#100 Are Dates Good for Me?

Good or bad?

Dates are the fruit of the date palm.

They have a fabulous nutritional profile. They contain:

Potassium (58% more than bananas)

Iron

Manganese

Antioxidants

Selenium

Calcium

Magnesium

Copper

Niacin

Folate

Vitamin B6

Insoluble fibre

They are often used as a healthier alternative to sugar. In recipes and also commercial bars and frooze balls. Many snacks that have no added sugar are sweetened with date paste or puree.

But be careful we very rarely see them fresh they are nearly always dried which means higher calories and sugars by volume.

100g of dates 3-5 dates depending on size is nearly 300 calories. With 75g carbohydrate 7g fibre and 66g of sugar. If you are one of my students you already know that equates to 16.5 teaspoons of sugar!!

I once had a client whose weight loss stalled- in fact, she started to gain weight having lost heaps and done so well. I couldn't figure out what was going on, she was doing everything right- until I found out about the dates sitting on her bench. She was popping one into her mouth every time she walked by because they are healthy right? Basically, she was adding an extra meals worth of calories and 20+ teaspoons of sugar to her day .... every day!

Some people also react to the sulphites (220) used as a preservative in most dried fruits especially if you have asthma or get wheezy it is worth being aware of this.

So what is the bottom line?

Avoid commercial snacks and baking that uses lots of date puree or paste.

If you want to include dates in your diet stick to 1-2 dates as a serve and have with a protein like a small handful of nuts to help the sugars feed out into your bloodstream slowly