Love love love the way you present info. Other's would simply spout there findings as truth and fact. You on the other hand are clear about there being variables and how we just can't be sure about certain things. Much respect! Keep this up man!
I quit eating eggs for 20 years trying to lower my cholesterol. Nicks video on consuming 720 eggs in a month and his cholesterol going down started me eating 3 eggs every morning again! Thanks Nick for being the test subject and refuting MANY diet claims!
I'm 49 years old and heard that cholesterol BS when I was a kid. I never bought into any of it. It didn't make sense. I've kind of always looked at nutrition from a Hunter gatherer perspective. I had the mindset of "Go into the woods and find food" and to me the answers on what we should eat are obvious.
Fun Fact: Nowhere from any medical establishment or professional have I gotten this information. No one is making these connections and presenting the data like Nick. Thank you, Nick, for being you and doing what you're doing.
You should definitely hit up Paul Saladino to discuss the data on fruit. I respect the hell out of both you guys, and I think it would make for a, dare I say, fruitful endeavour.
Saladino convinced me to try carnivore. I applaud him for experimenting, but he is not an exceptional source of valid information. Will be interesting to follow him and see if he continues to seem extremely healthy, there are already questions in my mind, but that is just me.
@@Radoslav-gk7wu Yeah, not convinced of that at all, there are plenty of 'ultra' active people that drop dead. Had a family member much like Paul who is no longer with us...
This is sooo timely for me. I’ve been on a low carb/ carnivorish diet for a long time but do crave fruit every now and then. I allow myself to have one fruit per day, like a pear lately. Today I had 2 oranges and was wondering if I should feel bad. Thank you for the video!
Super interesting! I've been doing a lot of at-home experiments with fruit, in an attempt to fix a sleep issue I developed after eating super low carb for so long (3 AM wakeups). This seems to be a common issue for people eating low carb long-term. I've found it to be helpful to consume some fruit with my last meal - with fats to buffer it. For me, peaches with coconut butter/milk work great. I've found that oftentimes fruit and even a bit of honey has almost no impact on my state of ketosis if I eat only a small portion and it also depends on the type of fruit - and if the food I ate before was higher in protein and fats. I never eat fruit alone as it can really spike your glucose levels. In testing out different fruits, I noticed that cherries have the worst/highest impact on my glucose levels, even when eating a high protein/high fat meal before.
You and I have talked about sleep issues before - a few months ago. I have to tell you that I have finally found the root problem: I was not eating enough protein. I was afraid that protein was going to spike my BG, and I was eating a high fat, lowish protein diet. In December I tripled my protein intake to at least 200 net grams, and halved my fat intake to no more than 100 net grams per day. I replaced beef, butter and eggs with chicken, turkey, fish and lean cuts of pork, plus some cottage cheese. My sleep problems immediately disappeared!!! (After 3 and a half years!!!) And amazingly, my BG went DOWN!!! My fasting BG went from 105 to 86!!! Look into Dr. Ted Naiman, Craig & Maria Emmerich, and Marty Kendall. They explain how fat can can raise insulin and BG - but we don't see it immediately because it happens after several hours. They call it energy toxicity - and this is exactly what was happening to me!! Maria Emmerich and Kelly Hogan also eat 200+ grams of net protein.per day - and Maria E. mentions that this way she sleeps better. Fruits are NOT the answer!! I had NAFLD for 10 years, I know what I'm talking about...
What time do you go to bed? When I eat carnivore I find that 7.5 hours is my absolute max for sleep or I feel awful. I tend to go to bed at the same time as my toddler, so I'll wake up at 3:30-4 am ready fir the day.
@@aurapopescu1875 this is really interesting. I’m currently experimenting with increasing my protein intake too. I’m still eating fatty cuts of meat, but I’m not adding extra fat to my meals. I’m chasing sleep issues myself.
Be very very careful because what you're doing is similar to eating a chocolate bar which also has sugars and fats and will also help you to sleep... but not for the right reasons... just be very careful and realistic
Fantastic review. Other points I'd throw in that would lead me to arguing for less fruit consumption: -human evolved away from fruit eating (to throw spears instead of climb trees) -high fruit diets can lead to tooth decay (sign of evolutionary discordance) -pesticide load (that makes fruit eating even possible for the most part)
Good points, Kevin. I’m thinking along these lines… With all the caveats around eating fruit (max dose, glycemic load, etc) it sure seems that we’re meant to live on meat. Fill up on muscle meat/fat, eggs, etc… and no need to concern ourselves with all those caveats.
Great vid, Nick thanks for bringing the nuance in. Super interesting about the distinction between dietary fructose and the fructose that makes it to the liver. I will definitely check out that paper. As a matter of practicality, I find that taking out the high-sugar fruits really helps people who want to lose weight or reverse their T2D. It's probably less of a concern for people who are not worried about those things. This is why I feel like people in the Saladino (pro-fruit) camp and say the Westman (anti-fruit or anti-high-sugar fruit) are often talking past each other. They're each providing good advice, but for different kinds of people.
I have heard much fruit eaters who state they eat in an ancestral type fashion. We all know most fruit is not available year round but most people eat fruit year round. Also if eating a year old apple doesn’t put into perspective what is needed to make apples available year round, nothing else will give people pause on how eating fruit can be detrimental.
I live in a place with avocado, mango, lemon and orange trees... 20 years ago our local supermarket would sell locally picked avocados, it would even have a timestamp for when it had been picked. They would be in all sized. Now all their avocados weight exactly 100g, and come from the other side of the planet, like Peru and Chile. If I eat an avocaco from my friends garden, I could eat one every day for a week and not feel bad at all. BUT if I eat one of those small ones from the supermarket, I can't even eat a half, and will have to throw the other away, because of my bodys response! Fruit isn't just fruit! Is it maturing on the tree vs in a storage room? 🤷♀️ Getting sunlight in the end growth fase? The lack of toxins (I don't know if they use toxins in Peru or Chile). Hand picked by me vs the way it's handled by the supermarket? 🤷♀️ Same goes for locally grown pommegranate, oranges and lemons (I can't stand mangos). But I'm sorry. It's even much more complicated than what you presented... 😘
Any plant foods commercially grown for export are regularly dosed with chemical sprays. The growers must complete a spray programme of generally 25-50 chemical applications to be able to export their product. It's not a case of use it if necessary. The spray programme must be adhered to if you want to export your product. Locally grown, spray free (or at least minimally sprayed) produce is definitely going to be better for you.
Fascinating . Had been cutting out fruit . Recently had a flair up of very body based ptsd and developed an overwhelming craving for an apple . Fought the urge for several hours and finally listened to my poor nervous system. Ate one apple . I don't know why but it seemed to calm my nervous system . Still not making it a constant habit but will listen to my body more when it's in that state . Curious as to why it helped my sympathetic nervous system stabilize.
I eat one granny smith apple per day. It really is true that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and I state that from data as I measure my labs regularly and as part of my diet, that one apple provides me about 15% of my RDA of vitamin C. I get another 15% from berries. I get the remainder of my vitamin C either through bell peppers, brussels sprouts or broccoli, one of which I have at least 3 days a week and are so high in vitamin C that when averaged over a week with my fruit consumption, it gives me my RDA. My labs are all excellent, only my ApoB is in the moderate range (not optimal) because I am expressing the LMhR phenotype and it is, in fact (along with other carbs) that apple that allows me to attenuate the triad and my ApoB.
I've been wondering the same thing. I've noticed the same with myself. I listened to a TH-cam video on Diary of a CEO where he interviewed Dr. Anna Lembke regarding Dopamine. I wonder if the sugar hit is the thing? Aren't our brains fascinating?
The avocado seed is so big because it evolved to be swallowed and dispersed by giant prehistoric mammals. When these animals went extinct around 10,000 years ago, avocados lost their natural way of spreading, but human cultivation preserved them-making them a fascinating case of evolutionary anachronism.
Recently when working in the yard I noticed that around 2-3pm I would suddenly become very tired. So I ate 1/2 an orange and my energy came back in about 15 minutes and lasted until dinner time. I am on a low carb diet and my ketones were down, but this was in range for my carbs. So what I found is that sometimes a little glucose is needed in my N=1 experiment.
