Fruits are the best representatives of delicious food in the eyes of women. Their belief is: eating fruits is always beneficial and harmless; eating more fruits can help with weight loss and beauty care; and so on... If an authoritative expert solemnly pointed out that all the above "anyways" are lies, how would women feel?
Myth 1: Fruits are always beneficial and harmless no matter when you eat them.
Expert reminder: Fruits are not something that can be eaten随意ly. They contain relatively high levels of organic acids and tannins, and some fruits also contain highly active proteases, which may irritate and harm the stomach, leading to symptoms like stomach pain, bloating, diarrhea, and indigestion.
Practical strategy: Choose fruits based on individual needs.
Myth 2: Fruits can replace vegetables.
Expert reminder: The amount of minerals and vitamins in fruits is far less than that in vegetables. If you don't eat vegetables and rely solely on fruits, it is absolutely insufficient to provide enough nutrients.
Inexpensive vegetables are sometimes superior to fruits
In terms of vitamin C content, inexpensive cabbage and radish are about 10 times higher than apples, pears, and peaches. The vitamin C content in green peppers and cauliflower is 2-3 times that of strawberries and citrus fruits.
Where fruits excel over vegetables
Fruits contain organic acids and aromatic substances, which play an important role in stimulating appetite and helping with nutrient absorption. Moreover, fruits do not require cooking, so there is no loss of nutrients.
Practical countermeasure: 500 grams of a variety of vegetables are essential daily.
Myth 3: Fruits are particularly rich in vitamins.
Expert reminder: The vitamin C content of most fruits is not high, and the content of other vitamins is even more limited. There are 13 types of vitamins, which come from a variety of foods. It is extremely unwise to rely solely on fruits to provide all vitamins. For example, to meet the recommended daily intake of vitamin C for the human body, one would need to consume 5 kilograms of Fuji apples, which is an absolutely impossible task.
Fruits rich in vitamin C
Fruits rich in vitamin C include fresh dates, kiwis, hawthorn, grapefruits, strawberries, and citrus fruits. However, the vitamin C content in commonly eaten fruits like apples, pears, peaches, apricots, bananas, and grapes is very low.
Fruits rich in carotene
Mangoes are the fruit with the highest carotene content. Yellow fruits such as citrus, yellow apricots, and pineapples also contain small amounts of carotene.
Practical strategy: Eat both common and wild fruits.
Myth 4: Replacing meals with fruits is beneficial for health and beauty.
Expert reminder: The human body needs nearly 50 different nutrients to survive, especially requiring more than 65 grams of protein and more than 20 grams of fat daily to maintain the renewal and repair of tissues and organs. Fruits contain over 85% water, but their protein content is less than 1%, and they contain almost no essential fatty acids, far from meeting the body's nutritional needs.
Practical strategy: Use fruits as a supplement; they are tasty but don't overeat.
Myth 5: Eating more fruits can help with weight loss.
Expert reminder: In reality, fruits are not very low-energy foods. Because they have a pleasant sweet taste, their sugar content often reaches over 8%, and it is easily digestible monosaccharides and disaccharides. Although fruits contain fewer calories than rice by weight, their sweet taste makes them easy to overindulge in, so the intake of sugar often exceeds the standard.
Practical strategy: For weight loss with fruits, a method is key.
Myth 6: Peeling the fruit can solve the pesticide problem.
Expert reminder: Many people worry about fruit being contaminated with pesticides and always peel the skin, thinking this can prevent contamination and allow for safe consumption. In fact, to prevent and control pests, many pesticides are applied to the roots, and some are injected directly into the bark to solve pest problems from the inside. The residues caused by this type of application method cannot obviously be solved by peeling.
The part of the fruit with the highest nutrient content and best flavor is right near the skin. As long as the fruit is thoroughly washed, it is more scientific to eat it with the skin on.
Practical countermeasure: It's best to eat the safe fruit skin.
Myth 7: High-end imported fruits are more nutritious.
Expert reminder: Many people think that expensive "foreign fruits" must have higher nutritional value, but this is not the case. Imported fruits begin to degrade nutrients during their journey, and their freshness is not ideal. Moreover, because they need long-distance transportation, fruits are often picked before they are fully ripe and preserved with chemical agents, which may affect the quality of the fruit.
Practical countermeasure: Be a savvy shopper when buying fruits.