What Are The Values Of Fruits Within The Food Pyramid?

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Hi everyone,

 

If one is getting sufficient protein, fats, and plenty of vegetables then how are fruit important, how much of them should one eat, and which fruit are more worthwhile than others?

 

Thanks!

[Cody Ward]

I honestly just eat as much fruit as I can, and I don't really eat any grains, so fruit is pretty much my main source of carbs. Fruits are very important, lots of vitamins/minerals and antioxidants. Each has their own benefit.

[Daniel Burnham]

Fruits major role is as a carb source. It can be useful to refuel liver glycogen through its fructose composition. This is really only needed post workout or in the morning.

Fruit also can provide some good nutrients like vitamins and antioxidants. Dark thin skinned fruits tend to have the most antioxidants. It's pretty well known that citrus is a good source of vitamin c too.

Fruit also has some fiber but if you are good on veggie intake then you don't need any more.

Keep fruit consumption relatively low but use it to vary the diet. I like to eat berries in the morning. They just taste good and make the plate a lot more colorful. Remember that flavor composition and appeal is good for producing a balanced diet when you stay away from processed foods.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Thanks for your input, guys!

[Andrew Graham]

I'm reading alot of articles at the moment that suggest fruit is awful for your body! I mean check this article out!

 

http://www.energiseforlife.com/wordpress/2008/10/15/dont-eat-fruit/

 

Surely fruit can't be that bad!?....i only have 1 or 2 item of fruit a day anyway because i'm pretty good with my vegetables.

 

Here is another article suggesting a certain way and time to eat fruit which will benefit the body most effectively!

 

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4970/The-Major-Rule-for-Eating-Fruit.html

 

 

I would love to know what you guys thought on this.....Particularly, Resident Encyclopedia Mr Joshua Naterman

 

cheers

[Joshua Naterman]

Rule 1: Do not get sucked up into the Alkaline BS.

 

Rule 2: Remember rule 1.

 

Rule 3: Learn about the body's buffer systems to learn why mineral density is important, and how these are actually what controls acid-base balance.

[alec_ar]

The rules remind me of a little movie called Fight Club

[Andrew Graham]

Rule 1: Do not get sucked up into the Alkaline BS.

 

Rule 2: Remember rule 1.

 

Rule 3: Learn about the body's buffer systems to learn why mineral density is important, and how these are actually what controls acid-base balance.

Thanks Josh!...pretty much cleared the air there lol!

 

So with that said, is there any particular thing to watch out for with fruits or is it literally a free for all, eat as much as you like, whenever you like thing??...I mean with a properly balanced organic nutrition plan of course...Should some fruits be avoided? are some fruits more beneficial to an athletic body and lifestyle than others??

 

Thanks for your reply!

 

cheers

[Daniel Burnham]

Fructose is the main thing you don't want too much of. You should balance the nutrients the fruit gives you with the fructose it contains. A good rule of thumb is to get only about 20 grams a day of fructose.

So like I said before, eat them in moderation for taste and to replenish liver glycogen if you do some endurance related activity.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

I've been investing lately in eating bananas coupled with sport drinks(even though the banana does the job of the sport drinks, I came out low on potassium, so I'm supplementing it until it levels out)

 

a good thing to hit up(like Josh suggested in terms of research) is see what's available at your local farmers market, do a thorough search of phytonutrient profiles, mineral/vitamin/antioxidant and possible metabolic effects. like the bananas, im investing in them because of the potassium and Vitamin B's they contain = quick energy boost with an okay caloric value. Pineapples for containing Bromelain and its anti-inflammatory properties(and also is a cancer fighter, which can inhibit tumor growth to some extent, for example) and that can possibly lead you to the world of Adaptogenic herbs which is also a pretty interesting body of knowledge. 

 

fruits and veggies are pretty interesting....I want to learn more about them and what they contain. my latest home improvement project is creating a no dig organic garden in an island where most people trash their soil and end up sacrificing a little TLC to their homes to go to the supermarket to get an "idea" of what produce is supposed to be like. 

 

I'm looking forward to learning more on the subject as well.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Rule 1: Do not get sucked up into the Alkaline BS.

 

Rule 2: Remember rule 1.

 

Rule 3: Learn about the body's buffer systems to learn why mineral density is important, and how these are actually what controls acid-base balance.

 

Please Joshua, write a nutrition mini-book over summertime. Just a <75 page guide of your detailed opinion on most things diet related! 

 

I know you've written a ton of things on here (and I think most of us are following them carefully) but it would be great to have an single official source that I can refer to for mostly everything. Besides, it seems like you'd be able to make it into a very concise and precise package that is understandable for we laypersons.

 

For example, I'm curious about why you think all the Alkaline stuff we've read is BS. I mean, a lot of it makes sense to me and a lot of the anti-acidity stuff seems to have great health results from what I've seen.

[Joshua Naterman]

The Alkaline stuff is garbage because they are not looking at how foods affect mineral balance, and do not consider the fact, and I say FACT, that if you are eating a lot of plant matter then you're going to have a virtually impossible time messing up your acid-base balance.

 

Your body keeps itself at very specific pH levels in various tissues, and they don't really change.

 

Breathing is a huge part of this balance, so read on the bicarbonate buffer system. There is also a calcium buffer system, which should help explain why dietary calcium is important. All you want to do is make sure you absorb more calcium than you use as a buffer. You eat greens, you succeed.

 

It goes back to the basics:

 

1) Eat veggies with every mean. Win.

 

 

As for nutrition, NOTHING is a free-for-all. Not meat, not fruit, not milk, not water, not salt. Nothing.

 

Same goes for every other part of life.

