How many apples is too many apples?

September 27, 2023 12:16 AM

We are covering this with her doctor and counsellor, but would welcome some additional perspectives. My kid and I, both neurodivergent, rely on apples as a major snack/food and when we counted up, we realised we each eat up to 12 apples a day. We also eat other veggies and fruit, but apples are eaten all day long. Should I gently be bringing this down? Our friends and family are taken aback by just how many we go through.
posted by dorothyisunderwood to Health & Fitness (45 answers total)

Stop talking to your friends and family about your diet habits. Problem solved
posted by shock muppet at 12:56 AM on September 27, 2023 [30 favorites]

Unless you seem to be having adverse reactions, I can't imagine you're at risk. It is always good to add variety. There are 7,500+ different kinds of apples, so enjoy yourself.
posted by parmanparman at 1:09 AM on September 27, 2023 [7 favorites]

Too many apples = when the apples are causing you health problems. This will be different for everyone.

Eg, if you are sensitive to FODMAPs, lots of apples = abdominal cramps and diarrhea.

If you are insulin resistant/diabetic, too many apples = when apples are raising your blood glucose levels too much.

Another example of too many apples would be if you are not getting enough protein or iron because you are eating apples to the exclusion of protein rich or iron rich foods.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 1:12 AM on September 27, 2023 [40 favorites]

I mean, if you’re eating 12 apples a day, it’s not going to be a secret whether you intentionally discuss it or not.

At any rate, 12 of anything the size of an apple in one day, every day, seems quite excessive, yes. Just as with any food, healthy or not (and apples are quite high in natural sugars, which is not bad in and of itself, but quantity can make it so), consuming large amounts is not great. Especially if it’s displacing consumption of other foods with types of nutrients you aren’t getting from apples (like protein).

No reason to stop eating them entirely or anything. But if it’s forming a large percentage of your total food intake, you should take a look at replacing some of them with other foods.
posted by tubedogg at 1:16 AM on September 27, 2023 [11 favorites]

The only potential problem I can think of is the amount of sugar.
posted by rhizome at 1:17 AM on September 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

IF you end up wanting to reduce the number of apples, you could consider that it might be less about the food and more about the munching and sensory input for the mouth that leads to eating apples throughout the day. My neurodivergent kids gnaw on their t-shirts or fingers or blankets, “when the mouth is bored”. We have quite a few pieces of “chewelry”, i.e. necklaces (with a safety closure that opens quickly when the thin necklace rope itself is pulled) with a silicone pendant, or silicone pen toppers. They come in a variety of shapes, hardness, and colors and have saved many t-shirts from getting holes bitten into them.
posted by meijusa at 1:18 AM on September 27, 2023 [7 favorites]

Yep, not a problem at all with whole apples: the fibre moderates the glucose response so it's fine.

I would definitely ignore anyone who's saying you need to change.
posted by ambrosen at 1:28 AM on September 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

I think the real question here is whether you have room for anything else. I wouldn’t! You do need to have a balanced diet. If you’re also eating a proportional amount of other foods then I guess the only problem would be excess consumption?
posted by HotToddy at 1:49 AM on September 27, 2023 [21 favorites]

If you're eating apples on and off all day long, it may be that you are having low-level hunger/food cravings all day long and not quite satisfying them. Or you may be eating when you're not hungry at all. Hard to say without knowing what the rest of your diet is like. Have you tried having something with your apple, like a few almonds or some cheese?

I used to do with carrots, celery and similar what you are currently doing with apples and it was kind of a nervous habit. I think ultimately it interfered with normal cycles of hunger and satiety and it got to the point where my stomach was used to feeling full of these low-calorie, high-figer things, and it would empty out in a normal way and that would feel like hunger pangs, leading to a cycle of more eating. I think it's healthier to feel actually satisfied and stop eating for a while.

Also, are you drinking enough water?
posted by BibiRose at 4:19 AM on September 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

I also eat a lot of apples (not 12 but 3-4 some days). As long as you are not eating the seeds, do eat something else for meals, and are able to go to have regular bowel movements, this does not have to change.

If you are concerned about nutrition you can always add in a multi vitamin.

