Fascination with fruit diets for those who want to lose weight can lead to the opposite result - gaining excess weight. The insidiousness of some fruits consists in their high content of sugars and carbohydrates.
The benefits of fruit diets, which are so popular especially in summer and help to lose weight, are greatly exaggerated, Mariyat Mukhina, Doctor of Medical Sciences, nutritionist and nutritionist, told RuNews24.ru.
The widespread belief that fruit is an adequate and low-calorie substitute for confectionery sweets is nothing more than a misconception. Excessively large portions of fruit just may help to gain weight, warned the doctor.
Fruit is also a source of not only sugar, but also carbohydrates. Dried fruits are especially dangerous in this regard: in them, the concentration of carbohydrates is much higher than in fresh fruit.
"As for fresh fruit, 100 g of bananas, for example, contains 21 g of carbohydrates, or four teaspoons of sugar. There is less sugar in 100g of raspberries, but still has about one and a half teaspoons. The least caloric are kiwi, pear, green apples, orange, grapefruit. It is better to refrain from peaches, grapes and pomegranates," the doctor told RuNews24.ru.
It is categorically not recommended to eat fruit at night. A sweet fruit eaten after six o'clock in the evening turns into a "candy" in the body. It is not by chance that in the recommendations of the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Federation it is forbidden to eat fruit after 16.00.
There is also given the maximum allowable single dose of fresh fruits and berries - about 200 g. This is equivalent to two handfuls of berries or a couple of medium peaches. The Rospotrebnadzor sugar consumption norm is 25 g per day, or five teaspoons of sugar.
And here's a quick test from a nutritionist to quickly determine your daily amount of plant-based foods. The optimal portion of fruit should be the size of your own fist. Vegetables can be allowed already a handful. Sweets should not exceed the size of your thumb - that is, an average candy.