Don’t Fear the Fruit, Enjoy It

Don’t worry what the Glycemic Index says about these fruits- it’s okay to eat them.

Are you afraid that eating fruit will cause your blood sugar to spike? Let us bust that myth right now.

Only ten percent of adults eat enough whole fruit daily despite the clear benefits of fruit.

Eating fruit and Living Longer

My 98-year-old dad can teach you about living longer

My 98-year-old dad eats fruit with breakfast for as long as I have known him. We would have grapefruit every morning. We even had those cute grapefruit spoons to wrestle the goodness out of the half grapefruit.

Now, dad enjoys a mixed bit of fruit.

In 28 studies with over 1.6 million people, each serving of fruit led to a 5% lower incidence of death (reference).

Each serving of fruit

8% less risk of heart disease

3% lower risk of cancer

200 grams (7 ounces) showed the lowest risk of cancer rates and deaths from cancer.

Even the Low Carb Community is coming around

Thirty years ago, the low-carb community advised against whole fruits. Their rationale was that fruits spiked blood sugar, which caused insulin to rise, which caused fat storage. They even cautioned against eating carrots for the same reason. But now, even the most extreme members of that community proudly eat fruit.

What 5 servings looks like

Breakfast with 1/2 cup of blueberries

Morning snack of one medium banana

Lunch with one apple

Afternoon snack of 1/2 cup of grapes (about 16)

Evening snack of 1 clementine

Don’t forget the tomato

The tomato is a fruit. Yes, the Supreme Court said, for taxation purposes, it is a vegetable, but it isn’t.

Other Benefits of Fruit

promoting long-term weight management
reducing the risk of heart disease
reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes
decreasing the risk of colon and lung cancer
lowering the risk of depression
successful aging (like dad)
higher bone mineral density
decreasing incidence of seborrheic dermatitis
less constipation
less irritable bowel
less inflammatory bowel
less diverticular disease
less hemorrhoids
less stress

Fruit is not the enemy – but it is one of the easiest of the nine food groups to add to your Mediterranean Diet and one of the easiest and most delicious to add to the DASH diet.

culinary medicine DASH DIET eating healthy fruits good food habits healthy living medical studies mediterranean diet Myths nutrition whole fruits

Dr. Terry Simpson

About the Author

You probably first saw Dr. Simpson on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook or Twitter. Dr. Terry Simpson received his undergraduate, graduate, and medical degrees from the University of Chicago, where he spent several years in the Kovler Viral Oncology laboratories doing genetic engineering. Until he found he liked people more than Petri dishes. After a career in surgery, his focus is to make sense of the madness, and bust myths. Dr. Simpson, an advocate of culinary medicine, believes in teaching people to improve their health through their food and in their kitchen. On the other side of the world, he has been a leading advocate of changing health care to make it more "relationship based," and his efforts awarded his team the Malcolm Baldrige award for healthcare in 2018 and 2011 for the NUKA system of care in Alaska and in 2013 Dr Simpson won the National Indian Health Board Area Impact Award. A frequent contributor to media outlets discussing health related topics and advances in medicine, he is also a proud dad, author, cook, and doctor “in that order.” For media inquiries, please visit www.terrysimpson.com.