If you want to try something else - what about the apple makes it good? Would carrots or celery or grapes or bacon or nuts [pistachios or pecans are good for me] do the same thing?
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 4:33 AM on September 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

Apples vary pretty widely in size. There are a few varieties around now that are bred (cultivated?) to be smaller and sold as “snacking” apples. Maybe seeking those out would be an easy way to reduce the overall amount consumed without having to change the eating pattern?
posted by staggernation at 4:56 AM on September 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

I eat almost this much apple during apple season (right now through sometime in November or December). I don't think it's ever been a problem. Just make sure you're also eating other stuff.
posted by pullayup at 5:04 AM on September 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

As someone who loved bananas (up to 4 or 5 a day) and then suddenly became intolerant of them with no real explanation or causes, just have a back up plan if your dietary habits needed to change. Bananas were my constant, reliable, go to item and that was a really hard adjustment when that was no longer possible
posted by raccoon409 at 5:09 AM on September 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

I know someone who would eat up to five apples per day and was at some point told by a doctor that that was too many, so it does seem possible for this to be too much. (I think the amount of sugar was the main concern.)
posted by demi-octopus at 5:26 AM on September 27, 2023

I used to drink 4 gallons of milk every week. Good old fashioned cow milk. This was normal for me, for many years.

I'd always mention it to my doctor along with my other personal habits, knowing that it wasn't normal for most people so that if there was a reason for concern we would know and could talk about it. Doctor was never concerned. I got the good blood.

That said, my doctor happens to work in a teaching hospital network, so I always get to see a freshly minted intern when I go. One young woman reacted completely horrified when I told her about my milk consumption, and I was like "ok well what's the problem" and she basically just stammered and said (in so many words) she thought it was gross. Not unhealthy, just gross. (She also admonished me, at age 30, for getting a new ear piercing despite her having multiple herself. Anyway.)

Point is, the only thing that matters here is your (& kid's) bloodwork, and an experienced medical professional's opinion of it. Everything else is just noise.

I bet you poop great, congrats.
posted by phunniemee at 5:31 AM on September 27, 2023 [10 favorites]

Point is, the only thing that matters here is your (& kid's) bloodwork, and an experienced medical professional's opinion of it. Everything else is just noise.

This bears repeating. People bring so much cultural baggage and unfounded opinions to conversations about food that the only sources you should be listening to are experts with enough education to support their claims. (And it needs to be real education, not “my spouse is a chiropractor” or “I took a two hour online course in nutrition.” You need someone with a license because nutrition is complex and highly individualized.)
posted by corey flood at 5:42 AM on September 27, 2023 [12 favorites]

My perspective would be that it's good to pay some attention to whether you both are eating enough protein and calcium and other important stuff that isn't in apples, and pay attention to whether your body feels happy (digestion, energy levels, lightheadedness) when you eat that many apples, and if all is good on both those points, then eat all the apples you want.
posted by Rhedyn at 5:51 AM on September 27, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don't know if it is alarming but it does seem surprising. I mean, I can't imagine having enough time in the day to eat 3 meals and then want to add 12 apples to it.

Apples seem like a pretty decent choice for a snack, but I feel like snacking all day long isn't a great practice.

What happens if you can't? What happens if you discover a health reason that you can't have so much sugar? Excess sugar (especially those containing fructose) is shown to have poor effects on gut biome, which seems to be pretty important to our health.

As for apples? There's a lot of pesticides, but I don't worry about those pesticides because I only have a apple a day.

I believe that most things we do are fine-- as long as it's in moderation. That being said, there's a whole lot worse things to be excessive with than apples!

If you were me and I was trying to be more healthy? I'd try to replace a couple of those apples with a glass of water. That being said, I think more about being healthy than I act on it!
posted by ReluctantViking at 5:54 AM on September 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

we realised we each eat up to 12 apples a day
Please, please do not rely on the well-meaning folks of MetaFilter to answer this question. The green is not a great place for some types of questions, in my opinion, and this is one of them. Nthing what phunniemee, corey flood, and others have said.
posted by Bella Donna at 5:56 AM on September 27, 2023 [10 favorites]

In addition to your doctor, please also talk to your dentist about this. It can be harmful to essentially be chewing on sugar much of the day. Your mouth and teeth need a break to keep the bacteria from settling on your teeth and gums. (I am not a dentist, but I am aware that we often take our teeth and oral health for granted.)
posted by hydra77 at 6:16 AM on September 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

If you're eating whole fresh apples including the skin, not applesauce or otherwise processed apples, then sugar isn't a big deal unless you have other health conditions. The fiber in apples is high enough that they (unlike, say, green grapes) don't normally count as a "sugary" or high-carb food.

