Can Fruit Make You Fat?
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The Difference Between Fruit And Fruit Juice
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m sharing my thoughts on the often asked question, can fruit make you fat?
I also discuss the difference between fruit and fruit juice.
By now you know I’m a big believer in following a low sugar way of eating.
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So the question I often get is, what about the sugar in fruit?
Can eating too much fruit make you fat?
Well first of all, eating too much of anything can do that.
When I say to cut down on sugar, in most cases, I’m specifically referring to the sugar found in processed foods and grains.
What Is Fructose?
The naturally occurring form of sugar in fruit is called fructose.
There has been research showing excessive amounts of natural fructose from whole fruit could cause health problems.
However, you’d have to eat a stupid amount of fruit to get fat from fruit.
In other words, it would be hard to overload your liver with enough fructose from whole fruit, to actually get fat.
Fructose In Fruit vs High Fructose Corn Syrup
It’s also important to be able to differentiate between unprocessed, naturally occurring forms of fructose in fruit vs. high fructose corn syrup.
High fructose corn syrup is processed and added to refined products to sweeten them up.
Can Drinking Fruit Juice Make You Fat?
Don’t be fooled.
Pasteurized fruit juice from your grocery store is processed.
I will go on record to say that it is a lot easier to get fat drinking pasteurized fruit juice from the grocery store vs. eating fruit.
Why?
The Difference Between Fruit vs. Fruit Juice
Here’s the difference between fructose in fruit juice and fructose in whole fruit.
Whole fruit contains fiber.
Fiber helps slow the release of sugar into your bloodstream and liver, and will also fill you up faster.
This is why it’s harder to over consume fruit.
Whole fruit is also loaded with nutrients like vitamin A and vitamin C, as well as phytochemicals and flavonols.
Now let’s contrast the health benefits of fruit vs. fruit juice.
Fruit juice has most of the fiber removed and it doesn’t contain as much nutrients.
Since the fiber has been taken out of the juice, not only does the rush of sugar hit you fast, it’s also very easy for you to over consume it, since the juice won’t fill you up.
In my opinion, drinking pasteurized fruit juice can also make you feel hungrier.
This is because of the roller coaster ride your blood sugar levels will be on after drinking juice.
Bottom Line On Can Fruit Make You Fat?
With all the talk about fructose making you fat, don’t confuse pasteurized fructose in fruit juices and processed high fructose corn syrup in processed foods, with the healthy benefits of eating the fruit whole.
Now with all that said, I still don’t consider fruit a “free food”.
The only food I consider “free” are fibrous vegetables.
In other words, I recommend you eat as many leafy greens, like spinach, as you want.
But I don’t recommend you eat as many bananas as you want.
How Much Fruit Can You Eat In A Day?
Well of course, like any fitness and nutrition question I get, it depends.
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It depends on your current body composition and your specific goals.
For instance, Jess and I have online custom coaching clients who are already lean and active.
We know their body can process the sugar more effectively, so they can handle more fruit throughout the day.
However, we also have overweight online clients who we prefer to strategically focus their fruit consumption after their workouts, and as a treat whenever they get that sugar craving.
Ultimately, the question of how much fruit you can eat depends on your specific needs and goals.
If you’re unsure of all of this, we can help.
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Today’s Question Of The Day:
- How many servings of fruit do you eat in a day?
Share your experiences in the comment section below.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
yo 🙂 how funny is it how so many uninformed people think fruit can make
you fat. What a load of BS.
Thanks for this video 🙂
I have a vegan channel talking the same thing, please come and check it out
and subscribe! Let’s all support each other 😀
I eat that much fruit in summer to get ripped…the more you eat the leaner
you get
I eat like 5 mangoes 4-5 bananas nearly a kilo of grapes a day
Durianrider would school you on fruit ????????????
yeah omg fruit makes you so fat. check out the fat chick here in youtube
freelee the bananagirl. she is the fructose fatty… (NOT).
I eat up to 15 bananas a day and I actually lost weight…lol
+Freelee the Banana Girl;P
hon – there are many many obese people overloading on fruit since some
outdated weight loss clubs call it ‘free’ so they graze on it all day long.
