Thanks Jane for the great question.
In fact when you eat fruit whole, eating the fiber slows down the absorption of the sugar. Drinking fruit juice (even freshly squeezed or juiced in a juicer) does cause a fast absorption of the sugar and many times I have read advice against drinking too much juice for this reason. A smoothie is different because in a smoothie you keep the fiber in the drink, it is not extracted the way it is in a juicer. For smoothies, I suggest a K-Tech blender for its strong/dependable motor and fitting under kitchen cabninets.
A couple studies I found will say juice still finds its place at the table, helping prevent cancer: “Double strength orange juice given to the rats in place of drinking water inhibited mammary tumorigenesis induced in female Sprague-Dawley rats by DMBA more effectively than double strength grapefruit juice.” (Inhibition of mammary cancer by citrus flavonoids. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1998;439:227-36)
And:
“The results with naringin and naringenin show that both of these flavonoids significantly lowered tumor number [5.00 (control group), 2.53 (naringin group), and 3.25 (naringenin group)]. Naringin also significantly reduced tumor burden [269 mm(3)(control group) and 77.1 mm(3)(naringin group)]. The data suggest that naringin and naringenin, 2 flavonoids found in high concentrations in grapefruit, may be able to inhibit the development of cancer.” (Inhibition of oral carcinogenesis by citrus flavonoids. Miller EG, Peacock JJ, Bourland TC, Taylor SE, Wright JM, Patil BS, Miller EG. Nutr Cancer. 2008;60(1):69-74).
Overall, eating more fruit fills your body’s craving for sweetness and can reduce your interest in gaining it in other ways (i.e. processed sugar which is dumped into many packaged foods-it is an effective marketing strategy to get users hooked). Fruit keeps you regular (how do I say that nicely?, it is important to know, if you are having trouble there try increasing your daily fruit intake).
Developing a hankering for fruit can turn into a craving for bitter flavors in fruit like the white of a grapefruit. This can open you up to a whole new realm of tastebud extravaganza. This happened to me and now I have cravings for nibbling on a head of raddichio.
On the go, fruit is the ultimate packable “water bottle”.
I agree that one can fill a craving for sweets by eating fruit, but I’m still not convinced that I’ll get any comfort from eating the white of a grapefruit. That seems way out of the box! I wonder how you ever came up with that idea anyway. OK, OK, I haven’t tried it…but now I guess I’ll just have to. Thanks for the idea!
It is addictive, I tell you! Now think how bitter coffee is and that is so addictive. There is just something about the bitter that can be so sweet.
Fruits are amazing. when I crave sweets I run for the dried figs. Better than chocolate! (Oh, did I say that?!)
I love the way you make scientific facts, so easy and delectable to read.
Gabrielle
Hi Gabrielle,
Thank you. It is funny you should say that about the dried fruit, just yesterday I had a mix of dried fruit and I was once again shocked at the powerful explosion of flavor that happened, isn’t it amazing? And I thought I can’t think of any other food that would be so fantastically sweet. And better than chocolate? You can go there with me, chocolate gives me migraines, so in my case it is clearly many times better.
I have been a raw foodist for 20 years. I ate organic for twenty years before that. I am also a nutritionist and microbiologist. My husband is one of the world’s leading microbiologist’s. The consumption of huge amounts of fruit is why most people do not succeed on the raw food’s diet. In addition fruit or any type of sugar is something you absolutely do not want to eat when you have cancer. Cancer cells have hundreds of insulin receptors. When you eat sugar you feed the cancer. Any oncologist who’s worth his salt will tell a cancer patient “no sugar”. My husband and I have worked with all stages of cancer and have helped hundredd of cancer patients. We remove all sugar from their diet..including fruit, honey, maple syrup, agave, stevia and even carbs such as grains. Ann Wigmore one of the early practitioners of Raw Food Healing allowed healthy people to eat fruit once a week. Cancer patients weren’t allowed any. Hope this sheds some light on the subject.
Hi Mary,
Thanks for leaving a comment, it is an honor for me! Well I have to say I was looking for an excuse to reduce the damage to a calorie count that tons of fruit can do. I am wishing you and your husband continued great success. Again thanks for taking the time to leave a note. I have heard a rawfoodist say one error rawfoodists make is not getting enough cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, etc). I can imagine it must be frustrating for scientists too when they disagree. Just to be clear this was me quoting others’ research. I see how that can be problematic, there is lots of research out there and you don’t want to quote research that is off the mark. It is difficult to know. I found these through PubMed from academic journals which of course still can be wrong.
Of course there are valuable nutrients in fruit that people benefit from, fruit isn’t just a bowl of sugar.
Thanks again, I will remember what you have said and eventually look into it further I am sure. Take care.
