Fruit, friend or foe?

[CaraG73]

In moderation they are deathly friendly. You need the vitamins and minerals for overall health but the sugars they contain might hinder your weight loss progress.

[stevenolsewski]

Very Informative, Thanks!

[flexnhard]

friend of course

[alexgeerman]

A well-nourished adult can store approximately 500 grams or 2000 kcal of carbohydrates. Of this, approximately 400 grams are stored as muscle glycogen, 90-110 grams as liver glycogen, and 25 grams circulate in the blood as glucose. When the body needs more glucose than is available in bloodstream to support energy demands, glycogen stores are used to raise blood glucose levels. The issue with fruit (sugar) is the simple fact that if you have more then amount you store you gain weight. There is no debating this its a fact. You may not look fat when you are loading up on more then you can store but guess what the fat is stored as visceral fat around your organs. I personally love IMF and load up my glycogen stores at night with as much vegetables as possible. Fruit is just like vitamin water with skin.

[iLiRaM]

I started a keto diet two weeks ago. I eat some fruit to fuel my workouts, or any time I expel a lot of energy. Don't go overboard, obviously. A cup of grapes or a half cup of raspberries or an apple can be sufficient to keep your glycogen levels in check. I don't know how anyone could go more than a month without eating at least a few simple carbs and say they feel great all the time.

[shohdo12]

I am dieting for a month. I eat fruit salad mixing with low fat yoghurt for breakfast. For lunch I eat vegetable salad with some dressings. For dinner fry some chicken breast and broccoli. I was 82 kg and now I am 76. Nothing wrong with eating fruits. I eat whenever I want. It is nothing to do with bodybuilding. I am seeing very great results.

[shinok32]

i m on a vegetarian diet, and now i avoid cheese, i feel more power than before. I think the digestive energy is something to take into account. Fruits are fine if taken as plain and not as juice due to the fructose content. Fiber avoid the bad side of fruits

[keesh1]

Thank you for the thread. It's very interesting. I've learnt a lot. I like fruits and didn't even know that some people find disadvantages in fruits. They are all very healthy and good for bodybuilders.

[IH8OffDays]

great article

[Fleashman]

Good read! I have always loved fruit and I have never seen negative results from fruit consumption in moderation.

[DaleAS]

Wouldn't normally bump an old thread but I Googled this query I had about fruit and bodybuilding and I've come to the conclusion that I pretty much struggle to stay in shape because I'm generally not eating fruit. I've always thought fruit had so many more benefits than negatives and over the coming weeks, I'm planning on adding fruit to my diet regularly (I eat fruit maybe once every so often). I'm adamant that a lot of the debate with fruit is more suited to your particular genes and some people with terrible metabolisms probably make up the brunt of the people who say sugar is bad. But that's just my thinking.

[jnorris99]

yes.

Even if you're trying to save on calories, there's many different types of fruits, some with not that much sugar at all. Generally the smaller a fruit is, the more calories and sugar it will have, and the larger it is the less it will have (per volume at least). So things like berries have a lot of sugar (but also a lot of nutrients), things like apples have less per volume so you can eat more and things like watermelon or cantaloupe you can eat a bunch of because they're mostly water and can fill you up more with less calories.

I thought fruits like watermelon were very high in fructose and are not as good for you. Obviously, the sweeter the fruit the more fructose sugar it contains.

[Paulos20]

" 3. After a hard, heavy workout. Have a piece of fruit to get your insulin spike going and to get the fructose and glucose into those muscles, so you can recover and GROW. Try and go with a fruit that is higher is glucose than it is fructose, such as; peach, cherries and banana."
So true!

[SpaniardPumper]

Ditching fruits from our diets is probably one of the most senseless things to do... I'm finishing my cut and still eating 1 fruit ED (either a Kiwi or freezed red fruits), I'm also supplementing my diet with a scoop of reds ED, when I'm bulking I ditch the last as I have more solid fruits.

If you ask me, citric fruits are the best, no problem including them all year round.

[christina143]

Informative post to improve our body

[lily0710]

I am surprised about the fact of fruit in your post. Thank you.

[PaulWesley]

learned a lot. thks for u sharing

[kamedan]

Awesome post

[arunraaz503]

definitely fruit is a friend

[mdpaw]

Fruit is good. Sugar is bad. I always eat oranges, berries, pomegranate, bananas, melons, etc. Never felt it was an issue in cutting.

Fruit, friend or foe?

Now, who doesn’t like a nice piece of fruit? But really what is the truth on fruit? I feel its overlooked in bodybuilding, but not looked at enough in normal living.

Bodybuilders overlook fruit, because I feel that they see it as a non-issue, something that will make you fat! Something that just isn’t good for building rock hard massive muscle, which we all want. But there is a different side to fruit that people in the bodybuilding world should know, some know of it already but some don’t, fruit is a GREAT pre/post workout meal, its got simple sugars, most fruits have plenty of those energy giving carbohydrates. They’re just a great source of simple sugars/carbohydrates for pre/post workout.
Here is the catch though, many bodybuilders avoid fruit because of a thing called fructose, now fructose is a form of simple sugar much like dextrose or glucose, which many of you may use. But bodybuilders seem to over do the whole fructose thing, let me give you an insight why they might;

Fructose is a simple sugar, yes we know that, but fructose is a little different to other simple sugar sources. See fructose is much easily stored as body fat, it has to travel through the liver first to be converted into glycogen. Then the problem is when liver glycogen levels get full in starts turning into fat. That is the reason bodybuilders try to avoid fruit, because seeing as though you can’t tell when your liver is full of glycogen, many bodybuilders just forget about fruit all together. But many bodybuilders over react about how much fructose really is in fruit, many fruits don’t contain loads of fructose but they do contain something that is very important to a bodybuilder, which is phytochemicals (micronutrients). Also fruits are packed with muscle growing nutrients.