Try eating some cheese next time you feel low energy... we can even use it for diabetics having a low... cheese will balance the sugar rather than raising it up sharply
Another awesome video! One thing I never hear much about is seasonality of diet, as well as how our ancient ancestry may play a role in what we should eat. For example, a friend of mine has parents from SE Asia, which is tropical and has fruit year around. His ancestors from 1000+ years ago likely ate very differently than my ancestors from the parts of Europe that are now Germany, France, and the UK. For equatorial cultures, there may have been less seasonality of food availability. For cultures far from the equator, there were periods of "forced carnivore" (or nearly so) and periods abundant with fruits, nuts, seeds, tubers, etc. Interestingly, those cultures would often eat tons of fruits in season and put on 10-20lbs of fat, thus fattening up for winter. Carnivore diet in the winter would lack those sugary (and linoleic acid containing nuts) and thus body fat would be burned instead of stored. I think "Paleo" and now "Ancestral" inspiration for diet is fascinating but that we can also be inspired by our own personal ancestry and seasonality of food availability. Some things may always be theoretical without any studies to support.. but also, all research started with theories. STAY CURIOUS!
Great video! It is so annoying when people say that a fruit is the same as a soft drink. I've even seen a carnivore influencer video where they claimed that a fruit is WORSE than a soft drink. 😅 Yes, the molecules of fructose and glucose are the same but fruits and sodas aren't affecting the body in the same way. Why this is so difficult for some in the keto/carnivore community to understand baffles me. So I really appreciate this nuanced, unbiased video!🌞
I agree. Even though I found results from doing carnivore, I started in the RayPeat sphere, so never hated sugar, and was culture shocked by the prejudice against it. I think it's just human nature, wanting to have a common enemy to throw blame at. That and cycles of fashion. Way back when Kellogg had his heyday, protein was demonized. Then fat. Now carbs.
Wrong. Humans require no fructose at all from any source. Eating lots of fruit will raise your triglycerides regardless of its source. This is never a good thing. Fruit u buy today is all man made, processed genetically made to taste sweet and last longer.
@@IsakTougaardand finally for once, carbs become demonized. And for good reasons. Look at the population of India. They have around 150 million people with T2 diabetes and prediabetes, people over 18. Not counting T1D. And a lot of NAFLD.Estimates suggest that anywhere from 3% to 22% of Indian children may have NAFLD, depending on the population studied (general population vs. overweight/obese children). And the numbers are rising sharply. And this is from a population with mainly carbohydrates as food.
Thank you for this - best video about fruit/fructose/metabolism I have encountered to date. It starts to clear away some cobwebs. And thanks for the concise explanation of difference between glycemic index and glycemic load.
Fantastic video Nick! I also suspect co-ingestion of other foods is really impactful. For instance try spiking your blood sugar with eating fruit while also eating a 12oz steak and 3 eggs. While I was wearing a CGM for fun I was never able to do so even when eating high glucose fruits like bananas and grapes. I suspect co-ingestion of fats and protein slow digestion to afford a higher capacity for intestinal fructose metabolism/conversion, but I haven't seen any studies on this. That said I suppose some people do snack on just fruits so the points about GI/GL are relevant for that. Overall thanks for making this video! 🙏🥝
Always excellent content. As a type one diabetic..I tend to stick to berries, but I do indulge in other fruit..but it's correct..I monitor the portion carefully.
Nice to know those tiny oranges are okay. I love Keto French toast. But, my elderly Italian wife wants me to eat other Keto meals. I googled "Who invented French toast"! She guessed the French. Wrong! It was Italians! She might be starting to become more tolerant of my favorite Keto brunch. Someday..😊
Wonderful video that gives VERY important details that are often not noted in the debate. Funny that one of Dr. Lugstic (sp?) Short videos came up just before this where he shared the difference between glucose and fructose in mice.
Nice. Definitely was curious about the amount of fructose I was consuming versus the benefits of the fruits. I've added in about 3 Kiwis and 80g of Wild Blueberries into my diet in the afternoon again with some allulose and a teaspoon of honey as I found these can help me sleep better for some reason. fruits are too delicious to willy nilly chunk as "healthy." I know that if I don't measure or track how much fruits I eat, I will be eating way too much.
People that understand AMO physics know that the mitochondria will react differently to energy molecules like fructose, depending on the light signaling. The light input will vary, depending on your latitude and elevation. Even the most casual observer of experiments done by Glenn Jefferies when exposing a small patch of skin on your shoulder to IR wavelengths can decrease blood glucose by 27%. This simple experiment is well documented and repeatable. The study that you cite, does it count for any of the physics described above? If not, is it valid? Or is it just a “generalized“ recommendation? When a person eats a banana in the middle of winter in New York City, are there any deleterious effects? Yes, it is complicated, but a more simple approach to understanding food inputs, and their possible effects, might just be considering latitude and light environment, and how it interacts with biology
Thanks for the video nick on fruits. Would be interesting to have included the glycemic load of different foods to better reflect the glucose/insulin response from a given fruit serving. And what you're eating the food, fiber and fats seem to slow the release of glucose from starches and sugars in fruit.
Great discussion on fruit-it's eye-opening to see the science behind moderation. I started taking nutrition more seriously and reading books like banned spartan rituals that go deep into natural nutrition and hormone balance.
The person matters much more than the food. A tall and big sportsman vs a short obese diabetic woman need to eat very differently. Focus in the person, not in the food. That what's I like with doctor Norwitz, he makes it clear.
They both could eat meat and eggs and do just fine. Like our ancestors Tribal people eat the same food. Inuit, seal caribou, fish , birds. Native Americans too.
If the woman is diabetic she is currently very sick. The assumption in any of these discussions about food by Nick is that we're talking about nutrition from the POV of being metabolically healthy and what these different foods roles are in maintaining metabolic health. Of course, if one is critically ill they first need to get better before any of this applies to them; that should go without saying.
@@amyfarrell8799 to be clear, even though the Inuit definitely qualify as carnivore diets, about the only plant material they ever did get in quantity (in the summer) was berries. Native Americans who lived further south ate significant quantities of fruit when it was in season.
Eyes thrown wide open on fructose & its metabolism. Want to dig more deeply into this information, and begin to "test-drive" some berries and citrus in my diet. Curious to see how I respond to that. Always many thanks and great appreciation for your teaching, and special thanks for this one. It really opened some new perspective to think through.
Really depends on your carbs Tolerance. Fruits nowadays have more carbs than before (genetically modified). In addition, I find it difficult to hit ketosis when eating some fruits most likely due to fructose and their conversion into glycogen in the liver.
Nick, I would love to see a video about what you eat in a typical day/week. If you have already done that, could you please link it? Thanks for all your great content.
I get asked that a lot. Occasionally I answer that question on podcasts, but I don’t plan to do a video on it… changes too much. Also what I eat is specific to my goals and concerns & I’m afraid people would generalize
I recall an old Usenet thread on this topic. Someone guessimated that up to 15 grams per day would induce greater insulin sensitivity and after that with larger amounts the effects would be adverse. Anyway, it may have a hormetic effect at low levels. Mice have a adjustment factor of 6 or 7 as the denominator. His numbers pretty well match.
Thanks nice video. Here is my fun fact.. there is a berry sometimes called the “Miracle Fruit” which is s a taste-altering berry that causes sour foods to be perceived as sweet. atson Lake in Prescott, AZ added back some fruit after doing my own research, but I did it with a twist. I ferment the fruit with my kefir for 24-96hrs which should convert most of the fructose. I ferment the kefir first, strain, add some baking soda (to reduce the ph which limits further bacterial growth), add some fruit and let it ferment for 1-2 more days. Its definitely not sweet anymore unless you use a miracle berry ;-)
Insightful video, thankyou for making it :) Have you done, or planning to do a video on starches and their metabolic impact? my main carbohydrate source is sweet potatoes and would love to see a video on it as well, hopefully you can answer this
You forgot to point out that metabolism of fructose also depends on the fact if it's in fiber matrix or refined form. Fructose in fruits is bounded by pectins, which are transporting it to lower guts where it serves to enhance prebiotic functions of pectins. At least, partially. Therefore, you can't make direct comparison between equivalent of fructose from whole foods and refined fructose.
For years I have been more careful to eat fruit low in fructose and high in fibre... and avoid processed foods with fructose. Thanks for validating my choices... Yes, my metabolic disorder became type 2 diabetes.
