The Anti Processed Food Guy

[NinetyFour]

Here's a short interview from the NYTimes with Dr. Robert Lustig, the author of a new cookbook.

I like what he says, although I won't buy his cookbook, because I eat very simply and very rarely use recipes.  (I also don't want to spend any money on books.)

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/19/learning-to-cut-the-sugar/?src=me

[horsepoor]

Q.  A lot of the recipes in your book use fruit to add sweet flavors. Was this a way to limit refined sugar?

A.
Exactly. People always say to me, “What about fruit? It has sugar.” But I have nothing against fruit, because it comes with its inherent fiber, and fiber mitigates the negative effects. The way God made it, however much sugar is in a piece of fruit, there’s an equal amount of fiber to offset it.

I have to quibble with this.  The fruit cultivars we've bred have WAY more sugar in them than "the way God made it."  For instance the tree fruit people are constantly chasing higher brix levels on their new pluot varieties, because sweet sells.  Limiting fruit and focusing on the VEGGIE piece of "eat your fruits and veggies" is important, IMO.

I like the learning breakfast idea though.  I'm not a parent, but I was a kid once, and certainly didn't have the luxury of parents who wondered if I would eat regular food or not.  It was just eat or don't eat.

Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants.

[Abe]

I agree, some fruit (especially citrus) cultivars are sickeningly sweet.  It's like a juice box exploding in your mouth.

[Jamesqf]

The way God made it, however much sugar is in a piece of fruit, there’s an equal amount of fiber to offset it.

Sorry, but no.  Fruits aren't made for humans, they evolved for the plant's own purpose, which is to get its seeds spread around.  Plenty of fruits are poisonous to humans; others are inedible (like the Osage Orange); still others. like quince, need cooking and the addition of quite a bit of sugar to be edible.

[NinetyFour]

Yes, I was surprised to see what he had to say about fruit consumption.  But from what I have read, a steady diet of processed food is a much larger problem than overconsumption of fresh (but perhaps sweet) fruit.

I would like to see more data about the sugars in fruits and whether they are indeed something to avoid.

[ketchup]

Fruit juice is way more of an issue than fruit.  It'd be pretty hard to eat 25 oranges in a sitting, but I'm pretty sure 25 oranges worth of juice would be pretty easy.

I have fruit when I want fruit or have fruit around, but very little fruit juice (high quality orange juice or apple juice once in a while), and when I drink more than half a glass or so of juice, my body complains.

[frompa]

Thanks for posting this. I greatly admire Lustig's work and I look forward to reading this book. (And the tie comment in the interview was amusing.) I most appreciate that he's not an extremist in his dietary suggestions even while remaining adamantly committed to the science behind it all.

[Big_Paul]

Nothing wrong with a piece of fruit a day. I'll eat a banana and strawberries every day. Eating a bit of fruit is certainly no big deal. Low in cals. Tastes nice. I certainly wouldn't tell people that fruit was off limits if they're trying to eat healthier. Fruit is a far healthier option than processed food. At least it has vitamins and minerals and the body can metabolize it better than protein bars or shakes or other fake health foods.

[horsepoor]

No one said don't eat fruit.  But I don't think that free rein to eat fruit all day in lieu of vegetables is good advice.  Of course fruit is better than a candy bar, but many fruits are packed with more sugar than fruits of 100 years ago.  Let's not also forget how HUGE some fruits are.  I saw apples in the store the other day that would have probably been 4 servings each.  So eat two of those and you've consumed 8 servings of fruit, when 2 or 3 is probably a better target if you don't have blood sugar control issues.

Berries are a good choice in terms of high nutrient value/sugar ratio.

[Unionville]

My rule of thumb is to try to eat things as close to their original state as when they are picked in the garden. 

[Jamesqf]

I saw apples in the store the other day that would have probably been 4 servings each.  So eat two of those and you've consumed 8 servings of fruit...

Define "serving", though.  I frequently see dietary advice which says to "eat N servings of X per day".  but I've never seen any of them that'll tell you exactly how much a "serving" is supposed to be.

[horsepoor]

About a cup, cut up. So a smaller piece of fruit handily equates to about a serving.  But it's easy to grab a ginormous apple and think of it as a serving, when it's really 3-4.

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/fruits-counts.html

[Tiamat]

The way God made it, however much sugar is in a piece of fruit, there’s an equal amount of fiber to offset it.

Sorry, but no.  Fruits aren't made for humans, they evolved for the plant's own purpose, which is to get its seeds spread around.  Plenty of fruits are poisonous to humans; others are inedible (like the Osage Orange); still others. like quince, need cooking and the addition of quite a bit of sugar to be edible.

Have you ever read the "Botany of Desire"?  It might dispute your claim that plants develop fruit only for itself.

[Jamesqf]

Have you ever read the "Botany of Desire"?  It might dispute your claim that plants develop fruit only for itself.

I've not read that book, but I think you've misunderstood what I was trying to say.  It's not that the plant develops fruit for itself, but rather that different fruits evolved for the sole purpose of effectively spreading seeds - though of course using the word 'purpose' is misleading.  It's rather that those plants which didn't effectively spread their seeds got kicked out of the gene pool.

One way (of many) that a plant can widely disperse seeds is to have them eaten by an animal, which later deposits them (along with a generous helping of organic fertilizer :-)) in some distant spot.  But in this scenario, the plant certainly doesn't 'care' (another misleading term) about the animal's well-being, only that it eats the fruit.  So it might be advantageous for the plant to fill its fruit with lots of good-tasting but unhealthy sugar, give it a bright color, or even to add chemicals that would give the animal a bad case of the runs a few hours later.

[ASquared]

Lustig is legitimate.  Rad guy.  I have heard him speak a few times, and seen the referenced lecture in person.  It is worth looking up on youtube for those of you interested.  "sugar the bitter truth"

[wtjbatman]

Let's be honest, people eating "too much fruit" isn't exactly a national concern. I've lost more weight eating fruit instead of other types of snacks than... well I don't know what, but fruit tastes ten times better than vegetables, and I'm still losing weight and feeling great. I'll worry about whether I'm eating too large of an apple after I've achieved harmony with the universe.

[Kaminoge]

The way God made it, however much sugar is in a piece of fruit, there’s an equal amount of fiber to offset it.

Sorry, but no.  Fruits aren't made for humans, they evolved for the plant's own purpose, which is to get its seeds spread around.  Plenty of fruits are poisonous to humans; others are inedible (like the Osage Orange); still others. like quince, need cooking and the addition of quite a bit of sugar to be edible.

I think you're missing the point. No one claimed "fruits are made for humans".  He's just pointing out that fruits have fibre as well as sugar - something that is way out of balance in most processed foods.

[soccerluvof4]

Like anything there are some fruits that are better than others and for me I seem to be different than most, I love veggies way more but other than an apple here or there i can eat a banana a day but that's about it for me. But I also agree that fresh/frozen fruit outweighs any Juice and I wont drink juice plus its just stupid in cost.

[Jamesqf]

I think you're missing the point. No one claimed "fruits are made for humans".  He's just pointing out that fruits have fibre as well as sugar - something that is way out of balance in most processed foods.

Sure, but the point is that they aren't 'designed' that way, nor are they necessarily balanced.  And if some are, it's because humans (or their ancestors) evolved to eat the fruit...