This is probably one of the most common questions I get. When people hear about a low-carb or keto diet they have certain ideas in their heads about what it is and what it isn’t. I think the most surprising thing for people who are learning this for the first time is that fruit has sugar in it.
Is there sugar in fruit?
Even though fruit is sweet and the sweetness is from sugar, fruit has been touted for so long to be good for you that it just doesn’t click for most people that fruit has sugar in it. Fruit juice is even a refined source of sugar as well. It’s surprising for a lot of people to hear that in the earliest phase of a keto diet – if you’re doing a prescription strength keto diet – there’s no fruit allowed. The next question I usually get is, “What about berries?” I’ll say that berries are just small fruits, so, no. No berries either. The reason for that is that even an apple or a banana or a peach or a bunch of grapes will raise the blood glucose enough so that it elicits an insulin response in just about everyone. If you’re trying to do a prescription strength keto diet, meaning you’re trying to reverse diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, PCOS, heartburn, or any other metabolic condition, if you want to get into ketosis or become a maximal fat-burning machine then you don’t want to have fruit or berries at all at the beginning.
Can I have some fruit on a keto diet?
If that’s the deal breaker, I will introduce the 20-gram total carb rule. If you can stay under 20 total carbs for the day – not for a meal, but for the whole day – you will probably be in ketosis and be in that maximal fat-burning and diabetes-reversing mode. I will instruct people to use things like Google, calorie counters, or carb counters where you can actually figure out how many carbs are in a cup of fruit. It’s not private information that only I have.
The sad or harsh reality is that an apple, for example, contains 20 grams of total carbs. 20 grams is a lot if you’re trying to stay under 20 for the whole day, which is why we say no fruit. Another thing you can do is take your fist and compare it to a measuring cup. You’ll see it’s just about the size of a measuring cup. One knuckle would be a quarter cup, 5 grams (of carbs). If you have an apple the size of your fist, you can see how little a quarter cup actually is. If no fruit is not an option for you (although the cravings go away remarkably fast in just a day or two if you don’t eat anything sweet), remember how much a quarter cup is. With that, you’ll probably stay in ketosis. But, most people can’t stick to a quarter cup of the fruit and so they say it’s not even worth it. Some products like flavored yogurts have little pieces of fruit chopped up in there so you don’t get nearly the whole piece of fruit in there. That’s why some of these products can be down to three or four or five grams of total carbs for that one container and that might be a way to get some fruit.
Why shouldn’t I eat fruit?
The sugar in fruit is not bad, the amount that you get is what matters. A carb is a carb and you’re keeping them super low so your body can burn its own fat. If you’re trying to burn your body fat maximally you have to burn through all the alcohol and all the carbs before your body’s going to give up its own fat or contribute its stored fat. You want to keep the carbs super low, including the fruit and berries.
What if I don’t store fat easily?
You may not have to be that strict. In our latest book, End Your Carb Confusion, we sort you into three different categories as best we can, based on clinical circumstances and on your situation so that you might fit into one of three “phases,” with phase one being the strictest. You might fall into the category of phase two where you could have more carbs for the day including small amounts of fruit and berries. Then, to accommodate the natural exercisers who don’t easily store food on their body as fat, these folks can eat up to 150 grams of carbs per day and still be healthy and not gain weight. They might not have weight to lose so this accommodates them. Your metabolism might be such that you’re going to be burning fruit and the amount doesn’t have to be so restricted.
Is fruit bad for me?
Fruit is not bad, it’s just that it shouldn’t be the first thing you think about for nutrition. Really basic nutrition starts with protein. Our bodies are made of protein, not fruit. You want to replenish your body’s protein stores every day with meat, poultry, fish, shellfish, and eggs. That’s the basis of any good nutritional program. You can run your body on sugar, but if you eat sugar, your body has to burn that sugar first. If you’re trying to run your body on fat, meaning your own body fat, cut the sugars out, keep them super low and your body will burn fat automatically. That’s why fruit needs to be strictly limited if you’re doing a maximal keto diet.
Will I never be able to eat fruit again?
You may not always have to do this. I’m teaching you a method to get to a goal and then you can decide what to do then. If you go back to the way you were eating before it’s just a matter of time before you go back to where you were. You’ll learn some things along the way, including that fruit is an every-now-and-then treat for most people who have to be super strict in monitoring their carbs. Just dropping the fruit has helped that. Dropping sugar in drinks has helped many of my patients lose weight or accomplish diabetes control even without doing a keto diet, although my preference is that you at least try the keto diet so you see what it feels like.
Watch the full video here.