Fruit that can make you fat

Summer fruits are one of the wonderful bonuses of this season. Who doesn’t love them? But before you start stuffing yourself with fruit as if they’re about to run out of season, you should pay attention that they don’t mess up your diet. Fruit contain sugar (fructose), sometimes in a surprising quantity.

Most of us love fruit, especially eating them chilled whilst sitting in our airconditioned rooms. The problem is that we shouldn’t really consume them without limitation. And it’s important to know which of them contain greater amounts of sugar that potentially can put our diet at risk.

Grapes and mango, for example, contain 15% sugar to a serving, which means that a small bunch of grapes hides 4 teaspoons of sugar. An average size mango hides walloping 7 teaspoons of sugar. Next on the list are apples, pears and peaches, all containing around 10% sugar to a piece of fruit, which translates to approximately 4 teaspoons of sugar per piece of fruit.

Surprisingly, the least amount of sugar is present in melon and watermelon (7% sugar in a portion), which is less than found is carrots. But because of the higher portions usually consumed, it practically comes down to consuming similar amounts of sugar.

It is important to realise that the sugar contained in fruit is fructose which is quickly absorbed by the body and is mostly stored as belly fat. So even if certain fruits are not as sugar-rich, its still recommended not to consume more than 3 portions per day (for non-diabetics or people with insulin resistance).

If you’re a diabetic who is not willing to give up on fruit, it’s recommended to check the glycaemic value of each fruit and how quickly the fructose will be absorbed in the blood. The slower, the better. It’s recommended that diabetics consume fruits together with proteins such as almonds or yogurt.