Some eat over a dozen pieces a day. It’d be great if your vid made it
clearer at the start that your clients are told not to eat fruit unless
after a workout. It’s a good vid but doesn’t give much helpful hard facts
about fructose being metabolized differently in the liver etc. Good work
tho. x
Who else’s heart skipped a beat at 5 secs. RIP Headphone Users.
Hello Brad, what is your opinion on Freelee the Banana Girl and her
“RawTil4 diet”?
yes it can.
Good presentation (Y)
Ahhh, this makes me cringe. Fruit and fruit juices do not make you fat,
neither do carbohydrates. The fat you eat will make you fat. And the reason
people get such insulin spikes when they eat fruit is because they eat too
much fat which doesn’t allow sugar to move into the cells, resulting in
sugar circulating around the blood stream causing that ‘sugar high’. We
should be able to eat as much sugar (from whole plant based foods e.g.
Fruit, rice, potatoes) as we desire because it is what EVERY SINGLE CELL in
our body runs off!! None of this calorie restriction BS. Check out people
like FREELEE the banana girl, durian rider, annie Jaffery, plant based
athlete and Robert Cheeke (if you are interested in bodybuilding). These
people are thriving on a high fruit and carbohydrate, a.k.a HIGH SUGAR
diet. The end ☺️
I was eating oranges while watching this.I ate all of them (6) for 4
minutes !
impossible bro
Great info!
thank you for the information
I have a juicer would I get fat if I juiced them?
I’m 19 5’6 128lbs. How often can I have bananas?
He must be from Canada by how he pronounces the word “process”
it would also be great to see what you eat in a day
durianrider does eat a ton of fruit and sugar and hes lean as hell. so does
freelee the banana girl and all other high carb/raw vegans. theyre active
too. could you explain how thst is and how all of this sugar they eat isnt
causing them to have diabites or high blood sugar. I am honestly curious
could you please comment back or do a video because i know lots of people
have this question
I just worry about getting too much glycogen sometimes, but as I run long
distances I need to eat plenty of fruit to fill those muscles stores up
throughout the day…. I just worry if they are already full…then I eat
my normal daily amount of fruit how much of a hindrance can that be to my
fat burning?
“A stupid amount”? Challenge accepted…lol
Thanks Brad, I love fruit and while I can sacrifice most carbs (grains,
processed food, sugars, etc) to get the body of my dream, I can hardly
imagine a life without kiwis, mangos, bananas, cherries and berries. Those
are some of my favorite foods!! Im trying to lose my last 7 vanity pounds
(but really, I dont care about the weight so much as the way my body looks
like.) I continuously yo-yp between this ten pound ratius and while Im
incredibly happy at the bottom of my ratio, I feel the extra 7 pounds I
have on me right now go to all the wrong places! I’m nowhere near
overweight (I have a BMI of 21.0.) I eat super healthy (minimally
processed, dont drink calories, lots of lean meats, tons of veggies,) and
workout 6 days a week for 50 minutes. I wonder if fruit might be what are
sabotaging my weight loss efforts at the moment. I definitely eat 2-4
pieces of fruit a day. Usually a banana first thing in the morning, a mango
or kiwi throughout the day and then ill have a bunch of fresh blueberries
or strawberries at night.
Should I half my fruit intake until I get to my goal weight? Or am I more
likely just building lean muscle at around the same rate im losing fat? Im
training very hard and I think its probably hard to create the caloric
deficit I need because my body craves energy to workout at this rate.
Should I switch out my circuit trainings for some HIIT until I get down
some pounds? Sorry for all the questions but I feel quite lost at the
moment and have never had this much trouble getting off these vanity pounds
(ive gained and lost them countless times.)
I would love to see what you eat in a day! Would it be possible to request
a video journal of your daily diet 🙂
I’m only 13 but love to eat healthy and workout any recommendations for
what to eat for breakfast?
i ate almost half a watermelon today and 1 cucumber after playing a
cricket match for more than 3 hours ,so would that amount of eating
fruits make me fat or not ?
