I recently started trying to adjust my budget to spend less money on this diet that can get very expensive. One of the things that I realized increases my grocery bills a lot is the fruit that I’m buying. I love fruit, but they are expensive and go bad so quickly.
Vegetables are supposed to take a lot more space in your paleo diet than fruit, but you should still make room for the best fruits possible. I did a little calculating here to figure out what fruit is the best to eat, based on the idea of trying to get less sugar and more fiber out of them. Then I’ll figure out which ones are worth buying based on the price.
Fruit with the Lowest Sugar
I made a list of some of the most popular fruit and did some research to find out how much sugar is in each fruit. Since you can’t exactly compare an apple to blueberry, I based this all off of 100 grams of each fruit.
| (Per 100 grams) | Sugar (g) | Fiber (g) |
| olives | 0 | 3.2 |
| avocados | 0.7 | 7 |
| limes | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| cranberries | 4 | 4.6 |
| raspberries | 4.4 | 6 |
| blackberries | 4.9 | 5 |
| strawberries | 4.9 | 2 |
| watermelon | 6 | 0.4 |
| grapefruit | 7 | 1.6 |
| cantaloupe | 8 | 0.9 |
| cherries | 8 | 1.6 |
| honeydew | 8 | 0.8 |
| nectarines | 8 | 1.5 |
| papaya | 8 | 1.7 |
| peaches | 8 | 1.5 |
| apricots | 9 | 2 |
| kiwi | 9 | 3 |
| orange | 9 | 2.4 |
| apples | 10 | 2.4 |
| blueberries | 10 | 2.4 |
| pears | 10 | 3.1 |
| pineapple | 10 | 1.4 |
| plums | 10 | 1 |
| passion fruit | 11 | 10 |
| tangerine | 11 | 1.8 |
| bananas | 12 | 2.6 |
| mango | 14 | 1.6 |
| pomegranates | 14 | 4 |
| figs | 16 | 2.9 |
| grapes | 16 | 0.9 |
| prunes | 38 | 7 |
| raisins | 59 | 3.7 |
| dates | 63 | 8 |
Based on this list, olives are the lowest sugar fruits with zero grams per 100-gram servings. They are however LOADED with salt and not as many nutrients as the next 10 fruit on the list.
Fruit with the Most Fiber
I have realized that I’m missing out on a lot of fiber in my diet now that I’m not eating things like oatmeal or whole-grain bread. There is plenty of fiber in vegetables, but I want my fruits that I’m snacking on to keep me filled up for a while, so I’m looking for high fiber fruit.
| (Per 100 grams) | Sugar (g) | Fiber (g) |
| passion fruit | 11 | 10 |
| dates | 63 | 8 |
| avocados | 0.7 | 7 |
| prunes | 38 | 7 |
| raspberries | 4.4 | 6 |
| blackberries | 4.9 | 5 |
| cranberries | 4 | 4.6 |
| pomegranates | 14 | 4 |
| raisins | 59 | 3.7 |
| olives | 0 | 3.2 |
| pears | 10 | 3.1 |
| kiwi | 9 | 3 |
| figs | 16 | 2.9 |
| limes | 1.7 | 2.8 |
| bananas | 12 | 2.6 |
| apples | 10 | 2.4 |
| blueberries | 10 | 2.4 |
| orange | 9 | 2.4 |
| apricots | 9 | 2 |
| strawberries | 4.9 | 2 |
| tangerine | 11 | 1.8 |
| papaya | 8 | 1.7 |
| cherries | 8 | 1.6 |
| grapefruit | 7 | 1.6 |
| mango | 14 | 1.6 |
| nectarines | 8 | 1.5 |
| peaches | 8 | 1.5 |
| pineapple | 10 | 1.4 |
| plums | 10 | 1 |
| cantaloupe | 8 | 0.9 |
| grapes | 16 | 0.9 |
| honeydew | 8 | 0.8 |
| watermelon | 6 | 0.4 |
Passion fruit is the fruit with the most fiber that I found. I’m not sure where you can actually get these or how much they cost so I’ll stick to some of the other things at the top of the list for now.
