Fruit binges?...Anyone else with the same problem?

In the last few weeks I had some crazy fruit binges on strawberries. My trigger fruits are strawberries, cherry, bananas. I was also wondering that the same amount of calories in one banana is equal with the same amount of calories which are in ice cream for example?

I'm craving fruits all the time...is this normal???My cravings for junk food/sweets diminished and now I'm craving fruits..what's happening with me?

Any advices,ideas are welcome!

Haha, as I sit beside an almost empty carton of beautiful, ripe strawberries. Yeah, I think I have this, too. But I still crave chocolate. Lol. I think that as you change your eating habits, you crave different things than you used to. Since fruit has natural sugar, it's sweet, so if you have a sweet tooth you crave fruit instead. 

A medium banana (7-7 7/8 in.) is around 110 calories (I looked that up last night...haha). My fat-free vanilla ice cream is 90 calories for 1/4 cup. But look at the nutritional value. A banana, or strawberry, is better because of the natural vitamins and fiber. Plus natural sugar breaks down a lot easier than man-made sugar. 

And hey, strawberries are much lower in sugar than some fruits, like oranges and grapes. So there are much worse things to crave & snack on =]

I wouldn`t call them binges, but I`ve been known to definitely overindulge on fruit. The worst for me are dried fruit (as much as 200-250g has been known to magically disappear), apples, grapes and cherries (can go through a pound without blinking, sometimes even up to a kilo).

What I do to tame the beast is first identifying the exact factor that appeals to me about the fruit, and then finding alternate solutions to enjoy them without going overboard. For instance, I adore the taste of grapes and cherries, but eating apples is more about the ritual and eating routine than the flavour, as weird as it might sound. Some stuff that has worked for me is:

- eat fruit as a dessert after a rather consistent meal

- buy 1-2 apples instead of 1-2 pounds of them because I know they`ll be gone in the same amount of time xD

- try to eat as slowly as possible, taking small rather than massive bites (same amount of taste fills my mouth, but takes longer)

- preportion and freeze my fruit and slowly nibble on it like candy, especially in hot weather it can tame an ice cream craving like magic (larger fruit like apples, bananas etc. need to be sliced for this)

- since the worst trigger by far is dried fruit for me, I only use it in recipes now, and have cut out snacking on it completely

Of course every once in a while I do give into temptation and treat myself to a larger amount, it keeps me sane and happy, and is much better than overeating on junk as far as I`m concerned.

yessss I just at a bunch of little tomatoes, strawberries, a banana, and a peach! and a bunch of baby carrots and lettuse!  also, I had blackberries earlier today!

I had the same issue with dried fruit.  I would eat those huge cans (24 oz) of raisins.  It was pretty bad.  But, now, I just simply don't buy them.  You can't eat what you don't have.  If I ever have an issue of overeating, I simply don't buy those foods.

Just out of curiosity, how many calories would a fruit binge be?  I'd give my left arm to be craving fruit rather than all the empty carbs I always want.

better fruit than junk food! it takes a lot more fruit to get alot of calories in comparison to chips and chocolate! i understand the dry fruit bingeing, i have sort of done that too with nuts yum, but i have never had a regular fruit binge. this fascinates me. like after i eat an apple, i never really want another. its like that was good, but not good enough for me to want to eat more haha. strawberries are low cal so its not too bad if you eat alot of them. my mom calls her fruit "free food". i told her that makes no sense. there are still calories in fruit. shes 40, 5'2-5'3, weighs consistently btwn 115-120. she eats pretty much what she wants (in moderation obviously but sometimes she goes overboard) and lightly exercises. so obviously this philosophy works for her haha. she looks better than most of my 20 year old friends. but i dont think she actually binges on fruit but still.

For example in half kilo of cherryes are about 320 calories, bananas are also high in calories...but I admit that craving fruits is much more better and healthier than craving fast food...

