Coach disproves main myth about fruit
Illustrative photo (Freepik)
Many people are afraid to eat fruits in the evening due to the fear of gaining weight. However, coach and nutritionist Viktor Mandziak explained why you shouldn’t avoid fruits in the second half of the day.
Can you eat fruit in the evening and not gain weight?
People believe that fruits contain a lot of sugar, but that’s not entirely true. Most fruits have a relatively low sugar content—around 10%. This sugar is contained within the cells surrounded by fiber, which makes fruits filling and helps prevent overeating.
Secondly, it’s important to know that the sugar from fruits does not convert into fat. Mandziak noted that there is a mechanism in the body for converting carbohydrates into fats. However, carbohydrates are primarily stored in the liver and muscles for energy use, and only in extreme cases—when carbohydrate storage is full, and tissues cannot keep up with the sugar influx from the intestines—does the body convert excess carbohydrates into fat to prevent the blood from becoming syrupy.
But if you’re not consuming tons of sugar throughout the day, carbohydrates won’t convert into fat, even if consumed in the evening, regardless of whether these carbohydrates are sugars.
The third myth is that when we go to sleep in the evening, calories aren’t burned but rather stored in our bodies. Mandziak said that approximately 75% of calories are burned while a person is at rest.
"Sleep is a state of physical rest where calories are actively burned. The brain and red blood cells, which rely on glucose, will actively burn the sugar consumed in the form of fruits during the night," he said.
Thus, we can conclude that eating fruits in the evening is not only acceptable but also beneficial for the figure, good for the body, and very tasty.
