In this video, I'll uncover whether fruit is healthy or just nature's candy.
A lot of you have come to the channel and ask many questions surrounding fruit. Is it
healthy? Is it unhealthy? What about the sugar content in it? Can I have this fruit on that
diet? Well, here's the deal, is that there's a lot of complexity to it, so we're going
to break it down in this video and help you understand how you should move forward using
fruit in your health in order to meet your health goals. So, stick around to the end,
but before we get started, I'm Dr. Zyrowski and welcome to the channel. If you're new
to the channel, it's a pleasure to have you here. Be sure to subscribe, hit that notification
bell, and join our notification community so I can help you excel your health and your
life.
Now, when it comes to fruit, fruit is going to be different for every single person on
how you utilize it. So, what we'll do is we'll go through the fruit, talk about the sugar
content in it, and some of the benefits that the fruit has to offer. And then from there,
we'll break it down and help you determine whether or not it's right for you.
Let's go ahead first and start with pineapple. Now, pineapple is a fruit that's a favorite
of a lot of people's. I know I love pineapple. It's really great because you can put it in
smoothies. You can sweeten things with it. And when we look at pineapple, it has a lot
of health benefits as well. Pineapple in particular is going to have about 16 grams of sugar per
cup. So quite a bit of sugar in this guy and that's something that, like I said, a little
bit higher in sugar, but pretty delicious.
Let's talk about watermelon. When we look at watermelon is definitely a summer favorite
of my family's. We'd go inside. We have fun playing in the warm sun and the watermelon
is great. I mean, it is very satiating out there. And, of course, the sugars taste pretty
good too. So, when we look at watermelon, we're getting about 10 grams of sugar per
cup. Now it's a little bit less than our pineapple over here, but the thing is, is that a watermelon
is going to also be something that many, many people love.
Let's talk about some other fruits. How about strawberries? Strawberries are great. I mean,
let's face it. Strawberries are one of the most nutrient dense fruits you can eat. And
you're going to eat a cup of strawberries and get about 5.4 grams of sugar. That's not
too much sugar, so not bad for strawberries, especially with all the health benefits that
have loaded with different nutrients. Really good for you.
How about blueberries? Blueberries are a huge favorite of mine. A lot of times when I look
at these fruits and the ones that I really like, it's unfortunate because I find out
that I like them because they have a lot of sugar in them. This one's got about 15 grams
of sugar per cup. So, blueberries though, nutrient dense, lots of antioxidants, they're
going to be a little bit higher on the sugar scale when it comes to the berries and fruit.
Now let's talk about blackberries. Blackberries are also delicious. They're coming in at about
7 grams of sugar per cup. I do love blackberries as well. And it's something that a lot of
people really enjoy. Now, these are going to be loaded with different micronutrients,
lots of health benefits in these berries. And the same goes for our friend over here.
The raspberries. Now raspberries are a little bit lower than blackberries as far as sugar
content. We're going to get about 5.5 grams of sugar per cup of raspberries. I do love
raspberries. I don't like particularly how expensive. They are a little bit pricey for
fresh berries. But the truth is, is that you can always save a few bucks and go buy some
frozen ones and still get some of the same benefits that they have to offer. And really
when it comes to frozen versus non frozen, I mean, sure, the fresh stuff is delicious,
but the frozen still has all the same nutrients in it. And we have to remember that.
Let's talk about some other fruits, some of my other favorites. One of the things I really
love are going to be mangoes. Now, of course, as I just said, with the blueberries, this
mango has 46 grams of sugar in it, and that's a lot of sugar for one piece of fruit. So,
we gotta be careful with these guys because I mean, let's face it, I mean, though, not
all sugar is created equal - we can't say that a can of soda is the same thing as eating
fruit like some people like the claim - but it's still quite a bit of sugar in here. And
for certain scenarios, we may want to avoid consuming that much sugar, especially on a
regular basis, even though it's coming from nature.
Let's go ahead and look at this grapefruit. A grapefruit is something that I love as well.
Now, a lot of my kids like grapefruits and little bit sour, and unfortunately, when I
grew up, I was always putting sugar on grapefruits. That's how I was taught to eat these. You
just take a spoonful of sugar and you just dump it all over it, and then you eat your
grapefruit. We don't do that in my house, but the great thing about this great is that
there's only eight grams of sugar per grapefruit. So definitely one that's pretty awesome and
very delicious.
Now, bananas are a big favorite of runners. I can't think of a race that I've went to
and not seen bananas at the finish line. So, when we look at the bananas, a lot of runners
like it. A lot of athletes like them because they have potassium in them. They have some
magnesium in them. And the thing is about bananas is that they have about 17 grams of
sugar per banana. So, you know what, if you just got done running a 5K a 10 K, we're not
too worried about this sugar, cause your body's going to be able to utilize it properly for
those muscles in recovery. So, bananas are great. 17 grams of sugar per banana, a little
bit higher on the scale, but not too bad.
Let's talk about the pear. So this little tiny pair has about 17 grams of sugar. Though
I love pears and they’re delicious, it's definitely one of nature’s candies here.
There's not a lot of food there, but there's quite a bit of sugar. And the same thing goes
for this red apple right here, which is sitting in at about a whopping 23 grams of sugar.
Now this red apple - I'm not the biggest fan of the red apple, but for those who are, we've
got to definitely be careful, the sugar content in that one.
