High Fructose Foods

When it comes to weight loss and general health, foods high in fructose are usually not the best option to be consuming as a choice of carbohydrates. The problem with fructose is that this type of carbohydrate goes directly the liver to be processed and unfortunately the liver does not have nearly as high of a storage capacity as the muscles do for glucose.

This means that when you over consume high fructose foods, you are more likely to see an increase in body fat accumulation as once the storage needs are met, the liver will start converting the remaining fructose into triglycerides.

The daily limit that those who are trying to diet should aim for is about 50 grams of fructose per day. While you don't want to completely cut fructose out from your diet as it does have quite a few positive health benefits (reduced signals of hunger, helping to signal your body that its in an anabolic state and so on), you should focus your sources on that of fruit since they won't add up as quickly and they also offer many other positive health benefits.

It is helpful to education yourself on the foods that are highest in fructose so you can have a better idea which ones you should be avoiding and which are okay to consume.

Here is a list of some of the highest fructose containing foods broken down into various categories.

Vegetables And Vegetable Products (per 100 grams of food)

Ketchup - 9 grams

Sweet pickles - 9 grams

Tomato paste - 6 grams

Fruits And Fruit Juices

Dates - 32 grams

Raisins - 30 grams

Figs - 29.6 grams

Dates - 19.5 grams

Prune puree - 13.8 grams

Dried peaches - 13.5 grams

Dried apricots - 12.5 grams

Dried plums - 12.5 grams

Grapes - 8 grams

Applesauce - 7.5 grams

Pineapple - 7.2 grams

Pears - 6.2 grams

Apples - 6 grams

Apple juice - 5.6 grams

Mango - 5.5 grams

Cherries - 5.3 grams

Blueberries - 5.0 grams

Bananas - 4.85 grams

Kiwi Fruit - 4.3 grams

Pears - 3.9 grams

Currants - 3.5 grams

Watermelon - 3.35 grams

Plums - 3.0 grams

Honeydew Melon - 2.9 grams

Orange Juice - 2.7

Strawberries - 2.4 grams

Blackberries - 2.4 grams

Tangerines - 2.4 grams

Raspberries - 2.3 grams

Oranges - 2.2 grams

Pineapple - 2.0 grams

Fats And Oils

Reduced fat french dressing - 12 grams

Reduced fat Thousand Island dressing - 6 grams

Fat Free Italian Salad Dressing - 5.5 grams

Sweeteners

Honey - 40.1 grams

Molasses - 12.7 grams

Spices and Herbs

Vinegar - 7.3 grams

Paprika - 6.7 grams

Beverages

Caffeine free Cola - 6.1 grams

Regular cola - 6.1 grams

Lemon Lime soda - 5.8 grams

All of the above foods will contribute to your total fructose intake however, most of the fruits and vegetables will not provide an extremely large amount to be worried over, since it is going to take about 5-8 pieces of fruit per day for example to exceed the 50 gram limit you are trying to achieve.

The bigger concern you should have is over products that contain high fructose corn syrup as the total fructose in those products can add up extremely quickly and will easily put you over the limit. The best way to be aware of this is to simply check the ingredient listing. If you see high fructose corn syrup listed anywhere in the top 10 ingredients, it is probably a safe bet that that is not a product you should be consuming. Most of this will occur in packaged and processed foods, such as granola bars, 'fruit snacks' and foods of that nature.

So while carbohydrates can definitely be included in a healthy diet, you do need to be careful about the type and how much of them you are consuming.