I was so upset when I got this question. Will fruit make me fat? I had to answer it ASAP!
Q: I saw an article about how fructose and fruit makes you fat? Will fruit make me fat?
A: No. Hell no. Whoever said this did you a favor by revealing their near perfect ignorance about nutrition.
Consuming more calories than you burn for a long time is how people gain excess body fat – this is especially true of fat calories, which are 40% more fattening than carb calories. (The science on this is settled just like the science saying cigarettes cause lung cancer is settled.) Guess what fruit is low in? Fruit is low in calories.
Cup for Cup examples of fruit vs so called “healthy” fats. All these examples take up the same amount of space in your stomach – same fullness.
Fruit: One cup of strawberries has 49 calories
“Healthy” fat: One cup of almonds has 829 calories
Fruit: One cup of raw banana slices has 133 calories
“Healthy” fat: One cup of cheese cubes has 523 calories
Fruit: One cup of apple slices has 65 calories
“Healthy” fat: One cup of avocado* has 385 calories
*Avocado is technically a fruit, but it’s mostly just plain old fat.
Anyone who has said “it’s the insulin that makes you fat” is also wrong AF. Facts are real. People can disagree about which flavor of ice cream is better, but facts are facts. They exist independent of our opinion. The insulin hypothesis of obesity has been tested repeatedly, and it is wrong. If you want to read about it, here it is.
It’s worth noting that the main person promoting the idea that “insulin makes us fat” raised the money that paid for the research that unequivocally proved him wrong. He has ignored the research, but again, facts exist whether we ignore them or not.
For example, if you say that “nothing can hurt me,” and, for good measure, let’s say you’re even passionate about your belief, when you walk into traffic a car will teach you that your “personal truth” is bullsh*t. Everyone has their own opinions, but nobody genuinely has their own facts. Personal facts = personal delusion and/or confusing their opinions with facts. Because narcissism.
Things that are NOT fruit
• Fruit juice. It comes from fruit, but it’s more like soda than fruit. A 10oz glass of orange juice requires 5+ oranges to make. It’s concentrated fruit calories in an easy to drink liquid. Have you ever eaten 5+ oranges (not clementines) in 5min? No, because the work of peeling gets old, and the fiber fills you up.
• Dried fruit. These are pieces of candy. The water has been removed from the fruit to keep it from spoiling, AND to make it easy to eat a lot of calories before you feel full.
• Blueberry muffins. They contain some fruit, and they can be amazing with a good streusel topping, but blueberry muffins are cake with some fruit inside. High calorie and hyperpalatable. Hyperpalatable = so yummy it makes your brain want more and more!!
Bottom Line: Will Fruit Make Me Fat?
If you’re like me, bananas are the most slimming foods around because they give me horrible diarrhea, and there’s no faster way to lose weight than ‘rhea. Sorry, when I typed the word “bottom” I ended up on a potty tangent… back to business… Eating plain fruit will not make you fat. Eating high fat foods makes it easy to get fat because they’re loaded with calories. Yes, even “healthy fats,” actually, especially with healthy fats. There is no such thing as a healthy fat, but if you hear that phrase you’ll think you can eat more of these high calorie foods which means racking up the calories faster than you can burn them off.
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The author, Josef Brandenburg is the co-owner and a coach at True 180 Personal Training, Charlotte’s most effective studio for women. We are changing the way fitness is done to get you the results you deserve!