However apples are famously high in PESTICIDE content, especially on the skin. The residues do not completely go away even after the standard amount of washing. It may not matter much if you're only eating an apple day but 12? I'd be concerned! Are you buying the totally organic/pesticide-free/crunchy granola earth mother kind of apples?

Another concern is the risk of malnutrition. It's hard to believe you're eating even two square meals a day plus 12 apples plus other veggies. Are you sure you're getting enough calcium and iron and protein and so on?

In general I will join in the Nthing of phunniemee and coreyflood's comments that as long as your bloodwork turns out fine, you're good! (Except make sure that bloodwork does check for pesticide related issues, idk if that is standard.)
posted by MiraK at 6:37 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

First, doctors and nurses often pronounce on nutrition without knowing much about it. If you want reliable dietary advice, you need to talk to a registered dietitian, not a doctor, nurse, or “nutritionist”(which is a legally meaningless term in the US - I don’t know the details in other countries). My concern would not be the apples, but what other foods you aren’t eating because of them. You could also download the cronometer app and enter your diet to see if there are any nutrients you’re missing.

Second, the traditional diet in Okinawa, one of the Blue Zones, which has the longest lived women in the world, is 70% sweet potatoes. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re fine with the apples- just saying that a diet doesn’t need a huge amount of variation to be healthful.
posted by FencingGal at 6:37 AM on September 27, 2023 [8 favorites]

(Friendly reminder that organic produce doesn't mean it's pesticide free, only that (in the US) the pesticides they use meet the USDA's standards for organic pesticides. Naturally-derived poison is still poison.)
posted by phunniemee at 7:02 AM on September 27, 2023 [6 favorites]

The things I would think about just based on the sheer volume here:
Pesticides (avoid or wash very well)
Arsenic (don't eat the seeds!)
Acid and to a lesser extent sugar (brush after each apple)

Acid remaining on your teeth throughout the day, every day, won't end well.
posted by Text TK at 7:31 AM on September 27, 2023

If my neurodivergent kid snacked on apples that much I would be thrilled! Remember, sometimes the perfect is the enemy of the good. #teamapple

(Also, just as a side note to other posters, “chewelry” often doesn’t meet the same need for mouth stimulus as other items do. Giant chunks of silicone don’t have the same
mouth-feel as pencils or fabric.)
posted by stowaway at 7:33 AM on September 27, 2023

Text TK: (brush after each apple)

It's not recommended to brush immediately after eating sugary or acidic foods. These foods soften the enamel and brushing immediately would cause too much abrasion of the teeth.
posted by Too-Ticky at 7:52 AM on September 27, 2023 [9 favorites]

Too-Ticky: You're right. Good point.

I'd still advise the poster that it's not great for teeth health to consume acidic foods or drinks so regularly throughout the day.
posted by Text TK at 8:01 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I’d make sure you are washing those apples thoroughly according to the recommended washing procedure - fill a sink with water, dump in the apples, swirl them around and/or scrub if you feel like it, then scoop out the apples and let them dry on a colander or a towel before draining the water. The advantage of this method is that it’s easy to wash all your apples immediately when you bring them home and tryouts also avoid binging in fruit flies this way.
posted by bq at 8:04 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

Ya when my favorite apples are in season I go full tilt myself so I get it.

Would just suggest you get organic apples since your exposure is increased and they’re usually in the dirty dozen list.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:05 AM on September 27, 2023 [1 favorite]

I wouldn't worry about it, but just a thought: when I eat raw apples (or carrots), I weirdly feel hungrier than if I hadn't eaten anything. It could be that one reason you keep eating is because they are making you feel hungrier. Adding fat and protein to the snack, perhaps with cheese or peanut butter, might lead to you having fewer urges to snack.
posted by metasarah at 8:11 AM on September 27, 2023 [9 favorites]

Nthing the suggestion to talk to someone in the medical profession. Notwithstanding, I have some information that might be useful.

