Are You Eating Too Much Fruit?

Signs Your Fruit Habit is Getting Out of Control

Fruit is obviously not only an extremely healthy and integral part of a balanced diet, but it’s also an awesome substitution for refined sugar. That being said, it’s still fructose and it is possible to over do it. Here are some signs that you might need to cut back and swap some of your fruit snacks for veggies.

You Can’t Lose Weight

If you are sticking to a clean, reasonable diet and working out but still can’t seem to move the scale you might want to check in with your fruit intake. Fruit is the perfect alternative to candy and sugary drinks, but not in the same amounts. If you match sugar for sugar you’re not going to see a change. When fruit is consumed the blood sugar goes up from the ingesting of carbohydrates. Then we release insulin to lower the blood sugar, which converts it to fat. You can see how munching on sugary carbs all day long doesn’t give the body the break it needs to actually start burning fat.

Keep in mind that all those healthy juices and smoothies out there are generally full of sugar to cover the taste of all the kale and leafy greens in them. A small “green” juice might contain a whole apple as well as other fruit it in, so don’t be deceived by the healthy label. It’s easy to see how some fruit at every meal and juices in between would over do it.

You Crave Sugar All the Time

Even if you’re at a healthy weight, if you crave sugar all the time you’re probably eating too much of it, even if it comes in the form of a banana. When eating fruit spikes your blood sugar it doesn’t stay spiked for very long just like other types of sugar. You can expect a drop that will leave you wanting more. Plus, fructose causes the body to release ghrelin, the hunger stimulating hormone. To get the body to release leptin (the satiating hormone) instead, we have to get some protein or healthy fat.

You’re Always Bloated

Many people don’t do well with high amounts of fructose, and not being able to digest it fast enough gives it time to ferment in the intestine with the help of all the bacteria in there. Fermentation of course, straight up releases gas. The other thing to keep in mind is that so many of our fruits are bred to be tasty, which means that the modern apple is not only larger but a lot sweeter than where they started.

So How Much is Too Much?

For the average person eating about two servings of fruit a day is enough to avoid digestive issues and cause weight gain. Of course this varies from person to person based on all kinds of factors from weight to activity level. If you need to cut back try thinking of fruit as more like a dessert and swap Keep in mind that a serving of fruit is an apple, not a watermelon.