If sugar is so bad, then why is fruit healthy?

The fruits we consume now are hybrids, and over the years they’ve been bred to become sweeter and sweeter. Honey crisp apples, for example, have 19 grams of sugar. Take a look at a crabapple; it doesn’t have 19 grams of sugar.

Fruits should be seasonal. If you’re consuming them all year, that’s not really natural. Some people don’t differentiate between whole fruit and fruit juice. But fruit juice is without fiber and nutrients because it’s pasteurized. It’s heated, which kills a lot of the enzymes and heat-sensitive vitamins. Juice is basically pure sugar as compared with whole fruit which has vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fiber.

The fruit has nutrients that are protective against DNA damage and diseases like diabetes. However, it also has a great amount of sugar called fructose. Fructose doesn’t go to all the cells in the body like glucose does. It all goes to your liver. This means it doesn’t spike your blood glucose as much as sugar.

You might think this is good, but the point is that your liver has to deal with all of the fructose you eat. If you eat too much, it could lead to insulin resistance, which will raise your insulin. If there’s too much fructose for your liver to handle, it will convert it to fat, cholesterol, and triglycerides. Because of the high percentage of people who have problems with blood sugar and prediabetes, I recommend you stick with a small amount of berries, not fruit.