Wait a minute!
You’re saying that there are fruits out there that aren’t healthy?
Yes, there are a few that fall directly into that category, but, for reasons you may never have expected.
There are a few that you would never have considered are actually fruits.
Yes, you likely already know that a tomato is actually a fruit, but did you know that corn is really a fruit too?
It may sound a little weird at first, but if you were a Botanist, you’d be able to verify this right up front.
We were going to talk about corn later on. However, because you’re likely wondering how in the heck it’s really a fruit in disguise, we’ll share that with you now.
Corn is actually very strange indeed, here’s why.
When you see corn attached to the cobb it’s considered to be a vegetable. However, corn once is separated from the cobb it’s then considered a grain.
Then, as you may know, corn along with several other grains, because they come from the flower part of the plant are actually fruits in the same way that avocados too are really fruits.
Now, how is it that corn can be dangerous and unhealthy.
Here’s how.
Corn is not actually an original grain.
The original grains were oats, teff, millet, barley, kamut, freekeh, bulgar, farrow, einkorn (the original wheat), quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, chia and if considered a grain maze.
Corn is a man-made hybrid that came from cross breeding maze with many other plants until modern corn was developed.
You might say, who cares? Why does that make it bad?
Well for 2 reasons.
1. It’s the reason many have allergies to corn and corn products. Our bodies didn’t develop in ancient times eating this, so when you do, your body doesn’t really know what to do with some of its compounds.
2. It’s really, really high in sugar.
You think you’re eating a vegetable, but you’re not, you’re eating a fruit that contains a sugar that is not original to our planet, it’s a hybrid.
If you think that corn is not sugary just look up high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup solids and modern crystalline fructose. Yes, they are all made from corn.
Because it’s not a true natural carbohydrate, your body system does not know how to process it properly and insulin is spiked quite hard because of it.
Have you ever wondered why we have so many diabetics these days? Why so many people are overweight? Why we have attention deficit disorder?
Eat a box of corn-based cereal with corn syrup solids as the sweetener covered in fat free milk which gets the majority of its calories from milk sugars and you then wonder why you get fat and can’t concentrate?
It’s a testament to the amazing biology of the human body as to why you don’t just fall over into a sugar induced insulin shock coma and pass out.
As you’ve been able to see so far, some fruits are unhealthy for different reasons.
So, that’s how we are going to break this down.
We are going to discuss…
Why Certain Fruits Are Unhealthy For Very Specific Reasons
Before we get into this, there is one thing that we just have to say, and that is; we love fruits! We eat fruits all the time, usually every day without fail.
So, if you’re a fruitarian reading this, don’t think that we have anything against fruits, because we don’t.
We just want to set the record strait and tell the truth.
We think fruits are fantastic, so no worries.
What Are The Unhealthiest Fruits For Diabetics?
The fruits that are not healthy for diabetics are going to be those that either contain a lot of sugar per ounce of fruit flesh, or those that break down and metabolize into simple sugars too quickly.
Many of the fruits that a diabetic would want to avoid could be perfectly healthy for a non-diabetic person who would be considered healthy normal.
Prior to our list we are going to give a few mentions of things that diabetics should avoid and heck, even healthy people shouldn’t eat these super bad ones.
Everyone should avoid.
Dried fruits with added sugar.
Sweetened applesauce.
Fruits canned or sitting in syrup or sweetened juice.
Fruit juices – they are not the whole fruit and don’t have any fiber or bulk to slow down the sugars impact on your bloodstream.
Pickled fruits – such as pickled tomatoes or cucumbers. These will almost always contain seriously unhealthy levels of salt.
Now On To Our List Of Bad Fruits For Diabetics
Here is a list of some of the worst culprits that contain large amounts of sugars or break down into simple sugars to rapidly for the body to process optimally.
They are listed in no particular order.
A). Dried fruits. These are concentrated and so are their sugars. As an example, 1 tablespoon of raisons contains about 9 to 10 grams of sugars which is the equivalent of approximately 2 teaspoons of pure sugar.
The problem with dried fruits is, because they pack so many calories into a small portion size, they are easy to over consume.
Plus, since they are so condensed, they taste very, very sweet. This makes other hydrated fruits taste less sweet by comparison which could make you crave more of the dried fruits.
B). Fruit Juice. I know we briefly covered it above, but this is truly some bad stuff for diabetics.
The nutritional value has been decimated by pasteurization. They have to heat it before they package it to kill of all the bacteria. Well, that same temperature kills all the enzymes as well and destroys most of the nutrients.
Yes, those nutrients are still present, they were not removed. That’s why they can list them on the label.
But just because it’s present doesn’t mean that it still works.
I’m sure you’ve seen people show up at your work who were present, but they didn’t work very well.
The same thing happens when you cook nutrients. They are there, but they are damaged and don’t work very well in the body.
C). High glycemic fruits. These are the fruits that contain too much sugar for their mass or those where the sugar breaks down to quickly and both spike your blood sugar above where it should be.