Now some of the lower glycemic fruits that I really like is going to be like lemon. We're
only going to have about 1.5 grams of sugar per lemon. That's really low. And that's why
people who are on the ketogenic diet, the people who are fasting, the people who want
to get some vitamin C and put this in their water or flavor their water and get all the
health benefits, but without adding a whole bunch of sugar in their lifestyle, this is
your ticket. Along with the lemon, another great fruit that you can use is the lime because
this only has about 1.1 grams of sugar per lime. I mean, this is why these fruits are
sour and they're also highly beneficial when it comes to your overall health. The last
fruit I want to talk about here is going to be kiwi. Now, when it comes to the kiwi, this
is going to be a fruit that has six grams of sugar in it. Once again, not a lot of food
here, a decent amount of sugar. So, it's one of those ones where it's like use it sparingly.
Now when it comes to all these fruits, one of the things I want to do is bring in an
expert panel and really help break down which one they think is going to be the most delicious.
But before we do that, here's what I want to do. I want to talk about which ones we
want to consume and when. So let's go ahead and take these strawberries. Let's put them
on this side. Let's take all these berries here, put them over on this side. Let's take
the lemon. Let's take the lime. Let's put grapefruit over here and then let's put everything
else on this side. Here's what you see here. These are some of the hyperglycemic fruits.
These are some of the lower glycemic fruits. And to be honest, let's go ahead and put blueberries
over here. Even though I hate to do this because it hurts my feelings, I'm going to put it
right here because it really falls into the higher glycemic category. Once again, lots
of benefits of it, right? Lots of benefits of blueberries, lots of different micronutrients
and antioxidants, but still it's one of those fruits that's a little bit high on the glycemic
index scale. So, if you're someone who's following Keto and low carb, you definitely want to
be on this side. These are the fruits you want to focus on. If you're someone who is
not, then you may want to eat these sparingly. Now, here's the other thing to consider. If
you're someone who has weight loss resistance, if you're someone who has cholesterol issues,
if you're someone who has metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, and hormone imbalance,
and many other issues occurring, and you're trying to heal your body, you're still going
to want to stay on this side of the spectrum because these are low glycemic fruits. We're
trying to keep our insulin levels low, our glucose levels low if we're trying to heal.
So that's where we want to be. It's on this side if we're trying to stay in the low sugar
content.
Now with these fruits, they're not dangerous, they're not bad. Some people say, well, they
have fructose in them. Okay, but it’s fructose from nature. And it's also going to have a
lot of micronutrients. There's a lot of health benefits to fruit. I hear some people, like
I said, they compare fruit to a can of soda. If there's 40 grams of high fructose corn
syrup in soda with some caramel color and artificial flavors and nothing good for you,
that is not the same thing as fiber, a lot of nutrients and something that's deliciously
found right in nature. So, we can't compare those and we can't be ridiculous about fruit.
We really have to take it for what it is. And so, if you're trying to heal, stay on
this side. If you're someone who is healthy and you just want to enjoy some of these different
fruits sparingly, absolutely no issue with that.
So, let's go ahead now and bring in our expert panel. All right, now that our experts are
here. We're going to see what fruit they would choose. If they had to choose from any of
these fruits here, what would it be? Tyler, you go first.
Tyler: I want grapefruit.
Dr. Zyrowski: All right. So, Tyler’s getting a grapefruit - eight grams of sugar per piece
of fruit. Good choice. Lower on the sugar scale there. Good one. Emma, you go ahead
and choose yours. Out of all of these here, what would you want?
Emma: I want mango.
Dr. Zyrowski: So, she wants the mango. This mango has 46 grams of sugar per piece of fruit.
So, you enjoy that. The dentist bills just went up. And then… we already know what
he likes. He likes the pear. That’s got 17 grams of sugar per piece of fruit. So,
this is what my expert panel chooses. Now, the reason I wanted to do that is because
kids unknowingly just go and choose the high sugar fruits. Actually, pretty much both kids
and adults do it. I mean, if you were to break down some of the fruits I love, I love mangoes.
And when it comes to berries, I love blueberries. It turns out to be that these are some of
the highest sugar fruits. Now, one of the things that we have to realize is that these
fruits aren't evil. They aren't bad in nature. But the thing is, is if our health goals,
aren't leading in a direction that allows for them, we want to avoid. And the other
thing too is we still want to eat them sparingly. And we don't want our kids to be eating these
fruits in abundance either. They can still rot their teeth out and it can still have
a negative impact on their health - weight gain, all of that stuff. And so, in general,
berries in this side of the aisle are where you're going to want to be, especially if
you're trying to heal your body. And then it's okay to use these fruits and eat these
fruits - just eat them sparingly. And when we think of these different fruits, we don't
have to look at them as if they're evil. We don't have to look at them as a negative thing.
It just depends what you're trying to do. You can't eat these and follow the ketogenic
diet, but you can certainly eat these and follow one just fine. So, it's all about your
goals and it's all about what you're trying to accomplish. If you want to learn more on
how to have a good, healthy diet and even follow a ketogenic diet, check out these videos
right up here as I break all that information down for you.
Now, the last thing that I want to mention is I'd love to hear how you like these different
fruits. Do you use them in smoothies? Which one's your favorite? Which ones do you shy
away from? Put in the comment section below because I'd love to hear your opinion on that.
Also, share this video with your friends and give it a thumbs up. And also, if you could
do this for me, put in the comment section, how you like this style of video. This is
a new style of video that I'm trying on my channel. I haven't done anything like this
in nearly two years. So, put in the comment section if you enjoy it and maybe we'll do
more of them. And then lastly, check out this video right here.
One of the things that we want to do is first of all, understand our goals, understand where
we're trying to be with our health, and then make these choices accordingly.