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Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. For the average person, eating a lot of fruit may not pose a health risk — as long as it a part of an overall balanced and healthy diet. However, some people with underlying conditions affecting their digestive health or metabolism may need to be aware of how much fruit they eat.
Anyone who is uncertain should talk with a doctor. This article looks at the benefits of eating fruit, whether or not it is possible to eat too much fruit, some possible side effects of having a high fruit intake, and the optimal amount of fruit to eat. Fruit is an important part of a healthy diet.
Eating fruit provides a number of health benefits to the body. The United States Department of Agriculture USDA notes that fruits are sources of important nutrients and vitamins that some people may struggle to get enough of in their diets, including fiber, potassium, and vitamin C.
Fruits are cholesterol-free, naturally low in sodium and fat, and, for the most part, low in calories. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC also note that fruits and vegetables, as part of a healthy diet, may help a person lose weight or maintain a moderate weight.
Fruit is rich in fiber and water content. This may make it a more filling, less calorie dense option than other foods, such as starchy or fatty foods. Choosing fruit over other high calorie foods that are less nutrient dense may help someone manage their weight by reducing their overall calorie intake.
Although eating too much of anything may not be good, it is not very likely that a person will eat too much fruit. Eating whole fruit may be self-limiting for many people, as they may simply feel full before eating too much. The reality of fruit consumption is usually the opposite, meaning that most people do not consume enough of it.
In fact, some research states that only between 2. Fruits are high in naturally occurring sugars, and the body may convert sugars themselves into fats for later use if it does not burn them immediately.
These sugars alone may be an indicator for weight gain and other metabolic issues. This makes some people feel that eating too much sugar could increase fat levels and lead to weight gain. However, this may not be the case. Research in the journal Nutrients notes that consistent research shows that most fruits actually have an anti-obesity effect. Despite its beneficial fiber and liquid content, fruit is high in simple sugars. In some forms, this may not be ideal.
For example, fruit juices remove the fiber and solids of the fruit, leaving behind a sugar-rich beverage. Fruit juices are also less filling than their whole fruit counterparts. This may allow someone to drink many more servings of juice than they would be able to if they ate the whole fruit, which could greatly increase the levels of sugar they can take in from the fruit. Some research explains that high levels of sugar-rich forms of fruit, such as fruit juices, are not good for certain age groups, including children.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 8 ounces oz of fruit juice per day for children aged 7 years and above. Fruit juice intake should not exceed 4 oz per day for children aged 1—3 years. Children aged 4—6 years should not consume more than 4—6 oz per day. If you go overboard on one kind of food — even one as terrific as fruit — you'll miss out on the valuable properties of other healthy foods.
You are eating twice the recommended amount of fruit and less than half the recommended amount of vegetables. But a few changes will round out your overall diet and help you drop those pounds more easily. Add up your calories. I really don't like fixating on calories, because an overly strong focus on numbers can blur the big picture, which is to eat a varied diet of healthy foods and not to eat more than your body needs.
However, counting your fruit calories will help you see what a big chunk of your diet the fruit makes up. So let's do some math. A good general formula for losing one pound a week is to create a calorie daily deficit through a combination of exercise and diet.
The actual magic number of calories for losing weight depends on your age, height and activity level. Read more about counting calories. Let's say that you weigh pounds, that you typically eat 2, calories per day, and that your goal is to get to that calorie deficit by burning calories through exercise and cutting calories from your diet each day. That makes 1, calories your daily limit for what you can consume. Fruit is about 80— calories per serving.
A serving is one cup of fresh fruit or a half cup of canned fruit. Yes, the exact calories vary, but these are a useful overall guideline. At an average of 90 calories per serving, that's calories from fruit alone!
Vegetables vary in their calorie counts, but 35 calories per serving is another general guideline. So you are eating another 70 calories from the two daily servings of vegetables you mentioned. That adds up to calories from produce.
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