Thank you very much for this compact and very helpful statement. I have just been diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in the bone and I have become fanatical about taking all sugar out of my diet, including fruit. I was already conservative with fruit but continued to eat blueberries and dark blackberries in the morning and was eating 1 red delicious apple a day for a while. I was speaking to a naturopathist yesterday who was trying to tell me that the fructose in fruit was different than the glucose that cancer cells feed on. My research does not support this. I am back to saying “no sugar” and think I should eliminate the berries as well. I have also been reading about sugar in grains. Does that also mean no grains for breakfast (even tho the grains are a healthy combination and no wheat?) It looks to me like the only thing I can eat is vegetables (which is now about 80% of my diet.) What about protein. I’m not eating meat or fish which means the protein has to come from things like quinoa and hemp seeds but these are grains.
Any words of advice would be much appreciated. THank you again for your comments.
Hi,
I am very sorry to hear about your diagnosis. My advice is keep doing what you are doing, researching and asking questions. Pubmed supplies free articles and librarians (especially medical librarians) can help weave you through their website and other important ones. Librarians are paid and trained to help get specific research. I hope this helps.
My friend on Orkut shared this link and I’m not dissapointed at all that I came to your blog.
I noticed that when my diet is mostly fruit I am much healthier and energized. However I tend to stay more with alkaline fruit. I eat very few vegetables because it makes me gasy
I have been cunsider juicing the vegetables however maybe that will make it easier for me. Thanks for your awesome blog. I wish you the best.
Very good
So if a person is told they have some form of a cancer and fruit and carbs are out. What are the foods that are in? I read cancer diets that say eat as many berries as you wish? Red Beets are great, etc. So what about meats? Or do you recommend only vegetables and supplements to make up the difference like vitamins and minerals that may be missing from a nor fruit diet?
Thank-you
Joel Fuhrman says in his latest book, Eat for Health, at the least reduce all animal products. Everything I understand about meat and all dairy products is that they really are the carriers for the highest level of toxins of all foods. I am not a health professional, I am only telling you what I have read and heard from health professionals and what has worked for me. Berries, seeds, nuts are excellent and what I understand is that green vegetables, think pounds of the darkest green leaves you can find and as much as you can eat. The green vegetables are bulk of the daily diet that is the healthiest possible diet, is what I understand.
I have been a nutritionist for forty years. I had my own radio show for 17 on nutrition. My husband is a microbiologist and we have been raw foodists for over twenty years. We have dealt with hundreds of cases of terminal cancer. We are listed in Dr.Young’s book Sick & Tired and Gabriel Cousens, MD…The Rainbow Green Cuisine…..Fruit will make cancer grow and spread….Cancer fungus does not care where the sugar comes from. I have seen people die who had cancer and were going into remission on greens and then had some fruit….and good bye. I cured my own terminal cancer 20 years ago with the help of Dr.Robert Young “The PH Miracle” author. I cannot to this day eat fruit….Maybe a few berries now and then……Ann Wigmore allowed people to eat fruit once a week. Raw Foodists eat too much friut…period…You have to do an enormous amount of exercise to eat fruit and have a very strong constitutional immune system….It’s not natural to have so much fruit available from all over the world. In cold cultures it’s un naturual to eat mangoes and banana’s, etc. Hot climate fruits should not be eaten in cold climates.. I have plenty of clinical experiences in the dangers of too much fruit….and too much is daily.
WOW, please write a book. For me one of the problems is there is not enough information and voices out there! Except of course we hear lots from huge corporations who market and do chemical research to get us addicted to their fake food chemicals. We have a relatively little bit of information as it is that we have only been eating the way we have for x years. Thank you for sharing your information.
I am really suprised about your observations Mary. As to quote: “Fruit will make cancer grow and spread”
doesn’t seem to have any foundation in fact. At least carrying out an Internet search with that sttement does not provide supporting research. For example, your advice based on your husband’s research is not confirmed by this article, quite the opposite: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSHKG317587 and I couldn’t find another supporting your assertion.
Perhaps you can enlightenen us by providing some supporting evidence? After all, both the US and UK governments are supporting five a day, or a healthy diet consists of a large proportion of fruit and vegetables. I presume that the cooking of vegetables is only required to make them more edible or to make them more tastier. I do like cooked tomatoes!
Hi Elizabeth, I love eating greens, fresh and cooked. I found your blog searching for “can one eat too much green leaves”. Mary’s comments are quite disturbing on the apparent danger of eating fruit.
It seems we do not know very much about cancer or even a healthy diet. About a quarter of my diet comes from alcohol – on average a couple of pints a day and about an eighth from tea (milk and sugar).
As to data on how much green food people eat or even how much fruit the results are probably unreliable. I use an Excel spreadsheet and unless I add to it each day information about what I eat I find it is very difficult to remember exactly what I eat – and I cook for myself.
I would have thought that surveys of what people actually eat are likely to be inaccurate, as so will be the science.
Anyway, it seems that I can carry on eating lots of leaves – I prefer to cook my stinging nettles though- with impunity!
wow,very nice post.
when i started eating fruits at morning,I’ve noticed that I’m stronger and more active than before I was drinking only coffee and biscuits.
I recently started putting slices of strawberries into my water or a few raspberries. It adds just a subtle hint of flavor and cures my sweet-tooth as well as quenches my thirst.
Yes nice idea I use a slice of lemon, or even a quarter of a slice. Tap water never tasted so good!