sugar. This is almost half of the recommended amount of sugar most of us should consume in a whole day! If a fruit has this much sugar, how can it be healthy?
The Benefits of Fruit
Eating sugar in it’s natural form via fruit, is much better for us than consuming table sugar; here’s why.
- Fruit can diminish your sugar cravings. Eating an apple can often prevent you from grabbing a processed cookie. Which food do you think is healthier?
- It contains fibre so it helps fill you up and keep your digestive system healthy.
- Fruit contains vitamins and minerals often in amounts that you can’t get elsewhere.
- Our bodies know what to do with natural sugars, so we’re able to break fruit down properly, without just spiking our insulin levels.
The Dangers of Table Sugar
Table sugar on the other hand, has only one purpose to our bodies, to provide us with energy. Unfortunately, it only increases our energy for a short period of time, before crashing it and making us feel more tired than we originally did. This leads us to of course, crave more sugar.
Unless we’re able to use the sugar we consume through ‘intense’ exercise, this energy is converted directly to fat, thereby causing obesity. Table sugar can also increase our risk of getting diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s, high cholesterol, cavities and more!
So there are some real differences between fruit sugar and table sugar.
Not all Fruits are Created Equal!
The quantity of sugar in various fruits differs dramatically. See what I mean by comparing the sugar amounts in these fruits:
- 1 medium Royal Gala apple = 17 grams of sugar
- 1 medium banana = 14 grams of sugar
- 1 medium tangerine = 9 grams of sugar
- 1 cup of strawberries = 7 grams of sugar
- 1 cup of raspberries = 5 grams of sugar
Most berries come out on top when it comes to having a lower sugar content. Pumpkin is also quite low in sugar, containing only 3 grams of sugar per cup. Give my Pumpkin Spice Smoothie a try!
The sugar content in fruits is readily available online.
Dried fruits are something I’ve tried to minimize my consumption of. They are sadly packed with sugar. In fact, a half a cup of raisins contains 40 grams of sugar – more than we should have in a whole day!
Yes, fruit does contains more sugar than vegetables, so I believe we should all be consuming more veggies than fruit. How much more? While that depends on your eating habits, activity level and body type, but I generally try to consume 4 servings of vegetables for every 1 serving of fruit.
To Sum it up…about Fruit Sugar
Don’t be completely afraid of fruit sugar. Consuming fruits in moderation (1-2 servings a day), is part of my diet. It’s difficult to find an alternative natural way to consume the vitamins, minerals and fibre that fruit provides. Remember, sugar content varies across many different fruits, so if you’re watching your sugar consumption, select fruits that are lower in sugar. I believe the benefits of eating fruit, out way the negatives. What do you think?