A lot of people are shocked to find out that you really can eat fruits and lose weight.
They’ve been told that these two things are mutually exclusive. Many have heard that eating fruits will actually make you fat.
In reality nothing could be farther from the truth, so long as you do it right that is.
So, below we will discuss how to eat fruits the right way so that you can literally lose weight, eat the fruits that you crave and not drive yourself crazy attempting to abstain from something that you love and that is so darn healthy for you too.
However, you really need to read every word of this article because the devil is in the details as they say.
Can You Really Eat Fruit And Lose Weight?
The answer is as you may have guessed by now, yes. Absolutely, you really can eat fruits and lose all the weight you want.
There are so many myths surrounding this topic that we just had to write a definitive article on the topic to set the record straight.
People have been told that because fruits contain so much sugar that they raise your insulin too high and block your ability to burn fat.
There is SOME truth to this which we will cover in our talk on insulin and weight loss.
But for now, don’t worry about it.
What Is The Real Truth About How To Lose Weight?
The real weightless truth is that there are some variables that we will discuss below in other sections such as the aforementioned one on insulin. However, real long-term weight loss can be broken down into its simplest components as follows.
1. You must be in a caloric deficit to lose weight.
You cannot continuously take in (eat) more calories than you burn off (use as fuel) and expect to lose weight. This does not work, it’s a fallacy, a fairy tale.
This also doesn’t mean that you have to be in a caloric deficit all the time. As a matter of fact, you shouldn’t because then you’ll end up lowering your metabolism.
We will discuss how to control your metabolism in a later section, it’s important so be sure to read that piece.
2. You cannot eat too few calories for an extended period of time.
You can consume very few calories for a short period such as a fast, or an intermittent fast. This temporary lowering can trigger your body to use fat and broken or damaged cells and cell components as fuel, especially once you reach autophagy.
But, consuming too few calories for too long of a period can wreak havoc on your metabolism, immune system and lean body mass.
The reasons are that.
A). Your body will enter something generally referred to as starvation mode. Once this happens your metabolism slows down to accommodate for the lack of fuel.
Think of it this way: If you lost your income source today would you go out and spend money recklessly just buying anything and everything you want?
No, of course not, that would be foolish. You need to make that money last.
In fact, we’d bet that you’d put the brakes on spending, that you’d clamp down on your wallet and not even spend as much as usual until you got your income back up there, right?
Well, your body does the exact same thing with fat.
You see, to your body, your fat is your money.
It’s the bodies energy reserve, its gold, it’s currency. It stores calories as fat just like you put money in the bank and uses it to spend when it needs to, just like you do.
So, when your body sees no more currency (calories) coming in it gets really stingy letting fat go.
It will look at your body and say ‘hmmm, we have a lot of extra muscle in our legs, let’s go ahead and convert that to fuel so we can horde our gold (fat) for a real emergency.
This burning of muscle slows your metabolism because you now have less lean tissue burning calories. Then, your metabolism down regulates even further to be as efficient as possible so you can survive this famine.
You see, your body doesn’t understand grocery stores and readily available food. Your genetics are carried over from centuries of adapting because sometimes you had a lot of food and sometimes there was no food.
Either way your ancestors had to survive otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now reading this.
Your successful ancestors were those who adapted, survived and passed down their adapted genes through the ages to you.
But your genes don’t understand grocery stores. They don’t know you can just go get more food any time you want.
They think you’re starving and react accordingly.
B). Your immune system can get a short burst from autophagy, but if you eat too few calories for too long your body can’t keep your immune system at its normal high levels. It just can’t, there aren’t enough calories (fuel) to burn to do it properly.
So, with low calories and a lower immune system you’re much more susceptible to viruses, bacteria and other challenges.
C). Your lean body mass (lean tissue) is the engine of your body.
You want as much lean body mass as possible so that you have a bigger engine that burns more fuel.
This allows you to eat more and just burn it off and stay nice and lean all year long without much effort at all.
3. You need more lean tissue.
You don’t need to become a bodybuilder.
However, the more lean tissue (muscle and organs etc. But mainly muscle for the purpose of our conversation) you have the more calories you metabolize even while sitting on the couch watching TV or surfing the internet.
Yes, this is the ‘secret’ to burning fat while you sleep.
Focus more on resistance (weight) training than you do on cardio, build more muscle (a bigger engine) and you’ll burn more calories than you did before, even when you’re doing absolutely nothing.
Are Tomatoes, Avocados And Cucumbers Fruit?
Yes, they are, here’s why.
There are many definitions of fruits. However, the main core definition is, that which contains the seed, on the inside that is.
As an example: strawberries are not considered fruit because their seeds are on the outside of the fruiting body (the berry) that we eat.
So, technically tomatoes, avocados and cucumbers are all fruits even though many refer to them as vegetables.
Each of these fruits consumed in the right way are great for weight loss which we will discuss below.