You should eat zero fiber and zero carbs if you have diabetes. It is very reversible on high fat carnivore. Unless you’ve ruined your pancreas where it cannot produce insulin anymore. Fruit won’t do you any favors. That I know after giving up carbs and now having fasting glucose in the 80s for the first time in my adult life. Keto helped but carnivore was the next level of healing of gut and prediabetes.
@@BeefNEggs057I have diabetes and I eat high protein, moderate fat, low carb (30-70g) that includes a couple ounces of potatoes and 1-2 ounces of berries, some veggies and a cup of milk. I consume about 24-28g of sugar a day. My CGM month had me averaging 93. Nick shows in the video that everyone tolerates foods differently and be your own N=1. So no, diabetics don't have go carnivore to treat diabetes. Carnivore is definitely a great option but there are other options as well
@nicknorwitz, I kid you not. Mango smoothies tried to kill me. Sent to the ER with stroke level blood pressure. 215/105. It happened twice before we figured it out. And twice, doctors dismissed the fruit smoothies as being the cause, but they found no other cause. Each time, they gave me a shot of something to drop my Pressure. Each visit was about $3k. Not once did any of the doctors or ER nurses ask or say anything or questioned me about the smoothies. This real world experience ended my relationship with fruit. Yes, 100% agree N=1 is a key to eating right.
Maybe a mango allergy. I had a bad skin reaction to Brazilian pepper tree leaves. The dermatologist say it meant I was probably allergic to mangos also. My nose runs when the mango trees are pollinating here in Florida.
Fun fact: a hazelnut is also a fruit :) I mostly eat avocados, tomatoes, macadamia, lemons and blueberries in the fruit group, with blueberries and macadamia being the ones I prefer.
Great video, as usually. Unfortunately, it provides more questions than answers, as good science usually does. One question that is hopefully easy for you to answer: In context of numbers in the video of grams/kg body-weight of fructose that can be processed by out gut to spare the liver, is there a "gut recovery-time" or some similar measure available, so that we know how often we can chew our fructose allowance of X g/kg body-weight? 1 day? 12hrs? Each meal (like every 3-4hrs)?
Great video. I am one of those who is fully aware of the issues with fruit and fructose, and I found no errors in your discussion except or 1 clarification. When you extrapolated from the mouse data 0.25g/kg or 0.5g/kg did you intend that to be a maximum per meal or for the entire day? My limiting goal is no more 0.25g/kg of fructose or 0.5g/kg of sucrose or other simple sugars (averaging for 50/50 glucose/fructose content) per meal. However, most of my meals have significantly less than that maximum.
What about higher deuterium content in fruit? Have you researched that too? As far as I know fruit consumption might be latitude and season specific because body deuterium depletion mechanisms depend on temperature and sunlight
You can actually drink a glass of pure deuterium and it won't harm you. There is actually a community of folks who build their own fusion reactors (you'll hear about the 12 year olds that build their own fusion reactor on the news, but there is a much larger contingent of adults that build their own Farnsworth fusers). As part of that hobby people need to obtain pure deuterium as the source of hydrogen for the fusion reaction. I hang out in this group of people and folks in that group have drunk deuterium (it is very expensive so they haven't consumed a lot). No ill effects have been noted by anyone. Considering that drinking a shot glass of pure deuterium is the equivalent deuterium load of eating several hundred pounds of fruit, it is safe to say that deuterium content of fruit is irrelevant as a health concern.
I had a lot of health problems and did carnivore and all varities of carnivore since 2017 and never truly felt good, although on strict carnivore (zerocarb beef salt water only) I noticed chronic pain and fatigue going away. However one problem I have is that I have chonically cold hands and feet and feel like crap and recently I started eating 300g strawberries and 2 avocados daily and I'm now constantly having warm hands and feeling better, this result doesn't come from any other fruits, I've had citrus fruits, watermelon, other melons, apples, cucumber, etc and nothing helps except the strawberry and avocado combo.
Just a 😊 Fun fact, microwaving food, more than likely retains more vitamins & nutrients than any other cooking methods!! ChatGPT “Yes, it’s true that microwaving food can sometimes retain more vitamins and minerals compared to other cooking methods, but it depends on the specific nutrient and how the food is cooked. Microwaving tends to preserve nutrients better than methods like boiling because the cooking time is shorter and less water is used. Many vitamins, particularly water-soluble ones like vitamin C and some B vitamins, are lost when they leach into the cooking water, which is more likely to happen during longer cooking processes like boiling or steaming. Since microwaving uses less water and takes less time, it minimizes this nutrient loss. Additionally, since microwaving cooks food more quickly, there's less time for heat to break down sensitive nutrients. However, overcooking in the microwave (like any method) can still degrade nutrients. So, overall, microwaving can be a more nutrient-preserving method, especially when compared to boiling or frying. Just remember, the way you prepare the food and the cooking time still matter!”
I had to add carbohydrates back to my diet as I am trying to come off of thyroid meds and I couldn't get my practitioner to agree with my TSH/T3 so high (I have Hashimoto's). Eating animal based with a little bit of fruit and honey did the trick, I am aiming for 100 g of carbs a day which has been working. I have had 3 medication reductions and hoping to have a 4th in March.
Great video! Big missing piece is sunlight. It regulates blood sugar and helps proces duterium. Eating a banana in costa rica is not the sam as eating one in the UK winter
I’ll never be tempted by watermelon ever again. Thanks for sharing this aspect on fruits. I’m going to do an N=1 on grapefruit. Just curious how I’ll respond.
Fun Fact: the nutrients in a fruit are constant, regardless of the size. The vitamins are their for the seed, everything else is basically sugar water and fiber. So smaller fruits are more nutrient dense and thus tastier. PS: I've mainly heard this about apples and tomatoes. We keep trying to grow bigger, but that just dilutes the nutrients over more carb load.
Fruit triggers peripheral numbness/neuropathy in me. I can eat 400+ grams of carbs from starches with no issues and actually feel amazing, energized, strong, and clear headed. However when I add even a serving or two of fruit into my diet, the neuropathy comes back and I lose weight while gaining body fat. I followed the animal based diet very strictly for a long time and it almost killed me. Now I have such a low tolerance for dietary fat and can tolerate almost no fructose at all. It did help heal my digestion though.
5:06 Rate of consumption matters. Are numbers per day or per meal? 1g/kg/day divided over 6 doses per day is not the same as 1 dose per day. For example if you eating a whole mango at one sitting isn’t giving your liver the same exposure to fructose as eating half a mango with breakfast and half with lunch.
Multiple kilos of bananas on a daily basis is definitely too much. That said, i really look forward to this video! I have been ruminating on the subject a lot in the last couple of years.
Wow! Thank you! Really interesting and important information which clears up a lot of questions I had on fruit and fructose. Except one. Do you therefore expect that populations originating in the tropics with year round access to very sweet fruits like mangoes will have a genetically /epigentically enhanced ability to make safer the fructose consumed in the gut?
Good question. I think that’s a reasonable hypothesis. My best guess is it’s based on epigenetic adaptions to acute or sub-acute exposure. I don’t think geographic or ancestry matters as much as what does the individual eat routinely.
I have noticed in the comments that there are people like me that have did N=1 experiments on themselves with fruit and are reporting similar experiences. I live near the 40th parallel. During the summer I tolerate local fruit very well but in the winter months will have a little inflammation and will gain weight if I eat even the smallest amount of fruit or honey. UV seems to be the only difference as I get outside and exercise similarly in winter and summer. There seams to be a correlation not just for me but others I have talked to locally that are on low carbohydrate diets.
Fructose is not required for humans. Whether it is in Fruit, or processed food makes no difference at all. It still results in exogenous glucose. Humans require no exogenous sugar at all. Nick is ignoring the fact that fruits primary role in nature is to spread seeds and fatten up animals that require it. Humans don't. Fruit is seasonal and all fruit available in modern times is man-made. None of it existed in pre historic times. The same can be said for modern day vegetables.
