>> Dr. Terry Simpson: Have you heard the latest hot take from the Diet

Grift industrial complex?

Apparently fruit is bad for you. Yes,

fruit, the thing that grows on trees. The stuff

you put into your kid's lunchbox. The humble

banana is now public enemy number

one. According to these TikTok health prophets,

fruit is just sugar and dragon and smoothies

are metabolic warfare. Seriously,

that's where you are now? The same crowd

slamming blueberries is slurping butter in their coffee

and calling it breakfast.

I am, um, your Chief Medical Explanationist, Dr. Terry

Simpson, and this is Forku Fork

University, where we make sense of the madness, bust a few

myths, and teach you a little bit about food and

medicine.

Now, before we dive into the science, let me tell

you about someone who never missed a bowl of

fruit. My dad. He had a heart attack

when he was 55. A big one. The kind that changes

your whole life. And yet somehow he lived. Not just

lived. He survived and thrived until he

died at age 98. He lived independently on his own

until his final heart attack. And every morning, like

clockwork, he had fruit, grapefruit,

berries, cantaloupes. He never skipped it. So, um, when

someone with a ring light and no medical

degree tells me that fruit is killing people,

I call nonsense. I've seen what a real diet looks

like over the lifetime, and it includes fruit. But let's not talk

about anecdotes, which they love. I just had to bring up my

dad because, you know, I think about him this time of year.

Let's go into science. Social media

influencers have decided that fruit is the villain of the week.

According to the Keto Carnivore cabal, fruit will

spike your insulin, turn you into a type 2 diabetic

overnight, and leave you stranded in a metabolic

wasteland. Let me guess, right after they finish

shaming you for eating a banana. They offer you a coupon

code for their liver based multivitamin.

Convenient. This is classic

grift behavior. Invent a new food

villain, scare people and sell them on the

overpriced cure. And even Paul

Saladino. Yes, the Paul

Saladino. The original shirtless salesman of

dehydrated beef liver supplements is now

eating fruit. Guess scurvy isn't a good look for him. Um,

but hey, good for Paul. Now let's talk about

actual science. Fruit is one of the nine

foundational components of the Mediterranean diet.

The diet isn't some Internet trend. It has been studied

for over 70 years. It in massive

cohort studies and randomized trials like

predimed and epic. The Mediterranean diet recommends

250 grams of fruit per day. That's about 9

ounces or 3.5 servings. And guess what?

People who follow this diet have significantly

lower rates of heart disease, diabetes,

cancer, Alzheimer's, and they live

longer. Even people with diabetes,

Whole fruit consumption is associated with better

outcomes. Yes, fruit. The

thing TikTok carnivores told you to avoid like

the plague.

Now let's address the smoothie panic.

Yes, blending fruit can slightly increase the speed at

which sugar is absorbed. That's true.

But the idea that this turns your smoothie into soda

is pure pseudoscience. If you're using

whole fruit or frozen fruit, the

fiber is still present. Your smoothie still

provides nutritious value. Add a scoop of

protein, maybe some oats or chia, and suddenly you have

a balanced meal, not a metabolic bomb.

Does it raise your blood sugar a little more than eating an apple whole?

Maybe. Is it the same thing as drinking a Coke?

Absolutely not. So if a smoothie is your

breakfast of choice, enjoy it. You're not

harming your body, you're feeding.

Probably comes as no surprise that every long live

population on earth eats fruit. Okinawans

eat bananas, papayas and sweet potatoes.

Sardinians snack on figs, citrus and

grapes. The Loma Linda Adventists eat

berries, apples, stone fruit and live some of the

longest healthiest lives in the United States. These

people are not avoiding carbs. They're not afraid of

fruit, they're thriving with it. So if

fruit is causing disease, it forgot to tell the

world's healthiest populations. Lets talk

about the people peddling fear. These are not

scientists. They are YouTubers and

TikTokers who shout confidently while standing

shirtless in their kitchen. They're selling collagen powder

made from cows who were fed pulp. If you believe fruit is

killing you but your diet includes butter, coffee and beef

jerky dipped in tallow, I have some bad news.

You're not a biohacker. You're just constipated

and confused. So here's the

Fruit is not your enemy. The only thing fruit is

guilty of is being delicious, packed with nutrients and

not having an affiliate code attached. So if your

diet says no to blueberries but yes to bacon wrap

butter bombs, maybe the problem isn't fruit.

Maybe it's who you're listening to. Speaking

of which, thanks for listening to Forku. If you

liked this episode, share it with someone who's afraid of apples.

And if you're sipping on a smoothie right now, raise it high.

Here's to fiber, flavor and the death of those

dumb diet myths. This

podcast was researched and produced by me, Dr.

Terry Simpson. And while I am a doctor, I am

not your doctor. If you're making changes to your

diet, please consult a Western trained physician and a

registered dietitian, not a chiropractor or some

Eastern trained shaman. The distribution was

handled by my friends at Simpler Media and the pod God

himself, Mr. Ivo

Terra. Have a good week, everybody.

Hey, Ivo, here's a question for you. If fruit is

so bad, why does everybody in Italy look

so good eating it?

If you think Italians look great eating fruit,

you should see me going to town on an overripe

peach. Mmm. Um, baby.