T Nation

To Eat Fruit or Not?


I been reading much articles bout fruits some say use it and some dont coz it has fructose… So the question here how to reap benfite of fruits without getting fat coz of fructose?? Btw fruits is strange because even there low glycemic fruits they high in fructose such as grapes… So guys how much fruits to eat to be in safe way as well reap all fruits benfite??


Normally, I just have a few pieces of fruit a day.

Eating fruit will not make you fat, you have nothing to worry about eating fruit. I eat two or three pieces a day. I wouldn’t have it as your only carb source, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with fruit.

The whole fructose will make you fat thing is ridiculous. Make sure you’re not over calories for the day and you’re fine. If you’re over calories, ANY food you eat will add fat.


Thank u so much guys… I will be on 4 a day…

If you see one of those “my 500 pound” life, you never see the room filled with banana peals or apple cores.


Just my personal experience / 2cents:

I eat a diet very high in fruit. I absolutely love it. Never had a problem getting lean with it. I also feel faster and in better condition when i’m on a diet that consists of lots of watermelon, bananas, grape fruit, coconut water, etc. (my main focus is sprinting, running, jumping etc, a diet high in fruit seems to be most effective for me)

My best pre-race / pre-important session meal is literally just a quarter watermelon, hydration + sugar.



I know its wikipedia, but read this:

Enough of the fruit stuff already ffs.

Well said

Thanks fot share and join… I was very confused with the glycemic index foods…i avoid banana,watermelon,pinapple and every fruit that high in glycemic wich called fast carbs… Coz i readed it rise blood sugar much wich lead fat storage…its great we discuss bout that and share idea as well the experience of u guys

Thanks for all who shared here

yes you can eat fruit. It’s super good for you and won’t make you fat. Jesus christ I hate this question.

  • No carbs will “make you fat” if you’re not eating a caloric surplus.

  • Fructose will get converted to Glucose in the liver, so it’s just an extra step, nothing bad about it.

  • The GI of fruits is secondary to the actual amounts eaten. Most fruits are comprised of water and fiber, and to get the insulin spike people are (incorrectly) worried about, you’ll need to eat a ridiculous amount of fruit,… but even then,… see my first point about caloric surplus’s not insulin making you fat :wink:



I don’t think anyone who eats fruit as well as other good food and exercises hard will look back after 6 months or something and IF they are dissatisfied with the results think that eating fruit was their problem.

Thanks alot bro

Very usefull infos

Well said

Thanks for share bro

Can’t understand why anyone would not eat fruit. It’s nature’s desert and is just basically wonderful. I eat an assortment depending on what’s in season including:

Peaches / nectarines / apricots
Oranges / smaller variants

Plus ALL the berries.

Edit - grapes too :slightly_smiling_face:


what are your guys thoughts on the whole liver/fructose issue?

What do you mean? What issue with the liver?

Fructose is processed by the liver and that it is capable of processing around 25g a day, above that one runs the risk of fat deposits being created in the liver similar to alcohol.

It is important to note that fructose has 3 metabolic outcomes: 1) Most is turned directly into glucose by gut organs that have an enzyme that turns fructose into glucose. It is then released as glucose with a slight delay (as the enzymes work). 2) Most of the rest goes straight to the liver and gets turned into glycogen. It is estimated that about 1/3 of the glycogen burned during exercise can be replenished from fructose. At least 25 grams of fructose plus 1/3 of carbs burned during exercise can be managed by the liver each day. 3) Excess fructose (as in 64 oz soda, or in some cases where I know people who live on basically 750 grams of fruit “carbs” a day (about 300-350 net fructose) will be turned into triglycerides and liver fat. This will lead to metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, and progressively increasing blood triglycerides levels. Also at that very high level, there is some fructose spillage into the blood, maybe 1-2 mg/dl. That is small compared to say 100 mg/dl of glucose in the blood but fructose has 10x the capacity to cause glycosylation of molecules that end up in blood vessels, kidneys and the retina and brain. That is enough to raise one’s A1C by .3-.6% which is significant, for example someone with a blood sugar that would net an A1C of 5.5 can have a 5.8-6.1 (borderline diabetic) A1C if they consume more fructose than the liver can process.

One thing that many nutritionists don’t understand is that triglycerides are made largely from fructose because it is less “disposable” and more harmful in the blood than glucose. If your triglycerides are high, it is not from eating fat, it is from either overeating fructose/sugar or from being insulin resistant (and overeating fructose causes insulin resistance by turning into liver fat (ie fatty liver). The effects are compounded by alcohol consumption.

There has been no demonstrated rise in A1C or triglycerides from less than 4% daily calories from fructose which would be about 25 grams on a 2500 calorie diet. Also, again, about 1/3 of carbs burned during exercise can be replaced with fructose (it clears room for liver glycogen).

Most fruit contain are about 50% of their carbs in the form of fructose. A banana, which has more starch gets about 40%, so a 25 carb gram banana will only have about 10 grams of fructose, meaning that even a sedentary person on a 2500 calorie diet can have 2.5 bananas a day without reaching the level where there is any evidence of higher triglycerides or A1C. An hour of mild aerobic exercise (300 cals) will also burn about 25 grams of carbs (the rest from fat) and about 1/3 of that can be readily replenished from fructose as liver glycogen before there may be an excess that is turned into triglycerides or nets fructose leakage into the bloodstream. At higher exercise intensities, the amount of carbs burned rises dramatically and makes it very hard to overeat fructose. An hour at 600 cals an hour for example is burning about 75 grams of carbohydrate which would allow 1/3 x 75=25 more grams of fructose a day (another 2.5 bananas).

In comparison though, a “Super Big Drink” soda bay have 250+ grams of sugar and up to 150 grams of fructose (HFCS is 55-60% fructose). To manage that much, you would need to exercise off about 600 calories an hour for 6 hours a day. Sugar/fructose IS a major dietary problem, but fruit is not.

Note that alcohol and fructose are additive in their effects because they require some of the same enzymes and both get turned into triglycerides and liver fat. An alcoholic beverage has about 15 grams of alcohol, more than the amount of fructose in a banana. 2 alcoholic drinks a day will put a sedentary person into production of liver fats and triglycerides. Again, it can be made up for with activity around the time that the beverage is consumed.


Thank u very much

Very great information and its so clear