Too much fruit?

[Secret Heart]

Ok, this might be a silly question, but it's been on my mind so I'm going to throw it out there :o
Is it possible to eat too much fruit? I only eat fruit until lunch (eg 1 banana, 1 apple and a pear or some combination thereof) and then have at least one fruit in the afternoon.
Plus, I only eat fruit in the evenings now instead of the old breads and cereals in SAD days...is it possible to have too much? I do find I'm rather gassy :eek:
Other than that I feel fine...I just didn't know if the sugars in them might not be such a good thing. Any advice would be great. Thanks
Heather

[lodestar]

Dear Heather:

Consider having a blended fruit, green smoothie. Why? Well, at one point I was eating mostly fruit and I found when I started throwing a fist full of spinach in a daily fruit smoothie I felt AMAZING! It is hard for me to put my finger on it, but all I can do is tell you that upping the greens in this diet has been a great addition for me.

[Revvell]

Hi Heather,

Well, the question is, why are you eating "so much". Craving? Ease? Availablity?

For me, presently, I am doing fruit only for the time being. When that ends, I will, as lodestar presented, create some green smoothies.

As far as if "you" are eating "too much" fruit, that's not up to me to say. How are you feeling? How are your bm's? Fruit certainly beats breads and cereals.

Revvell

[Secret Heart]

Thanks Rev and Lode for your replies....it's basically ease that's determining the fruit intake...I don't have my dehydrator yet and haven't created more things (partially out of laziness...I have as of yet to get a real system of making some raw staples to have around). Don't get me wrong, I feel fantastic...just didn't know if there was such a thing as too much.
Also, I just love fruit! I'll try the spinach within the smoothies..thanks for that. BMs are good thankfully:>
Heather

[rawpriestess]

Dear Secret Heart,

first, I love the painting as your avatar? Did you do it?

It reminds me of the old Dutch Masters.

Anyway, I love fruit and I know that Gossia eats alot of it, you might PM her and ask her, as I remember seeing her daily intake of food, and was amazed at the amount of fruit she eats.

I am a nut eater, pure and simple, nuts, pate's burgers, nuts butters, nut nut nuts.

Of course, they say,"You are what you eat." LOL

[Heather Lynn]

i am a huge fruit eater myself and i was about to post the same question. i guess fruit is better than high glycemic carbs i was eating in the past.

[Secret Heart]

Thanks Raw Priestess for your words...yes, I did paint it. You can see more work from the link at the bottom of this post.
Heather Lynn, I agree with you about the glycemic index factor. Being hypoglycemic and being rather "passionate" about carbs makes eating lots of apples and pears a much better alternative to higher glycemic foods.
I'm going to make a mango lassi tomorrow morning for breakfast...I've never eaten a fresh mango before (such a virgin) :) I heard there's quite a trick to it...I had better get researching it! I have also heard that papaya is even better than mango...though I'm sure that's all very subjective.

Heather

[VeganVixen]

youll LOVE mango :)

[ksabe98]

Hi there, have you heard of fruitarians? Well they mostly eat only fruit. I think that you can be this way for awhile and do very well. However from my own personal experience I do better if I balance out my fruit and vegetables to get a good wide variety of each. I get more centered energy when I eat alot of greens. But I feel very light and happy when I eat alot of fruit. Eating alot of both is good. Also there are many who eat mono dieting which is basically one or two kinds of foods each day for periods of time to give the body a rest. For example eating only mangos or tomatoes or lettuce all day for the who day. Or perhaps lettuce with tomatoes and avocado. These types of eating habits can be beneficial. I always say the best thing is to see how your body is reacting to what you are eating. If you find you are not feeling well or as well as you would like you need to change something. So many times we go about life without really paying attention to what we are eating or how it is affecting us and how we feel. Sounds like if you are doing well keep doing it. I also eat alot of fruit but I also eat at least one huge salad almost every day with alot of greens and other things included.
Lisa

[RawTruth]

Also, Heather, Alissa describes a few weeks of her normal eating in her book. If you read it, you can get an idea of how fruit fits into a long-time raw foodist's daily life.

Generally, though, even with raw food, balance is always a good thing to strive for. Have you followed any of the threads on green smoothies? If not, what Victoria Boutenko has to say is very important to us raw folk, I think. It's based on 11 years of her and her family being raw and the studies she's done and is currently conducting -- basically, the importance of greens.

Here is a link where another new member posted their entire June newsletter in which Victoria writes about this issue:
http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=38931&posted=1#post38931


If you know all this already, please forgive me; your question made me think that you don't, though, so that's why I've included this here.