What Are The Best Fruits To Eat For Weight Loss?
There are some fruits that can enhance your weight loss effort and some that will derail them.
We will discuss the fruits that you should not consume if your goal is to lose weight in a section below.
But, for now we will dive into the fruits you can and even should consume when you’re losing weight.
1. Avocados: Many may feel that because the average avocado has approximately 300 calories, the majority of which come from fat, that it is a bad choice while dieting.
However, this is not entirely true.
No one said that you had to eat the entire avocado in one sitting. You can eat ½ or ¼ of it with a meal to add good quality fats that will satiate you (make you feel full longer) and provide fat soluble vitamins that may help reduce your cravings.
They have a very rich mouth feel that also tides your cravings by giving your tastebuds a dose of healthy fats that make you feel as if you’re eating rich foods.
This can go a long way psychologically during a diet where rich tasting foods are a rarity.
So, let’s say you eat a quarter of an avocado and it averages 75 calories. You take a little piece with each bite of your normally dry baked chicken breasts. The fat from the avocado will fool your mouth into thinking that the chicken has more fat in it, and it will then taste better and be smother and creamier.
You can use these types of tricks to make your dieting quite a bit more enjoyable.
2. Tomatoes: Most people know about these deep red wonders while dieting. But, few things are better than sliced tomatoes drizzled with high quality balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with a small amount of crushed fetta cheese.
Feta is one of the few diet friendly cheeses out there, the other can be grated parmesan which also works well over the tomatoes and balsamic.
Trust us when we say that it’s worth searching out and finding a really good quality balsamic. It can make all the difference in the world to your taste buds.
3. Apples: I can hear it now from a few people ‘surely you jest, apples?’
Yes, apples.
Did you know that Mel Gibson consumed as many as 20 apples per day when dieting for his role in the movie Braveheart?
This will all make complete sense in just a bit when you discover the real secrets of dieting in a section below.
But, for now just realize that apples are relatively low glycemic (that is they don’t massively spike your blood sugar levels) and contain a very good dose of fiber.
One of these fibers called apple pectin is thought to contribute to satiety in ways that are still being uncovered by scientists today.
However, it really does appear that; an apple a day keeps the doctor away as it may cut down on obesity, improve digestion and improve peristalsis (the rate at which food transit your complete digestive system).
4. Kiwi Fruit: This super tasty fruit is high in vitamin C, the peeled fruit has over 2 grams of fiber and it’s a low GI fruit (Low Glycemic Index which means it releases its carbohydrates much more slowly than other foods so as to not spike insulin).
5. Cucumber: These fruits only contain 45 calories on average, but are high in vitamins and minerals, water and fiber.
They can give your meal that extra bulk so that you feel like you’re eating more calories than you are and this can really aid in the psychological aspects of sticking to a diet long term.
What Are The Worst Fruits To Eat For Weight Loss?
1. Bananas: Yes, we know there are tons of vegans out there that are going to scream that bananas rock. Yes, you’re right, they do.
They also are one of the fruits that can spike insulin quite a bit.
Sure, they are a great source of potassium, but avocados actually contain more potassium than bananas.
It’s just not worth the trade off of spiking your insulin so that you actually promote fat gain.
2. Melons: We know there are actually Mellon diets out there that have people losing weight.
But the truth is, if your in a 1,000 calorie deficit every day you could conceivably even eat table sugar and lose weight.
That doesn’t make it optimal.
Most melons are quite high in sugars that spike your insulin which is our reason for suggesting you avoid them.
3. Grapes: They use grape juice as a sweetener in many juice blends.
Grapes are very high in sugars and as such we would strongly recommend you avoid them while dieting so that you can keep your insulin levels as low as possible.
The Absolute Truth About Weight Loss Diets
There is one thing that all diets that work have in common, you have to be in a caloric deficit for them to be effective.
There are no two ways about it. Fat is your bodies energy reserve, its currency, its gold.
You must show your body a reason to use it or it simply won’t.
As an example: if your pockets are overflowing with money, do you go to the ATM to take more money out of your account and add it to your pocket?
No. And your body won’t do that with fat either.
If you’re eating a surplus of calories so that the energy is overflowing, your body does not go into its fat stores (the bank) and take out more money (fat).
Why would it, the body sees no need to do that.
However, when you’re in an energy (calorie) deficit the body will go make withdrawals from its bank (fat deposits) and use it to make up for the temporary drop in energy.
This is how fat loss actually works.
The bugaboo is insulin. Insulin is a hormone that tells the body to shuttle extra calories into the fat stores. It’s contrary to dieting for fat loss.
When insulin is high, you’ll have a terrible time losing weight.
So, keep insulin low and maintain a caloric deficit and you’ll be able to lose fat even though you’re eating the somewhat safe fruits that we listed above.
Sources:
1. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-weight-loss-fruits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_12
2. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/5495#2
3. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-of-cucumber
4. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/bananas-diabetes#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2