Many people will say to just eat tiny servings of them. But you and I know that usually never works out does it.
What are you supposed to do, eat 1/8th of a banana and throw the rest away?
That sounds good in theory, but how many people would actually do it?
The answer is, not many.
It’s for this reason that it’s best to just avoid the following fruits and not attempt to only consume them in moderation.
Because the moderation thing is pretty hard to do in real life.
We will list the fruit and their GI (glycemic index) number.
Watermelon – 72. This sugar hits your bloodstream like a sledgehammer. Not good.
Ripe Bananas – 62. If you want to have a small serving of banana eat them when they are sill partially green. You can get the GI down into the 40’s this way which is not only acceptable but actually really good.
Raisins – 64. We spoke of these earlier.
There are other fruits that could get an honorable mention because they contain quite a bit of sugar per ounce of fruit flesh and so should be avoided as well and they are.
Pomegranates, grapes and pineapple.
We are not saying that all other fruits are good to go. You should consult your health care practitioner and allow them to advise you which would be safe for your individual condition.
The above is just a list of the blatant ones you should avoid.
Which Fruits Have The Most Pesticides?
These are the fruits you should preferably eat organic, or if organic is not available then you need a high-quality fruit and vegetable wash that helps remove most of the pesticides on the outside at least.
Even if you do use a wash you should also soak them in water for 15 minutes prior to consuming them as well. Washing first and soaking second can really help lower the levels on the outside of the fruit.
What about the inside?
Well, that’s why you should eat these fruits organic.
A). Strawberries – bugs love them to, so they have to use high levels of pesticides to keep them at bay.
B). Nectarines – most of the store samples purchased and tested were found to have two or more pesticides left on them in residual levels.
C). Apples – yes apples. Over 90% of all store-bought apples that were tested showed residual pesticide levels.
D). Grapes – it’s tough for grape growers because if they don’t spray the grapes their whole crop can be wiped out from fungus and bugs.
So, grapes really should only be eaten when organic because they are sprayed with both pesticides and fungicides.
E). Peaches – caterpillars just love peaches. So do several species of flies and other bugs. This means that conventionally grown peaches are generally sprayed with 2 or more types of pesticides.
F). Cherries – the vast majority of conventionally grown cherries that were tested had 2 or more pesticides in residual levels.
G. Pears – although they may not be as heavily sprayed as some fruits, they were also found to have pesticide residues on the majority of non-organic products.
H). Tomatoes – if you’ve ever seen tomatoes grown in a home garden you’ve likely noticed the holes on them from the bugs burrowing in.
To avoid this conventional growers use pesticides to control the bug populations. These residuals are found on the fruit at the grocery store level.
There are of course more fruits that have pesticides, herbicides and fungicides; however, these are the main culprits that you really need to watch out for.
Nightshades
There are a whole group of plants that belong to the nightshade family and there is a growing amount of very credible science that supports the notion that people should not consume them.
What Are Nightshades?
Plants of the Solanaceae family are considered nightshades, and all to some degree contain a toxic alkaloid called solanine.
Some nightshade plants like the deadly belladonna contain lethal doses of this alkaloid, while others contain only traces.
What’s The Problem With Nightshades?
With belladonna it’s obvious, the plant flat out kills you.
We are quite sure you don’t want that.
But what happens when you consume the plants that just have tiny traces of the toxin?
There is a growing amount of literature that shows these plants can exacerbate existing arthritic conditions as well as becoming toxic to your liver in high enough volumes of consumption.
Many of the fruits and vegetables in the nightshade family are staples in the American diet and diets all over the world.
However, if you have liver damage or are concerned about arthritis you may wish to avoid the fruits that we will list below.
Many are generally considered to be safe. However, they thought tabaco was safe just 60 or so years ago.
And, with the growing amount of evidence that these might just play a major role in deteriorating your health, you may wish to delve into it a little deeper before you continue to consume them.
Which Fruits Fall Into The Nightshade Family?
A). Tomatoes – Yes, not only are they ladened with pesticides, they are also in the nightshade family of plants.
B). Eggplant – the first thing you might be thinking is, eggplant, is that a fruit too? Yes, it most certainly is.
It might not make our top list of fruits that have bug sprays still on them, but it is on the nightshade list.
C). Bell Pepper – even though they are quite high in vitamin C, you may wish to get your powerhouse antioxidant from other food sources such as broccoli or citrus fruit.
It may not be worth using bell peppers as a major source if you’re concerned about the future of your liver and joints.
Here’s Why We Broke Our List Down This Way
As you can see, it’s one thing to know which fruits you may wish to consider avoiding, but it’s a whole lot better when you know exactly why you should stay away from them.
Sources
1. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325550#summary
2. https://www.verywellhealth.com/fruits-to-avoid-if-you-have-diabetes-1087587
3. https://www.eatthis.com/foods-most-pesticides
4. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/321745#what-are-nightshade-vegetables