Newbie Question!

[amyamyamy]

Hello everyone! I'm excited to be a part of this forum...there is so much GREAT information here!!

I do have a few questions, however...kind of random but something I've always wondered about. Here are my stats, if they are needed:

I am 23 years old, 5'1" and 165 pounds. My diet has been consisting of 1200 calories per day, with a focus on low fat intake. I have also been going to the gym and doing an hour on the elliptical. However, after reading the article about "Top 5 Ways To GAIN Fat", I am going to up my caloric intake to 1500 calories a day, and do more interval training than solid cardio.

With that said, here are my three big questions...

1) Is it true that you should limit your fruit intake? I have heard that it can mess with your blood sugar levels and/or metabolism...is that true? If so, is that an important factor in a low cal/low fat diet, or only for Atkins-related diets? I'm not a huge veggie person, but I LOVE fruit and would eat several servings a day if it were okay!

2) When I do cardio on the elliptical, I wonder about my heart rate. My THR for cardio at 80% is 158, but I have found that I feel as if that is little to no exertion for me...I can easily sustain my heart rate at around 175-180. Is this bad? Is it unsafe to go beyond 90% of your THR? I am pretty out of shape, so I don't understand why it's so easy for me to maintain that high of a heart rate for an hour.

3) To give my water some flavor, I have been using those Crystal Light On-The-Go packets. They're only 5 calories, so I have figured it's okay. But I'm wondering if, after adding the Crystal Light, the drink still counts as water intake? I have noticed that the citric acid parches my lips pretty easily, so I'm just wondering if the citric acid can cancel out some of the water (like caffeine does in iced tea, etc)?

I know these are kind of random questions, but I figured this would be a great place to get some true answers! I've asked other people, and gotten lots of different responses for each question. Please help!

Thanks everyone!!

Amy

 

[Trevor M.]

Hello everyone! I'm excited to be a part of this forum...there is so much GREAT information here!!

I do have a few questions, however...kind of random but something I've always wondered about. Here are my stats, if they are needed:

I am 23 years old, 5'1" and 165 pounds. My diet has been consisting of 1200 calories per day, with a focus on low fat intake. I have also been going to the gym and doing an hour on the elliptical. However, after reading the article about "Top 5 Ways To GAIN Fat", I am going to up my caloric intake to 1500 calories a day, and do more interval training than solid cardio.

With that said, here are my three big questions...

1) Is it true that you should limit your fruit intake? I have heard that it can mess with your blood sugar levels and/or metabolism...is that true? If so, is that an important factor in a low cal/low fat diet, or only for Atkins-related diets? I'm not a huge veggie person, but I LOVE fruit and would eat several servings a day if it were okay!
No, Fruits primary sugar is fructose. Fructose does NOT elevate or disrupt blood glucose levels. Fruits are fine and should generally be eaten in abundance.

2) When I do cardio on the elliptical, I wonder about my heart rate. My THR for cardio at 80% is 158, but I have found that I feel as if that is little to no exertion for me...I can easily sustain my heart rate at around 175-180. Is this bad? Is it unsafe to go beyond 90% of your THR? I am pretty out of shape, so I don't understand why it's so easy for me to maintain that high of a heart rate for an hour.
You are not that out of shape if you can sustain your heart rate at that for so long. How are you checking it? If its any type of watch or the machine itself get another method. Those can often be inaccurate.
3) To give my water some flavor, I have been using those Crystal Light On-The-Go packets. They're only 5 calories, so I have figured it's okay. But I'm wondering if, after adding the Crystal Light, the drink still counts as water intake? I have noticed that the citric acid parches my lips pretty easily, so I'm just wondering if the citric acid can cancel out some of the water (like caffeine does in iced tea, etc)?
Its still fully counts as water. Fruits and veggies are actually mostly water. Eating those counts towards your water intake just as drinking pure water. Same goes for cokes,coffee,milk and so on. Of course that doesn't make things such as cokes and all good.
Depending on the ingredients of the flavor I might recomend against its consumption. Have you tried green/white teas?
I know these are kind of random questions, but I figured this would be a great place to get some true answers! I've asked other people, and gotten lots of different responses for each question. Please help!

Thanks everyone!!

Amy

Questions are fine, the only dumb question is the one not asked as they say in the military.

Hope that helps, anything els please feel free to ask!

 

[amyamyamy]

Great!

Thanks for the info!!

With the heart rate thing, I have been using the elliptical machine's handbar monitor. I can see how it can be off and unreliable! I just wanted to make sure that even if I was at that high of a heart rate, it would be okay? I don't want to go there if it's dangerous!

As far as the Crystal Light goes, I usually drink the Orange and Lemonade flavors, I tried the tea flavors and didn't really like them too much. It's good to know that it's still okay to drink them, and to eat all that fruit!! I love my fruit! lol

Thanks again!!

