Episode 76
Fruit Fearmongering: Is Fruit Bad For You?
Is Fruit Bad For You?
Have you heard the latest nonsense from the diet grift industrial complex?
Apparently, fruit is now dangerous. Yes—fruit. The stuff that grows on trees and ends up in your kid’s lunchbox is being blamed for everything from diabetes to “metabolic collapse.”
The same influencers who once screamed about seed oils are now coming for your bananas, blueberries, and yes, even your smoothies.
It would be laughable if it weren’t so successful.
I’ve Seen Real Diets That Work—They Include Fruit
My father had a massive heart attack at 55. The kind that forces lifestyle change.
But here’s the thing—he lived. He didn’t just live; he thrived.
He made it to 98, living independently until the very end.
And every single morning, he started his day with fruit: grapefruit, berries, and cantaloupe. He didn’t fear fructose. He just ate a balanced diet, and it worked.
The Anti-Fruit Grift: A Modern Wellness Scam
On social media, fruit is now the villain of the week. According to the keto-carnivore crowd, fruit will spike your insulin, make you fat, and destroy your health.
But right after shaming your banana, they usually offer a discount code for their liver pills or collagen powder.
Even Paul Saladino—the original shirtless prophet of beef liver supplements—is eating fruit now. Apparently, scurvy isn’t a great look.
Here’s the Truth: Fruit Is One of the Healthiest Things You Can Eat
Let’s stick to actual science. Fruit is one of the nine essential components of the Mediterranean Diet—a dietary pattern backed by decades of research, including landmark studies like PREDIMED and EPIC.
The Mediterranean Diet recommends 250 grams of fruit per day. People who follow it experience lower rates of:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Cognitive decline
And guess what? Even people with diabetes do well when they eat whole fruit.
According to large observational studies, such as the BMJ study by Muraki et al. (2013) and Li et al. (2016) in The Journal of Nutrition, higher intake of whole fruits—especially berries, apples, and citrus—is associated with a reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, not an increased one.
Smoothies: Not Soda. Let’s Stop the Nonsense.
Yes, when you blend fruit, it digests faster. That’s true. But a smoothie made from whole fruit, with the fiber intact, is nothing like drinking a sugary soda.
Want to improve it even more? Add protein, oats, chia, or yogurt. You’ve got a perfectly fine breakfast that’s far better than most boxed cereals.
So drink your smoothie. Enjoy it. You’re not ruining your health. You’re nourishing your body.
Cultures That Live Long... Eat Fruit
All the world’s longest-lived populations eat fruit—daily.
- Okinawans enjoy papaya, guava, and sweet potatoes.
- Sardinians love figs, grapes, and citrus.
- Loma Linda Adventists consume berries and stone fruits, and live some of the longest lives in America.
None of these groups fear fruit. And spoiler alert: none of them are blending bacon into their coffee.
Beware of Magical Thinking (and Tallow)
The real problem isn’t fruit—it’s the carnival of carnivore influencers selling meat-based miracles. These aren’t scientists. They’re entertainers with no credentials who demonize fruit while pushing “ancestral eating” and supplements derived from animals that... ate fruit.
If your diet says yes to beef tallow but no to blueberries, it’s time to reevaluate who you’re listening to.
Final Thoughts: Let’s Use Our Brains (and Eat the Peach)
Fruit isn’t the enemy. It’s not a metabolic poison. It’s one of the most nutrient-rich foods you can eat—and it's associated with better health outcomes across every major population study.
So next time someone tells you to skip the apple, ask them to show you a peer-reviewed study—not a coupon code.
References:
- Guan J, Liu T, Yang K, Chen H. Dried fruit intake and lower risk of type 2 diabetes: a two-sample mendelian randomization study. Nutr Metab (Lond). 2024 Jul 10;21(1):46. doi: 10.1186/s12986-024-00813-z. PMID: 38987806; PMCID: PMC11234600.
- Martínez-González MÁ, Hernández Hernández A. Effect of the Mediterranean diet in cardiovascular prevention. Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed). 2024 Jul;77(7):574-582. English, Spanish. doi: 10.1016/j.rec.2024.01.006. Epub 2024 Feb 7. PMID: 38336153. - (click for reference)
Transcript
>> Dr. Terry Simpson: Have you heard the latest hot take from the Diet
Speaker:Grift industrial complex?
Speaker:Apparently fruit is bad for you. Yes,
Speaker:fruit, the thing that grows on trees. The stuff
Speaker:you put into your kid's lunchbox. The humble
Speaker:banana is now public enemy number
Speaker:one. According to these TikTok health prophets,
Speaker:fruit is just sugar and dragon and smoothies
Speaker:are metabolic warfare. Seriously,
Speaker:that's where you are now? The same crowd
Speaker:slamming blueberries is slurping butter in their coffee
Speaker:and calling it breakfast.
Speaker:I am, um, your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terry
Speaker:Simpson, and this is Forku Fork
Speaker:University, where we make sense of the madness, bust a few
Speaker:myths, and teach you a little bit about food and
Speaker:medicine.
