Since I was a young boy my parents always told me that fruits had natural sugars and that it was healthy for you because it was natural, unlike table sugars such as sucrose. And don’t get me wrong, natural is a better way to go, but like many other life lessons I have learned growing up, too much of anything can be bad for you. And this article is referring to fruits, or to be more specific, the fruits natural sugars “fructose” and how high consumption of fructose can have negative metabolic effects on the body!

Fructose can be categorized as a monosaccharide sugar that is found in several different fruits. Many people define fructose as a “healthy sugar” generally because it’s found in natural foods and even though it’s classified as a simple sugar, it does not have a significant effect on blood sugar.

But on the other hand, fructose has a different enzymatic system where instead of being processed as glucose, where glucose usually enters the bloodstream and is used as energy, fructose is broken down by the liver. When consumed in high amounts, the liver has trouble metabolizing all the fructose and instead any unwanted fructose is converted back into the blood stream as dangerous blood fats also known as “triglycerides”.

Not only is fructose found in many fruits, but it’s also disguised in many shelf and packaged foods as “high fructose corn syrup”.  This syrup is pretty much 40 to 50% fructose and the other half glucose or sucrose. High fructose corn syrup can have many harsh effects on the body including

-increasing chances of syndrome X or insulin resistance, which further leads to type 2 diabetes

-unexplained increases in uric acid levels, which can be an early indicator of metabolic syndrome

- increasing mercury levels in the body, which in turn can shut down thyroid function and damage the brain. 

-increase levels of blood fats in the body, which in turn increases risk of heart decease

-according to Laura Dolsen, a former health and nutrition teacher out of California who has been studying low-carb eating and low-glycemic eating for over decade, stated that fructose ends up  circumventing the normal appetite signaling, so appetite-regulating hormones aren’t triggered, and your left feeling unsatisfied.  

What is a safe amount of fructose to have?

According to nutrition expert Robert Crayhon, an average couch potato should consume no more than 5-10 grams of fructose a day. A very active individual (someone who does physical training and competes in sports) can consume up to 20 grams of fructose a day.  One apple equals about 5 grams of fructose.  

How to avoid having to much fructose and high fructose corn syrup?

-limit fruit intake daily, stick to low G.I fruits with thin skin, such as apples and berries. (Thin skin fruits have more antioxidants because they have to protect themselves from the sun as they grow in the wild; therefore they have to store more antioxidants to survive, as opposed to thick skin fruits such as bananas)

-Avoid eating packaged foods from supermarkets, especially sodas, biscuits and other sweet snacks as they contain huge amounts of high fructose corn syrup. Instead eat more natural organic foods free from packaging.

-Make sure every meal has a good quantity of animal protein, healthy fats, and high fiber vegetables such as green leafy vegetables, broccoli, cauliflower and so on.

-Always read the label when you’re buying something from the supermarket.

-use good fats such as almonds, macadamias, and Brazil nuts as snacks instead of fruits. As these healthy fats will keep your blood sugar level stable and avoid any insulin spike.

Should I stop eating fruits overall because of fructose?

No! Definitely not. Fruits Contain many important nutrients that you cannot find in other foods, such as different antioxidants. It’s a matter of balancing quantities and not having too much. If you are a healthy individual who is active, eats the right foods for their metabolic type, and is low in total body fat %. Then you can surely eat fruits. However if your insulin resistant or are quite high in total body fat% then you should cut out fruits and work on doing a protein and vegetable boot camp which includes no sugar for 14 days. To find out if you’re having insulin issues or you want to know what your body fat % is then you should try my bio signature modulation test. This will tell you if you’re having problems metabolizing sugars and how high your overall body fat% is.

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