[Joshua Naterman]

Bananas cannot do what a sport drink does, they don't have anywhere near enough sodium.

 

You get too much potassium, your heart screws up. Make sure you know what safe limits are. Google is your friend on this.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

Bananas cannot do what a sport drink does, they don't have anywhere near enough sodium.

You get too much potassium, your heart screws up. Make sure you know what safe limits are. Google is your friend on this.

Thank you for that parenthesis, I do not substitute one for the other, I couple them and when a sport drink isnt used I add kosher salt with trace elements to a gallon of water and down it pre/during/post workout.

the calcium thing I got from messing around with the acidity of my garden soil. instead of dumping so much limestone, we noticed a continuing negative immunological response anyway even after correcting the PH. so after adding in ground oyster shells we were blown away at how out of whack the ph got, we noticed that when we cut back on the limestone everything was perfect with the plants. calcium is so interesting. what notes do you have on how CO2 behaves with Calcium within the muscles and in the bone tissue, Josh?

[Joshua Naterman]

Again, I'm going to require a bit of self-education in this area. I am not a full-time teacher, and what you are asking for is a full-on lecture.

 

Get on google, and/or find some textbooks at your local library, and read about blood buffer systems.

 

I'm not upset at the request, but I just don't have that kind of time and this stuff is honestly well-written in other places. At some point, I will probably do a number of things, but this kind of thing just requires way too much of my time.

 

Calcium is, indeed, pretty neat.

 

Soil chemistry is pretty detailed, but is also surprisingly easy to deal with from a natural perspective as well. The natural state of arid land is that there is a combination of plant and animal matter being deposited all over the place at regular intervals, and that these decaying feces, bodies, and plants put the exact same things back into the soil that once came out. So, you put some bone meal (or ground oyster shells, egg shells, whatever), blood meal, and peat moss in your garden soil as an amendment every season and you end up with black soil, very high crop yields, and a relatively low incidence of plant disease.

 

Nature has done a fantastic job of providing rich soil for billions of years, our job is just to intelligently apply how nature works to our gardens. And, of course, to eat all the tasty things that grow there!

[Keilani Gutierrez]

Again, I'm going to require a bit of self-education in this area. I am not a full-time teacher, and what you are asking for is a full-on lecture.

Get on google, and/or find some textbooks at your local library, and read about blood buffer systems.

I'm not upset at the request, but I just don't have that kind of time and this stuff is honestly well-written in other places. At some point, I will probably do a number of things, but this kind of thing just requires way too much of my time.

Calcium is, indeed, pretty neat.

Soil chemistry is pretty detailed, but is also surprisingly easy to deal with from a natural perspective as well. The natural state of arid land is that there is a combination of plant and animal matter being deposited all over the place at regular intervals, and that these decaying feces, bodies, and plants put the exact same things back into the soil that once came out. So, you put some bone meal (or ground oyster shells, egg shells, whatever), blood meal, and peat moss in your garden soil as an amendment every season and you end up with black soil, very high crop yields, and a relatively low incidence of plant disease.

Nature has done a fantastic job of providing rich soil for billions of years, our job is just to intelligently apply how nature works to our gardens. And, of course, to eat all the tasty things that grow there!

relax my friend, you've contributed enough and im not asking to be spoon fed forgive that I didn't express my true intentions, just wondering what you could forward me to, but now that i know how the system is called, the journey can be started

[Joshua Naterman]

Well, your absolute best source would be a human anatomy and physiology textbook!

 

If you go to half.ebay.com or half.com or whatever it is, you can find super cheap textbooks. The buffer systems are going to be the same in the newest edition as in the one before, so you can get a really cheap book and really get a great education!

 

That is my #1 best suggestion.

 

Overview of the 3 main systems:

 

http://www.helium.com/items/2329331-an-overview-of-the-main-buffer-systems-in-the-body

 

Other sources, particularly for calcium:

 

http://www.uswellnessmeats.com/Calcium_Myth_and_Facts.pdf

 

A short quote from this source:

It is interesting to note that kidney stones are included. Kidney stones are a
buildup of calcium in the kidney. Kidney stones are caused by a lack of calcium
in the diet. Due to poor mineral ingestion the body becomes acidic. The body
then leaches calcium out of the bones to neutralize the acid and to keep the pH
from dropping below the level that supports life. Calcium from the bones is not
very bioavailable and only a small percentage is actually used to correct the acid
situation; the rest starts to accumulate in the kidney, or other places.

Scientific evidence has proven that the stones are not formed from organic
calcium in the diet by using radioactive markers on the dietary calcium. When the
stones were examined there was not one bit of radioactive calcium contained in
them. Fully 100% of the kidney stones and bone spurs came from the
calcium leached out of the bones in order to neutralize the acids in the
body fluids.

Don't go crazy over the "calcium deficiency" list, this document has an agenda: Don't eat meat, don't drink milk, perhaps use alkaline water. There is, however, quite a lot of useful information in there. Absorption characteristics are true, and so is the vast majority of scientific data quoted.

 

There are big oversights, both because they have an agenda and because they may not realize that you need exercise to increase bone density (even with lots of bioavailable calcium)but here's the take home message:

 

1) Eat lots of plants. You'll absorb more of the calcium in them, you will get all the necessary cofactors for absorption, and you'll get doses of all the minerals you need.

 

2) The more protein you eat, the more plants you should eat.

 

3) Blanche or steam the veggies to remove oxalates, thereby ensuring good absorption.

 

4) You still absorb quite a bit of calcium from milk.

 

Ok, so 3 wasn't a part of the paper. Like I said, it's got an agenda and is not perfect.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

-whistles- pretty heavy. thank's a lot Josh