It all counts...

12^th July 2012

Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful. Annette Funicello

Well yesterday was like living in an episode of crime watch, I walked Alfie on the morning and watch five police do a drugs raid on a flat, all very exciting!  Then on the afternoon as I parked on Sainsbury’s car park, I watched a car whiz out of the car park with the boot open and cans of lager flying out everywhere, they’d apparently stole a trolley full!  And whilst driving home I saw two lads acting shifty and climbing over a fence into someone’s back garden, so I drove round and knocked their front door to tell them!  All that excitement in one day, I don’t know how I coped.

I read an interesting article yesterday that made me think about the fact that even if a food is zero ProPoints, it’s important to remember it doesn’t make it calorie free and we should still be going by our appetite and recognising when we’re satisfied. 

Yes fruit is good for you and helps keep you but it seems some people are actually eating too much fruit, leading to health problems such as obesity, and to tooth decay according to this article!  There's no denying fruit's health benefits - it's packed with vitamins, fibre and antioxidants, which protect against disease.

Here’s the info I found in the article;

We’re advised to eat five a day by the government so we know its good for us, but don’t forget that fruit - like all food - contains calories. And the calories in fruit can make you just as overweight as those in chocolate, explains Dr Carel Le Roux, consultant in metabolic medicine at Imperial College London.  

SO HOW SUGARY IS YOUR FAVOURITE FRUIT?

We're meant to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day - ideally two of fruit and three of veg. But depending on your choice, you may be consuming more fructose - or fruit sugar - than you thought.  All values are for one piece of fruit, unless specified, and the figures in brackets show the equivalent amount of sugar.

• Apricot 0.45g fructose (pinch of sugar)

• Clementine 0.5g (pinch)
• Plum 1.6g (large pinch)
• Fresh fig 2g (1/2tsp)
• Eight cherries 2.4g (1/2 tsp)
• 1 slice honeydew melon 3g (over 1/2 tsp)
• Kiwi fruit 3g (over 1/2 tsp)
• Orange 3.6g (over 1/2 tsp)
• Five strawberries 4g (1 tsp)
• Glass of orange juice 5g (1 tsp)
• Banana 5.5g (1 tsp)
• Small mango 6g (1 tsp)
• Grapefruit 7g (1 1/2 tsp)
• Handful raisins 8.7g (nearly 2tsp)
• Golden Delicious apple 11g (2tsp)
• Pear 11g (2tsp)
• Granny Smith apple 8g (11/2 tsp)
• Handful dried apple 8g (1 1/2 tsp)
• Large bunch (500g) grapes, 39g (nearly 8 tsp)

'Different people over-eat different things,' he says. 'But the people who eat fruit to excess are often weight-conscious. I've seen patients who can't understand their obesity because they eat healthily, then it turns out they are eating way too much fruit or drinking fruit smoothies all day - glugging down 300 calories in a couple of minutes.'

And it's not about lack of self-control. Fruit is packed with fructose (fruit sugar) and this doesn't make you feel full.

When we eat sugar, our body releases the hormone insulin, which tells the brain we've had enough to eat, explains dietician Ursula Arens of the British Dietetic Association.

'High insulin levels dampen the appetite, but fructose doesn't trigger this insulin response, so the brain doesn't get the message that you are full,' she says.

Essentially, when we eat fruit we bypass this internal 'stop button', which could explain why some of us can absent-mindedly nibble away at slice after slice of melon or munch through a large bunch of grapes.

The secret is to get your five a day with a mix of fruit and vegetables.

'People who are obese or have heart conditions should limit their fruit to one portion a day, along with four portions of vegetables,' says Dr Le Roux. 'You'd still have plenty of antioxidants, but you'd bring your fructose levels and calories down.'

However,most people find fruit easier to eat and it should remain a key part of a healthy diet.

As Glenys Jones, a nutritionist at the Medical Research Council of Human Nutrition, says: 'Everything in moderation. Just as you make a decision not to eat a packet of biscuits, you should think about portion control when it comes to fruit.'

All worth thinking about!  The complete article can be found here if you fancy reading it; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1256509/Eating-fruit-make-fat.html

Enjoy your day, I’m relieved I prefer vegetables to fruit, it’s one less thing to stress about!