Busting the Myth of Fruit as a “Free Food"

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Welcome to the Virgin Diet lifestyle show with your host, celebrity nutrition and fitness expert and New York times bestselling author, J.J. virginia.

I'm going to bust one of the biggest urban legends out there that could be making you gain weight and crave sweets, even though you're trying to do everything right. And that myth is that fruit is a free food. The USDA MyPlate recommends that we get five servings of fruit and veggies a day. Now, never mind that five servings of non starchy veggies a day is, well, it's a good start.

Not enough.

But really, since when did a banana or a quarter cup of dried raisins equal the nutrition of kaler Brussels sprouts? I mean, there's this crazy idea out there that if sugar comes from fruit, it's good for you at best or at the very least isn't bad for you. But that couldn't be further from the truth, especially when that fruit has been unwrapped from its fiber. I'm talking about fruit juice concentrate, fruit juice puree, and yes, even fruit juice. These all give you a concentrated hit of fructose. And here's what's really bad about that. Fructose is metabolized differently than any other sugar. So we used to think fructose was great because it didn't raise blood sugar, so it was safe for diabetics. And it read low on the glycemic index. But that's actually what's bad about it, because the fact that it doesn't raise blood sugar means it doesn't trigger insulin, it doesn't trigger leptin, it doesn't trigger ghrelin. So it doesn't tell you you actually ate anything. Instead goes straight to the liver. That's the only organ in the body that can metabolize it. And if it's not turned into glycogen and stored for energy. And I want you just to consider there's not a lot of room in the liver, right? So it's probably turned into triglycerides and stored as fat. Now, the other deal with fructose and the reason we like to use it so much Is it's sweeter, okay? Way sweeter than glucose. And what happens when you eat sweet? What do you want more of? More sweet, Right? Here's another crazy thing. We have an epidemic happening now of fatty liver that has nothing to do with alcoholics. Used to be that the people who had fatty liver were alcoholics. Not anymore. Now we've got non alcoholic fatty liver disease. For those of us that are doing. Not me and not you either, because you're listening to this, but for those people who are having more high fructose corn syrup and more fructose, because again, it really creates problems for the liver, because the liver is the only organ that can metabolize. It can lead to diabetes, insulin resistance, high blood pressure. In fact, if you want to get those little lab rats to get hypertensive for a study, you just give them a bunch of fructose. Here's one other thing. It is the most aging sugar you can eat. All sugars age you. In fact, the most aging thing you can do is eat sugar. But fructose is worse than any of the other sugars, seven times worse. And glycation is where your body takes the sugar, binds to proteins, doesn't need enzymes, and it does things like make you wrinkle and brown spots and all those types of things. Now, it turns out the more fructose you eat, the better your body gets at handling it. And by the way, you don't want to get good at handling fructose. It does this by raising something called the GLUT5 transport proteins. And this helps you shuttle fructose to the liver fast. Okay, again, this is not something you want to get good at, right? So in cycle two of the sugar impact diet, this is what I call the transition phase, because I help you go from being a sugar burner where you're hungry and you have to eat every few hours and you're constantly thinking of that next sugary snack, to a high energy fat burner where you're free of cravings and you can go four to six hours before you need to eat again. Now, part of the magic of this transition is we lower your fructose intake during this time to as close to zero as possible. So for two weeks, you actually cut out all of the fruity.

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Fruit now you can still eat the non fruity fruits, the olives and avocados and fresh tomatoes. But by dropping fructose as low as possible, you basically this is going to sound unbelievable. You lose your sweet tooth. And to heal your metabolism and teach your body how to burn off stored body fat, especially around the waistline. But of course, in order to do that, you're going to have to become super vigilant about where sugar is hiding and especially where that fructose is hiding. So here's what's really crazy. Those unwrapped fruit examples I gave you a little bit earlier, including fruit puree, fruit juice concentrate, fruit juice. Turns out manufacturers can put them in a product and still list no sugar added on the label. So here are the biggest culprits. Jams, yogurts, kids juices and dried fruit snacks and green drinks. Yes, green drinks. One popular green drink out there has 56 grams of sugar in 16 ounces. It's loaded with fruit juice and fruit juice puree so it won't taste, you know, green. Now I'm not saying that fresh fruit is a bad thing. It can be great for your health in moderation, which means one to two servings a day, especially of lower sugar impact choices. That'd be a cup of raspberries. Those are actually my favorite because they're super high in fiber and low in fructose or say a half of a pink grapefruit. Another low fructose fave. What I don't include here is that quarter cup of dried fruit which I look at as little concentrated sugar bombs. And really, who eats a quarter cup of dried fruit? That's just a warm up, right? So here are some other high sugar impact fruit bombs I want you to look out for and some easy low sugar impact swaps you can make so you'll probably like them even better. And I know your liver well. You're going to trade your jam. And by the way, do not be fooled here by that no sugar added jam. We know better now, right? Trade that jam for almond butter. Trade your fruit juice for real green drinks. You know, the green ones, all green veggies, no fruit, carrots or beets. Or better yet, try hint water. So good. Trade your dried fruit for fresh fruit and you can try it frozen. This is great to throw in your low sugar impact shakes as well. Trade your yogurt with fruit on the bottom for yogurt with your own fruit on the top. And count up your total fruit intake each day and keep it to 2 servings max. Now just these small little simple swaps can have a major impact on your belly fat, your cravings, and your energy. If you'd like a free transcript of Today's show, text 58885 and enter JJFRUIT. Your first name Space and your email address. Again, that number is 58885 and you enter JJFRUIT space, your first name space and your email address. In the Sugar Impact Diet, I help you clear up the confusion around sugar and take back the control that sugar has over your life. In just two weeks, you'll lose your sweet tooth and shrink your waistline. Why wait? Start those two weeks today.

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