Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jeff on August 23, 2010 at 11:12am

Great topic! Fructose is such a weird substance in general I try to stay away from it. I only eat sugar (of any type) when my blood sugars are low, so I don't consider sugar to be a part of my diet since lows should never happen ideally, but the fact is I do have lows almost daily, and so I do eat some sugar, mostly glucose tabs. But I have experimented a bit over the summer with some fruit. If I buy berries from the farmer that grew them, or if I pick wild ones, I can pretty much eat them by the crateload without them affecting my bgs much. On the other hand if I buy them at the grocery store they will make me skyrocket. Melons are right out, peaches & plums are pretty good though, half a peach will see me through a mild low, while a full one will bring me back from the 30s-40s.

I find that fruit is much slower to act than the dextrose is. If my brain wasn't happily burning ketone bodies in place of glucose, I probably wouldn't want to wait around for the fruit to work.

Permalink Reply by insulinjunkie on August 28, 2010 at 7:41am

Do you know why there is a difference in the fresh vs. grocery store...just curious?

Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on August 24, 2010 at 3:46pm

I have not been eating much fruit at all. For the life of me, where is the science behind fruit being healthy? Can anyone point out what macro or micronutrients we need from fruit? I'll be waiting patiently here. If anyone can tell me why I have to eat fruit, I'll be surprised.

Permalink Reply by Judith on August 24, 2010 at 3:55pm

Not me, my friend. I just happen to love blueberries with almond milk, a Tbsp or 2 of heavy cream and stevia. My big treat of the day! So I was delighted to find they don't impact my BS much.....

Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on August 25, 2010 at 5:25am

So you have me there Judith. Joy and happiness. I guess there is something important there. Just don't eat fruit because the USDA says you need 2 cups of "fruit" a day, eat it because it makes you happy.

Permalink Reply by Christopher Angell on August 24, 2010 at 4:04pm

My understanding is that there's nothing major that you can get from fruit that you can't get from meats/veggies/etc. Although the marketing departments haven't figured out how to sell "super veggies" yet.

Permalink Reply by Hana Rous on August 29, 2010 at 3:02am

bsc
I'm hunting for the science benind most dietary advice. I know how to hunt, being a scientist[40 years ago:o)]. The truth is MOST Dietary "FACT" is mere supposition with little or No evidentiary support.

the only Tested diet I can think of is the paleo diet, which has been tested by time and Dr B.'s diet, which has been tested by the health of people following it. and also Atkins??}
Hana

Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on August 29, 2010 at 9:03am

Well, as it turns out there have been a "reasonable" number of studies on low carb done over the last decade. Many of them demonstrating positive effects on the so called "biomarkers." The new book New Atkins for you discusses at a high level much of this research. The Nutrition and Metabolism Society has many good studies reported on the subject. There have even been recent studies in so called mainstream journals like the Annals of Internal Medicine Weight and Metabolic Outcomes After 2 Years on a Low-Carbohydrate V... which showed that a low carb diet had better cardiovascular outcomes (as measured by biomarkers), than a low fat diet. But on the topic of fruit, there has not been much study. It is just assumed, even though there is little physiological reason, no macro/micro nutrient reason and the prospective observational studies are really inconclusive.

Unfortunately, when talking to doctors and dieticians, it is not about "fact" or "evidence." We are expected to defer to so called "expert" advice.

Permalink Reply by s6954118 on August 25, 2010 at 11:16am

I had watermellon for the first time in a long time. these were sweet seedless strippers and little or no effect on my numbers. Best ever

Permalink Reply by Jeff on August 28, 2010 at 8:17am

Huh, Tu seems to be acting a little odd this morning, anyway insulinjunkie here's my reply:

I'm not entirely sure, but I would guess it has something to do with centuries of controlled, monocultured agriculture. Farmers have been breeding/picking the sweetest, juiciest fruit from their orchards for so long that now we primarily find only those types of fruit on the store shelves.

Case in point, here is what a wild banana looks like:

And of course, the modern store-bought variety:

Not to hard to spot the sugarier one.

Permalink Reply by insulinjunkie on August 28, 2010 at 10:59am

Wow!

Permalink Reply by carb101 on September 14, 2010 at 6:47am

Oh my goodness! I had no idea what that top picture was. Doesn't look delectable, does it?

I have a blind (spineless) prickly pear in my garden, and its fruits were loved by the natives from this area. So last year when it fruited, we all tried it. Very wet and slightly sweet. My mother pointed out that when the natives were eating it, they didn't have access to Snickers Bars, and the juiciness sweetness of the pricly pear must have seemed like heaven above to them.

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