Weight loss doesn’t necessarily have to be a tedious task. You can shed some kilos by easily swapping the unhealthy food from your diet with comparatively healthier options. It is essential to stay strong and consistent and include tasty yet healthy foods in your meals to make your weight loss journey fun. While a balanced diet comprising more protein, nutrients and fiber will help you reach your ideal weight, it will get boring after some time, and you will resort to unhealthy eating habits in no time. Restrictive eating will not benefit you. A lifestyle change is required to maintain a healthy weight and stay in shape. One of the primary steps towards this is by incorporating more fruit into your diet. Fruits are an excellent snack, and their variety in flavor, color, shapes, and sizes makes them a fun addition to your otherwise bland and restricted diet.
However, not all fruits are weight loss friendly. Some are fully loaded with all the essential nutrients to support your body and contain low calories, but some fruits are bad for weight loss. To distinguish between good and bad fruits for weight loss, read on to get an insight about fruits bad for weight loss so your life can change for the better.
What Fruits Are Bad For Weight Loss
It is wrongly believed that a diet rich in fruit will achieve weight loss goals. There is real evidence that points towards the fact that one needs to be careful about the fruit they consume.
Here is a list of fruit sources that will not contribute to your weight loss but rather will harm your digestion because of their high sugar content.
Mangoes
A single mango contains more than 40 grams of sugar, higher than most other fruits (1). This means mangoes are quite calorie-dense. They consist of simple carbs and sugars, which can contribute to weight gain when consumed in excess.
Banana
Bananas, like most other fruits, are generally considered healthy but only if consumed in a reasonable amount. The number of calories in a single banana is more than 100, so when they are eaten in large quantities, the calorie content multiplies, and so does the amount of simple carbs (2). As a result, instead of losing weight, you are more likely to gain some extra pounds when eating bananas.
Avocado
Avocado is considered an ideal fruit for obtaining healthy fats. However, in reality, one cup or 100 grams of avocado consists of the following (3):
- 240 calories
- 11.6 g carbs, of which 0.9 g is sugar
- 9.1 g fiber
- 2.7 g protein
- 19.9g fat
That said, consuming avocados could make all your weight loss efforts go in vain.
Dried Fruit
Dried fruits are extremely high in calories as the drying process breaks down the sugar and turns them into simple carbohydrates (4). As a result, blood sugar levels can spike as much as when a candy bar is consumed.
Read More: 7 Fruits That Hydrate And 7 Recipes That Include Them
Canned Fruit
Fruits like pineapples and sweet corn that are available as canned products are stored in a liquid to ensure that the fruit doesn’t dry out. This liquid has a very high sugar content. Hence, the fruit becomes very calorie-dense.
In addition, the high sugar content doesn’t satiate hunger. Instead, it results in the consumer feeling hungrier later on.
Coconut
The nutritional information for one cup of coconut is as follows (5):
- 301 calories
- 13 g carbs, of which 5.3 g is sugar
- 7.7g fiber, 2.8 g protein
- 28 g fat
Looking at the fat content, why coconut is included in this list of bad fruits for weight loss is self-explanatory. Coconut milk is known to have more than 550 calories per cup and is extremely sweet to taste.
Passion Fruit
With passion fruits as long as the serving is limited to one passion fruit a day, it is a healthy and weight-loss-friendly snack.
The nutritional information for passion fruits is as follows (6):
- One cup of passion fruit has 229 calories
- 55 g carbs, of which 26 g is sugar
- 5.2 g protein
- 25 g fiber
- 1.7 g fat.
As you can see, passion fruit’s carb and sugar content are high, so we need to take care that it is consumed in small amounts.
Grapes
Grapes are a healthy snack if consumed in small amounts because a cup of grapes consists of 23 g of sugar (7). If taken in large amounts, they can actually hinder your weight loss goals instead of promoting them.
Apples
While apples are considered healthy and weight loss friendly due to their high fiber content, if their serving size is not regulated properly, they can also turn into a meal, causing weight gain instead of weight loss.
The nutrient distribution of a medium-sized apple is as follows (8):
- 95 calories
- 0 g fat
- 1 g protein
- 25 g carbohydrates, 19 g out of which are sugars
As a result, the portion size of an apple needs to be small to reap its weight loss benefits.
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Is Eating Fruits Bad For Weight Loss?
Consuming fruits is not bad for weight loss as long as one keeps their quantity under control. As fruits are packed with natural sugars, antioxidants, vitamins, and essential minerals, they are actually a great source of nutrients required to keep you healthy.
The fiber content will keep hunger at bay and allow you to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In fact, according to research, people who consume more fruits tend to be smarter and slim than those who don’t.
But at the same time, the sugar and carb content of fruits can be a reason to gain weight if consumed excessively. Whether or not fruits are bad for weight loss depends on the quantity of fruit consumed in a day and the calories obtained after that.
Why Are Fruits Bad For Weight Loss?
Fruits contain a high amount of sugar and carbohydrates, increasing the blood sugar level significantly. As a result, people are tempted to eat more as a high sugar level fuels hunger. The fruits that are rich in fiber are the ones that are good for weight loss.
Fruits are bad for weight loss only if not consumed in the right amount. They can be a healthy snack rich in nutrients, but some fruits contain more calories than sugar which does not aid in losing weight at all.
The complete macronutrient profile and micronutrient profile help determine whether a particular fruit is good for weight loss or bad.
The number of calories and the carb and sugar content should be particularly focused on. Some fruits are rich in calories. Thus, their consumption should be limited so that they aid in your weight loss journey.
Read More: Fruits That Give You Energy: 7 Of The Best Options
The Bottom Line
Fast food is bad if you want to lose some inches off your body, but if it is nature’s fast food that is fruits, you need not worry much. If you are concerned about losing weight, some changes need to be made in your dietary habits and lifestyle. Incorporating fruits into your daily diet can help keep you full for a long time due to their rich fiber content.
But not all fruits are good for weight loss. Some may contain a high amount of sugar which can negatively impact our health, and instead of losing weight, we may end up gaining weight.
If the serving size is adequate and high-calorie fruits are eaten sparingly in small portions, you should succeed in reaching your weight loss goals in no time. Self-control and consistency are what matter most in this regard.
DISCLAIMER:
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SOURCES:
- Which Fruits Have the Most Sugar? (2021, webmd.com)
- How Many Calories and Carbs Are in a Banana? (2021, healthline.com)
- Avocados (n.d., hsph.harvard.edu)
- Choosing The Best Dry Fruits For Weight Gain (2022, healthkart.com)
- 5 Impressive Benefits of Coconut (2022, healthline.com)
- Passion Fruit (2022, webmd.com)
- The Top 16 Health Benefits of Grapes (2022, healthline.com)
- Apples (n.d., hsph.harvard.edu)