Why Should I Eat Fruit in the Morning?

Challenge #5 of the I’m Too Busy to Take Care of Myself Challenge:

Eat Fruit in the Morning

Fruit is sometimes called “God’s dessert”; other times it’s called dieter’s antichrist.  Why such drastic good vs. evil views?  We all know that fruit is a natural source of nutrients, rich in fiber, and, let’s face it, tastes really good.  So why such a bad reputation?  In a word:  sugar.

Fruit is high in fructose, which is basically sugar, and we all know that sugar packs on the pounds, so let’s just skip the fruit, right?  Here’s a little secret about fruit I learned from the bodybuilding world – it’s all in the timing.

Fructose has to be converted in the liver into glycogen.  When the liver glycogen levels are full the fructose gets converted to fat, a bummer for people trying to lose weight.  But when you first wake up it’s pretty reasonable to predict that your glycogen levels are at their lowest because your brain has been using up the glycogen all night while you’re sleeping (and not eating), so instead of being converted to fat, that fructose gets immediately turned into fuel for your body and to restock those glycogen levels.

So eat up!  Just keep the portions in control.  I’m a 5’2″ woman with moderate activity levels, so a serving for me is 1 cup blueberries, or 1 medium apple.  If you’re taller or more active than me you can have a bigger serving.

How about you?  Did you eat fruit this morning?  Tomorrow’s challenge:  Meditate/breathe deeply for 15 minutes.

Lisa 

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