Fun Fruit Fact: Blueberries are not blue because of pigment, but rather because of the wax on their skin. The wax has a structure that scatters blue light. Speculation: I suspect that this is why they turn black when you add them to hot oatmeal. The wax melts off and reveals the skin's black color. As for why the skin is black, I suspect that there is chlorophyll in the skin along with the anthocyanins. Anthocyanins generally absorb green light, while chlorophylls absorb red and blue light. So when mixed together, they absorb red, green, and blue light, and therefore appear black. That's what I think is happening
This is really helpful for me because I had been watching my systolic blood pressure creep up on an essentially Paleo diet with lots of fruit. I eliminated all fruit (except some berries) for a few weeks and now seeing BP drop. N=1 🤷♂️
spikes my blood sugar really high into diabetic range :( It is one of the reasons why I am diabetic for I used to eat a lot of it. I wasn’t buying sweets, only occasionally when eating out. Before anyone comes for me for being overweight diabetic person who was eating ton of bad carbs- I am very slim closer to lower limit for normal weight for my height. I wasn’t eating overprocessed carbs.
I ate a couple of lifetimes of sugar when I was younger. Thankfully, I was an athlete and worked out consistently. As I got older working out as much decreased. And, while I eliminated a significant amount of sugar and flour from my diet I still ate noodles and fruit and veggies. I went Carnivore 16 months ago and haven't felt this good in decades. It'll be a very long time before I eat any plant material. Maybe never. Except coffee. And, if I believe that would be a good thing, I'll eliminate it as well. I did take a month off from coffee and felt no difference except I wasn't enjoying coffee. Meat, eggs some dairy and lots if bacon make you healthy and oh, so happy! Painful knee arthritis went away in 6-8 weeks. Doctors can't do that. And I feel great and want to work out at age 61.
Why? What do you base that on doc? Your hunch based on misinformation taught by big pharma school? Zero fruit and zero fiber works best for anyone who tries it for more than a few weeks. Fruit and carbs keep people like you in business I guess. Job security for the sick care system.
I nearly died after following conventional medical advice.. I ate lots of complex carbs, laid off the meat, high fat cheese and eggs... Suffered from crazy high triglycerides and had a heart attack.. looking at non-mainstream advice now it's clear where I went wrong. I fixed myself with a proper diet full of fairy meat, eggs and high fat dairy.. suddenly no more metabolic syndrome.. never felt better
Two things: 1) about twenty years ago I ate two pieces of fruit and it felt like I had poisoned myself. I tried other fruit and same thing - it was painful. 2) I now each NO fruit at all - NONE ... because I do not eat sugar in any form.
I have a "fun" fact. There is no scientific consensus on what "healthy" means in the context of diet. Some clames its a diet that promotes health (whatever that means), some say its a diet that doesn't promote sickness, others say its one that reverses sickness, some say its a macro to micro nutrient ratio calculation, and so on it goes. So be wary when you hear the term "healthy" without a very clear definition of how that word is meant.
@Nick Norwitz I can only assume that your rough guide in the beginning would be modified by the fiber content of each fruit, since that should further slow the absorption of fructose in the intestines? Also, I imagine that the various antioxidants, polyphenols, and other phytochemicals may have an impact on how damaging the fructose will be on our bodies (if at all), even if we don't know what those mechanisms are yet, yes?
I mainly eat a ketogenic diet during the year. But like to go off of it during the summer for mango season. Theres a body bulider named aaron reed, that recommends not mixing sugar and fats. Eating protein and carbs aroung workouts. Then later eat low carb with fattier meal. Is this a good approach? Still eating clean maybe little rice or sweet potato.
I eat ketogenically. And i do eat fruit because i believe causing a very small insulin spike once a day is beneficial to my health. But i only do it before exercise and i only eat about 10 grams of carbs this way so not much.. Seems to work well for me and doesn't disrupt my ketone levels..
1 gram fructose per kg body weight is about where I am at, per Cronometer. I have no concerns as I get enough protein and fat that the spillover of fructose is probably not a concern. Add in exercise and my diet also being high in fiber, around 70g per day and up. I think it is way to complex to even break it down to grams per kg since the sources can vary so much regarding fat, protein, fiber and how you combine it into meals, how many meals per day, etc.
Personal experience with apples. They almost always increase my hunger. Apple snack makes me feel starved. Apple at the beginning of a meal may help me feel full from the meal. Apple as dessert makes me feel starved. This includes apple pie.
Most people, even on a keto diet, aren't going to be in ketosis all the time. You still have insulin spikes, and insulin is necessary for glycogen production (sugar stores in your muscles and liver). You'll hear a lot said about how carbohydrate consumption is necessary for glycogen production but it literally can't be true or everyone on keto would be jelly limbed. It pretty much has to be the case that glucose produced during ketosis can also be converted to glycogen. Turns out the body is pretty good at what it does, if its not being fed absolute junk. 🤷♀️ But that wasn't really your question I think? I think you're asking about deliberately coming out of ketosis? I consider myself "fat adapted", which means I slip readily into ketosis when I eat low carb. Which I did for over a year and now do most days. But now I also consume fruit and roots and some higher carb dairy, usually 2 or 3 days a week. I'm more focused on upf free and whole food now than about staying 100% low carb. And in case you're wondering, I can tell when I go to the loo, whether or not I'm in ketosis. Not sure everyone has the "tell in the smell", but I do 😂
Technically, eating pretty much anything to a 'normal portion' degree is going to kick you out of ketosis. The key getting back into ketosis readily, which is to vary somewhat between differing types of people. Some people need to eat 20 grams of carbs, others can do 100 (or maybe more). So, for most people, you can do some fruit as long as you stay within the carb parameters your body is adapted to
Love love love the way you present info. Other's would simply spout there findings as truth and fact. You on the other hand are clear about there being variables and how we just can't be sure about certain things. Much respect! Keep this up man!
You are so welcome
I quit eating eggs for 20 years trying to lower my cholesterol. Nicks video on consuming 720 eggs in a month and his cholesterol going down started me eating 3 eggs every morning again! Thanks Nick for being the test subject and refuting MANY diet claims!
Cholesterol is building blocks for muscle.
I'm eating 15 eggs a day
Which video is this?
I'm 49 years old and heard that cholesterol BS when I was a kid. I never bought into any of it. It didn't make sense. I've kind of always looked at nutrition from a Hunter gatherer perspective. I had the mindset of "Go into the woods and find food" and to me the answers on what we should eat are obvious.
This only works for people who are LMHR. You are damaging yourself if you already have high LDL
Fun Fact: Nowhere from any medical establishment or professional have I gotten this information. No one is making these connections and presenting the data like Nick.
Thank you, Nick, for being you and doing what you're doing.
Thanks Grant. I appreciate it. I'm passionate about this because people like you want to hear the nuance.
You should definitely hit up Paul Saladino to discuss the data on fruit. I respect the hell out of both you guys, and I think it would make for a, dare I say, fruitful endeavour.
Saladino convinced me to try carnivore. I applaud him for experimenting, but he is not an exceptional source of valid information. Will be interesting to follow him and see if he continues to seem extremely healthy, there are already questions in my mind, but that is just me.
@@seanveach950 if you are "ultra-active" as he, carbs are not much problem... But 99% on this planet isnt active as him already...
@@Radoslav-gk7wu Yeah, not convinced of that at all, there are plenty of 'ultra' active people that drop dead. Had a family member much like Paul who is no longer with us...
Also the sun exposure also helps the body to process the fructose
@@peterjordanson4201 I work in the sun almost every day, all day. Didn't help me.
This is sooo timely for me. I’ve been on a low carb/ carnivorish diet for a long time but do crave fruit every now and then. I allow myself to have one fruit per day, like a pear lately. Today I had 2 oranges and was wondering if I should feel bad. Thank you for the video!
Glad you found value in the video :)
Super interesting! I've been doing a lot of at-home experiments with fruit, in an attempt to fix a sleep issue I developed after eating super low carb for so long (3 AM wakeups). This seems to be a common issue for people eating low carb long-term. I've found it to be helpful to consume some fruit with my last meal - with fats to buffer it. For me, peaches with coconut butter/milk work great. I've found that oftentimes fruit and even a bit of honey has almost no impact on my state of ketosis if I eat only a small portion and it also depends on the type of fruit - and if the food I ate before was higher in protein and fats. I never eat fruit alone as it can really spike your glucose levels. In testing out different fruits, I noticed that cherries have the worst/highest impact on my glucose levels, even when eating a high protein/high fat meal before.