Thank you guys for your support:)!

i ate a half cantaloupe for dinner the other night. a whole cantaloupe comes in under 300 calories, straw berries are pretty low too i think. grapes are a bit higher.

if your logging everything and within your daily needs, and eating some grains, veggies, and protein in the same day, i dont really see a problem.

but i like fruit, and if it keeps me from eating pastries, its all good with me! 

i will be eating cantaloupe for dinner again one of these days. it was wonderful! hit the spot, low cal, filling, and delicious! cant complain about that. 

i hope you had something for dinner besides just cantaloupe!!!

I'm definitely in the same boat as you. I absolutely <3 fruit. I go to walmart every week to stock up my refrigerator on the stuff. out of curiousity, does anybody know what would happen if 75% of their diet consisted of fruit and vegetables?

Original Post by ktaylor17:

out of curiousity, does anybody know what would happen if 75% of their diet consisted of fruit and vegetables?

 I'm wondering the same thing as well, because since I started counting calories (never done it before), I realized I'm getting much more satisfacion from fruit than grilled chicken breast. I have a well balanced, home cooked meal once a day, but other than that, I mostly eat fruit. How bad is it?

I started fruit bingeing when I stopped eating chocolate, because I realized it was a trigger food for me and I just couldn't stop eating it until it was gone. And I was buying big, 300g (10 oz) chocolates. SO now I kinda have the same thing with fruit, but I'm OK with it, because with chocolate, I finish 1500 cals in about half an hour. It takes a lot of fruit to have 1500 cals. Def an improvement for me.

Original Post by sugarfreepompidou:

i hope you had something for dinner besides just cantaloupe!!!

its ok. i eat most of my calories by mid afternoon, and i am never under. not lately anyway! (~and i think thats the day it jumped up to 90 degrees~its not a usual behavior). 

RE: what would happen if you ate 75% fruit and veggies: 

i dont know! i think you might want to watch how much sugar your getting. and avoid eatting fruit for fuel instead of protein. and keep the whole grains in there. at least i'd have to. then it sounds like a pretty good diet! are nuts part of that 75 or do they go with grains or the proteins? 

does 75% mean by volume, weight, calories?

I binge on fruit all the time! I love fruit so much it's not even funny! My mom always makes fun of me and says that if I keep eating so many apples I am going to turn into one. lol

If I have an apple right after I am done, I want an other one, then I want an orange, then a banana, then an other apple, then grapes, then some kind of other fruit! lol I am not to worried about it tho, I like to think that it is better for me to do that then to binge on junk food. :)

I read that our body craves what we are low on nutritionally. If you suddenly have an urge for a big juicy hamburger, for instance, you probably need some protein. If you're walking along and you really badly want a big ole cupcake, then you probably need some carbs.

If you're sittin' around, and all of the sudden, you want to stuff your face with strawberries, I'd say your "fruit binge" is probably just your body saying, "HEEEY, WE NEED SOME SUGAR DOWN HEEEERE, MAN! SHOW ME SOME FRUCTOSE!"

I realized once that I was really neglecting my fruit sugars, I wasn't able to see because I had this fuzzy light in my eyes, and my fingers and my toes started going numb, and my words were coming out all garbled and messed up ...

My mother in law jumped into action, recognizing the symptoms, and fed me four glasses of fruit juice. Symptoms dissappeared.

The body needs fruit! So if you crave fruit, it's because your body, the intelligent little bugger it is, is doing the calculations and says that you need it.

xo ari

Original Post by ktaylor17:

I'm definitely in the same boat as you. I absolutely <3 fruit. I go to walmart every week to stock up my refrigerator on the stuff. out of curiousity, does anybody know what would happen if 75% of their diet consisted of fruit and vegetables?

 I've wondered that as well.  I hate fruit in all forms and refuse to eat it (i would kill to have a "problem" of binging on fruit) and have a hard time making myself eat vegetables.  I look at the calories on vegetables and wonder how anyone could possibly eat enough of them to comprise a large portion of their energy for a day.  On a good day i might be able to make myself eat 300 calories worth of vegetables out of an approximately 3000 calorie maintenance level.  I'd have to clean out the entire supermarket's shelves of salad bags to make it to 75% of my intake for a week being vegetables.