Before reading the article, guess whether dried fruit makes you fat or slim? Or think about how to maintain fitness or style by eating dried fruit chips.
Before reading the article, guess whether dried fruit makes you fat or slim?! Or think about how to maintain fitness or style by consuming dried fruit chips.
Nowadays, most people all over the world are facing problems such as obesity and overweight, and of course, everyone’s concern, especially women, is maintaining fitness and body style. Have you heard of the obesity gene? The presence of this gene in some people causes even the smallest and lowest-calorie food to be quickly absorbed by their bodies. But many people gain weight due to inactivity and lack of daily exercise.
One of the types of food that people are more interested in today than in the past is dried fruit. Dried fruit is consumed as a snack, although it is a healthy food, it should not be consumed in excess. Of course, we should not overeat any type of food. Fresh fruit can also cause obesity if consumed in excess, but with the difference that since fresh fruit contains water and fills you up faster, it causes less obesity than fruit chips.
Although excessive consumption of dried fruit can cause obesity, it is interesting to know that fruit chips are mentioned as one of the snacks used to lose weight and maintain a body style. Because fruit chips are rich in fiber and vitamins, and the sugar in them is natural. Of course, let’s not forget that we should not be careless in consuming it and it can only help us lose weight if we do not consume it in excess.
Dried fruits
What is dried fruit?
Dried fruit is referred to as slices of various fruits. During a thermal or solar process under sunlight or with the heat of a heater or heater and in an oven, microwave or fruit dryer, or during a cooling process such as a freeze dryer, water is separated from the fruit and it is also called fruit chips.
Of course, there are other types of dried fruit such as fruit leaves or fruit slices that are classified in the dried fruit category.
The rate of water drying in different fruits varies. Some fruits that contain more water, such as strawberries, lose more of their weight, and fruits such as bananas and mangoes that have less water will lose less. For example, one kilogram of dried bananas can be produced from every 7 to 9 kilograms of fresh bananas. While in a fruit such as strawberries, we must dry 12 to 14 kilograms of fresh strawberries for one kilogram of dried fruit.
Mango, banana, strawberry, coconut, pineapple, peach, plum, apricot, persimmon, apple, kiwi, pear and orange are fruits that can be dried and consumed throughout the year.
What should we pay attention to when buying dried fruit?
Fruit can also be dried at home, but if you plan to buy it ready-made from a dried fruit producer, you should pay attention to one key point, which is the additives that some companies add to dried fruit during the production process. Some of our colleagues in the field of fruit chips production use sugar to give dried fruit a more attractive taste.
Dried fruit has natural sugar and it is not necessary to add sugar to it, and this excess sugar makes such dried fruit an unhealthy food. Of course, sometimes manufacturing companies add sugar in order to gain more profit and its impact on the price of dried fruit, which is also unethical.
People who believe that dried fruit causes obesity probably have this mindset for one of two (or both) reasons. First, they may have consumed dried fruits to which the manufacturer has added sugar, or they may have overeaten dried fruits and the sugar in dried fruits has caused them to gain weight. In fact, moderate consumption of quality dried fruits does not cause obesity and weight gain.
Some manufacturers in this industry also use artificial sweeteners that are low in calories to flavor dried fruits. Although they may not directly cause weight gain due to their low calories, they do increase your desire for sweets, so we strongly recommend that you buy dried fruits without additives.
How to calculate the sugar in dried fruit?
In order to find a relationship between dried fruit and obesity, we need to know how to calculate the sugar in dried fruit. This is done by companies producing dried fruit and is specified by placing a label or sticker on the packaging. The amount of sugar listed on the label is added to the amount of natural sugar if sugar is added. Therefore, to distinguish between the two, you need to know the natural sugar content of each fruit. If you know the amount of sugar in each fruit, subtract it from the amount of sugar listed on the label and the resulting number shows the amount of sugar in the dried fruit.
What is the permissible amount of dried fruit consumption per day?
How to consume dried fruit is the most important question that is often sought to be answered in order to know the permissible amount of dried fruit consumption during the day. As you know, fresh fruit is recommended in most diet plans in the amount of 1 to 2 units of seasonal fruit per day, but how do we calculate this permissible amount for dried fruit consumption?
Calculating the body’s calorie needs is the best answer for you. When we determine the amount of calories, we can consider 10% of it for carbohydrate consumption, meaning, for example, if we are going to consume 2,000 calories per day, we are only allowed to consume 200 grams of sugar and carbohydrates.
Should we consider dried fruit a better choice for a diet?
Do you think dried fruit is a better choice for a diet?! The link between fruit chips and obesity has been proven, and considering that it has less volume and more sugar than fresh fruit, why should we go for dried fruit at all?! So in this section, we should mention a few points.
First, if you have fresh fruit available, the best thing to do is to consume it instead of dried fruit. Because it is rich in water and the fiber in fresh fruit is more. Fresh fruit has more volume and is also more enjoyable.
Dried fruits and fitness
When there is no fresh and seasonal fruit and we have limitations in this regard, what should we do?!
The best option is to consume a balanced amount of dried fruit, which can provide the vitamins and nutrients needed by the body. So you should definitely include dried fruit in your diet. Because if you are on a diet, you will definitely crave different flavors, which is better to control with some vitamin-rich dried fruit according to the calories and sugar required by your body.
If you think that the amount of dried fruit you need is small and will run out soon, you can use some nuts along with the dried fruit.