By the way, your morning fruit consumption doesn't seem excessive to me, but, like has already been said ... it's all relative, really. There are no one-fits-all answers.

[zeeraw]

I only eat fruit until lunch (eg 1 banana, 1 apple and a pear or some combination thereof) and then have at least one fruit in the afternoon.

Personally I don't see how 4 pieces of fruit up until the evening is too much? Before I started eating RAW I ate more than this everyday (I love fruit). My father who is diabetic and is only spose to eat 2 pieces of fruit a day according to the dietician eats about 2 serves at every meal.

If you look at what Frederic Patenaude eats he seems to eat a lot of fruit. Sapoty Brook (don't know if you've head of him and I can't remember the book he wrote) suggests in his "Core Raw Diet" to eat 5 pieces of fruit by 10.00am and a minimum of 12 pieces everyday.

As I love fruit I do tend to eat a fair bit. Also when I'm feeling lazy (i.e. don't feel like cutting up a salad for lunch to take to work), I just pack heaps of fruit that I snack on during the day whenever I feel hungry.

Maybe it comes back to how does it feel for you? And surely the sugar etc in fruit has got to be better for you than the sugar in chocolate/chocolate cake etc...

Z

[Carlene]

I don't know. Yesterday I went to a barbeque and grazed (pigged out) all day on fruit. Today I feel less than energetic. I was lazy getting out of bed, my legs were sore on my morning walk, and by 9:30 PM last night I was starting to fall asleep so I came home. I did eat a lot of grapes (best I've had in years), and have always had a problem with wine so maybe that was it. My blood sugar was up 2 points this morning. I think for me, I may have overdone it fruit wise. Today I'm going after more veggies.

[Sharon in Colorado]

I do believe we were blessed with a sweet tooth for a reason. Also a reason why our bodies run on carbs - we NEED fruit! And lots of it. Fat and protein just doesn't give us energy like the carbs in natural fruit. It would probably be pretty impossible to eat too much fruit, but sometimes when eaten along with fat, is when folk run into sugar problems, as the fat inhibits the sugars from disgesting and assimilating at their normal speed. Many people eat their fats later in the day or after a fruit meal.

So IMO it would be almost impossible to eat too much fruit.

This is not to underestimate the value of greens and nuts in your diet. Just know that it takes a huge abundance of greens to get only a few hundred calories, and you are eating it for the rich sources of fiber, minerals and protein. However, when raw fooders don't get enough calories through fruit carbs, they tend to overdo the fats (nuts, olives, avos, oils) to make up for it.

Just to get an idea of your percentages of carbs vs. fats, try entering in your daily food logs at www.fitday.com. It is amazing to most of us how much fat we pack away, and don't realize it.

[sachis2112]

I guess this question would be individual to the person, just as any lifestyle is. For me, yes, there is such a thing as too much fruit. If I eat too much, I get moody and weepy. Didn't realize it until I went a few days on veggies only and had a dramatic grounding feeling.

[VeganVixen]

I personally feel lighter witha higher percentage of fruit ,and I seem to gain weight when I eat less fruit and more greens , I dont eat fats -go figure :rolleyes:

[sachis2112]

LOL I think feeling lighter was my problem... like feeling high.... sugar rush or something. :rolleyes: Since I'm still overweight, I tend to lose a little here and there no matter what I eat, as long as its raw.

[RawTruth]

My blood sugar was up 2 points this morning. I think for me, I may have overdone it fruit wise. Today I'm going after more veggies.Oh, Carlene, I didn't realize that you're diabetic or pre-diabetic or in whatever situation that you're taking your blood sugar levels. In that case, anything I've said about fruit doesn't apply -- I only know my experience and that of others, none of whom have this challenge. :o

I do think, however, that if you're questioning yourself, that alone is telling you something. I know there are lots of things in the world to fret about, but this one is so easy: if you think you're eating too much, then just cut back and add more greens. Wow, wish world peace could be taken care of that simply!
:D

[Carlene]

You know, I think my sugar problem yesterday was all in my head. Once I decided not to be tired, I had plenty of energy today. I worried yesterday I was eating too much fruit, and I also had about 4 handfuls of nuts which I don't usually overdo on. I think it was me and my own fears of sugar and fats that made me feel so bad this morning. I expected it to impact me and it did. I didn't want to feel lousy today, so I didn't.

All I have to do is keep reminding myself of my own power to control my health and I'll succeed on this lifestyle.