Episode 6: The Real Deal On Fruit Part 1: The Biggest Myths & Unexpected Benefits Revealed

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Welcome to the Reclaim Podcast. I’m your host, Leah Van Dolder. I’m a weight dietitian and mindset coach and this program is for you if you’re a busy working woman or female entrepreneur, and you’re ready to take charge of your health, you’re ready to lose weight and make lasting positive change in your life. The only kicker is that you’re on the brink of burnout, you’re exhausted, you are frustrated, you’re feeling discouraged and uncomfortable. And this is how I help my clients, giving you simple, practical and savvy strategies to help you achieve your goals while reducing your stress boosting your mood, your energy and your self confidence. To learn more about working with me, check out my website at leahvandolder.com Welcome to the show.

Hey, guys, welcome to this episode of the Reclaim Podcast. I’m really excited to chat to you today about fruit. Because this is a big question I get a lot right. Can I have fruit? Is it okay to have even when I’m losing weight? Or what’s it going to do to my blood sugar’s Is it too high and sugar, I want to set the story straight and give you the squeeze on fruit in these next two episodes. So hang out here with me for part one and part two, because you will not want to miss any of that.

In part one, today, I’m going to be talking about expected and unexpected benefits of fruit. I want to set the story straight and just rewrite that inner dialogue in your mind about fruit and just give you the real deal on fruit. And I’m also going to talk about what fruits to eat, and just practical ways to enjoy them in your day. I’m also going to give you some savvy strategies to save you money at the grocery store because, let’s be serious, produce is going through the roof. This little Dutch girl has some savvy tips for you to save some money. Alright, let’s get right into it. So you know that I love sharing client stories. And maybe you can relate to Andrea. So Andrea, you know, came to me and she’s got her dream job. She’s got the dream hubby and the dogs and she’s like, I’ve got everything. I feel like I got a great handle on things in my life except my health. It’s absolutely been pushed to the backburner. And, you know, she was just feeling tired, frumpy, and she was really frustrated, right? And, you know, she got to a point where she’s like, I’ve probably put on 30 pounds over the last few years. And I have diabetes in my family. And I need to do something about this now, you know, before it gets out of hand, right? Anybody can relate to that. And Andrea, I mean, one of the biggest things because of her goals of weight loss, and also, you know, with diabetes in her family, she was really fearful around having fruit. She told me she’s like, I’ve been on so many different programs in the past for weight loss or healthy eating, and they told me to avoid fruit. So I have this fear of having fruit that my blood sugars are going to go too high, and it’s gonna, you know, make me gain all this weight around my midsection. I’m like girl, no.

So I wanted to set the story straight for you. Let’s talk about fruit. Fruit is a whole food, right? It’s a carbohydrate food. It’s rich in carbohydrates. And that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. The chemical makeup, and I’m talking chemical in terms of, you know, science terms here, because the makeup of fruit is from carbohydrates. And that’s just the way that it is. There’s no no changing that. The thing here about the type of carb is that it’s a really good carb. Fruit comes along with a nice package of other nutrients, vitamins, minerals that are so good for us, right? Fruit not only gives us a ton of water-soluble vitamins, antioxidants, but it gives us a really good kick of fiber. The other thing too, you’ll hear a lot online and through social is like, Oh, but it’s so high in fructose. Yeah, fructose is a fruit sugar, is naturally occurring again. There’s nothing wrong with naturally occurring fruit sugar in these Whole Foods. It’s the high fructose corn syrup that we want to be more careful of, but I mean, that’s for another day.

I’m talking about naturally occurring fruit sugar, fructose, girl, it’s okay to have it. Fruit is very beneficial for our health and I’m going to talk real quick about what kinds of fruit are better than others.

