How much fruit?

This post may be a struggle for some of you. On the way back to our home office this morning I had the radio on NPR where some experts were discussing the new government guidelines for telling us how to have a healthy diet. I find it deeply disturbing to find out how our tax dollars are being "invested". One bit of advice was to load half of our plate with fruits and vegetables and cut way back on red meat, especially meat with saturated fat in it. I think most of us can agree on the vegetable part, but some of us may not agree on the other two food types.

I shall briefly address the fruit part of our diets. We grow apples, oranges, figs,  grapes, and now blueberries. We like fruit. But we want to be wise about how much we eat and how we consume it. Too much sugar, even the homegrown kind from our yards and orchards can be detrimental to health. So here is one approach that we take to drinks- Squeeze half of an orange, grapefruit, or lemon into a cold glass of filtered water, and only if you like, add a minuscule amount of pure stevia. You will get the taste of the fruit, some of the nutrients, without the big hit of sugar to our livers that comes from 100% squeezed fruit juices. Check out these links for some "philosophy" regarding fruit sugar (and other sugars) in our diet. Some of this may be a bit controversial, but it may give you something to consider.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-sugar/
Scroll down to the section on Fruit Sugar
http://www.thepaleodiet.com/nutritional_tools/fruits_table.html
This is an informative table. Note the differences between oranges, lemons, and grapefruits.
http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/
Especially note #1 and #10 when considering the list on the last link.  This M.D. is way out there for many mainstream people, and I do not agree with some of his underlying philosophies, but he has some really sound data driven practical advice to ponder. The government experts would vilify this man! I find many of his ideas refreshing.