This was one of the headlines in today’s Guardian newspaper. I really don’t know where to start, but this has got to be one of the worst articles I’ve ever read. The lowest point was this statement, made by Tom Sanders, director of the Nutritional Sciences Division at King’s College London. He was talking about fruit smoothies:
“If you liquidise it into goo it’s just like drinking ordinary Coke. Or worse, actually,”
I don’t think so. Fruit has a vast array of different nutrients; minerals, some protein and lots of vitamins including Vitamin C, which may be more important than conventional nutritionists realise. Look at the nutrition of coke. It’s got zero vitamins, zero protein and lots of sugar and some nasty acid. Work out for yourself which is best!
The articles finishes with the following:
“The way you’ve got to look at fruit is that it’s better to eat fruit than biscuits, cakes and puddings, because there’s very little energy value in it and it’s not fattening,” he [Sanders] says. “A bit of sugar gives you a lift and takes the pangs of hunger away. But it’s not full of all sorts of other nutrients as well. That’s a myth”
The nutrition is fruit is a myth is it? Has he looked at nutritiondata.com recently? Maybe he should try it. You can enter any fruit and it will list all the vitamins and minerals they contain. For example, one large kiwi fruit gives you 68.2mg of vitamin C, that’s 114% of the RDA.
The bit of the article they do get right is about ready prepared fruit (like sliced apples, etc) is not as good for you as it starts to loose nutrition from the moment it’s been cut.
If you want to read the whole article, it’s here, but don’t worry, you are almost certainly not eating too much fruit!
Wo – that is incredible! My son applied to study Nutrition at King’s College. He got an interview but declined as he’d accepted a place at Leeds. What a relief, if that’s the level of nutritional know-how. He cannot be serious…can he? Must have been misquoted (musn’t he…).
Hello Rob! My name is Alain and I’m from Montreal.
Followed a link from your magazine and hit the home button to find your post about fruit.I am fairly new to the raw universe and started eating about 60-70% raw… I’ve had a lot of time to do research recently and found an hour audio interview about fruit with Doctor Brian Clement of the world famous Hyppocrate Institute.I found it on a British site actually called fresh networks here is a direct link to the audio conference called : fruit weakness and disease
http://www.fresh-network.com/teledownloads/0806_dl_8567.htm
There is no doubt that Dr.Clement’s voice is one of the most important and scientific of the whole movement.He’s not as charismatic as let’s say, David Wolfe, but the amount of scientific data and personnal knowledge that he has is unsurpassed. Maybe Gabriel Cousens after that I gather from my research so I think he should be listened to. He basically says that our diets should not comprise more that 5 to 10 % fruit and explains why in a very convincing manner.Please let me know what you think Rob.
Cheers! and thanx for the free issue of your magazine!
I think for deep healing then less fruit and more greens are necessary, but for active people with no health issues, lots of fruit can work well (of course balanced with plenty of wild greens). I go by what our closest living relatives, the primates, eat, lots of fruit, greens and insects. And of course it works well for me and many other people.
You have got to listen to your own body, not what any so called expert says. If fruit is working for you, keep eating it, if not then try something else.
Rob
Sanders is a paid publicist for the breakfast cereals industry. He has the credibility of GWB, or less. I have to say I am glad he made such outlandish statements, because anyone who has half a brain can work out for themselves that fruit is not worse than Coke, as he suggests. Which means, the head of this nutrition program is either an idiot or a liar. So it will help debunk some people’s belief and trust in these “experts”.
What really annoys me is the pathetic job the Guardian does. They let this fraudulent professor get off scot-free. No, it’s the Guardian that I’ve lost any remaining trust in. They should be ashamed to print this drivel.
“But it’s not full of all sorts of other nutrients as well. That’s a myth”.. Yes to broccoli, cabbage and spinach but I was waiting to hear the virtues of ‘all the other sorts of nutrients’ and where they can be found. Not, meat and cooked grains, surely not! And yes, a few leaves of lettuce probably doesn’t contain many nutrients if thats all you can eat because you’re so full up on meat, potatoes and bread. But, a whole lettuce, with spinach in a blended smoothie or in a juice on a daily basis…well thats a whole different story to which many radiant, healthy raw foodists may glowingly testify to!
Well, I agree fruit is definately safer compared to soda or any other unfood. But I do think many raw fooders, especially fruitarians are eating too much fruit. I think a high carb intake, especially high-fructose, is detrimental to health no matter how much fiber and nutrients its combined with.
HOW can the statement:
“If you liquidise it into goo it’s just like drinking ordinary Coke. Or worse, actually,”
make it into a respected broadsheet like the Guardian?!
OK, too much of any sugar is not a good thing but the natural sugars of fruit accompanied by all their living nutrients in an easily digestible ‘goo’ (which after all is what the stomach would reduce whole fruit to anyway, you’ve just saved it the job) CANNOT be compared to the manmade nutrient void of Coke!
Someone should ask him this: If a loved one of yours was dying of stomach cancer and was very weak, what would you give them for energy – a glass of Coke or a glass of just blended fruit?….”