The other really interesting thing that I want to share with you today is the unexpected benefits of fruit. Right? We hear all the time, it’s like, oh, you know what, so high in sugar is just going to, you know, blast your blood sugars, and it’s going to cause all this belly fat. And you know, it’s going to lead to type two diabetes, blah, blah, blah. No, it doesn’t. What does the science show us? Interestingly enough, science shows us time and time again, that eating fruit actually helps with weight loss, it actually helps to lower your risk of diabetes. And it actually helps to lower your risk of getting heart disease. Like this is awesome stuff. The other really cool thing that science shows us about having fruit on a regular basis and a regular part of your diet, it helps to lower your cholesterol.

You know, I work with so many women that are seeing some increases in their cholesterol and their triglycerides. And you know how awesome that we have so much power over the function of our body, through what we put in our mouth, right? Like that’s really empowering, I find we’ve got some control, these are controllable factors that we can do something about and food as medicine. The other really great thing about fruit that science shows us is that it helps to reduce inflammation in your body. And this again, is some is a marker that I see a lot with my clients right? Now they say they get some blood work done. And their doctor says, hey, you know, your CRP is up, which is an inflammation marker.

And these are all things that I helped my clients with, not only with, you know, building these healthy habits into your everyday life, but helping you with sustainable weight loss, and also benefits that go far beyond the scale, right? That show and bloodwork, the internal benefits of this blood sugar, cholesterol, inflammation, all that stuff.

I want to bring you back to Andrea for a sec, because her and I started working together about three months ago. She’s like, Oh, thank God, right, I can finally eat fruit again. You know, the story had been rewritten in your in her mind and maybe with yours now too because she loves bananas. I mean, Who here loves bananas, but you’re always hesitant. You’re like, Ooh, is that too high in sugar? Have the banana? And I Oh, man, I gotta say this too. Don’t you love those things on social media. It’s like, only eat green bananas because the sugar is lowest. Well, here’s a fun fact for you. Starch is in green bananas, but starch turns into sugar through the ripening process. And guess what starch when you eat it, when it goes into your mouth, it turns into sugar when it breaks down in your body.

So girl, it doesn’t matter if you love green bananas. Cool. Go for green bananas. If you love those spotted yellow bananas, go for the spotted yellow bananas. It doesn’t matter. Starch breaks down the same when it gets into your body. So go for it. So Andrea was super excited to have bananas again. And I’m sure you are too.

And even three months of working together, it’s pretty cool. How much can change in just three months, right? She was really getting a good handle on things. And I gotta tell ya, Andrea was having or was including a couple of whole foods in our diet in a day and I’m just I’m gonna just gonna pump the brakes for a second say this is just a small puzzle piece of, you know what we would do working together, right? Fruit is great and all but there’s a lot of other pieces that I help my clients with, to achieve your goals with confidence. And Andrea already, I mean, she went to a doctor’s office last week and she’s like, holy smokes, my agency is already down like her blood sugar markers are down. She’s already lost eight inches around her midsection, like this is huge. And she feels so comfortable in her pants again, and she’s like, I actually have enough energy that I’ve started jogging again, like guys, this is amazing stuff. Three months can seriously change your life.

And hey, if you want to learn more about working with me, check out my show notes. There’s an application link there to apply to work with me. And even my reclaim program, promo video. It’s only four minutes. So check it out. Let’s talk about what types of fruit to enjoy more often. Fresh is best, fresh is absolutely best. And, you know going into the grocery store, I mean, you hit the produce section right off the hop there and that’s a really good spot to load up on fruit. Fresh whole fruit you’re gonna get the best bang for

You’re back with those because you are getting you know, when you’re eating the whole fruit you’re getting the like, you’re just getting the whole package, right, you’re getting the fruit, you’re getting the fiber, you’re getting the vitamins, the minerals, you’re getting everything you’re getting all the goodness. So I do recommend fresh first and eating the whole fruit first. Frozen. I get this question a lot. Is it okay to have frozen fruit? Oh, yeah, you know what it’s even while it’s equally as healthy and sometimes even more healthy than the fresh stuff, you know why?