Speaker:Now, before we dive into the science, let me tell
Speaker:you about someone who never missed a bowl of
Speaker:fruit. My dad. He had a heart attack
Speaker:when he was 55. A big one. The kind that changes
Speaker:your whole life. And yet somehow he lived. Not just
Speaker:lived. He survived and thrived until he
Speaker:died at age 98. He lived independently on his own
Speaker:until his final heart attack. And every morning, like
Speaker:clockwork, he had fruit, grapefruit,
Speaker:berries, cantaloupes. He never skipped it. So, um, when
Speaker:someone with a ring light and no medical
Speaker:degree tells me that fruit is killing people,
Speaker:I call nonsense. I've seen what a real diet looks
Speaker:like over the lifetime, and it includes fruit. But let's not talk
Speaker:about anecdotes, which they love. I just had to bring up my
Speaker:dad because, you know, I think about him this time of year.
Speaker:Let's go into science. Social media
Speaker:influencers have decided that fruit is the villain of the week.
Speaker:According to the Keto Carnivore cabal, fruit will
Speaker:spike your insulin, turn you into a type 2 diabetic
Speaker:overnight, and leave you stranded in a metabolic
Speaker:wasteland. Let me guess, right after they finish
Speaker:shaming you for eating a banana. They offer you a coupon
Speaker:code for their liver based multivitamin.
Speaker:Convenient. This is classic
Speaker:grift behavior. Invent a new food
Speaker:villain, scare people and sell them on the
Speaker:overpriced cure. And even Paul
Speaker:Saladino. Yes, the Paul
Speaker:Saladino. The original shirtless salesman of
Speaker:dehydrated beef liver supplements is now
Speaker:eating fruit. Guess scurvy isn't a good look for him. Um,
Speaker:but hey, good for Paul. Now let's talk about
Speaker:actual science. Fruit is one of the nine
Speaker:foundational components of the Mediterranean diet.
Speaker:The diet isn't some Internet trend. It has been studied
Speaker:for over 70 years. It in massive
Speaker:cohort studies and randomized trials like
Speaker:predimed and epic. The Mediterranean diet recommends
Speaker:250 grams of fruit per day. That's about 9
Speaker:ounces or 3.5 servings. And guess what?
Speaker:People who follow this diet have significantly
Speaker:lower rates of heart disease, diabetes,
Speaker:cancer, Alzheimer's, and they live
Speaker:longer. Even people with diabetes,
Speaker:Whole fruit consumption is associated with better
Speaker:outcomes. Yes, fruit. The
Speaker:thing TikTok carnivores told you to avoid like
Speaker:the plague.
Speaker:Now let's address the smoothie panic.
Speaker:Yes, blending fruit can slightly increase the speed at
Speaker:which sugar is absorbed. That's true.
Speaker:But the idea that this turns your smoothie into soda
Speaker:is pure pseudoscience. If you're using
Speaker:whole fruit or frozen fruit, the
Speaker:fiber is still present. Your smoothie still
Speaker:provides nutritious value. Add a scoop of
Speaker:protein, maybe some oats or chia, and suddenly you have
Speaker:a balanced meal, not a metabolic bomb.
Speaker:Does it raise your blood sugar a little more than eating an apple whole?
Speaker:Maybe. Is it the same thing as drinking a Coke?
Speaker:Absolutely not. So if a smoothie is your
Speaker:breakfast of choice, enjoy it. You're not
Speaker:harming your body, you're feeding.
Speaker:Probably comes as no surprise that every long live
Speaker:population on earth eats fruit. Okinawans
Speaker:eat bananas, papayas and sweet potatoes.
Speaker:Sardinians snack on figs, citrus and
Speaker:grapes. The Loma Linda Adventists eat
Speaker:berries, apples, stone fruit and live some of the
Speaker:longest healthiest lives in the United States. These
Speaker:people are not avoiding carbs. They're not afraid of
Speaker:fruit, they're thriving with it. So if
Speaker:fruit is causing disease, it forgot to tell the
Speaker:world's healthiest populations. Lets talk
Speaker:about the people peddling fear. These are not
Speaker:scientists. They are YouTubers and
Speaker:TikTokers who shout confidently while standing
Speaker:shirtless in their kitchen. They're selling collagen powder
Speaker:made from cows who were fed pulp. If you believe fruit is
Speaker:killing you but your diet includes butter, coffee and beef
Speaker:jerky dipped in tallow, I have some bad news.
Speaker:You're not a biohacker. You're just constipated
Speaker:and confused. So here's the
Speaker:Fruit is not your enemy. The only thing fruit is
Speaker:guilty of is being delicious, packed with nutrients and
Speaker:not having an affiliate code attached. So if your
Speaker:diet says no to blueberries but yes to bacon wrap
Speaker:butter bombs, maybe the problem isn't fruit.
Speaker:Maybe it's who you're listening to. Speaking
Speaker:of which, thanks for listening to Forku. If you
Speaker:liked this episode, share it with someone who's afraid of apples.
Speaker:And if you're sipping on a smoothie right now, raise it high.
Speaker:Here's to fiber, flavor and the death of those
Speaker:dumb diet myths. This
Speaker:podcast was researched and produced by me, Dr.
Speaker:Terry Simpson. And while I am a doctor, I am
Speaker:not your doctor. If you're making changes to your
Speaker:diet, please consult a Western trained physician and a
Speaker:registered dietitian, not a chiropractor or some
Speaker:Eastern trained shaman. The distribution was
Speaker:handled by my friends at Simpler Media and the pod God
Speaker:himself, Mr. Ivo
Speaker:Terra. Have a good week, everybody.
Speaker:Hey, Ivo, here's a question for you. If fruit is
Speaker:so bad, why does everybody in Italy look
Speaker:so good eating it?
Speaker:If you think Italians look great eating fruit,
Speaker:you should see me going to town on an overripe
Speaker:peach. Mmm. Um, baby.
