Diet

Can an All Fruit Diet be Healthy and Safe?

Most of us know that eating fruit is a beneficial aid to weight loss, so we may assume that following a diet consisting of only fruit would be advantageous, but this is not necessarily the case.

It is a fact that fruit is an excellent element for forming a balanced diet, and eating fruit can help us to shed those excess pounds. It is also true that certain fruits have additional fat burning properties, especially lemons and grapefruit.

However, existing on fruit alone will not achieve the results we would be hoping for.

Firstly, fruit has high sugar content and consuming excessive quantities of sugar can result in erratic fluctuations in our blood glucose levels. If our blood sugar levels are constantly fluctuating throughout the day, we will be subject to cravings and hunger pangs and end up eating more than we would normally. Some fruits have a high fibre content which can help to minimize this effect, but fruits which contain very little fibre will only succeed in making things worse.

Another problem with following an all fruit diet is that we will not be supplying our body with all the vital nutrients our body needs for functioning healthily and efficiently. We will still need to ingest protein, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy products to supply the important nutrient our body requires. Although some fruit does contain some of the nutrients found in these foods, it is usually only trace elements.

Finally, we would no doubt get extremely bored eating a diet of nothing but fruit. Fruit is delicious, refreshing, filling, and pleasant to eat, but we would probably soon get fed up of eating it if we ate nothing else.

Taking everything into consideration, following an all fruit diet may not be the best choice for successful weight loss or good health and well being.

However, we can certainly enjoy several servings of fruit each day, but we must ensure that we include other healthy, nutritious foods too. We could include a portion of fruit as a snack, or as a dessert after our main meal or snack. We could add berries or sliced banana to our breakfast cereal, or add pureed fruit to yoghurt, make a bowl of fresh fruit salad for a dessert, bake an apple, or add diced apple, pear, or orange segments to a salad. Fruit is a very versatile commodity and it can add sweetness to many dishes and satisfy a sweet tooth with a lot less calories than other alternatives.

Diet