Amy

 

[CoachCrimson]

I've been doing quite a bit of reading about fructose lately, and I've gotten alot of conflicting information about it. Multiple sources are saying that fructose consumption should be moderated. In other words, that perhaps you shouldn't be eating fruit in quite so much abundance. There is some controversy as to whether or not it really raises blood sugar levels, and there are various comments about how its consumption seems correlated to obesity. Also, quite a few red flags have gone off about how it may damage the liver in larger quantities consumed.

I am by no means trying to label fructose as an evil sugar, or to say that you shouldn't eat fruit. A little more discussion around here (and in the scienfitic community) would probably be a good thing. Personally, until some more solid evidence one way or the other is presented, I am going to keep my consumption of fructose in check at the least.

 

[Trevor M.]

I've been doing quite a bit of reading about fructose lately, and I've gotten alot of conflicting information about it. Multiple sources are saying that fructose consumption should be moderated. In other words, that perhaps you shouldn't be eating fruit in quite so much abundance. There is some controversy as to whether or not it really raises blood sugar levels, and there are various comments about how its consumption seems correlated to obesity. Also, quite a few red flags have gone off about how it may damage the liver in larger quantities consumed.

I am by no means trying to label fructose as an evil sugar, or to say that you shouldn't eat fruit. A little more discussion around here (and in the scienfitic community) would probably be a good thing. Personally, until some more solid evidence one way or the other is presented, I am going to keep my consumption of fructose in check at the least.

There is controversy over whether or not it raises blood glucose levels?
Ok, there have been more then enough research to determine the GI of fruits and consistently its found they don't elevate blood glucose levels.
Its connection to obesity was already cut from what I've seen. Fruit consumption in this country is low in comparison to the recommendation. While obesity is extremely high and only raising. There you go, just a simple example on why there is little connection.

In one study not so long ago the researchers studied children who drank fruit juice in contrast to those who regularly drank soft drinks, such as coke. They found the children who drank fruit juice were on average, thinner, in better shape, and were more likely to participate in sport activity's. They found that parents that more often then not want their kids to drink fruit juice, also tend to give less "junk food" to their children.

Doing harm to the liver? Well consuming anything, that requires the liver to work, in excess could in theory do that. Which in this case the transformation to glucose comes from its conversion in the liver. Exactly as just about every other carbohydrate does.

The word "abundance" might not have been the best to use. Though, given how fruit consumption is very low in this country abundance to one person could be 2-3 fruits a day consumed, no where near the recomendation.

 

[maleficent]

high fructose corn syrup is bad and there's no good reason why a person should have any in their diet from everything I've read... Fructose doesn't seem to fall into that category though.

 

[Trevor M.]

Thanks for the info!!

With the heart rate thing, I have been using the elliptical machine's handbar monitor. I can see how it can be off and unreliable! I just wanted to make sure that even if I was at that high of a heart rate, it would be okay? I don't want to go there if it's dangerous!

Don't worry, you aren't keeping your heart rate 90% if your out of shape and don't feel it. Next time, get on the traid mill or whatever and go at high as an intensity as you can for just a short time, enough to which you feel your heart beat is at max. Get off and by placing two fingers on your neck count the times your heart pumps in 30 seconds. Once thats done double that number and you have a more accurate BPM. Of course don't try to do this while your running or anything, do it the moment you stop.

As far as the Crystal Light goes, I usually drink the Orange and Lemonade flavors, I tried the tea flavors and didn't really like them too much. It's good to know that it's still okay to drink them, and to eat all that fruit!! I love my fruit! lol

Lol, I meant real green/white tea, not flavors.

Thanks again!!

Amy

Your welcome!

 

[amyamyamy]

oh hahaha! well, I've tried some green teas and depending on the brand, I like some and others taste pretty funky. I haven't tried white tea yet...so I'll give that a go.

 

[CoachCrimson]

Trevor, just to make it clear, I am not trying to argue with you. I am only trying to present some opposing opinions/theories against fructose because I am concerned about finding out the truth. I encourage you to supply all the evidence you can in favor of fructose, as I certainly enjoy my fruit as well.

Anyways, here is something I read concerning blood sugar levels:
There is a concern with Diabetic 1 patients and the apparent low GI of fructose. In fact, GI only applies to high starch foods. The basic GI definition is chemically incorrect. This is because the body blood glucose response is "standardized" with 50g of glucose, while the GI Researchers use 50g of Digestible carbohydrate as a reference quantity. Although all simple sugars are isomers, each have separate chemical properties. This is illustrated with pure fructose. In a study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "fructose given alone increased the blood glucose almost as much as a similar amount of glucose (78% of the glucose-alone area)"

In my own attempt to moderate my fructose consumption, I have set my limit at about 5 servings a day max. Which if I remember correctly, is right around the recommendation. From what I have read, I certainly would agree that getting the daily recommendation is not harmful. If by abundance you meant the daily recommendation, that nothing I have read would refute this. I did seem to think that by abundance you meant "without restriction". And I do understand why you would say that considering the average fruit intake in the US. Of course, not everyone here is from the US, but I would imagine most westernized countries have a fruit deficiency.

