I recently got an e-mail asking whether fruit is allowed on a low-carb diet.
This is such an important question that I decided to answer it in detail in this post.
The short answer is yes. You can eat fruit on a low-carb diet.
But as with anything in nutrition, it depends on the individual whether eating fruit would be the optimal thing to do at a given time point.
Can You Eat Fruit on a Low-Carb Diet?
Fruits are tasty and some of them are fairly nutritious, but there is no vitamin or mineral in them that you can not get from vegetables or meat.
They are also one of the largest carb sources on a real-food based diet.
For this reason, some people might want to temporarily restrict fruits to 1-2 pieces per day if fast weight loss is their primary goal.
Remember how our guideline for accelerated weight loss includes restricting carbohydrates to 50 grams per day, or less.
Carb Content of Some Fruits
Let’s take a look at a few commonly consumed pieces of fruit and determine their carb content.
Source: Nutrition Data.
- Medium Banana: 27 grams.
- Medium Apple: 25 grams.
- Large Orange: 22 grams.
- Blueberries (100g/3.5oz): 14 grams.
- Strawberries (100g/3.5oz): 8 grams.
It’s easy to see how you could go over 50 grams of carbs by eating a few pieces of fruit.
Therefore, if your goal is fast weight loss then you might want to keep the fruits to a minimum until you reach your goal weight.
But remember that this 50g number is only arbitrary and it depends on the individual.
If you’re very active and feel that your performance in the gym is suffering, then adding some more fruit into your diet might help.
Fruits Are Tasty, Natural and Healthy
Please take note that I am NOT against fruits.
Fruits are whole, natural foods with a low energy density. They are very convenient as snacks and many people lose plenty of weight while eating all the fruit they want.
Anything that is healthy and adds variety to the diet is a good thing in my opinion.
Take note that all the horrible talk about Fructose in the past simply does not apply to fruit.
Fructose is only bad for you if your body is already overloaded with excess calories and sugar.
The only reason you would ever want to restrict fruit is if you need to lose weight as fast as possible, or if you’re diabetic but in that case you’re probably best off sticking to vegetables.
Myself, I eat fruit every now and then. I don’t have a problem with eating them every day, but usually my appetite tends to gravitate towards animal foods.
Even the amount of fructose in fruit causes leptin resistance/leptin blocking/hunger for some of us. Anyone trying to lose weight should not take in any fructose. After you are happy with your weight, feel free to add fruit. See Lustig’s work.
Calories is only one gross issue; appetite control is the other. It is only my opinion that anyone who is trying to loss weight should do all practical to reduce appetite. That includes no fructose, but what do I know.
I agree with you. I think calories are only important in the context of the macronutrient profile, and as a secondary input in the overall equation anyway.
I believe that fruits are ok for the general public. Even those who want to lose weight fast. Where you need to cut them out is if you are competing. When you need to get that last bit of fat off. For someone who is very overweight I would say fruit is the least of their worries. They are making other poor choices.
Mercola has a great chart on his website that shows the fructose content of various fruits which may be useful for certain people who are concerned with the amount of fructose they are consuming.
Everything Dr. Mercola does is awesome. I love that guy!
I am always having to defend myself when I tell them that I don’t eat fruit (at least not very much) for now, while I am still losing weight. I recorded a video on the subject just the other day.
I’ve been saying the same thing as you, Kris, that if your main goal is FAT LOSS, then fruit is not helping you.
My main goal is fat loss
I lost over 50 lbs by reducing my portions and walking at least 1/2 hour every day. As I lost the weight, I was able to add exercises like biking, racquetball, squash, paddling. I came to a plateau, so I am now starting a 100 carb/day retiming. A family member lost 70 lbs with that, exercise & weight training. So, I’m giving it a try. I sure do feel better with this kind of eating.