Hello awesome people. Welcome to a new article of the series about optimal food.
These days we're encouraged to be more responsible in the name of health. Optimal food can help us have optimal health.
Fortunately, we can find what’s optimal food with a simple test:
- Would we eat this food in nature?
Previous articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Many people are afraid of eating to many fruits. So,
How about fruits?
Are they optimal or are they suboptimal?
Can fruits be our main food or is other food better as main food?
Let's suppose the fear for fruits is legit, just to see where this claim leads us. So let's suppose fruits can't be our main food. In this case we shouldn't eat too many fruits, despite the fact that we can eat them in their natural form. What should be our main food, foods that need cooking?
We have to cook foods to eat them, when we can't eat them in their natural form.
Why can’t we eat some foods in their natural form?
Because we're not naturally adapted to eat those foods.
- We're naturally adapted for food that's edible in its natural form.
- We're not adapted for food that have to be cooked to be edible.
Not to mention that cooked food have negative compounds such as mutagens, carcinogens, teratogens. Also, cooking food destroys some of the nutrients. How many nutrients are there in cooked food? I don't know and i don't think there are enough. So, How many reasons to eat large quantities of cooked food are there? I don't know and i don't think there are enough. Now we have access to:
- food for which we're naturally adapted – fruits and
- food for which we're not naturally adapted
Between the two, Which one is a better option?
Many people fear eating too much fruit despite the fact it's food for which we're naturally adapted. So Where did all the fear of fruits come from? Somebody told me:
At a TV show a doctor said eating too many fruits can cause high blood sugar, that in turn overworks the pancreas. So the recommendation is to take it easy with fruits, to avoid diabetes an and enlarged pancreas.
Here’s another recommendation. This time from The American Diabetes Association: They recommend
a diet that allows up to 30% (of total calories), to be derived from fat.
What's your opinion about these recommendations?
Is the fear for fruits based on facts or is it just an opinion? What are the facts that support this fear?
How about we explore some facts about our reality, which is where we live?
The cause of high blood sugar
When there is too much fat in the blood, the sugar can no longer exit the blood. What’s excess fat?
When you eat more than 10% (of total calories), you're consuming too much fat. So, i let you decide how reliable is the medical community as a source of information. The more excess fat you eat the more risks you have for diabetes. The excess fat build up in arteries as plaque, which causes multiple health problems, as multiple organs need arteries. No wonder why the number 1 killer worldwide is heart disease, caused by clogged arteries. Some people are concerned about carbs. Fat can also be on our checklist. You're free to eat as much fat as you want, as long as you like the effects of excess fat.
How many people who know the negative health effects of excess fat are there? I don't know and i don't think there are enough. No wonder so many people live a low-carb lifestyle. Also, a high-fat lifestyle causes kidneys problems. And more than half of the kidney function is irreversible damaged before the damage is visible on blood tests. It's true that some people lose weight with a high-fat lifestyle. However the eventual short-term benefits are not worth the health problems. Let's suppose you live a high-fat lifestyle for a short period of time, so you damage your health only for a short period of time. Then what? What are you gonna do afterwards? What lifestyle are you gonna live afterwards?
Many people live a high-fat lifestyle because they don't know they can lose weight on a high-carb fruit-based lifestyle without the negative effects of excess fat. In spite of the evidence that a low-fat lifestyle can reverse diabetes, few medical doctors recommend this approach, instead they only recommend a medical treatment, in this case insulin. The medical treatment and the cause of disease are different matters. The disease wasn't caused by lack of medication. While insulin works on the effects (i.e. it lowers the blood sugar), it does not address the cause. When we work only at the effects, the cause (e.g. excess fat) continues to get compounded. Many people allow the cause of their health problem to get compound, because they have no information about how they can work on the cause.
How much information about health is there in the public? I don't know and i don't think there is enough. So many people have unnecessary health problems because they don't have enough information despite the fact that now we have more access to information than ever before. How do you explain that?
Isn't the role of the health system to help people be healthy?
How can we be sure we have an optimal fat intake?
Don't worry. There's no excess fat in a fruit based lifestyle in which we eat optional small amounts of overt fats: seeds, avocado, coconut, etc. You already know what this means from a previous article.
Other causes
It’s true that you'll have a spike in the blood sugar, when you eat processed foods, as they’re concentrated in sugar. Fruits have a different effect as they have a different composition: in addition to sugar, they also have water and fiber. On a fruit based lifestyle, the quantity of fruit we eat at a meal have a low impact on our blood sugar, as most of that quantity is water. Also, the fiber slows the absorption of sugar.
On the other hand, on the common lifestyle, a meal can have a high impact, as it has less water and fiber, as processing removes water and fiber. Not to mention the other health effects of processed food such as excess fat.
- Raw-vegan desserts, dehydrated raw-vegan foods, dry fruits (dates, raisins) have a higher impact on our blood sugar, as they're more concentrated in sugar, as they have less water.
- Juices have a higher impact on our blood sugar, as they're more concentrated in sugar, as they have less fiber.
You can eat:
- food that's more concentrated in sugar such as processed food, or
- food that’s less concentrated in sugar such as whole fruits.
The choice is yours.
- The higher the sugar concentration, the higher the impact on our blood sugar,
- The higher the impact, the harder the pancreas works.
When you eat foods that are concentrated in sugar, you might be able to maintain an optimal blood sugar level. However the pancreas overworks to do so. Foods that are processed (with/without heating) are not optimal, as they overwork the pancreas; this causes irritation, inflammation, enlargement, degeneration.
How many reasons to overwork the pancreas are there? I don't know and i don't think there are enough.
How can we be sure fruits are safe? Don't worry. There's no overwork for the pancreas when we eat fruits in their natural form, which is also the simplest way to eat them.
When you educate yourself about the digestive system of our closest relatives, you find some differences.
How many differences are there? I don't know and i don't think there are enough to suggest different diets.
How many reasons are there to move away from a fruit-based lifestyle on which primates have flourished for many tens of millions of years? I don't know and i don't think there are enough.
How many facts to support the fear for fruits are there? I don't know and i don't think there are enough.
Resources:
The American Diabetes Association, fat, high-fat low-carb diet, 2, 3, 4, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, diabetes, 2, carbs/sugar, fear, 2, raw-food, fruits, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, low-fat lifestyle,Hive community, for people who like the messenger function, here's a MeWe community, in which you can also find resources in the form of files. MeWe is a social media with no ads that also has messenger function.
Bottom line:
After everything you read in this article, in the previous articles and in their resources, How many reasons to fear fruits are there? I don't know and i don't think there are enough. Fruits pass the test. So feel free to share these foods in the "Simple food 4 optimal health" community.
The fear for fruits comes from incomplete information, so How about we help people free themselves of unnecessary fear with complete information? I share what's optimal and what’s not, as complete information can enhance someone's health. You’re still totally free to eat whatever you want.
This article are part of a book.
What would be a bottom line for all the articles about optimal health?
See you in the next article. Until then, in the comment section you can share your opinion for the questions of this article. Thanks so much for reading. Have a great day.