1. Reducing Sugars May Aid Weight Loss
Many diets focus on restricting carbohydrates, which may be important if you are in the early stage of a weight loss plan. Nutritionists generally emphasize that eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is still appropriate for most people.
2. Since When Did Fresh Fruits Have Sugar?
To be fair, fresh fruits have "fruits sugars" or fructose, and these are also considered carbohydrates. To understand why they are called sugars, it can be useful to look at the glycemic index. When food is consumed, the pancreas produces insulin. If a food is high in carbohydrates, more insulin is released. Over time, if the body is asked to produce a lot of insulin repeatedly, it can set the stage for type 2 diabetes or insulin resistance and weight gain. Low-glycemic foods are generally low in carbohydrates and low in sugars and do not demand that the pancreas produce high levels of insulin.
3. What Fruits Are Low In Sugar?
That said, if you are determined to eat low-sugar fruits to boost your weight loss (and your morale) during the early days of your weight management plan, the following fresh fruits are low in sugar:
Apple (sliced)
Apricot (4 oz.)
Blackberry
Blueberry
Boysenberry
Cantaloupe
Cherry (sour, sweet, 10 medium)
Coconut meat (1 oz. or 1 cup shredded/grated, not packed)
Coconut milk
Currant (red, black, white)
Elderberry
Gooseberry
Grape (10 medium)
Honeydew melon
Kiwi fruit (1 medium)
Kumquat (1 medium)
Lemon/Lime (2 inch diameter)
Lemon/Lime Juice (1 oz)
Mulberry
Orange (sections, without membrane)
Peach (1 med, 4 oz.)
Persimmon (American, Japanese, 1 medium)
Pineapple (1 oz)
Plum
Raspberry
Strawberry
Tangelo (1 medium)
Tangerine (1 medium)
Watermelon
Except where noted, all have less than 10 gm carbs in a half cup serving.
4. What Fruits Are High In Sugar?
Fresh fruits that are relatively high in sugar are grapes, kiwi, oranges, pineapple and tangerines.
Fresh fruits that are very high in sugar are bananas and mango. All dried fruits are high in sugar as they are concentrated.
5. Reducing Fresh Fruit Intake Temporarily
Again, if you are following the first stage of a very rigid diet that restricts fresh fruits, view them as occasional treats that you might eat on days when your carb intake was fairly low. It is important to remember that if you are currently not eating any fresh fruit, adding berries to a yogurt smoothie or reaching for grapefruit over bananas won't hurt you.
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