Monday, November 28, 2022

Is it true that peaches make you fat? 



Can a spring and summer fruit so rich in water be responsible for weight gain?

Some of our reader friends have written to us because their trusted dietician has advised them against them for a while. 
However, at lunch they could continue to eat pasta and bread... 
Do peaches make you fat?
My point of view is that a competent nutritionist does not advise against the consumption of fresh seasonal fruit. Whether they are nectarine, peaches, yellow or white flesh, it does not matter. If our dietician tells us that peaches make you fat, there is definitely something wrong. In this guide we will see, in a scientific way, why a peach does not make you fat by analyzing nutritional values, calories and glycemic index. Finally, we will see how and when to consume peaches during the day. As you can see peaches have a very low-calorie density: only 44 calories for every 100 grams of the product. Considering that each fruit weighs on average between 100 and 150 grams, we can safely say that eating a peach does not make you fat because it provides between 40 and 60 calories. 

It is true that peaches, like all fruit, contain mainly carbohydrates (about 90%), but it is equally true that not all carbohydrates are the same. Those of fruit, for example, contain not only glucose, but also fructose, a type of sugar that follows different metabolic pathways and is not responsible for increasing blood sugar. The carbohydrates of peaches do not make you fat because they do not directly affect blood sugar. In addition, peaches are some fruits with a rather low glycemic index (35/100) and therefore do not cause glycemic peaks. 

So why is fruit consumption not recommended in some cases? Because fructose is a sugar that does not end up directly in the bloodstream but goes to fill the glycogen stores of the liver. This means that the liver uses fructose to replenish its energy reserves to keep blood sugar stable over time.
 
What happens if the reserves are already full? 
Is that all sugars cannot be stored in the form of glycogen and are therefore transformed into fats. At this point, it is true, peaches also make you fat. Imagine you had the classic Italian lunch. A nice plate of pasta, a second course, a side dish (maybe potatoes), fruit and at the end also the dessert. Fats and carbohydrates accumulate in large quantities in your body that quickly saturate glycogen stores. Both muscle and liver cells no longer accept macronutrients. The only ones to take them will be adipocytes, adipose tissue cells.


So, peaches make you fat like all other foods if the context is wrong. If you already have a diet rich in carbohydrates, evidently fruit sugars will also have their weight. However, itis not the fruit that is the problem, but everything you have eaten before! 

 My advice is to avoid eating peaches after a large meal for two reasons. They provide sugars after a meal in which there are too many sugars; digestion times are long due to the presence of other foods for which there is a risk that the fruit ferments in the stomach causing accumulation of intestinal air.

If you have paid attention to what has been said so far, you have realized that it is not the peaches that make you fat but the whole context: bad eating habits, lack of physical activity, ... So, wondering how many peaches a day you can eat in order not to gain weight makes little sense. The secret to proper nutrition for weight loss is moderation. Let's avoid excesses and our body will only benefit. The situation is analogous with peaches. 
We can eat them every day and one is enough to live peacefully and without the fear of gaining weight.

 

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