Sugar to Fiber Ratio
Now I want to make sure I’m not loading up on sugar when I take in more fiber. If you look at the high fiber fruits chart from above, you’ll notice that dates have more fiber than almost every other fruit, but they have more sugar than a lot of candy. So I made this chart here to figure out the ration of sugar to fiber. The top of the list means there are more grams of fiber per gram of sugar…which is good.
| (Per 100 grams) | Sugar (g) | Fiber (g) | Sugar to Fiber Ratio |
| olives | 0 | 3.2 | 0.00 |
| avocados | 0.7 | 7 | 0.10 |
| limes | 1.7 | 2.8 | 0.61 |
| raspberries | 4.4 | 6 | 0.73 |
| cranberries | 4 | 4.6 | 0.87 |
| blackberries | 4.9 | 5 | 0.98 |
| passion fruit | 11 | 10 | 1.10 |
| strawberries | 4.9 | 2 | 2.45 |
| kiwi | 9 | 3 | 3.00 |
| pears | 10 | 3.1 | 3.23 |
| pomegranates | 14 | 4 | 3.50 |
| orange | 9 | 2.4 | 3.75 |
| apples | 10 | 2.4 | 4.17 |
| blueberries | 10 | 2.4 | 4.17 |
| grapefruit | 7 | 1.6 | 4.38 |
| apricots | 9 | 2 | 4.50 |
| bananas | 12 | 2.6 | 4.62 |
| papaya | 8 | 1.7 | 4.71 |
| cherries | 8 | 1.6 | 5.00 |
| nectarines | 8 | 1.5 | 5.33 |
| peaches | 8 | 1.5 | 5.33 |
| prunes | 38 | 7 | 5.43 |
| figs | 16 | 2.9 | 5.52 |
| tangerine | 11 | 1.8 | 6.11 |
| pineapple | 10 | 1.4 | 7.14 |
| dates | 63 | 8 | 7.88 |
| mango | 14 | 1.6 | 8.75 |
| cantaloupe | 8 | 0.9 | 8.89 |
| honeydew | 8 | 0.8 | 10.00 |
| plums | 10 | 1 | 10.00 |
| watermelon | 6 | 0.4 | 15.00 |
| raisins | 59 | 3.7 | 15.95 |
| grapes | 16 | 0.9 | 17.78 |
Again, olives top this list, but they are so salty and not very beneficial, so I’ll skip on this. Avocados are great to add to meals, but they are high in fat, so you don’t want to be snacking on these all day. I’m not exactly going to start tearing open limes for a snack.
Surprisingly, grapes are the worst fruit on the paleo diet since they have so little fiber compared to all of the sugar in them.
The Best Paleo Fruit
The winner is…RASPBERRIES!
I’m calling raspberries the best fruit for the paleo dieters…for snacking at least. There are definitely some arguments you can make, but I’ll be chomping on these and keeping avocados as part of my bacon, eggs and avocado breakfasts.
The only time to slow down on eating fruit is when you begin to develop gas or worse yet “Gas incontinence”! Once the “toots” come it is a sign of byproduct of bacterial fermentation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Then the only thing that will stop you from making the toilet bowl look like Snookie after a fresh spray tan is limiting your fruit intake. However, If you are not eating enough fruit and fiber you will find that a hard jagged rock is growing in your bowels and then you will show up in my ER and I will have to make one of my PA’s dig it out for you. I don’t dig any longer one time I was digging and the man had a coke bottle in his rectum(open end of bottle towards the exit door)…my finger got stuck in the bottle located inside his rectum during a digital rectal examination and they had to wheel both of us down to the OR for an emergent (Get my hand out of morbidly obese PT rectumdamnnearkilledem) episiotomy on a Male which is also unnatural… Moral of the story Paleo or not eat some fruit, but don’t over do it!
Ha well that is one way to put it. True story??