Health: Fruits & Weight Loss

Many people struggle when losing weight. There are so many myths and misinformation about the many ways of losing weight that sometimes we tend to recur to the fastest and what we believe is the healthiest way to do so, eating nothing but fruits. Don’t get me wrong, fruits are amazing but they have one little problem, especially when losing weight is our goal when eating them. “Fruits are very high in fructose, and it can easy be stored as fat,” shared Jose Nieto, a personal trainer and nutritionist.

Including fruits in your diet is an easy way to improve your health. The natural sugar in fruits is loaded with important vitamins, minerals and fiber that benefit your body. However, “fruits have a natural sweetener called fructose, which has a slow digestive rate,” Nieto added.
In simple words, if you are not highly active and your body is not utilizing the energy acquired from the fruits, if will store it as fat, and if you trying to lose some weight, eating fruits without moderation will not help you see results.
Also, the amount of fruit needed depends on your age, sex and level of physical activity. According to choosemyplate.gov, for a woman between 31-50 years old, who gets less than 30 minutes of moderate physical activity, having 1 1/2 cups of fruits a day is the adequate amount.

Fortunately, there are so many fruits to choose from and their amount of sugar ranges from variety, size and serving, here are some examples of the amount of sugar that we can find in common fruits:

Apple (large) = 23g of sugar
Banana (large) = 17g
Strawberries (about 147 grams)= 7g
Watermelon(1 slice) = 18g
Pineapple = 9g per slice

Opt for citrus and whole fruits which tend to be lower in sugar compared to juices and dried fruits.
As always, consult your nutritionist before making any changes to your diet.