Other Fruit, wow! Who knew!

Dr. Greger's Daily Dozen recommends.

Longevity & Fruit

Dr. Greger cites a study in a video on NutrionFact.org about carotenoids in fruit. This study found that women in their 70s with the most carotenoids in their systems were twice as likely for survive 5 years, then those with the lowest levels, doubling their likely hood of survival, just by eating more fruits and veggies. Another study found that compared to those who eat 5 Servings of Fruits and Veggies a day, those only eating 4 servings a day loss a month of their life span, 3 servings a day loss 3 months, 2 servings a day 7 months shorter, 1 serving a day a year and a half, .5 serving a day 2 years shorter, 0 servings a day 3 years shorter. I guess we better eat our fruit if we want to live a long time.

Weight Management

What did humans first eat? Well, before we learned to hunt we ate leaves, roots, shoots, fruits and nuts. Why does this matter, because humans were meant to eat fruits and veggies.

Increasing your consumption of dietary fiber with fruits, veggies, whole grains, and legumes is a critical step in weight control. It has been found through studies that people who eat fresh fruit at a meal tend to eat less in their next meals.

In another interesting study, people were put on two types of diets, low sugar no fruit and low sugar with fruit, the people on the low sugar with fruit diet lost nearly 50% more weight than the non-fruit group.

You could fill yourself to the brim with fresh fruit three times a day and still lose weight, since they are mostly air and water. An apple for example is 85% water by weight and 20% air by volume.

In another study where people were told to reduce their fat intake lost more weight than people who were told to just eat more fruits and veggies, but the people who did both did the best. A combination of approaches is the best, for instance replacing oil with applesauce when you are baking. This would achieve both a fat reduction and a higher fruit intake.

People who eat the most fruits and veggies seem to have 17% lower odds of weight gain and abdominal obesity.

Studies have found that people who eat dried fruit tend to be slimmer than those who don't, but they also tend to eat better overall. Dried Apple rings are a surprising find, they are not only super healthy for you, they can help with your cholesterol and help aid in weight loss.

The consumption of both fruits and veggies was associated with weight loss over time. If you eat apples and pears everyday instead of the same calories in cookies, you will most likely lose weight. Remember it is not the calories you eat, it is the calories you digest.

And, there are more benefits to eating fruit

When we are eating a whole plant food like fruits, we are telling our gut flora to be fruitful and multiply. Produce is protective because the friendly flora from fruits and veggies might be successful in crowding out any bad bugs in your gut.

Eating more fruits and veggies can reduce the risk of the three leading caused of death, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.

Eating whole fruits may, lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

By eating extra fruits and veggies you might think that you would gain weight because of the extra calories, but that is not the case, the research has found you end up with less calories in your system. Remember it is not what you eat but what you absorb. The polyphenols in fruit can block the transport of the sugars through the intestinal lining, slowing the absorption.

Adding fruit to a meal can actually blunt the insulin spike from high glycemic foods.

How can you eat more fruit?

Wow, another interesting study about offering free fruit to customers. Just by offering free fruits and veggies to people it nearly quintupled (5 times) the likelihood of people reaching their daily recommended intakes. In a study done with grocery store gift cards. They had two different cards with $45.00 dollars on them both, one you could buy anything you wanted, the other was just for fruits and veggies. The people with the card that you could buy anything you wanted on it, gained weight, the fruit and veggie group lost on average 10lbs.

Out sight outa mind? How about keeping a bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter? This ended up helping people get closer to meeting their daily needs for fruits as well.

Researchers found the the contrasting colors in both fruit and veggies platters beats out platters with just one fruit or veggie on it. So have platters with multiple colors on them and you will eat more.

If you are used to having a cookie every time you see a cookie jar, it might be better to replace it with a fruit bowl and having a piece a fruit every time you see it.

Fruit is beneficial in just about any amount. But you must eat the whole fruit to have these benefits as drinking just the juice can have the opposite effect.