You and I have talked about sleep issues before - a few months ago. I have to tell you that I have finally found the root problem: I was not eating enough protein. I was afraid that protein was going to spike my BG, and I was eating a high fat, lowish protein diet. In December I tripled my protein intake to at least 200 net grams, and halved my fat intake to no more than 100 net grams per day. I replaced beef, butter and eggs with chicken, turkey, fish and lean cuts of pork, plus some cottage cheese. My sleep problems immediately disappeared!!! (After 3 and a half years!!!) And amazingly, my BG went DOWN!!! My fasting BG went from 105 to 86!!!
Look into Dr. Ted Naiman, Craig & Maria Emmerich, and Marty Kendall. They explain how fat can can raise insulin and BG - but we don't see it immediately because it happens after several hours. They call it energy toxicity - and this is exactly what was happening to me!!
Maria Emmerich and Kelly Hogan also eat 200+ grams of net protein.per day - and Maria E. mentions that this way she sleeps better.
Fruits are NOT the answer!! I had NAFLD for 10 years, I know what I'm talking about...
Eat fat before bed. Magnesium oil too
What time do you go to bed?
When I eat carnivore I find that 7.5 hours is my absolute max for sleep or I feel awful.
I tend to go to bed at the same time as my toddler, so I'll wake up at 3:30-4 am ready fir the day.
@@aurapopescu1875 this is really interesting. I’m currently experimenting with increasing my protein intake too. I’m still eating fatty cuts of meat, but I’m not adding extra fat to my meals. I’m chasing sleep issues myself.
Be very very careful because what you're doing is similar to eating a chocolate bar which also has sugars and fats and will also help you to sleep... but not for the right reasons... just be very careful and realistic
Fantastic review. Other points I'd throw in that would lead me to arguing for less fruit consumption:
-human evolved away from fruit eating (to throw spears instead of climb trees)
-high fruit diets can lead to tooth decay (sign of evolutionary discordance)
-pesticide load (that makes fruit eating even possible for the most part)
Good points, Kevin. I’m thinking along these lines… With all the caveats around eating fruit (max dose, glycemic load, etc) it sure seems that we’re meant to live on meat. Fill up on muscle meat/fat, eggs, etc… and no need to concern ourselves with all those caveats.
Great vid, Nick thanks for bringing the nuance in.
Super interesting about the distinction between dietary fructose and the fructose that makes it to the liver. I will definitely check out that paper.
As a matter of practicality, I find that taking out the high-sugar fruits really helps people who want to lose weight or reverse their T2D. It's probably less of a concern for people who are not worried about those things. This is why I feel like people in the Saladino (pro-fruit) camp and say the Westman (anti-fruit or anti-high-sugar fruit) are often talking past each other. They're each providing good advice, but for different kinds of people.
I have heard much fruit eaters who state they eat in an ancestral type fashion. We all know most fruit is not available year round but most people eat fruit year round. Also if eating a year old apple doesn’t put into perspective what is needed to make apples available year round, nothing else will give people pause on how eating fruit can be detrimental.
I live in a place with avocado, mango, lemon and orange trees... 20 years ago our local supermarket would sell locally picked avocados, it would even have a timestamp for when it had been picked. They would be in all sized.
Now all their avocados weight exactly 100g, and come from the other side of the planet, like Peru and Chile.
If I eat an avocaco from my friends garden, I could eat one every day for a week and not feel bad at all. BUT if I eat one of those small ones from the supermarket, I can't even eat a half, and will have to throw the other away, because of my bodys response!
Fruit isn't just fruit!
Is it maturing on the tree vs in a storage room? 🤷♀️ Getting sunlight in the end growth fase? The lack of toxins (I don't know if they use toxins in Peru or Chile). Hand picked by me vs the way it's handled by the supermarket? 🤷♀️ Same goes for locally grown pommegranate, oranges and lemons (I can't stand mangos).
But I'm sorry. It's even much more complicated than what you presented... 😘
Any plant foods commercially grown for export are regularly dosed with chemical sprays. The growers must complete a spray programme of generally 25-50 chemical applications to be able to export their product. It's not a case of use it if necessary. The spray programme must be adhered to if you want to export your product. Locally grown, spray free (or at least minimally sprayed) produce is definitely going to be better for you.
Fascinating . Had been cutting out fruit . Recently had a flair up of very body based ptsd and developed an overwhelming craving for an apple .
Fought the urge for several hours and finally listened to my poor nervous system. Ate one apple . I don't know why but it seemed to calm my nervous system . Still not making it a constant habit but will listen to my body more when it's in that state .
Curious as to why it helped my sympathetic nervous system stabilize.
I eat one granny smith apple per day.
It really is true that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and I state that from data as I measure my labs regularly and as part of my diet, that one apple provides me about 15% of my RDA of vitamin C. I get another 15% from berries. I get the remainder of my vitamin C either through bell peppers, brussels sprouts or broccoli, one of which I have at least 3 days a week and are so high in vitamin C that when averaged over a week with my fruit consumption, it gives me my RDA.
My labs are all excellent, only my ApoB is in the moderate range (not optimal) because I am expressing the LMhR phenotype and it is, in fact (along with other carbs) that apple that allows me to attenuate the triad and my ApoB.
I've been wondering the same thing. I've noticed the same with myself. I listened to a TH-cam video on Diary of a CEO where he interviewed Dr. Anna Lembke regarding Dopamine. I wonder if the sugar hit is the thing? Aren't our brains fascinating?
@kiainfpe9 they sure are .
What about one pack of Twinkies?
The avocado seed is so big because it evolved to be swallowed and dispersed by giant prehistoric mammals. When these animals went extinct around 10,000 years ago, avocados lost their natural way of spreading, but human cultivation preserved them-making them a fascinating case of evolutionary anachronism.
Recently when working in the yard I noticed that around 2-3pm I would suddenly become very tired. So I ate 1/2 an orange and my energy came back in about 15 minutes and lasted until dinner time. I am on a low carb diet and my ketones were down, but this was in range for my carbs. So what I found is that sometimes a little glucose is needed in my N=1 experiment.
Try eating some cheese next time you feel low energy... we can even use it for diabetics having a low... cheese will balance the sugar rather than raising it up sharply
@@holistic.health Normally I eat some avocado but I didn't have any ripe ones available.
@@robinq5511 Oyul.
Great video, only missed oxalate content. Those fruits low in fructose are actually high on oxalates, so still need to consume them in moderation
You cast a wide net then bring it in. Integrity and smarts. I appreciate you.
Thank you Brook!
Another awesome video!
One thing I never hear much about is seasonality of diet, as well as how our ancient ancestry may play a role in what we should eat. For example, a friend of mine has parents from SE Asia, which is tropical and has fruit year around. His ancestors from 1000+ years ago likely ate very differently than my ancestors from the parts of Europe that are now Germany, France, and the UK. For equatorial cultures, there may have been less seasonality of food availability. For cultures far from the equator, there were periods of "forced carnivore" (or nearly so) and periods abundant with fruits, nuts, seeds, tubers, etc. Interestingly, those cultures would often eat tons of fruits in season and put on 10-20lbs of fat, thus fattening up for winter. Carnivore diet in the winter would lack those sugary (and linoleic acid containing nuts) and thus body fat would be burned instead of stored. I think "Paleo" and now "Ancestral" inspiration for diet is fascinating but that we can also be inspired by our own personal ancestry and seasonality of food availability. Some things may always be theoretical without any studies to support.. but also, all research started with theories.
STAY CURIOUS!
Great video! It is so annoying when people say that a fruit is the same as a soft drink. I've even seen a carnivore influencer video where they claimed that a fruit is WORSE than a soft drink. 😅 Yes, the molecules of fructose and glucose are the same but fruits and sodas aren't affecting the body in the same way. Why this is so difficult for some in the keto/carnivore community to understand baffles me. So I really appreciate this nuanced, unbiased video!🌞
I agree. Even though I found results from doing carnivore, I started in the RayPeat sphere, so never hated sugar, and was culture shocked by the prejudice against it.
I think it's just human nature, wanting to have a common enemy to throw blame at.
That and cycles of fashion.
Way back when Kellogg had his heyday, protein was demonized. Then fat. Now carbs.
Wrong. Humans require no fructose at all from any source. Eating lots of fruit will raise your triglycerides regardless of its source. This is never a good thing. Fruit u buy today is all man made, processed genetically made to taste sweet and last longer.