So now you might be asking you self, why do we need this glycogen stuff in are muscles anyway? Well simple sugars such as dextrose, glucose and fructose are converted into glycogen, which is a form of carbohydrates that is stored in your muscles. What does it do, when it’s in your muscles? It helps you recover, grow, give you a full look (so you look bigger) and so you can have overall better performance at all workouts.

Back to good old fruit, when would the best times to eat fruit be? Well there are 3 best times to use fruit and they are:

1. As soon as you get up and make breakfast, because while your sleeping your glycogen levels are getting lower and lower because your body has been using them for an energy source while you sleep and if you don’t get any glycogen in you when you get up in the morning, your body will start to turn to using muscle for energy and you don’t want muscle catabolism.

2. Before training. Try and get a piece of fruit in around 30 minutes before training to get those glycogen levels up again and save muscle glycogen. The fructose in the fruit will also not stop fat burning like other simple sugars do i. e glucose.

3. After a hard, heavy workout. Have a piece of fruit to get your insulin spike going and to get the fructose and glucose into those muscles, so you can recover and GROW. Try and go with a fruit that is higher is glucose than it is fructose, such as; peach, cherries and banana.


One thing I must say though is try and stick with fruit at those times, don’t eat to much fruit or it will overload your liver glycogen levels and will be stored as body fat. If you are going to eat fruit at other times limit the amount you eat.

Fruits have plenty of fibre in them, that help slow down the rate of protein digestion to give you that steady release of amino acids.

Fruit also adds to how I believe people should eat more whole foods and try not to live on supplements all the time, you have a great source of simple sugars/carbohydrates here so use it, so when you go out and buy a supplement that has the simple sugars have a think if you need it or just have a couple of peach’s. Don’t eliminate fruit from your diet PLAESE, Fruit has so many good things going for it and is so overlooked in bodybuilding. There is lots of nutrients, fibre and like I said before those most important simple sugars that get your insulin up, glycogen stores up and gets into those big muscles and gets you growing, which we all want to do!

Back to eating the whole foods, fruit is known to pick up your appetite for food so you can eat more, so when you eating your 4th cup of oats for the day, have a little bit of banana and the sweetness of it will make you get that food down more easily. If your feeling down and out and have no energy just have a little fruit to pick you up again, but remember never eat to much, need to keep the liver glycogen levels in check.

If your reading this and saying to your self I want fruit but just can’t bring my self to eat it because of the fructose and liver glycogen levels, then why not try a citrate supplement with it, such as; calcium citrate or creatine citrate. It just helps that fructose to go to glycogen production and away from fat.

You might be asking yourself what fruits are good at what times, well I might just tell you a few fruits and what times would be best to take them: Pre-training: apple, grapes, strawberries, pears. Post-workout: cherries, peach’s, bananas. Breakfast time: orange, kiwi fruit, and nectarine. They’re just a few fruits that you can pick more; if you really want to chop and change then you can but be careful of fructose and glucose levels.

Well I hope this article has helped some of you bodybuilders out there to not overlook fruit when your writing up your next training/diet plan, it might even save you some money on supplements!
Always eat your fruit and veg but never go crazy with fruit, look after your self and eat more whole foods, get a good supplement and training plan and your set for better gains.

Fruit, friend or foe? I think a muscle-building friend!

[Valtazar]

Fruit is good. Sugar is bad. I always eat oranges, berries, pomegranate, bananas, melons, etc. Never felt it was an issue in cutting.

Lol

[Valtazar]

lol

[Valtazar]

)))))))))))))))))))

[Valtazar]

I am dieting for a month. I eat fruit salad mixing with low fat yoghurt for breakfast. For lunch I eat vegetable salad with some dressings. For dinner fry some chicken breast and broccoli. I was 82 kg and now I am 76. Nothing wrong with eating fruits. I eat whenever I want. It is nothing to do with bodybuilding. I am seeing very great results.

[Valtazar]

" 3. After a hard, heavy workout. Have a piece of fruit to get your insulin spike going and to get the fructose and glucose into those muscles, so you can recover and GROW. Try and go with a fruit that is higher is glucose than it is fructose, such as; peach, cherries and banana."
So true!

[Genieriodan]

great info thanks

[jonb1123]

Excellent and informative article about fruit and they're definitely a friend. I think moderation is the key with fruit consumption just like all other food groups and nutrients. If you eat the correct amounts they can definitely enhance your diet, thanks for posting!

[Arabmonkey]

Friend

[JayWI]

Just found your article. Well done! I'm big on the right fruit and the right time as you described. I'm 40 and have been at it since I was 15. If your diet is preventing you from getting the body you want, it likely isn't because of a few pieces of fruit like I've heard many times on here. JayJuly2016.jpg