Three myths about sweet fruit and sugars in them

Yes there can be lots of sugars in fruit, that's why they taste so sweet and delicious. That 's why we love them. That's also why some of us hate or fear them. There are many strong myths and beliefs circulating around that have prevented even some intelligent health conscious individuals from eating sweet fruits. Not to speak of dumbasses like me - I stupidly used to avoid sweet fruits until fairly recently.

Myth 1: Sugar is bad for you - sweet fruits contain sugar - therefore sweet fruits are bad. The simple sugars from fruits spikes your blood sugar and will inevitably cause diabetes, candida, and other diseases.

Dr. Douglas Graham wrote in The 80/10/10 Diet:

"The mistaken notion that eating fruit causes blood-sugar problems underlies most admonitions to steer clear of fruit, especially sweet fruit. Granted, high blood sugar does lead to Candida outbreaks, chronic fatigue, hyper- and hypoglycemia, diabetes, and a host of other conditions and diseases, even cancer. Too much sugar is indeed bad for you, though it is almost impossible to get too much sugar from the consumption of fresh fruit. Eating fruit is not the cause of blood sugar problems... not when you are eating a low-fat diet, that is. When the system is not gummed up with excess fat, the sugar from even 'high-glycemic' fruit moves easily in and then out of the blood."

"In fact, if we consume much less than 80% of our calories as carbohydrates, we are destined to consume too much protein, fat or both... More than ten percent of daily calories from protein results in low energy and acid toxemia, a precursor for osteoporosis, kidney disease, arthritis, immune dysfunction, and cancer. More than ten percent of daily calories from fat leads to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, and many other maladies."

Whole fresh fruits contain the fuel upon which we are designed to thrive - simple sugars. Eating the fruit fresh and whole is key to success, as the soft fiber in fruits allow their sugars to absorb gradually. For example, if you juice a fruit, you take away the fiber and are left with refined simple carbohydrates, ie. empty calories and junk food.

Complex carbohydrate foods like grains and legumes taste bland, often require cooking and are nutritionally inferior to fruits and vegetables. They are generally not a great choice.



Myth 2: Hybrid man-made supersweet seedless fruit like banana etc should be avoided, because they are unnatural calorie dense sugar bombs. In the past man couldn't have survived and evolved on a fruit-based diet, when fruits contained much smaller amounts of sugar.

Dr. Douglas Graham answered on Raw Food & Sports Nutrition forum recently:

"If bananas are 30 times sweeter, as claimed, that would mean that to get a meal of bananas, instead of eating 15 of em, I would have to have eaten 450. Where the heck would I find 450 ripe bananas all at once, and how could a human eat that many at a meal?

All plants, and all animals are hybrids. Hybridization is nothing to fear. When fruit is sweeter, you are satisfied sooner, hence you eat less of it.

The banana has been the banana, for as far back in time as we can follow it. It hasn't changed, except that the banana hybridized, by itself, to a seedless form. Man had nothing to do with it. But the old seeded forms are just as sweet, if not sweeter, than today's banana. I believe the idea that fruit is sweeter today than it was is hogwash. I know for fact that many fruits today are not as sweet, or as tasty, as they were when I was a kid. Only a few fruits are sweeter today, the grapefruit being the first that comes to my mind.

Show me some facts about fruit being sweeter today, and I will openly consider it. Otherwise, we are dealing solely with unfounded and unsupported hearsay."

Still not convinced? Read this excellent article: In Defense of Hybrid Fruit.



Myth 3: Sweet (and often acid) fruit cause tooth decay.

Dr. Douglas Graham writes in The 80/10/10 Diet:

"It appears that dehydrated foods have the most profound negative effect on teeth." He refers to dried and acid-forming fruit, nuts, seeds, complex carbohydrates, and refined simple carbohydrates. However, "Whole, Fresh, ripe, raw fruits and vegetables are excellent foods for teeth and gums."

Cleaning your teeth carefully is important, whatever you eat. I use a soft toothbrush with water and floss gently between the teeth. "Improper flossing can irritate the gums and result in unnatural enlargement of the pockets between the teeth and gums."