@@IsakTougaardand finally for once, carbs become demonized. And for good reasons. Look at the population of India. They have around 150 million people with T2 diabetes and prediabetes, people over 18. Not counting T1D. And a lot of NAFLD.Estimates suggest that anywhere from 3% to 22% of Indian children may have NAFLD, depending on the population studied (general population vs. overweight/obese children). And the numbers are rising sharply. And this is from a population with mainly carbohydrates as food.
Thank you for this - best video about fruit/fructose/metabolism I have encountered to date. It starts to clear away some cobwebs. And thanks for the concise explanation of difference between glycemic index and glycemic load.
Fantastic video Nick! I also suspect co-ingestion of other foods is really impactful. For instance try spiking your blood sugar with eating fruit while also eating a 12oz steak and 3 eggs. While I was wearing a CGM for fun I was never able to do so even when eating high glucose fruits like bananas and grapes. I suspect co-ingestion of fats and protein slow digestion to afford a higher capacity for intestinal fructose metabolism/conversion, but I haven't seen any studies on this.
That said I suppose some people do snack on just fruits so the points about GI/GL are relevant for that.
Overall thanks for making this video! 🙏🥝
Thank you Dr Nick for another informative video! You are appreciated.
Thank you! This comment is appreciated:).
Always excellent content. As a type one diabetic..I tend to stick to berries, but I do indulge in other fruit..but it's correct..I monitor the portion carefully.
Thanks Shelly. Sounds very mindful.
Thanks, Dr. Nick. I can’t imagine a better explanation of a complex subject. Reality is complicated. That’s just the way it is.
You get it!
This is a topic I have been wondering about for a while now. Thanks!
You’re welcome! Glad you a-peach-ciate it :)
Nice to know those tiny oranges are okay.
I love Keto French toast. But, my elderly Italian wife wants me to eat other Keto meals.
I googled "Who invented French toast"! She guessed the French. Wrong! It was Italians!
She might be starting to become more tolerant of my favorite Keto brunch. Someday..😊
Wonderful video that gives VERY important details that are often not noted in the debate. Funny that one of Dr. Lugstic (sp?) Short videos came up just before this where he shared the difference between glucose and fructose in mice.
Nice. Definitely was curious about the amount of fructose I was consuming versus the benefits of the fruits. I've added in about 3 Kiwis and 80g of Wild Blueberries into my diet in the afternoon again with some allulose and a teaspoon of honey as I found these can help me sleep better for some reason. fruits are too delicious to willy nilly chunk as "healthy." I know that if I don't measure or track how much fruits I eat, I will be eating way too much.
I heard kiwi is the worst for oxalates but do your own research!
IF you like fruit... I can't stand it. But, we are all different after all! 🤣🤣👍
People that understand AMO physics know that the mitochondria will react differently to energy molecules like fructose, depending on the light signaling. The light input will vary, depending on your latitude and elevation. Even the most casual observer of experiments done by Glenn Jefferies when exposing a small patch of skin on your shoulder to IR wavelengths can decrease blood glucose by 27%. This simple experiment is well documented and repeatable. The study that you cite, does it count for any of the physics described above? If not, is it valid? Or is it just a “generalized“ recommendation? When a person eats a banana in the middle of winter in New York City, are there any deleterious effects?
Yes, it is complicated, but a more simple approach to understanding food inputs, and their possible effects, might just be considering latitude and light environment, and how it interacts with biology
Thanks for the video nick on fruits. Would be interesting to have included the glycemic load of different foods to better reflect the glucose/insulin response from a given fruit serving. And what you're eating the food, fiber and fats seem to slow the release of glucose from starches and sugars in fruit.
Another great video, well done. We will watch your career with great interest.
Much appreciated!
Always enlightening and thought-provoking
Thanks!
Great discussion on fruit-it's eye-opening to see the science behind moderation. I started taking nutrition more seriously and reading books like banned spartan rituals that go deep into natural nutrition and hormone balance.
Excellent info as usual. Thanks
You bet
The person matters much more than the food.
A tall and big sportsman vs a short obese diabetic woman need to eat very differently. Focus in the person, not in the food. That what's I like with doctor Norwitz, he makes it clear.
They both could eat meat and eggs and do just fine. Like our ancestors
Tribal people eat the same food. Inuit, seal caribou, fish , birds. Native Americans too.
If the woman is diabetic she is currently very sick. The assumption in any of these discussions about food by Nick is that we're talking about nutrition from the POV of being metabolically healthy and what these different foods roles are in maintaining metabolic health. Of course, if one is critically ill they first need to get better before any of this applies to them; that should go without saying.
@@amyfarrell8799 to be clear, even though the Inuit definitely qualify as carnivore diets, about the only plant material they ever did get in quantity (in the summer) was berries.
Native Americans who lived further south ate significant quantities of fruit when it was in season.
Excellent video! I had no idea that fructose is ‘bad’ for us after certain amount… thank you for this brilliant presentation! 💜
Glad it was helpful!
Eyes thrown wide open on fructose & its metabolism. Want to dig more deeply into this information, and begin to "test-drive" some berries and citrus in my diet. Curious to see how I respond to that. Always many thanks and great appreciation for your teaching, and special thanks for this one. It really opened some new perspective to think through.
This is very informative, thanks. I've been concerned about fructose intake, and uncertain what makes sense.
Absolute quality videos
Thanks!
I only eat fruit when it's in season and prefer berries ,avocado,, and figs. Excellent video.
If you are a sugar addict, this video is not an excuse. Stay strong!
I needed to see this comment, my body looking for an excuse
I've covered the science of food addiction, here: th-cam.com/video/DSbw_V0pXdc/w-d-xo.html
Really depends on your carbs Tolerance. Fruits nowadays have more carbs than before (genetically modified). In addition, I find it difficult to hit ketosis when eating some fruits most likely due to fructose and their conversion into glycogen in the liver.
Nick, I would love to see a video about what you eat in a typical day/week. If you have already done that, could you please link it? Thanks for all your great content.
I get asked that a lot. Occasionally I answer that question on podcasts, but I don’t plan to do a video on it… changes too much. Also what I eat is specific to my goals and concerns & I’m afraid people would generalize
I recall an old Usenet thread on this topic. Someone guessimated that up to 15 grams per day would induce greater insulin sensitivity and after that with larger amounts the effects would be adverse. Anyway, it may have a hormetic effect at low levels. Mice have a adjustment factor of 6 or 7 as the denominator. His numbers pretty well match.
Thanks nice video. Here is my fun fact.. there is a berry sometimes called the “Miracle Fruit” which is s a taste-altering berry that causes sour foods to be perceived as sweet.
atson Lake in Prescott, AZ added back some fruit after doing my own research, but I did it with a twist. I ferment the fruit with my kefir for 24-96hrs which should convert most of the fructose. I ferment the kefir first, strain, add some baking soda (to reduce the ph which limits further bacterial growth), add some fruit and let it ferment for 1-2 more days. Its definitely not sweet anymore unless you use a miracle berry ;-)
Insightful video, thankyou for making it :)
Have you done, or planning to do a video on starches and their metabolic impact? my main carbohydrate source is sweet potatoes and would love to see a video on it as well, hopefully you can answer this
Thank you, Love your take on fruit.
You are so welcome!
Great Work!!
Thanks a lot!
You forgot to point out that metabolism of fructose also depends on the fact if it's in fiber matrix or refined form. Fructose in fruits is bounded by pectins, which are transporting it to lower guts where it serves to enhance prebiotic functions of pectins. At least, partially. Therefore, you can't make direct comparison between equivalent of fructose from whole foods and refined fructose.
Just another diamond. Superb 👍
Thank you! Think if I propose with a loop of metal stapled to my forehead my girlfriend will say “yes!” ?
For years I have been more careful to eat fruit low in fructose and high in fibre... and avoid processed foods with fructose. Thanks for validating my choices... Yes, my metabolic disorder became type 2 diabetes.
You should eat zero fiber and zero carbs if you have diabetes. It is very reversible on high fat carnivore. Unless you’ve ruined your pancreas where it cannot produce insulin anymore. Fruit won’t do you any favors. That I know after giving up carbs and now having fasting glucose in the 80s for the first time in my adult life. Keto helped but carnivore was the next level of healing of gut and prediabetes.
