Volenta wrote:
What kind of non-sweet fruits do you actually mean/recommend? I do eat a lots of bell peppers and also consume tomatoes pretty regularly (or is that already considered sweet?).
Peppers and tomatoes are great. They're not sweet, both lower calorie and high in vitamins, fiber, and if you eat enough of them (like dehydrated) even protein.
miniboes wrote:
Well, I only really take the time to cook my food once a day as I spend most of my day in school. I'm not sure how to consume many legumes as unlike fruit as I don't like to consume them raw (not even sure if that's a healthy option) and they're not very convenient. Any suggestions?
Yes. Soak and boil first as normal. Then put them in the oven on fairly low, and you can make a sheet of crunchy beans. Great with chickpeas, but it works with others as well.
You can toss with a little oil, and put salt/spices on them before putting them in the oven to bake and dry out.
miniboes wrote:Also, from what I've heard the sugars in fruit are not a big problem because they are accompanied by fiber and glucose is better processed by your body.
It's not
as bad from a blood-sugar spiking perspective (though really, still not good), but they also promote tooth decay, and the larger issue is the high calorie content with relatively low protein and other macronutrients. You can fill yourself up on sweet fruit and become malnourished.
Non-sweet fruit will not meet your calorie needs, so you will still be hungry.
If you only ate, for example, tomatoes, by the time you hit 2000 calories, you'd still be getting enough protein (in raw amount, not necessarily properly balanced amino acids) for the day.
TOMATO
Amount Per 1 medium whole (2-3/5" dia) (123 g)
Calories22
%Daily Value*
Total Fat0.2 g 0%
Saturated fat0 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat0 g
Cholesterol0 mg 0%
Sodium6.2 mg 0%
Potassium291.5 mg 8%
Total Carbohydrate4.8 g 2%
Dietary fiber1.5 g 6%
Sugar3.2 g
Protein1.1 g
(2,000 calories / 22) * 1.1 = 100 g
More than enough protein.
Do that math for any fruit. If you get a number less than 50g of protein in 2,000 calories, you're dealing with something that needs to be eaten in moderation, because it has the potential to displace other foods in your diet and lead to protein deficiency. If it's close, like 40-50, you don't have to worry as much. But once you reach under 20 or 30 grams of protein, it can become a serious issue.
Most whole foods have enough protein in them to make that impossible. Sweet fruit is an exception.
Compare to apples:
APPLE
Amount Per 1 medium (3" dia) (182 g)
Calories95
%Daily Value*
Total Fat0.3 g 0%
Saturated fat0.1 g 0%
Polyunsaturated fat0.1 g
Monounsaturated fat0 g
Cholesterol0 mg 0%
Sodium1.8 mg 0%
Potassium194.7 mg 6%
Total Carbohydrate25.1 g 8%
Dietary fiber4.4 g 18%
Sugar18.9 g
Protein0.5 g
(2,000 / 95) * 0.5 = 10.5g
At that amount of protein a day, you would waste away very quickly.
Many raw foodists encounter this problem when they eat too much sweet fruit. Some non-raw vegetarians and vegans also do. Sweet fruit just is not an adequate staple.
Let's say your diet is only half apples: That means you need to get more than 45 grams of protein from the other half of your diet, which is not as easy to do. It forces you to rely on much more concentrated sources of protein and makes dietary planning much harder and less flexible.
And if you're more active, or taller, it could mean you have to get closer to 100 grams of protein from the other half of your diet - and that's even more difficult.
It doesn't mean don't eat it, but just moderate your consumption more carefully.
If something gives you over 50 g of protein per 2,000 calories, then you don't really need to worry about it, eat as much as you want (provided it's a
whole plant food, which of course doesn't apply to meats which can do that, but also load you up on saturated fat and cholesterol, among carcinogens and inadequate fiber).
miniboes wrote:
I do eat nuts for that purpose but the price is an issue. It's a minor one, but the problem I have with carrots is that my jaw gets tired after eating a lot of them. I could try though.
Carrots: Grate them. Or slice them thin. It saves your jaw a lot of work.
Carrots are a little sweet, but come in at around 45g protein/2,000 calories Close enough, particularly since you'll burn a lot of those calories chewing/digesting them.
Just don't eat
only carrots, but you don't really have to moderate your consumption.
A diet of even half carrots would probably be easy enough to fill in the gaps for, and chances are nobody is going to eat that many.
miniboes wrote:
To come back to your point of water intoxication, I read on wikipedia a woman once died of drinking 4 liters of water in 2 hours. I should probably watch out for that even though it says water intoxication is very rare. Thanks for notifying me, could be a real lifesaver
It's not just that. Too much water depletes your body of water soluble vitamins.