Fruit for a Balanced Vegan Diet | How to Eat More Fruit as a Vegan

Fruit is a staple food group for a nutritious vegan diet. Sometimes the health benefits of fruit are up for discussion. Messages about the sugar content of fruit and the need to limit fruit in the diet are sometimes debated. Learn how to include more fruit in your vegan diet.

This page reviews:

What is Fruit?
Health Benefits of Fruit
Nutrition Content of Fruit
Why It’s Important to Eat Fruit as a Vegan
List of Fruits to Include on a Vegan Diet
How to Include More Fruit into your Vegan Diet
Recipes that Include Fruit from Lettuce Veg Out

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Tip for how to eat more fruit as a vegan

What is Fruit?

When talking about fruit as a food group, it’s understood to mean a plant that is often sweet and usually fleshy, edible for humans. The botanical definition of fruit is a seed-bearing structure of a plant ¹. Whereas vegetables are any other part of a plant that don’t contain the seed (ex. stems, roots etc.) ¹.

We never use the botanical definition of fruit in the culinary or nutrition world because it includes any plant that humans eat, which has seeds in it. So technically, tomatoes, squash, pumpkin, bell peppers and many other vegetables are botanically fruits. Grains are also seeds, as are legumes. So while all these foods could be classified as fruits, we keep food separated based on nutritional value and use in culinary applications rather than the true botanical meaning of the word.

For the purpose of defining a food group, it’s often aimed at grouping together nutritionally similar foods. This is the use of the word fruit that this article (and everything else written on this site) uses.

Health Benefits of Fruits

There’s plenty quality evidence that suggests fruit is a nutritious and beneficial part of balanced diets.

Research suggests that eating a variety of fruit is beneficial for preventing disease. This is thought to be due to a range of antioxidants, polyphenols and phytochemicals present in different types of fruit.

Eating fruit has been linked to decreased risk of many diseases including heart disease ²^,³^,⁴^,⁵, stroke ⁶^,⁷, some types of cancer (prostate cancer ⁸, breast cancer ⁹^,¹⁰^,¹¹, lung cancer in smokers ¹² and colon cancer ¹³), type 2 diabetes ¹⁴^,¹⁵^,¹⁶, inflammation ¹⁷, erectile dysfunction ¹⁸, dementia ¹⁹^,²⁰, mental health disorders ²¹, metabolic syndrome ²² and all-cause mortality ².

All nutrition research has limitations, so it can’t be definitively said that eating fruit prevents these diseases. However, research shows a lower risk of these diseases with increasing fruit consumption. Research on fruit and disease is strongest for heart disease. When it comes to cancer, the research is quite mixed between showing fruit as beneficial vs fruit being neutral (not harmful, but not beneficial).

Therefore, research clearly suggests that fruit can be included as part of a balanced diet.

Nutrition Content of Fruit

Fruit provides many essential nutrients including:

Vitamin C
Fiber
Potassium
Folate
Vitamin A
Magnesium
Antioxidants

Each type of fruit provides varying levels of these nutrients. Different antioxidants are also present in each variety and color of fruit, so eating a range of colorful fruits likely provides the greatest nutritional benefit.

Many people do not get enough of these nutrients in their daily diet and would benefit from more whole fruits to boost intake.

The Health Benefits of Fruit vs The Sugar Content

Fruit contains varying amounts naturally occurring sugar. For this reason, many people demonize fruit as being unhealthy or separate fruit into high vs low sugar lists, with the intention of avoiding high sugar fruits. However, the health benefits of fruit outweigh the sugar content, even for the fruits that are higher in sugar.

Fruit is so much more than just sugar. The other nutrients present are important for human health and are often lacking in standard Western diets (which typically lack fruit and vegetable intake).

Cutting out fruit for fear of sugar means you may not meet intake requirements for the nutrients above. It also limits the variety of antioxidants found in fruit from your diet. Antioxidants are important for fighting diseases and are found in whole plant foods, especially colorful fruits and vegetables.

Don’t fear fruit.

Why It’s Important to Eat Fruit as a Vegan

Most vegans I know don’t struggle to consume enough fruit; however some do. Getting in a variety of fruit increases the variety of antioxidants and other beneficial plant compounds in the diet. This could be beneficial for health since it’s not really known which specific plant compounds are working to keep us healthy.

