Somewhere along the line, fruit got a bad rap. And people started cutting down on their consumption. But the question remains, “Is fruit bad?”

Let’s talk about two types of sugar: glucose and fructose. Glucose is “good sugar” because it does the following:

• Increases insulin production so that the sugar in your blood can be used for energy.
• Increases production of leptin, which controls appetite and fat storage.
• Decreases production of ghrelin, which controls food intake as well.

Basically, glucose let’s you know when you are hungry and when you are not. So it regulates weight gain.

Now fructose on the other hand, absorbs very differently than glucose. Fructose doesn’t stimulate insulin or leptin production. And it does not decrease ghrelin. It also converts into triglycerides more efficiently than glucose. Not good considering triglycerides are linked to having a greater chance of heart disease. Fructose can also lead to the following:           

• Insulin resistance
• Elevated blood pressure
• Inflammation
• Fatty liver
• Abdominal obesity
• Hypertension

Guess which sugar fruit has a good amount of? That’s right…Fructose. Ohhh but it’s never that simple.

Fruit is for sure a source of fructose. But let’s be honest here. How many of us are eating an abundance of fruit and NOT the other major sources of fructose? Not very many.

The number 1 culprit of the issues associated with fructose by a huge margin is high fructose corns syrup

Instead of reducing fruit, the things we need to first look at reducing are:

• Soda
• Fruit juice and other sweetened beverages
• Processed foods that contain high fructose corn syrup and table sugar.

Before you even think about eliminating fruit, you should consider eliminating foods from the above list.

Why does the fructose from fruit get a pass then? Because fruit contains soluble fiber, as well as phytonutrients that work to block the intake of fructose. So all those studies showing fructose is bad were not completed with WHOLE fruits. If you are eating whole fruits, it will NOT have the same effect as the foods list.

So before you throw away your apple or reduce your intake of strawberries, take a good hard look at the other foods in your pantry and fridge and consider the affects of them instead.