Tag: low carb

Why Fructose Isn’t All Bad

Fruit may not be the bogeyman it’s made out to be.

Fruit – especially the carefully engineered types of fruit we enjoy today – is a no-no word for certain dietary plans. Take low carb, for instance. Yes, you can eat fruit if you eat it “within your macros.” When it comes to many fruits, that’s not a whole lot, and it may limit you to only certain fruits.

Other lifestyles like the paleo diet often say berries are “better than” other fruits and that “if you want to lose weight, eat less fruit and concentrate on vegetables and protein.”

And increasingly, food lifestyle gurus are shunning fruit for its purported capability of aging the body faster and amping inflammation.

But taking your health and weight loss goals into consideration, is it all true?

Fructose: The Debbil?

The culprit in these assertions is usually not carbohydrates per se, but fructose, one of the two types of sugar usually present in fruits.

Concentrated fruit sugars, as found in some sweeteners like high-fructose corn syrup, are said to compound the negative health issues naturally-occurring fructose can create.

Fructose contains advanced glycation end products (AGEs), which, ironically or not, have been found in some studies to promote aging. They can also be pro-inflammatory, and inflammation can wreak havoc in the body.

Besides AGEs, fructose – at least by itself – is connected to an increase in bodily fat and my even be implicated in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

One other factor comes into play: modification of fruits. Genetic engineering is a comparatively recent method, but mankind has been cultivating fruits through cross-breeding for thousands of years in order to be as sweet and large as possible, which usually translates to a higher fructose:glucose ratio.

In fact, we’re going to talk about these two sugars below.

Should You STOP Eating Fruit?

Not necessarily. Here’s why.

While fructose by itself can wreak havoc, especially if isolated and concentrated into a syrup flavoring like high fructose corn syrup, fruit has a second sugar that can balance out these effects, allowing you all the nutrients you need without the degree of damage you’ve heard about.

That other sugar is glucose, a primary source of energy for your body. Fruits (and some vegetables) vary in their ratios of fructose to glucose, but in general, you’ll find a 40-55% ratio of fructose to glucose in fruits eaten whole (not juiced, which concentrates the sugars).

Fiber is another factor. Whole fruit contains fiber, which makes the digestive process a little longer and means a slower, steadier rise and fall of insulin. All of this translates to less immediate conversion to fat and potentially, less hunger after eating the fruit.

My Take

I’m not on paleo (technically, though I’m eating my foods in as whole a way as possible) and I don’t low-carb. I do eat fruits, but I don’t munch on them all day long.

Usually I eat fruit once or twice a day.

That’s just me. You’ll be different because, well, we’re different people. So far, though, my blood glucose levels are fine, and I am feeling pretty good. Time will tell.

Check With Your Doctor

I am not a medical professional. There are certain conditions that warrant little to no fructose consumption, whether glucose is naturally present or not.

Do you eat fruit? How much and what’s your favorite type? Let me know in a comment below.

NIH Study: We Eat Faster (and More) When Food is Processed

Here’s why you wolf that burger down.

This surprised me.

I mean I realize there’s a psychology to food – for example, there have been studies where people were told the food was lower in calories, so they ate more regardless of the actual calories.

But I didn’t realize that the pace and amount of food could vary when the food was presented as “the same as” a less-processed dish.

To me, the most interesting point is that the diets were matched exactly in macros – fat, calories and carbs – as well as in sugar and fiber.

The processed-foods group ate 500 calories more per day and gained more weight than the less-processed foods group.

This video explains a study from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) describing the difference in eating behavior when the body takes in highly processed foods. Study was published in the journal Cell Metabolism. Worth a watch! Enjoy!

Why I Gave Up on Low Carb

It didn’t work for me. Here’s why.

There’s little doubt that eating a low-carbohydrate diet quells hunger to manageable levels, largely due to a smaller and slower insulin release following a low-carb v. high-carb meal.

For this reason, I was very attracted to low carb…for a very long time.

I tried it every possible way. Moderately low (40 grams of carbs and under), very low carb (less than 10 grams/nearly “carnivore”), controlled carbs per meal (less than 30 or less than 15)…you name it.

And every single time, I will repeat that, EVERY time, I either binged like a madwoman, or sank into the depths of depression.

Now don’t get me wrong. Not everyone who lives a low-carb lifestyle experiences depression. But for some people, it’s a thing. It may be tied into altered thyroid hormone conversion function, or it may not; thoughts differ. I do have thyroid disease – Hashimoto’s thyroiditis – which I feel plays into these issues.

Whatever the cause, nothing ever seemed to stop the depression reaction, and I wasn’t willing or able to wait it out months to see whether I’d bounce back from “maybe I should just step in front of a car.”

Were We REALLY “Naturally Low-Carb” in Yesteryear? Nah

On top of all that, it just never felt natural to me. The argument goes that we are “meant” to eat very low carb; 30 grams at a maximum, in some experts’ estimation.

I do not see human history that way, nor does the evidence see human history that way. We have always been very opportunistic. We didn’t necessarily eat low-carb in one culture or another. We ate what we could get when we could get it.

Processing Could Be Key

Now the one huge difference is that they weren’t, until more recently (Industrial Revolution and onward), very processed carbs. Food has been processed for possibly 800,000 years, meaning we used fire; yes, that’s processing. And through prehistory, history and into the Renaissance and Enlightenment, processing, like milling flour and making butter, were, of course, parts of eating.

But ultra-processing is more 20th century and beyond, and my personal feeling is that this is the effect it has on my own, and possibly others’, hunger.

It’s the ultra-processing, not “more carbs,” that is the huge change, especially in the late 20th century. At that time we had all kinds of fascinating changes, like more targeted genetic modification of wheat (in the past, it had been mostly down to cross-breeding) and the introduction of high-fructose corn syrup into…well, everything.

Why Low-Carb Doesn’t Work for Me

There are just too many “well, if I can just overcome this tremendous hurdles involved for low-carb to work for me.

Low-carb also doesn’t eliminate the possibility of frankenfoods, such as artificial sweeteners. And I feel those are key in driving my hunger. Remember: I don’t have a specific study on that. It’s just my experience.

The emotional factor – doing without a huge variety of what I love – is just the (sorry) icing on the cake; literally the only payback I get from low-carb is less water, hence a slimmer-looking frame at least right out of the gate, and that doesn’t balance out the negatives for me.

Remember: this is just my experience. What do you think? Do you love low-carb? Hate it? Sound off below! I’d love to hear from you.