Much of the nutrients found in fruit are also found in vegetables. That’s why, traditionally, fruits and vegetables are grouped together into one food group. However, by separating them we can put focus on the importance of getting both fruit and vegetables into a balanced diet.

The other reason to include fruits in a balanced vegan diet is for taste! Fruits are sweet and palatable which makes them easy to enjoy. They are great to add to meals to enhance flavor and make for a great starting point for a tasty dessert.

List of Fruits to Include on a Vegan Diet

People often ask for a list of foods to include in their diet. The reality is that any food can be included in an overall balanced diet. When it comes to selecting fruit, the only rule is that you need to enjoy the taste!

Any and all fruits can fit into a healthy diet. Choose what you like and aim for variety if you can. Some favourites include:

Apples, pears and grapes
Citrus (oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, pomelo, mandarins etc.)
Stone fruits (peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, cherries)
Berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, currants etc.)
Tropical (bananas, mangoes, papayas, pineapple, coconut, kiwi, passion fruit, guava, lychees, rambutan, star fruit, pitaya (aka dragon fruit), jackfruit etc.)
Melons (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew etc.)

How to Include More Fruit into your Vegan Diet

Adding fruit into your vegan diet is hopefully a fun goal. If you already eat a couple of servings per day, you may not need to add any more. It’s important to not focus too much on any one food group and aim to get in a balance of vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices!

If you struggle to include fruit in your vegan diet, here are my top tips:

Buy frozen: Fresh fruit can be expensive (especially in the winter) and this can be a huge barrier for people. Buying frozen fruit provides about the same nutritional benefit so stock up when there is a sale! Great in oatmeal, smoothies or as a cold snack.
Get snacking: A piece of whole fruit can be a quick, easy and convenient snack! Add nuts and/ or seeds to make it more filling.
Try a new fruit each month: Since variety is fantastic, broaden your horizons and try a new fruit every month. There are tons of options at most grocery stores, farmers markets and Asian/ International grocery stores!
Have dessert: Fruit on its own can be a great dessert option but fruit is also a fantastic starting ingredient for making an even tastier dessert. Try baking apples, mashing up strawberries, making avocado pudding or a fruit crisp! Fruit salad is another choice.
Add fruit to salads and soups: Fruit can be a great way to add a bit of sweetness to a soup or salad recipe. While that may sound weird, the sweetness can actually round out the flavors of other ingredients and make for a tastier dish.

Recipes that Include Fruit from Lettuce Veg Out

Most of the recipes I post are main meals however I do have a few dessert recipes, many of which include fruit. There are also a couple savory options with fruit as well!

Some of my favorites are:

If you’re looking for dessert ideas, there are two other main desserts I love to eat (apart from what’s listed above).

Firstly, baked apples. For this I just slice up a ton of apples and cook them with a bit of cinnamon in a crock pot/ slow cooker. Cook until the apples are soft and serve warm. This freezes well and is fantastic to make when apples are in season (and inexpensive).

Second, mashed strawberries. This may sound weird but I love to eat a bowl of mashed strawberries with a splash of soy milk in it. Think along the lines of strawberry shortcake with whipped cream but without the biscuit (or include a biscuit!). They soy milk makes it creamy instead of whipped cream (or use whipped cream and/ or a vegan yogurt alternative if you like).

Summary: Fruit for a Healthy Vegan Diet

Fruit is a great addition to a healthy vegan diet. Despite being higher in sugar, the health benefits of fruit consumption are pretty clear. The nutrients fruit provide can be lacking in a diet that is low in plant-based foods, especially fruits and vegetables. There are many tasty ways to add fruit to a diet.

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References cited:

Please note that this is a curated list of references for the topics above and is not intended to be comprehensive.

Disclaimer: always speak with a doctor before changing your diet. Please read our full website disclaimer.

Author Profile: Nicole Stevens

Nicole is a vegan Registered Dietitian (RD) and founder of Lettuce Veg Out. She provides vegans with balanced meals and easy-to-understand nutrition science.

Having attained a Masters degree and passing a national registration exam, Nicole is a trusted source of nutrition information. She uses this knowledge to educate others about vegan diets and how to thrive as a vegan.