Because was frozen fruit, they pick it at its prime and then they flash freeze it. So it actually can have more nutrition than the fresh produce that is brought in from trucks all over the place and is sitting on the shelf for a day or two before you pick it up. Right. So go for the frozen, I love getting frozen fruit, I mean, it lasts forever in your freezer. So go for it.

What other kinds of foods you want to have on a regular basis. This is kind of thinking outside the box a bit. But hey, I just love doing that. So canned fruit, canned fruit packed in water. Okay, I’m going to underline that canned fruit packed in water, and it will say right on the front of the can. I’m going to talk in a minute about how to include all these fruits in your day. The last thing I want to share with you what kind of fruits to enjoy.

Dried fruit is still a healthy option, right? I mean, yeah, it’s more concentrated because now you’ve got all the water sucked out of it, you just get a nice concentrated piece of fruit. But it’s still a healthy option. Right just being aware being mindful of how much you have, but unsweetened dried fruit is a good choice. And again, when you’re looking at the package, if you’re buying raisins, or you know mango look for unsweetened right on the front of the package.

The other cool thing about fruits, whether you’re having them fresh, frozen, canned, and even dried when you choose fruits with skin or seeds, so you know kiwi, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, pears, oranges, all those types of fruits with Skinner seeds, you’re gonna get way more fiber from those fruits than those that don’t have, you know, the skin or seeds.

So this is super helpful to us women that I work with say like not only for the fullness factor after your meals to keep your energy levels nice and stable to help with your weight loss. But I mean hello, who doesn’t love a good bowel routine? Like this is really helpful for regularity. High fiber and to be honest with yet over 95% of our population is not getting enough fiber.

So that’s also an unexpected benefit. When women start working with me. They’re like, Oh man, I didn’t even know that I was supposed to have these regular bowel routines, like no longer feeling bloated, gassy, and you know, they go through the day with their stomach, you know, feeling quite flat and comfortable instead of bloated and distended. So having fiber with the fruits from whisking and seeds.

I personally love any Berry, right blackberries, blueberries, raspberries are awesome sources of fiber. Figs are another one. Same thing with prunes are really great source of fiber, and pears, pears and apples. And oh, what’s the other one? I’m thinking of, oh

And hey, if you’re loving this podcast so far, I encourage you to go rate five star and review because it honestly helps his podcast grow so much and it gets to other women that need to hear this message.

All right, let’s talk about practical ways to pull all this stuff together. And you know, build it into your day today. So I want to talk about some savvy strategies first to help save you money, right because produce is getting more expensive. So I like to get obviously like seasonal seasonal fruit right when it’s in season is going to be more cost effective pluses and it’s prime. So rollin with seasonal fruit.

Second thing when it’s on sale, I love loading up like I went into the grocery store the other day and those little like clamshell things of raspberries were on sale was like three for five bucks my total score. So buy three, and instead of keeping them all in your fridge, wanting to throw two of them in your freezer. You know, rinse them off, pat them to dry and throw them in a Ziploc bag and throw them in the freezer. Right? I bet you never thought of that before.

The other thing too was freezing fruit I mean when I buy grapes. I love sticking them in the freezer because they are so good for smoothies. I mean, you want to creamy smoothie, throw some frozen grapes and frozen banana chunks in there.

And the other savvy thing to do so to save you some money is really rolling with those frozen fruits like go to the frozen section in the grocery store. And oftentimes those bags of fruit are on sale, right? So you can get a couple of them like two for seven bucks, and then throw them in your freezer, throw them in the deep freezer. So those are a couple of ways to save some money and just being efficient. How to bring these into your day to day. So let’s talk about some examples here. I mean, who doesn’t love a good smoothie and I’m staring at my banana grape smoothie. As I’m recording this podcast.