A few other interesting notes:
Unlike glucose, fructose is almost entirely metabolized in the liver. When fructose reaches the liver, says Dr. William J. Whelan, a biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine, "the liver goes bananas and stops everything else to metabolize the fructose." Eating fructose as compared to glucose results in lower circulating insulin levels, leptin, and ghrelin levels postprandially.[16] These hormones are implicated in the control of appetite and satiety, and it hypothesized that eating lots of fructose could increase the likelihood of weight gain." This research was done in June '04.

"Fructose also chelates minerals in the blood. This effect is especially important with micronutrients such as copper, chromium and zinc. Since these solutes are normally present in small quantities, chelation of small numbers of ions may lead to deficiency diseases, immune system impairment and even insulin resistance, a component of type II diabetes[12]"

But it pretty much all deals with consuming larger quantities of fructose. Basically meaning that regulating it should be safe. Trevor, perhaps you could offer what a safe limitation to fructose consumption is?

 

[amyamyamy]

Coach Crimson, I appreciate your input on the fruit matter as well!

As far as daily intake, I can't really imagine eating more than 5-6 servings a day anyway! I am ecstatic to be able to have that much, because from what I've read before, it said to only have one piece at breakfast and then all veggies for the rest of the day. I would feel guilty if I had a second orange in a day...and that just seems very counterintuitive to me, even on a diet. Fruit is GOOD FOR YOU, you know?

Anyway, I'm very glad to hear that it won't mess up my diet with 5-6 servings a day.

I appreciate all the input from everyone on this. It's so great to get info from so many different people. I love this forum!

 

[Trevor M.]

Trevor, just to make it clear, I am not trying to argue with you. I am only trying to present some opposing opinions/theories against fructose because I am concerned about finding out the truth. I encourage you to supply all the evidence you can in favor of fructose, as I certainly enjoy my fruit as well.

Anyways, here is something I read concerning blood sugar levels:
There is a concern with Diabetic 1 patients and the apparent low GI of fructose. In fact, GI only applies to high starch foods. The basic GI definition is chemically incorrect. This is because the body blood glucose response is "standardized" with 50g of glucose, while the GI Researchers use 50g of Digestible carbohydrate as a reference quantity. Although all simple sugars are isomers, each have separate chemical properties. This is illustrated with pure fructose. In a study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, "fructose given alone increased the blood glucose almost as much as a similar amount of glucose (78% of the glucose-alone area)"

In my own attempt to moderate my fructose consumption, I have set my limit at about 5 servings a day max. Which if I remember correctly, is right around the recommendation. From what I have read, I certainly would agree that getting the daily recommendation is not harmful. If by abundance you meant the daily recommendation, that nothing I have read would refute this. I did seem to think that by abundance you meant "without restriction". And I do understand why you would say that considering the average fruit intake in the US. Of course, not everyone here is from the US, but I would imagine most westernized countries have a fruit deficiency.

A few other interesting notes:
Unlike glucose, fructose is almost entirely metabolized in the liver. When fructose reaches the liver, says Dr. William J. Whelan, a biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine, "the liver goes bananas and stops everything else to metabolize the fructose." Eating fructose as compared to glucose results in lower circulating insulin levels, leptin, and ghrelin levels postprandially.[16] These hormones are implicated in the control of appetite and satiety, and it hypothesized that eating lots of fructose could increase the likelihood of weight gain." This research was done in June '04.

"Fructose also chelates minerals in the blood. This effect is especially important with micronutrients such as copper, chromium and zinc. Since these solutes are normally present in small quantities, chelation of small numbers of ions may lead to deficiency diseases, immune system impairment and even insulin resistance, a component of type II diabetes[12]"

But it pretty much all deals with consuming larger quantities of fructose. Basically meaning that regulating it should be safe. Trevor, perhaps you could offer what a safe limitation to fructose consumption is?

Lol No argument at all bud!

I've read that "report" of Dr. William J. Whelan, Its interesting. However, With all the points you have made, which I don't fully refute. As you said, They dill with mass quantities of fructose consumption. As I stated previously, the word "abundance" was wrongly used. Eating within the recommendation of I believe is 5-6 fruits a day has not been found to be detrimental to health if I'm not mistaken.

I think the benefits of fruit consumption out-weigh the possible "side affects". Especially given the benefits start with just one piece of fruit. Those possible negatives may come after a very large ingestion of fructose, thus generally a very large consumption of fruit(of course there are other fructose carrying foods other then fruit.), is noted.
One thing to remember here though, Is fruit juice and whole fruits aren't equal in terms of fructose content. I would wager it to be allot easier to ingest this "excess" amount of fructose from simply consuming fruit juice rather then eating whole fruits.

 

[DCarr10760]

A couple of further points. Commercial juices often have High Fructose Corn Syrup added making them especially bad. And most fruits have along with the fructose, enough fiber to regulate metabolism of the simple sugars, taking some of the curse off.

Plus: Ever see a chubby chimpanzee in the wild? ;-)

David C