I’ve watched almost all your video’s.. Love your energy and how simple you
make it to get lean btw it also helps the your hot . .lol you say
“Process”funny
THE REAL REASON PPL GAIN WEIGHT/ WATER RETENTION 0N A HIGH CARB FRUIT DIET
IS SIMPLE — All fructose (fruit is 50% fructose) must be processed by
the liver.
If the liver’s glycogen store is full, it will turn the fructose to FAT.
This FAT produced by the liver leads to temporary insulin resistance and
water retention. (not much different than if you ate fat in your diet.
However, if the liver’s glycogen supply is NOT full, the liver will convert
the fructose to glycogen and it is not a problem.
The key is avoid eating a lot of fruit when the liver is full, for example,
within 3 hours of a large fruit meal or even a large starch meal (all
glucose). Glucose can refill the liver after a large starch meal.
Fortunately, the liver’s supply is tapped first for energy so if you wait 3
to 4 hours, the liver’s supply should be empty.
In General, IN THE BEGINNING a women should not eat more than 600 calories
of fruit AT ANY ONE MEAL and a man should not eat more than 1000 calories
of fruit AT ANY ONE MEAL
I believe the longer you are on a HCLF mainly fruit diet, the larger the
liver’s storage capacity will become which explains why FREELEE and
Durianrider can consume such large amounts without getting fat.
Let water retention and weight gain indicate if you are exceeding your
liver’s capacity. If you start with the above guidelines and have no
issues, then increase the amount of fruit calories slowly and see what
results. If you notice water retention and weight gain, lower the limit.
Hello Brad, I would like to ask you one question.. Have you ever been to
the Woodstock Fruit Festival?
why do u pronounce it pro-cessed
Have you ever heard of durianrider?
Look at Durianrider, the guy eats more fruit than anybody and he’s
LEANNNNNNNN as fuck. Look at any fruitarian, lean like a string bean. Fruit
doesn’t make you fat.
Bro. I’m on a weight loss challenge that will end on April first.
I’m doing the Insanity work out and I’m juicing mornings and evening. This
is what I blend.
2 apples
2 oranges
Pineapple
Celery
Spinach
Beet
Cucumber
Lemon
Is this healthy and safe to eat? Also what do you recommend juice
extractors or Vitamix?
I’m using the vitamix.
I eat an apple once a day everyday and excercise for 30 minutes will eating
an apple everyday make me fat?
Something in it’s whole form like an apple, an orange, etc. Cannot be bad.
In fact anything from a tree or a plant cannot be bad. Unless you eat too
,much of course.
How about high sugar fruit like dates?
How about high sugar fruit like dates?
Hey Brad, serious question here. I’m sure you’re familiar with tons of
fitness channels and may have come across the durianriders or 30bananasaday
channels (they’re basically fruititarians and 80/10/10 very high natural
carb advocates). In one of the videos this girl (freelee) makes a point to
eat 51 bananas in one day (which she admits is obviously excessive). They
give examples all the time of their high natural sugar/carb diets and
they’re still very lean. They’re definitely very active as well. Just
thought I needed to throw that out there.
Fruit has fiber so it will counteact the sugar found in fruit. The Juice
even when there is no added sugar will make you fat because there is no
fiber.,
This is the reason I really like this channel, right on target. Fructose is
absorbed by the body around 5 times slower than glucose, having a G.I. of
only 19 vs 65 you get from regular sugar.
To have a better idea of how G.I. affects your blood sugar take a look at
this simple chart.
https://www.glycemicindex.com/cmsAdmin/uploads/gi_graph.gif
As brad said, I highly recommend eating the fruit in whole instead of just
the the juice, specially in the cases of thin skin fruits like apples,
pears, peaches, etc.
fructose only 90 g in the liver, glucose 300 in the muscle, fruit sucks.
berries are better
eating fruit before a workout doesnt let you burn fat?
Hey Brad I have a few questions to ask you about how to lose man boobs and
belly fat do you have an email?
Does fruit/carbs before bed really effect your GH release during sleep?
Do you think fruit can make you fat?