Ways to enjoy more fruit with less sugar

Hello!

Our clients are increasingly concerned about the sugar in fruit, but don’t want to miss out on fruit’s great nutrients, fiber and taste. So here are some ways to get more fruit with less sugar:

1. Choose lower-sugar fruits. Peaches, plums, apples (especially green ones), pears, berries have a lower glycemic load (impact on blood sugar) than melon, pineapple, grapes, bananas, mango and guava.

2. Don’t forget these fruits: Tomatoes, bell peppers, olives, cucumber and avocado. Enjoy these the same way you would any fruit. Heirloom tomatoes, eaten like a juicy peach, are a heavenly low-sugar treat, and red, orange and yellow bell peppers are quite sweet if your taste buds are sensitive.

3. Maximize the skin, where the most fiber and nutrients live. If you’re gonna eat only half an apple, for example, make it the exterior, then throw out the middle. It’s a little wasteful, admittedly. You can also buy small fruit, where the ratio of skin to innards is higher. In other words, eating 2 tiny apples gives you more skin than 1 big one.

4. Squeeze lemon and lime onto and into meals and drinks.

5. Use temperature. Cold foods don’t taste as sweet as warm ones with the same amount of sugar. So just taking your apples or berries out of the refrigerator 20 minutes before you eat them can make them taste sweeter. You could warm berries (or any fruit) a little and see an even bigger difference.

Finally, it doesn’t really make sense to worry about the sugar in fresh fruit until you have first worried about denser, more processed sources in your diet, which are much less healthy. Check your cereal, yogurt, bars, condiments, crackers, and other food labels to find any hidden sources.

Have a good week!

Jill