The truth about fruit – should you eat it?

For many years I have been careful about eating fruit because I discovered it affected my blood sugar in a bad way. When I stopped eating fruit, I felt an immediate improvement in the way I felt … particularly after meals. Fruit made me sleepy and hypoglycemic.

From time to time I have worried I am not eating enough fruit. I eat small amounts occasionally but not nearly as much as the diet experts say we should. But each time I start eating more fruit, my hypoglycemia symptoms come back.

Recently, I started eating more fruit again … and sure enough, that awful sleepy and headachy, lethargic feeling after meals where I have eaten fruit.

So, who is right? The diet experts who say we must eat lots of fruit? Or what my own body is telling me … I feel a lot better when I reduce the amount of fruit I eat to almost zero?

The answer, I have decided, is my own body is right. I will listen to my body, not the health experts.

I don’t know why fruit gives me low blood sugar. The glycemic index experts say fruit has a low GI. But for me it has a high GI. The sugar in fruit seems to affect me.

So … my conclusion is … if you eat a lot of fruit and you still have hypoglycemic symptoms … even if you are cutting out sugar … why not try cutting out fruit? You may be amazed, like me, that it will make all the difference.

I’d be itnerested in any feedback on this. Feel free to post a comment.

31 thoughts on “The truth about fruit – should you eat it?”

  1. I eat an abundant of fruit. In fact 95% of my diet is fruit and the rest veggies. I never have any problems with fruit – UNLESS I also eat a high fat diet.

    Although I believe listening to your body – you could also read about high carb, low fat diets and see whether the information makes sense to you. One book is 80/10/10 diet by Doug Graham. Its the diet I have been following for 4 years.

    Hope this helps. Fruit is too awesome not to eat 🙂

    Reply
    • Hi Marie,

      That’s certainly interesting and the bottom line for anything is how it makes you feel in the long run. However, you don’t say whether you have ever suffered from hypoglycemia in the past.

      There are different body types. Some people (like you) can apparently thrive on fruit… but certainly not everyone. I’ve tried eating mainly fruit and I feel worse and worse.

      I’m always open minded so I’ll look at Doug Graham’s book.

      Reply
  2. I can handle some low glycemic fruit, but have had to quit things like my beloved bananas and mangoes. I do okay with oranges, apples, etc. I used to love the tropical sweet fruits…sigh.

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  3. Applying the guidelines in the Hypoglycemia Diet book, I can eat a variety of fresh fruit, including my favorites like bananas, grapes, melons with a balanced diet. I have to be careful to have enough protein, vegetables, starch like whole wheat bread, rice, and also to not have so much of the favorite fruit but to half the amount I used to eat and substitute half a fresh apple. For example, instead of a whole big banana, I eat half of a small banana with half an apple with the rest of the meal.

    Reply
  4. Such a quandry! I love my fruits and have been eating healthier for a year now. Mostly raw vegan. Lots of green smoothies, salads, and recently added a lot of fruits. As I did, I got more and more hypoglycemic. Now that I have backed off the bananas, melons, etc. I am better. I have learned that fructose is not imediately used by the cells, but stored in the liver for future use. If this is true, it might explain my high blood insulin levels and low blood sugars. I’m still learning and, yes, I have heard that eating fats can interfere with the cells uptake of the sugars and insulin. I still have yet to find a site where I can get some definitive information. I never want to feel that bad again. Felt like I was going to die. For now, I have to eat closer to the 40-30-30 balanced diet recommended for diabetics/hypoglycemics. I still eat raw vegan, but not as extreme as I was. I don’t know what else to do. Anyone?

    Reply
    • I had a period where I tried a raw vegan diet and it didn’t work for me at all. I got very sick and lost a lot of weight. I persisted with it until I just about died, until I finally saw common sense.

      If you want some sensible ideas on the best way to eat, look at the traditional ethnic diets of people around the world. For example, the French have a very good diet – they eat a balanced diet with meat, dairy products, oils and fats, wine etc – all in sensible moderation – and they cook their food. Likewise, the Mediterranean diets are good, and the Japanese, Chinese – any traditional ethnic diet – even traditional English food with meat, potatoes, vegetables, sausages, pies etc – people have been very healthy on these diets.

      I don’t know of any traditional diet that is raw vegan. It is fad, like all kinds of extreme diets.

      Reply
  5. Hi, Chris… I have the same problem with fruits… indeed I do have with almost all carbs. I´d like to know which ones you eat…

    Reply
    • I don’t eat much fruit at all. Occasionally oranges, apples, kiwifruit and bananas. I never eat fruit on its own, only at the end of a meal and in small amounts i.e. never more than one piece of fruit at a time. I also don’t drink fruit juices, unless someone offers me one and I will drink some to be polite, but certainly not on a regular basis.

      I could probably eat a bit more fruit, but I seem healthy enough without it. I do eat a lot of vegetables, though.

      Reply
  6. So glad I read this..I have the SAME experience. I love bananas in my green smoothies, etc., but today I finally realized, this is not working–I get terrible hypoglycemia from bananas–tired, almost a sick feeling. Chris, why do I also often get low blood sugar from eating chicken? If I eat a good sized dinner, my blood sugar can also drop and then I feel like I must have a banana–thus the cycle starts again. What can I eat besides fruit for stacks that really picks up the energy?

