Can You Eat Fruit On A Keto Diet?

Recently, the keto diet , which promises to live long and think fast, has not lost its popularity. One of the controversial issues when following such a nutrition system is how useful fruits are , and whether they prevent weight loss.

Are fruits toxic ?

Almost 10 years ago, doctor Robert Lustig gave a famous lecture about the dangers of fructose for the body. " Fructose is alcohol without getting drunk!" - warned the pediatric endocrinologist. A university lecture that got on YouTube became more popular than a video with cats. Since then, Lustig does not tire of talking about the harm of fructose , recording new lectures and publishing scientific works devoted to this sweetener. In one such work, in the comparative table "Drunkenness and regular consumption of fructose ", 8 out of 12 consequences coincide. Alcoholics and those whose diet contains a lot of fructose suffer from metabolic disorders, they develop insulin resistance and liver problems begin.

At the same time, a large number of studies show that the consumption of fruit lowers blood sugar levels, helps to stabilize weight or even lose weight and reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Such studies are usually observational, that is, people are asked about their eating habits once, for example, a year. This does not seem like a very accurate way to establish the truth. In such works, it is difficult to find out which factor affected a person's health - the consumption of fruit or the fact that he quit smoking. If the participant replaced buns with apples and potatoes fried in trans fats with bananas, he definitely improved his health. But this does not mean that fruits are definitely useful and, moreover, necessary in the diet every day. At a minimum, you need to compare the health effects of replacing apples with salmon fillets with spinach. The results may be mixed.

On the other hand, the work of Lusting and many others who talk about the harm of fructose is based on studies in which people consumed high fructose corn syrup. In the body, only the liver can absorb fructose . She spends fructose on the synthesis of triglycerides and glycogen, which replenishes her own reserves. When these reserves are full, the liver starts de novo lipogenesis - the conversion of glycogen into fat. Both the liver itself and the whole body become fat. The liver is often unable to cope with the amount of glucose that comes with modern foods. But a healthy liver can handle a natural apple.

• Can fruit be equal in terms of harm to sweet soda water containing sugar syrup? - No.

• Are fruits toxic ? - No.

• Can you eat fruit while following a keto diet ? - In some cases.

Are the fruits natural ?

The keto diet involves the consumption of whole natural products. The fruits seem natural. So. But no. Modern fruits are the result of selection. Many centuries ago, people tried to breed varieties that are more resistant to pests and weather disasters, larger and sweeter.

The modern banana has nothing in common with its ancient ancestor. We would hardly like an ordinary plant - this unsweet pulp with bones. A tender starchy banana is the result of a mutation, it does not have seeds, the fruit is propagated by root processes (sometimes with the participation of scientists who breed new varieties). Watermelon is considered a berry for a reason - it was once a small fruit, and not a ball that you don't always bring home.

When it comes to the fact that our ancestors ate fruits , we are talking about wild fruits, with stones, and not very sweet.

Separately, it should be mentioned that the cultivation of fruits began somewhere between the 6th and 3rd millennia BC, 8-5 thousand years ago, and some plants were even domesticated in the 19th-20th century, for example, blueberries, blueberries and kiwi.

That is , the fruits that we know today appeared in our diet quite recently. And they were available only in season, they never formed the basis of a person's diet, and even more so they were not part of the daily menu.

Most often, fruit was a luxury. In the 2nd part of The Godfather, Vito Corleone, who has not yet become a godfather and even a criminal, brings his wife a gift - a pear neatly wrapped in newspaper. In the 3rd part, Don Corleone is the master of the city, he forcefully tells the merchant what to put in a paper bag. And when a firefight begins and he falls wounded on the cobblestones, 20 oranges will roll down the road.

Before you scream that fruit has always been the basis of human survival, try adding a wild orange to your diet. Somewhere in the north, in winter.

So, there is nothing natural in the fact that specially bred varieties of fruit are available to us all year round , unfortunately.