[quote]Soldierslim wrote:
I’ve always remembered from my lessons here that fruit is fructose. Fructose can only contribute to the glycogen stores of the liver. The liver can only hold so much glycogen. Therefore for optimal body composition limit fruit to about 2-3 servings/day.
Am I wrong?[/quote]
Yes,you are wrong.
Based on the facts above, these nutrition experts often label all sugars, including fructose, as “bad.” In effect, they’re throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Here’s why. Fructose is an insulin-independent monosachharide. This means that it converts into glucose and is stored without the action of insulin (or, at least, insignificant amounts). Fructose doesn’t cause a large rise in blood sugar and, consequently, won’t raise insulin levels. In short, you won’t crash, and energy levels should remain on an even keel.(1)
So, from where does this “fructose gets you fat” myth derive? It’s likely that the “experts” took the research on rats too seriously. If you feed Mickey Mouse a large fraction of his bodyweight in sugar, any sugar, then of course he’ll become insulin-resistant and his bodyfat will increase. In fact, every study that I’ve seen showing negative results used astronomical amounts of fructose. Even then, the effects weren’t as bad when compared to the overconsumption of glucose.(1)
For you to experience any negative effects from fructose, you’d have to consume around 50-75 grams in a sitting. That’s equivalent to eating five to seven apples, one after another. You’d have to eat three or four of these “servings” a day, for a grand total of 15-28 pieces of fruit! As they teach us to say in college…well, duh! If you eat too much of a sugar ? or anything, for that matter ? you’ll get fat.
In fact, fructose has been shown to facilitate both mobilization of endogenous lipid stores and lipid oxidation. For those of you who don’t have a medical thesaurus handy, this means that getting a little fructose in your diet might actually help you lose fat.(2) It’s even been noted that fructose causes a superior thermic response when compared to glucose or sucrose. The thermic response caused by glucose diminishes with age, but that’s not the case with fructose.(3)
Another faulty argument used by the anti-fructose crowd is that when you ingest fructose, your body magically stops burning fat and switches to glycogen as fuel, thus preserving fat stores and turning you into a chunky monkey. If this were true, then it would be easy to find studies showing decreased lipolysis and exhausted glycogen stores. Guess what? There aren’t any.
In studies using male athletes, both at rest and during exercise, the exact opposite has always been shown. Glycogen stores were always preserved when compared to other sugars or placebos, which means that fat was being burned at a greater percentage.(2,5) Fructose maintains blood glucose and increases fat utilization.(6)
Out of all of the sugars, fructose is the least likely to increase bodyfat. In simple terms, throwing in a few pieces of fruit a day or using an MRP sweetened with a little fructose (like Grow!) won’t make you fat, especially when combined with some healthful dietary fats and protein. Sure, most people will still need to keep an eye on daily caloric intake. But as long as you’re not taking in more calories than you’re using, there’s no need to be anal about it and certainly no reason to worry about fructose.
----Forbidden fruit thread
Fruit is also high in fiber.
It’s not all fructose,but most of it is.
Fructose alone takes longer to break down than other simple sugars.
Thats why diabetics can use some fructose when baking.
It’s only bad when people are drinking pounds upon pounds of high fructose corn syrup,which isn’t all fructose(corn syrup is glucose).
Putting all this aside,like I said,it DEPENDS on how big you are.
A person thats 250 or 275 could eat a lot more carbs and fruit than someone who is 200 when cutting(processing them is different too).
Even if you’re on a low carb diet you can have some fruit,since a cup of strawberries or a medium-sized peach each have only about ten grams of carbs.
There was a thread that was written about fruit by T-Nation.You should do a search on it.