Fructose

Class Schedule for This Week
Monday: Regular Schedule
Tuesday: Regular Schedule
Wednesday: 6am, 9am, 12pm
Thursday: No Class
Friday: 9am

Class Schedule for Next Week
There will be no class at 6pm on Wed. All other classes will remain as scheduled

"The F word in nutrition is not Fat it is Fructose." This is a quote from Dr. Scott Connelly.

So what is wrong with fructose and where do we get it from? When most people think of fructose they think of fruit, but what most people do not realize is that we get most of our fructose today from sugar and processed food. Fructose is found in abundance in our food supply today in the form of high fructose corn syrup. You must remember that fructose is processed in the liver and that our liver only has the capacity to hold about 50 grams of fructose per day. Anything above what the liver can handle is automatically converted into triglycerides(fat) in our bodies. This means that excess fructose is converted into fat. This conversion into triglycerides is also a large cause of many peoples cholesterol problems. There is also another problem with fructose in that it does not elevate insulin levels like many other carbs. If insulin is not elevated then the sugar does not get swept out of the blood stream. The high levels of blood sugar lead to a number of conditions, the most notable is accelerated aging. So how do we control our fructose consumption? First and foremost, try to cut all high fructose corn syrup out of your diet. It is the biggest source of fructose for most people today. There has been a big marketing campaign lately saying that high fructose corn syrup is not that bad for you, but if you look at who is funding those advertisements it is the corn refiners of America. The other big source of fructose in our diet today is sugar. Sugar is 50% fructose, so if you eat 100 grams of sugar then you are consuming 50 grams of fructose which is your limit. The other source of fructose in our diet is fruit and fruit juice. Fruit juice can be dangerous because it is pure fructose without the fiber. Fruit is perfectly fine in moderation but just remember that you can have too much of a good thing. Usually we try to keep most people to around 2 pieces of fruit/day max because that usually puts them at the 50 gram mark. Another thing to keep in mind when it comes to fructose is that the more you exercise at a high intensity the better you will be able to utilize fructose. When you exercise at a high intensity you deplete you glycogen stores which allows you to get away with consuming slightly more fructose. In a sedentary individual the amount of fructose they can handle per day is probably closer to 35 grams/day.