Is Fruit Fattening?

Reader's Question: Are fruit smoothies fattening? When I gave up smoking nearly 3 years ago I supposed I supplemented my smokes for fruit smoothies so was having one a day, every fruit I could find I put in it. But then someone said that is too much sugar...what do you think?

Andrew's Answer: Fattening is a relative concept. You'll gain fat if you take in more calories than you burn off over a given period of time. You'll lose fat if you burn off more than you take in.

I eat quantities of fruit that would shock most people, but I'm pretty trim. I used to weigh 220 pounds at my most unhealthy. I now weigh around 170 eating just raw fruits and vegetables and occasionally some nuts and seeds.

Fruit, while higher in calories than most leafy green vegetables, is much lower in calories than the foods most people in western societies eat regularly - meat, dairy, eggs, chips, cookies, etc.

When people go on 100 percent raw food diet centered around fruit, they tend to very quickly shed weight because they're reducing their calorie intake.

In short, no, fruit is not fattening. As long as you're not taking in more calories than you burn off, eating fruit will not make you fat.

You can learn more about weight loss on a raw food diet read this article.