@@BeefNEggs057I have diabetes and I eat high protein, moderate fat, low carb (30-70g) that includes a couple ounces of potatoes and 1-2 ounces of berries, some veggies and a cup of milk. I consume about 24-28g of sugar a day. My CGM month had me averaging 93.
Nick shows in the video that everyone tolerates foods differently and be your own N=1. So no, diabetics don't have go carnivore to treat diabetes. Carnivore is definitely a great option but there are other options as well
Eating some fruit this morning while watching, let's see how my morning goes.
Check that blood sugar and watch it soar way high.
Excellent video! You can eat young, green mangoes. There are not as sweet. Try it. It's popular in Thailand.
Good to know
Super useful, thanks. 😊
Glad it was helpful!
@nicknorwitz, I kid you not. Mango smoothies tried to kill me. Sent to the ER with stroke level blood pressure. 215/105. It happened twice before we figured it out. And twice, doctors dismissed the fruit smoothies as being the cause, but they found no other cause. Each time, they gave me a shot of something to drop my Pressure. Each visit was about $3k. Not once did any of the doctors or ER nurses ask or say anything or questioned me about the smoothies. This real world experience ended my relationship with fruit. Yes, 100% agree N=1 is a key to eating right.
Maybe a mango allergy. I had a bad skin reaction to Brazilian pepper tree leaves. The dermatologist say it meant I was probably allergic to mangos also. My nose runs when the mango trees are pollinating here in Florida.
Also, I forgot to say that if your mango smoothies included the mango skin, that would be much more allergenic.
You should do a video on the Kempner sugar and rice therapeutic diet.
Fun fact: a hazelnut is also a fruit :)
I mostly eat avocados, tomatoes, macadamia, lemons and blueberries in the fruit group, with blueberries and macadamia being the ones I prefer.
A fellow Mac monster!!
Great video, as usually. Unfortunately, it provides more questions than answers, as good science usually does. One question that is hopefully easy for you to answer: In context of numbers in the video of grams/kg body-weight of fructose that can be processed by out gut to spare the liver, is there a "gut recovery-time" or some similar measure available, so that we know how often we can chew our fructose allowance of X g/kg body-weight? 1 day? 12hrs? Each meal (like every 3-4hrs)?
Per day i think
Dose and context, so freaking importante🙂
Yep
Great video. I am one of those who is fully aware of the issues with fruit and fructose, and I found no errors in your discussion except or 1 clarification. When you extrapolated from the mouse data 0.25g/kg or 0.5g/kg did you intend that to be a maximum per meal or for the entire day? My limiting goal is no more 0.25g/kg of fructose or 0.5g/kg of sucrose or other simple sugars (averaging for 50/50 glucose/fructose content) per meal. However, most of my meals have significantly less than that maximum.
I would like to hear more nuance regarding phytonutrients - antioxidant benefits and their glycemic index /fructose load
What about higher deuterium content in fruit? Have you researched that too? As far as I know fruit consumption might be latitude and season specific because body deuterium depletion mechanisms depend on temperature and sunlight
You can actually drink a glass of pure deuterium and it won't harm you.
There is actually a community of folks who build their own fusion reactors (you'll hear about the 12 year olds that build their own fusion reactor on the news, but there is a much larger contingent of adults that build their own Farnsworth fusers).
As part of that hobby people need to obtain pure deuterium as the source of hydrogen for the fusion reaction. I hang out in this group of people and folks in that group have drunk deuterium (it is very expensive so they haven't consumed a lot). No ill effects have been noted by anyone.
Considering that drinking a shot glass of pure deuterium is the equivalent deuterium load of eating several hundred pounds of fruit, it is safe to say that deuterium content of fruit is irrelevant as a health concern.
Reference?
I had a lot of health problems and did carnivore and all varities of carnivore since 2017 and never truly felt good, although on strict carnivore (zerocarb beef salt water only) I noticed chronic pain and fatigue going away. However one problem I have is that I have chonically cold hands and feet and feel like crap and recently I started eating 300g strawberries and 2 avocados daily and I'm now constantly having warm hands and feeling better, this result doesn't come from any other fruits, I've had citrus fruits, watermelon, other melons, apples, cucumber, etc and nothing helps except the strawberry and avocado combo.
Thank you again.
Welcome :).
Just a 😊 Fun fact, microwaving food, more than likely retains more vitamins & nutrients than any other cooking methods!!
ChatGPT “Yes, it’s true that microwaving food can sometimes retain more vitamins and minerals compared to other cooking methods, but it depends on the specific nutrient and how the food is cooked.
Microwaving tends to preserve nutrients better than methods like boiling because the cooking time is shorter and less water is used. Many vitamins, particularly water-soluble ones like vitamin C and some B vitamins, are lost when they leach into the cooking water, which is more likely to happen during longer cooking processes like boiling or steaming. Since microwaving uses less water and takes less time, it minimizes this nutrient loss.
Additionally, since microwaving cooks food more quickly, there's less time for heat to break down sensitive nutrients. However, overcooking in the microwave (like any method) can still degrade nutrients.
So, overall, microwaving can be a more nutrient-preserving method, especially when compared to boiling or frying. Just remember, the way you prepare the food and the cooking time still matter!”
ahhh GPT said so, must be true.... radiating the food is better got it
@ ChatGPT said it so it must be untrue? Hopefully Nick will dive into this controversial subject🤞
I had to add carbohydrates back to my diet as I am trying to come off of thyroid meds and I couldn't get my practitioner to agree with my TSH/T3 so high (I have Hashimoto's). Eating animal based with a little bit of fruit and honey did the trick, I am aiming for 100 g of carbs a day which has been working. I have had 3 medication reductions and hoping to have a 4th in March.
out of curiosity as I also have Hashimoto's, what is your diet & supplementation in more detail?
14:53 - " fruit may not be that harmful" and not "may not be harmful"
The study shows a reduction in fructose and not it's elimination.
Great video! Big missing piece is sunlight. It regulates blood sugar and helps proces duterium. Eating a banana in costa rica is not the sam as eating one in the UK winter
Love to see any videos you recommend to explain and perhaps document studies on this.
There's a difference between missing and a topic being different than the topic at hand. I also missed the science of black holes in this video
It depends on your light environment. See what Jack Kruse says about eating pineapple in Boston in winter
Why don’t you tell me in your own words
I’ll never be tempted by watermelon ever again. Thanks for sharing this aspect on fruits. I’m going to do an N=1 on grapefruit. Just curious how I’ll respond.
Circadian cues likely impact our fruit tolerance as well. Also, eating after fats should blunt absorption rates.
Fun Fact: the nutrients in a fruit are constant, regardless of the size. The vitamins are their for the seed, everything else is basically sugar water and fiber. So smaller fruits are more nutrient dense and thus tastier.
PS: I've mainly heard this about apples and tomatoes. We keep trying to grow bigger, but that just dilutes the nutrients over more carb load.
Not sure if that rule holds true perfectly, but it sounds like a good heuristic
Fruit triggers peripheral numbness/neuropathy in me. I can eat 400+ grams of carbs from starches with no issues and actually feel amazing, energized, strong, and clear headed. However when I add even a serving or two of fruit into my diet, the neuropathy comes back and I lose weight while gaining body fat. I followed the animal based diet very strictly for a long time and it almost killed me. Now I have such a low tolerance for dietary fat and can tolerate almost no fructose at all. It did help heal my digestion though.
Thanks for sharing. What’s your working model for why that is?
5:06 Rate of consumption matters. Are numbers per day or per meal? 1g/kg/day divided over 6 doses per day is not the same as 1 dose per day.
For example if you eating a whole mango at one sitting isn’t giving your liver the same exposure to fructose as eating half a mango with breakfast and half with lunch.
Agree.
Multiple kilos of bananas on a daily basis is definitely too much.
That said, i really look forward to this video! I have been ruminating on the subject a lot in the last couple of years.
Ya… WebMD does screwed up
Wow! Thank you! Really interesting and important information which clears up a lot of questions I had on fruit and fructose. Except one. Do you therefore expect that populations originating in the tropics with year round access to very sweet fruits like mangoes will have a genetically /epigentically enhanced ability to make safer the fructose consumed in the gut?
