One of the more common comments we hear from new dieters beginning the Protein Pantry system is, “I don’t see fruit mentioned anywhere on your system”. We reply back that there is no fruit consumption while on our weight loss and stabilization phases. It initially baffles the new dieter because as far as they are concerned fruit is supposed to be essential for health, chalked full of micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), antioxidants and fiber. Surely you should be able to consume this while trying to improve your health? Not so fast.

Let's take a look at some of the nutritional facts of the following fruit variety; apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, cantaloupe, grapes, oranges, peaches, pears, pineapples, plums, and strawberries.

Let's see how much of the 13 known vitamins we'll find in our fruit variety:

Vitamin A (or beta carotene) has an RDA of 5,000 IU. Except for a few fruits like apricots you just aren't going to get either of these. You would need to eat 100 pounds of apples or pears to get the 10,000 IU of beta carotene you need.

Vitamin C has an RDA of 60 mg. Only tropical fruits contain any amount of this. You would have to eat about EIGHT POUNDS of our variety of fruits to get your RDA.

Vitamin D has an RDA of 400 IU. You get none out of any fruit.

Vitamin E has an RDA of 30 IU. Fruits are basically devoid of any vitamin E. You would have to eat about TEN POUNDS of apples or peaches (the best of all fruit sources) to get your RDA.

Vitamin K has an RDA of 80 mcg. This is basically non-existent in fruits.

Vitamin B-1 (thiamine) has an RDA of 1.5 mg. You would have to eat over TEN POUNDS of our fruit variety to get this.

Vitamin B-2 (riboflavin) has an RDA of 1.7 mg. Fruits are basically devoid of riboflavin. You would have to eat over TWELVE POUNDS of our fruit variety to get what you need.

Vitamin B-3 (niacin) has an RDA of 20 mg. There is basically no niacin found in any fruits. You would have to eat THIRTY POUNDS of our fruit variety to get your RDA.

Vitamin B-5 (pantothenic acid) has an RDA of 10 mg. You would have to eat 10 pounds of strawberries (the best source) or about FIFTY POUNDS of our fruit variety.

Vitamin B-6 has an RDA of 2 mg. There is very little B-6 found in fruits. You would have to eat over TEN POUNDS of our fruit variety.

Folic acid has an RDA of 400 mcg. Folate is found in small quantities in some fruits. You could get this in three pounds of our fruit variety, but it would take eighty pounds of apples!

Vitamin B-12 has an RDA of only 2.4 mcg yet you would never even get this tiny, tiny amount no matter how much fruit you ate.

Biotin has an RDA of 300 mg. There is not enough biotin in fruit to even mention. You could eat our fruit variety all day and get nothing out of it.

What about minerals? Fruits are almost devoid of any meaningful amounts of any known element. You would have to eat TWELVE POUNDS of our fruit variety just to get 400 mg of calcium, EIGHT POUNDS to get 250 mg of magnesium, FIFTEEN POUNDS to get 15 mg of iron, TEN POUNDS to get 2 mg of copper, FOUR POUNDS to get 2 mg of manganese, and a whopping FORTY POUNDS to get 15 mg of zinc. Fruits just don't have any meaningful amount of minerals.

Nearly any fruit you can name is basically just sugar and water, with a little fiber. This is why we always respond to those concerned about not eating fruit by saying, “there is no important nutrient in fruit that you will not receive through our compliant vegetable list shown in the Weight Loss and Stabilization phases”. This is also why we promote having a 2:1 ratio of vegetable to fruit consumption for those wanting to eat fruit in the maintenance phase of our Protein Pantry system. This rule of thumb keeps your fruit consumption in check.

Source: Young Again; Roger Mason, Research Chemist