How much fruit is too much?

[JeffN]

Hi Jeff,

Your answer totally makes sense to me. Thanks. If this is the case - how do you come to your recommendation of 2 - 6 servings of fruit per day?

If a person is healthy and not overweight why can't they eat more fruit than starch for energy? What's wrong with a healthy person having 8 servings of fruit per day? Is there damage that could be happening?

Again, re-read my initial quote.

"There are many situations would I have had to severely limit or eliminate fruit consumption for some time and other situations where the intake is much higher than I would recommend for most."

Also, there are several threads here where this issues is discussed in detail.

And, remember, my initial recommendation, as stated in the top of this thread is simple..

"I would recommend plugging your daily intake into a nutritional analysis software (such as fitday or the CRON-O-Meter ) and seeing how well you are doing. If you are getting in the necessary nutrients, than more power to you. However, personally, I would not recommend someone follow a diet where 80% of their calories comes from fruit as it would be difficult, to ensure adequate intake of all your nutrients."

And, as I have said, ....

"aim for a BMI of 18.5 - 22, focus on low calorie dense, high nutrient dense foods, be moderately active (30-45 minutes/day), and enjoy life."

And

"a BMI around 18.5-22. But that should not be the "goal" in and of themselves but the result of your following the guidelines and principles of healthy living."

BTW, the recent raw food/fruit fad is really missing the boat.

Granted, they have figured out how to get in enough of their nutrients from fruit and that is by increasing the amount they eat (and recommend) to around 3000 calories per day.

However, in order to do that, the flip side of the equation is that they have to be highly active so they burn these extra calories.

The problem with this approach is that it is in opposition to everything we know about longevity and CR, which is all based on minimum input and minimum output.

So, for example, two identical people. Both have BMI's of 18.5 and both consume low calorie dense, high nutrient dense diets that surpass all the RDA/DRIs.

Person 1 does it by consuming a diet of around 1800 calories per day and burning about 500 calories per day by engaging in around 30 minutes of activity per day.

Person 2 does it by consuming a diet of around 3000 calories per day and burning about 1700 calories per day by engaging in around 100 minutes of activity per day.

Based on 75 years of research on longevity and CR in all animals tested, which one will most likely live the longer healthier life?

In Health
Jeff

[pinkrose]

Based on 75 years of research on longevity and CR in all animals tested, which one will most likely live the longer healthier life?

In Health
Jeff

Jeff, thanks for so much solid guidance! As you have said before, those who follow the MWL program are practicing CR. Some will find that it is difficult to stop weight reduction at a BMI of 18.5 and may want to make a few modifications. My BMI seems to have stabilized between 19 and 20 with the addition of walnuts and two "feasts"/week of potatoes and tomato sauce. I omit fruits and think some other CRONies also omit fruits.

I am a happy customer in regard to the MWL program and CR!

[katie3]

Hi Jeff, just wanted to share that this post made a really positive impact on me.

Your words (in an earlier post in this same forum) helped me decide to temporarily eliminate fruit to help get my blood sugars and insulin back on track:

As I did say, in my experience in working with 1000's of these patients over the years, about 25% of them are very sensitive to fruit and processed carbs, even whole grain flour products and their "numbers" look better when they remove these foods or restrict them "until" the IR is reversed or mostly reversed. In these people, we see elevated TGs, insulin and blood sugars during this time and when we remove the fruit or other foods, these numbers go down.

I've not been diagnosed with diabetes, but have had long-term vague 'blood sugar issues' and have a family history of Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, sugar addiction, etc. Looking back, I think those 'blood sugar issues' were likely worsening insulin resistance. I've been on a path to shake all of that entirely and have been following Dr. McDougall's and your teachings since March of 2017.

More recently, I've been practicing MWL for ~3 weeks and just this past week eliminated fruit all together based on what I read here. I lost 2.8 pounds this past week (down to 122.2 from 125). Also, I measured my blood pressure yesterday which is down to 87/57 with pulse of 58 (down from 108/70 and pulse of 70 with more standard McDougalling). The numbers seem to be going in the right direction, so I'll continue with MWL minus fruit until reaching my goal weight. I'm 5'4" and small-boned, so even though my BMI is healthy, I still have extra fat to lose.

Thanks so very much for all you do in these forums and elsewhere. I've benefitted tremendously from talks you've given and posts you've written recently as well those from quite a few years ago.

Katie