Typically when someone wants change their shape they will cut out certain foods and usually add in foods that they deem more healthy. One food group that most people increase is fruit, but for losing fat is it the best choice to add lots to your diet?
Fruit comes in all shapes and sizes and their are many benefits from eating fruit. They are a carbohydrate but differ to other carbohydrates as they contain essential vitamins, minerals and fibre that the body needs. Many fruits have been shown to help prevent cancer and heart disease, two of the biggest killers.
However, not all fruit is created equally, some contains more sugars and less vitamins and in a piece of research by Elliot 2002 published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, fructose, the carbohydrate in fruits, was found to be a factor in obesity.
High fructose consumption and the consumption of high fructose corn syrup creates insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, hyperinsulinemia, hypertriacylglycerolemia, and hypertension. This is due to lower levels of insulin and leptin being produced when eating fruit and the fructose being metabolised into a fat in the liver.
So what do you need to do if you want to lose weight?
- NOT to eliminate all fruit from your diet. Despite what this research says, more studies need to be conducted and this was discussing high consumption.
- Switch to slower releasing fruit such as berries. They also higher levels of antioxidents and vitamins.
- Make more of your 5 a day vegetable based.
- Monitor your energy levels an hour after eating to see if you feel sluggish or energised.