Good question. I think that’s a reasonable hypothesis. My best guess is it’s based on epigenetic adaptions to acute or sub-acute exposure. I don’t think geographic or ancestry matters as much as what does the individual eat routinely.
@nicknorwitzPhD thank you. Would be a very interesting study!
I have noticed in the comments that there are people like me that have did N=1 experiments on themselves with fruit and are reporting similar experiences. I live near the 40th parallel. During the summer I tolerate local fruit very well but in the winter months will have a little inflammation and will gain weight if I eat even the smallest amount of fruit or honey. UV seems to be the only difference as I get outside and exercise similarly in winter and summer. There seams to be a correlation not just for me but others I have talked to locally that are on low carbohydrate diets.
Fructose is not required for humans. Whether it is in Fruit, or processed food makes no difference at all. It still results in exogenous glucose. Humans require no exogenous sugar at all. Nick is ignoring the fact that fruits primary role in nature is to spread seeds and fatten up animals that require it. Humans don't. Fruit is seasonal and all fruit available in modern times is man-made. None of it existed in pre historic times. The same can be said for modern day vegetables.
Fun Fruit Fact: Blueberries are not blue because of pigment, but rather because of the wax on their skin. The wax has a structure that scatters blue light.
Speculation: I suspect that this is why they turn black when you add them to hot oatmeal. The wax melts off and reveals the skin's black color.
As for why the skin is black, I suspect that there is chlorophyll in the skin along with the anthocyanins. Anthocyanins generally absorb green light, while chlorophylls absorb red and blue light. So when mixed together, they absorb red, green, and blue light, and therefore appear black. That's what I think is happening
Well how about that. Really?
Thanks!
You bet!
This is really helpful for me because I had been watching my systolic blood pressure creep up on an essentially Paleo diet with lots of fruit. I eliminated all fruit (except some berries) for a few weeks and now seeing BP drop. N=1 🤷♂️
spikes my blood sugar really high into diabetic range :(
It is one of the reasons why I am diabetic for I used to eat a lot of it.
I wasn’t buying sweets, only occasionally when eating out.
Before anyone comes for me for being overweight diabetic person who was eating ton of bad carbs- I am very slim closer to lower limit for normal weight for my height. I wasn’t eating overprocessed carbs.
I ate a couple of lifetimes of sugar when I was younger. Thankfully, I was an athlete and worked out consistently. As I got older working out as much decreased. And, while I eliminated a significant amount of sugar and flour from my diet I still ate noodles and fruit and veggies. I went Carnivore 16 months ago and haven't felt this good in decades. It'll be a very long time before I eat any plant material. Maybe never. Except coffee. And, if I believe that would be a good thing, I'll eliminate it as well. I did take a month off from coffee and felt no difference except I wasn't enjoying coffee. Meat, eggs some dairy and lots if bacon make you healthy and oh, so happy! Painful knee arthritis went away in 6-8 weeks. Doctors can't do that. And I feel great and want to work out at age 61.
good one
Thanks
20% fruit for the meal is enough to balance, 20% starch, and the rest is protein, fat, etc.
Why? What do you base that on doc? Your hunch based on misinformation taught by big pharma school? Zero fruit and zero fiber works best for anyone who tries it for more than a few weeks. Fruit and carbs keep people like you in business I guess. Job security for the sick care system.
Dr Morse is someone i believe in and he advocated for years how fruit is indeed great for the body
Watch out for the oxalates; especially high in rhubarb, kiwis, dates, raspberries.
I nearly died after following conventional medical advice.. I ate lots of complex carbs, laid off the meat, high fat cheese and eggs... Suffered from crazy high triglycerides and had a heart attack.. looking at non-mainstream advice now it's clear where I went wrong. I fixed myself with a proper diet full of fairy meat, eggs and high fat dairy.. suddenly no more metabolic syndrome.. never felt better
Is the Fairy meat grass fed?
Two things: 1) about twenty years ago I ate two pieces of fruit and it felt like I had poisoned myself. I tried other fruit and same thing - it was painful.
2) I now each NO fruit at all - NONE ... because I do not eat sugar in any form.
Okie dokie artichoke
"Nick Equivalent of a Mouse" is my new favorite standard unit of measure
Glad you like it ;)
I have a "fun" fact. There is no scientific consensus on what "healthy" means in the context of diet. Some clames its a diet that promotes health (whatever that means), some say its a diet that doesn't promote sickness, others say its one that reverses sickness, some say its a macro to micro nutrient ratio calculation, and so on it goes.
So be wary when you hear the term "healthy" without a very clear definition of how that word is meant.
Here is a real fact. Look down. Can you see your feet? lol $4T is what the USA spends on health care each yr. Is that fun?
@Nick Norwitz I can only assume that your rough guide in the beginning would be modified by the fiber content of each fruit, since that should further slow the absorption of fructose in the intestines?
Also, I imagine that the various antioxidants, polyphenols, and other phytochemicals may have an impact on how damaging the fructose will be on our bodies (if at all), even if we don't know what those mechanisms are yet, yes?
Did you watch the whole video before posting this comment? Also, did you see the visceral far video on my channel that discusses ellagitanins etc.?
I mainly eat a ketogenic diet during the year. But like to go off of it during the summer for mango season. Theres a body bulider named aaron reed, that recommends not mixing sugar and fats. Eating protein and carbs aroung workouts. Then later eat low carb with fattier meal. Is this a good approach? Still eating clean maybe little rice or sweet potato.
I eat ketogenically. And i do eat fruit because i believe causing a very small insulin spike once a day is beneficial to my health. But i only do it before exercise and i only eat about 10 grams of carbs this way so not much.. Seems to work well for me and doesn't disrupt my ketone levels..
Thanks Nick,
Never knew that...
Welcome
Really good summary. Vegans should also listen
I hope everyone does. My videos aren't for people only consuming a particular diet
Thank you!
You're welcome!
1 gram fructose per kg body weight is about where I am at, per Cronometer.
I have no concerns as I get enough protein and fat that the spillover of fructose is probably not a concern. Add in exercise and my diet also being high in fiber, around 70g per day and up.
I think it is way to complex to even break it down to grams per kg since the sources can vary so much regarding fat, protein, fiber and how you combine it into meals, how many meals per day, etc.
Personal experience with apples. They almost always increase my hunger.
Apple snack makes me feel starved.
Apple at the beginning of a meal may help me feel full from the meal.
Apple as dessert makes me feel starved. This includes apple pie.
Maybe that's part of a carnivore saying that "carbs make you hungry." I know this is too simplified.
Won't eating fruit get one out of ketosis? How long does it take to return to ketosis after eating fruit?
Most people, even on a keto diet, aren't going to be in ketosis all the time. You still have insulin spikes, and insulin is necessary for glycogen production (sugar stores in your muscles and liver). You'll hear a lot said about how carbohydrate consumption is necessary for glycogen production but it literally can't be true or everyone on keto would be jelly limbed. It pretty much has to be the case that glucose produced during ketosis can also be converted to glycogen. Turns out the body is pretty good at what it does, if its not being fed absolute junk. 🤷♀️
But that wasn't really your question I think? I think you're asking about deliberately coming out of ketosis?
I consider myself "fat adapted", which means I slip readily into ketosis when I eat low carb. Which I did for over a year and now do most days. But now I also consume fruit and roots and some higher carb dairy, usually 2 or 3 days a week. I'm more focused on upf free and whole food now than about staying 100% low carb.
And in case you're wondering, I can tell when I go to the loo, whether or not I'm in ketosis. Not sure everyone has the "tell in the smell", but I do 😂
Technically, eating pretty much anything to a 'normal portion' degree is going to kick you out of ketosis. The key getting back into ketosis readily, which is to vary somewhat between differing types of people. Some people need to eat 20 grams of carbs, others can do 100 (or maybe more). So, for most people, you can do some fruit as long as you stay within the carb parameters your body is adapted to
Depends on the type of fruit, amount and metabolic state of the consumer
Eating fruit makes me happy ❤
Sugar high
Dopamine
Happy to hear you’re happy
It used to be recommended to eat two servings of fruit daily, then it got lumped in with vegetables so there was no more upper limit.
And most fruit used to be much lower in sugar before it was maniacally hybridised to tempt sugar addicts.
Fun Fact: I just watched a 17 minute video about fruit without 1 word on oxalates.