    Reply
  7. Yes it s right. for most peoples eat fruit make them in hypoglecemia….so it is good to use before bad time… :-)..expecially if they have problem with sleep

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  8. The reason why excess protein can make you hypoglycaemic is because your liver can make glucose out of protein by a process called gluconeogenesis. I used to have hypoglycaemia and I had the feeling I was going to faint or die if I didn’t eat every two hours. And even then, when I ate nothing could make me feel full, I ate and ate and ate and got even hungrier. It was horrible. I follow a ketogenic diet and it has solved my problem almost completely. Still, when I have eat something that contains something sugary (for example a prebiotic+probiotic) a little bit of my old hypoglycaemia kicks in and I get blurry vision, fatigue, foggy mind, sense of detachment from reality. Eating high fat is really important. I don’t eat a lot of fruit, only avocados and lemons. Even strawberries can make me feel hypoglycaemic.

    Reply
  9. I also get sickly and tired when I eat fruit. I have hypoglycemia and I found doctor that treats it according to your blood type. I’m type a+ so he suggests that I don’t eat hardly any fruit. Mostly grapefruit. His diet works.

    Reply
      • For any future readers, it’s likely the commenter is talking about Dr. D’Adamo, who is the originator of the Blood Type Diet. It’s pretty neat, personally I credit it with empowering me to notice how foods work for me, rather than than for some mythical “average” person.

        Reply
  10. Hello I have been facing the same problem for the last 6 months since I used the anavar whatever I eat healthy like fruits or chicken ,tuna anything healthy its make me so much sleepy and lazy too and my body shakes too this problem is killing me please can you guys suggest me the solution of this problem ?

    Reply
  11. Wow! I wish I found this info years ago. I am on day 6 without fruit or juice in my daily diet and I feel like a new person. I have not had a hypoglycemic attack in 6 days. Not even the symptoms leading up to it which I have lived with every single day for 4 years. Thank you for all of your posts and best of luck to everyone.

    Reply
  12. Wahoo! At last I got to the bottom of my hyperglycaema attacks thanks to you guys. I recently started a healthy eating regime, fruit smoothies etc and kept having the shaking, sweating, hunger etc. I thought I wasn’t eating enough and upped my fruit/veg intake and got worse. It’s back to the junk food for me…

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  13. Hi Chris! I have never been diagnosed with hypoglycemia, but I have to say, I experience the same symptoms when I eat fruit (especially bananas or two fruits at one time). My morning green smoothie (which I thought was making me healthy)- kale, spinach, banana, blueberries, flax and Greek yogurt for protein, made me feel incredibly tired after drinking it.

    I tried going for two weeks without eating any fruit (and I am already grain, lactose and dairy-free) and I never felt better!! I eat lean meats, healthy fats, legumes, and veggies. All whole foods, but no fruit. I feel alert, light on my feet, the best energy ever.

    Reply
  14. I have, unfortunately, both hypoglycemia and IBS (with the diarrhea). What fun in trying to eat healthy. We are supposed to eat more fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, a short time after eating fruit I get the shakes, headache, etc., due to the sugar in fruit. Some fruits give me intestinal issues. Trying to eat more fiber/grains upsets my intestines due to the IBS issue. Peanuts give me intestinal cramps. So, what to eat? Suggestions anyone?

    Reply
    • Julia,

      You should eat more cooked vegetables and soups (preferably home made soups without any nasty additives). Also, eat more healthy fats and oils to soothe your digestive tract. Butter is good, also olive oil. Don’t be afraid to eat fats and oils, also nuts (not peanuts though). Basically you need warmer, softer, more oily food in your case. Avoid cold, raw and fibrous foods.

      Reply
    • Hi Julia,

      For IBS, I believe it’s best to eat a bland diet of foods that are easy to digest. Not too much fiber. This is where many people go wrong, particularly if they are health conscious and trying to eat more vegetables and fruits (particularly raw). Likewise nuts and seeds can be hard on IBS too.

      You should avoid raw vegetables and fruits, and eat them cooked. Also, dairy products are great for IBS – preferably organic. They are easy to digest. Bananas can be OK if you eat them as part of a meal with protein and fat, to balance the sugar. That way, you should not have any trouble with bananas.

      So, eat soft food that is easy to digest – and plenty of dairy products, eggs, cheese, butter etc will nourish you and help you gain weight and also balance your blood sugar.

      Reply
  15. Hi folks.

    I want to give my opinion.

    Im a cyclist and i discover the reason that i was very tired in the morning that was due to my breakfast.

    I took the same breakfast several months, and i thought that my sluggish in my bike and brain fog was due to my sleep.

    This was my breakfast

    – Whole grain bread
    – Banana
    – Peanut butter
    – Coffee
    – RAW cacao
    – Brown sugar

    But when i remove ONLY the banana i have a great power and energy and my brain works very well.

    Maybe i have some intolerance to fruit, or, frutose, but the point here is that i can attest the other comments in a pratical way.

    Good luck to every one.

    Reply
    • This is interesting. It’s amazing what a difference it can make to remove one item of food from your breakfast. And it’s interesting that you are taking brown sugar, but no bad effect from that – just from the banana. I would add some more protein to that breakfast. But peanut butter is good, as it will provide some protein and fat, to slow down the absorption of the meal and give you a steady blood sugar level though the morning.

      Reply
  16. Thanks, Chris, for having this subject available. I was doing great, no hypoglycemic attacks on a whole foods, plant based diet. Energy high, didn’t have to eat so often, strong for walking daily. Then I started slipping backwards. It was the fruit I had added. And I am now checking the amount of sugars in starchy vegetables too and going with butternut squash over sweet potatoes, etc. And also watching flour products, eating whole grains instead of whole grain pasta or legume pastas. This seems to be working for me. Thanks again for keeping info on hypoglycemia before us.

    Reply

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