Yeah, add them to smoothies. You could do mango pineapple. You know, you can do frozen grapes, banana, all sorts of different fruits and your shakes, frozen fruits, right grab that bag of mixed fruit. And hang around next episode if you’re curious and knowing you know how much fruit to eat in a day in the portion sizes. So join me next week for that one. Other ways to enjoy fruit I mean throw them in your water. I love my Soda Stream can get a little bit boring sometimes. So I throw some frozen berries and some thick slices of oranges or grapefruit right in my water. Because it’s kind of nice to have a little snack waiting for you like your rewards like oh good for me. I drink 750 mil of water and now I can eat a few berries on the bottom. The other one and thinking outside the box. Applesauce. We always forget about applesauce or you give it to your kids but there’s some really great unsweetened applesauce is out there. Throw some cinnamon on there some chopped almonds like gray little combo. Great for snack, grilling fruit. I mean what did I do? The other day it’s like grilled. Like I did some steak on the barbecue and some grilled pieces of pineapple. Right? So good. Adding them to salads. I really like buying canned, packed in water, mandarin oranges, and thrown those on top of a arugula salad. Throw some feta cheese on there. So most Samak Vinagrette tasty, and new and fruit kabobs. I mean, kids love these things. And they’re so great for adults too. We’re making some fruit kabobs. So big chunks of you know, cantaloupe, strawberries, put some grapes on there, keep those in the fridge, they’ll be fine for a few days in the fridge.

And the other thing that can really be helpful for you and even your kids, right doing smoothie, popsicles fruit smoothie, popsicles. So, you know, make your fruit smoothie as you normally would like, I like to put in some Greek yogurt, any type of fruit, but rolling with berries these days, a little bit of almond milk in there, some protein powder, and then I pour that mixture into popsicle molds. I mean, what a great way to get in fiber packed little treat. So those are some ways to enjoy fruit in your day today. And I’m all about the action steps. So I got two for you here.

Action number one, actually, tell yourself what you just learned today, fruit is good for me, I don’t have to avoid it. So, you know, rewrite that story in your mind, fruit is good for me and I can enjoy it.

Second action step by two to three fruits this week, throw it on your grocery list or put it in your click and collect order for the week get two to three fruits this week. And I challenge you take a picture of them whether it’s on your kitchen counter or take a picture of them, say you put some sliced apple and a salad, take a picture, take a video posted on your social media and tag me @leahvandolder. I would love to see what you’re doing over there. Because you and I both know that having an education is great, but you’re not gonna get results until you actually apply this stuff. Right? And that’s how I help my clients. You know, you’re a smart, educated woman you know what to do, but doing it consistently. That’s what can be really hard, especially when you’re, you know, you’ve got like a high stress job or you’re super busy. You’re juggling all the balls, right? And you are just trying to make it all work. This is how I help my clients and kind of back to Andrea to write. I mean, she’s just movin and groovin loving her nutrition plan, loving the fact that she can enjoy an eat the fruits that she loves without feeling guilty about it. And along the way, just building a healthy relationship with food in her body.

I mean, you can have like that is available to you, right? You can lose weight sustainably while improving your relationship with food and yourself, right? It doesn’t have to be this miserable process. Let me make it fun for you. This is what I do for my clients and it completely changes their lives. Again, if you’d like to learn more about working with me, check out my show notes. There’s a link to apply to work with me and there’s a link to watch my four minute program promo video so check that out. And hey, if you want to come hang out with me on Instagram, come on over my handle is @leahvandolder and I would love to connect with you there send me a DM and let me know that you’ve enjoyed this episode. Alright guys, thanks so much for tuning in. Do not miss part two of this fruit series I’m going to talk all about the fruits to avoid how many fruits or how many portions of fruit you should be eating in a day and how to build that into your routine.

Thanks again guys. And we’ll connect next time thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Reclaim podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, I encourage you to follow rate and review. To learn more about working with me check out my website at leahvandolder.com Thank you again for being here. It means the world to be able to connect with you, girl keep doing amazing things. You have everything that it takes to achieve your goals and be successful at anything that you want.