Can fruit make you depressed?

[katieblue]

Hey everyone! So, I don't eat much fruit at all. Maybe once or twice a week I'll have a serving with one of my meals, usually dinner. For example, last night we had some cubed watermelon along with ribs, cucumber-tomato salad, and pineapple cole slaw. Last week, we had grilled sweet potatoes and apples along with some kalua pork and steamed broccoli. Occasionally, I will sprinkle a handful of raisins over my salad.

 

The pattern I've noticed is that I always start to feel really down on myself after I've eaten fruit. I've been able to isolate that as the cause because all the other foods are regulars in our rotation without the fruit and I don't ever have the same reaction. I know I have a slight FODMAP sensitivity, but I can handle the above-mentioned foods as long as I don't eat them several days in a row. So I was wondering if anyone might understand if there is a reason behind this? Or is it purely psychological because even though it's "natural" sugar, I'm still eating sugar in the fruit?

[jmcbn]

Yes there is sugar in fruit, albeit naturally occurring. That said there is also fibre in fruit, so unless you are eating a shed-load of it, and eating it in a way that it would impact your blood sugar (ie. first thing in the morning, on it's own as a snack etc) it shouldn't really impact your mood in the way you describe.

I wonder if you might not just be feeling guilty about including it?

[katieblue]

There might be something to that, for sure. I know I don't "need" fruit, so it's definitely possible I'm being hard on myself for eating it as it's unnecessary.

[jmcbn]

Unnecessary maybe in that, yes, other than fructose there is nothing in fruit that you can't get in more abundance from vegetables. That said it does offer a variety in terms of taste & texture, and at this time of year when there is so much of the good stuff available it's perfectly natural to eat more than usual. Bear in mind that our ancestors would only have had seasonal foods available and so that's exactly what they would have done.

 

[MeadowLily]

Bear in mind.  Lurve that. 

 

Bear in mind that berries in season are beary, beary good.  jmcbn hit the nail square on the head. Seasonal fruits incorporated with a meal or at the very end have not made any noticeable uptick in my blood sugar for two years. 

 

Neither have the sweet/white/purple potatoes or carrots.  All of the above have positively influenced my relationship with food. Without them,  I was dieting which got me nowhere good.  I avoided fruit for years because I was constantly dieting.  

 

When I came here,  I gave myself permission to have all W30 foods.  I broadened my scope and outlook, stopped all dieting.   It makes no sense for me to avoid eating  fruit in a responsible manner but go back to highly refined foods and eat those in small or whopping boatload quantities.

 

Being free to choose fruit is Food Freedom.  Shawshanking it.  Taking what's allowed and tweaking it into more dieting or macro, micro counting, dialed down everything is not freedom.  It doesn't last.  Dialing it down causes more binge or thrill eating and another food reckoning. 

[katieblue]

Thank you, ladies. I really appreciate your insight. I'm on my third round of Whole30 in a continued attempt to fix my relationship with food - looks like I still have a ways to go in understanding how to be kind to myself. But I won't give up!