Low carb, slow carb, and paleo diets are all the rage this year.  Not only do these diets emphasize the elimination of processed foods, they also call for minimizing fruit intake. Since fruits are generally high in carbs, the low carb crowd views fruit as a type of food that will derail their nutrition plan.

The argument against fruit goes like this: fruit contains sugar.  It is not as harmful to the body as processed sugar because it also contains fiber, but it is sugar nonetheless.  And the more sugar in the diet, the higher the carb macronutrient ratio will be.  Since the objective is to have protein and fat dominate your daily macronutrient ratio, eating fruit will derail your diet plan.

If eliminating fruit completely from your diet isn’t your style, try adding low sugar fruits to your protein shakes.

Check out these low sugar fruits:

• Berries

Berries like raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries are rich in antioxidants, and contain 5 – 11g of sugar per serving.

• Lemons and Limes

Sour citrus fruits are low in sugar, topping out at 7g of sugar per serving.

• Grapefruit

Grapefruit has 7g of sugar per serving.

• Peaches

Peaches may taste sweet, but they only have 9g of sugar per serving.

• Tomatoes

Yes, a tomato is a fruit! Tomatoes are more acidic than sweet, so they contain only 2g of sugar per serving.

Don’t be afraid of incorporating fruit into your diet. Fruit contains important phytochemicals that are good for your body, plus fruit makes an excellent alternative to other sweet foods when you are having a sugar craving. Eat up!