12 apples comes out to:
- Between 180 and 276 grams of sugar (equivalent to the sugar in 4.6 to 7 cans of Coke)
- The AMA recommends no more than 36 grams of sugar per day for "average" men
- The AMA recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar per day for "average" women
- Between 720 and 1,104 calories
- That's between 28.8% and 44.7% of the recommended daily calories for "average" men
- That's between 36% and 55.2% of the recommended daily calories for "average" men

That's also between 43.2 and 60 grams of dietary fiber, which far exceeds the 30 to 38 grams recommended for "average" men and 21 to 25 grams for "average" women. Not sure if that's a bad thing, per se. Just providing the data. Depending on what else you're eating, and when, this much fiber could interfere with absorption of some nutrients. And to whatever extent you may not be eating other things as a result of eating so many apples, there may be some nutritional deficiencies.
posted by slkinsey at 10:22 AM on September 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

The recommendations for fiber are a minimum. People who live in hunter/gatherer societies get much more than that. The Hadza eat approximately 100 grams per day. Unless it is causing you digestive upset, there is no need to worry that you're getting too much fiber.
posted by FencingGal at 10:30 AM on September 27, 2023 [7 favorites]

Back in the day it was suggested that you should eat an apple every day because they helped clean the teeth. They are supposedly hard and crisp enough to scrape the surfaces and juicy enough to rinse out particles between the teeth that have been loosened. Mind you this was a practice from before most people owned a toothbrush, and a toothbrush is still going to be much better for your teeth.

I'd be inclined to switch it up a bunch and see if you can easily manage without the apples to try to make sure neither of you are stuck with an emotional/dietary dependency on apples. Neurodivergent people sometimes do something excessively to deal with oral cravings, as it helps them control their anxiety, but then after some years discover there was a terrible downside, such as drinking lots of water leaching calcium from the bones, or discovering that what they were chewing has damaged their teeth, or just discovering that without their oral comfort of choice they are completely un-functional.

I am not a dietician and I know nothing about the real positive or negative consequences of eating twelve apples a day, but I am immersed in a world of neurodivergence, which makes my first concern be that your pattern is inflexible. You don't want to end up unable to take a trip to Europe because it would interrupt your supply of apples, or having to resign from a job because your manager tells you you can't eat apples all day while working, or taking up smoking to replace the apples when they stop working as well as they used to.

I do think that periodically binging on apples or on other seasonal food is good for us, because that's how our food supply used to work for several million years, up until we got modern agriculture, shipping and refrigeration.
posted by Jane the Brown at 10:42 AM on September 27, 2023

> - The AMA recommends no more than 36 grams of sugar per day for "average" men
> - The AMA recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar per day for "average" women

These are recommendations specifically for ADDED sugars, not naturally occurring sugars present in most unprocessed foods (except, I suppose, foods which are literally pure sugar like raisins or dates or whatever). The AMA recommendations don't apply to someone eating a lot of apples nor to folks like phunniemee drinking all that milk - milk also contains plenty of natural sugars!
posted by MiraK at 12:21 PM on September 27, 2023 [10 favorites]

While I wouldn't recommend eating apple seeds just as a personal preference, you'd have to eat something like 200 apples' worth of seeds in one sitting to get a lethal dose of arsenic for the average adult. That number scales with body mass, so a kid is going to be a smaller number, but it's still way more than 12.
posted by tubedogg at 12:57 PM on September 27, 2023

So your household is going through 24 apples a day? 168 apples a week?
If it's not too far off topic, I'm curious about how you get your apples and your apple budget. In your question, you characterize it as having been something of a surprise that you're eating apples on like, an industrial scale. If you're buying them a few at a time in the produce section, you're overpaying. You should look into ordering them by the crate from a distributor or something, you're eating somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 bushels a month? I love this.
posted by Krawczak at 1:13 PM on September 27, 2023 [12 favorites]

Response by poster: This has been a delight to read. Yes, it’s definitely the crunch! We peel them and slice them more than just eat them whole. A local grocery does house brand kilo bags which are whatever apple is cheap in season so I order about 8-12kg a week and restock as needed. I assumed other people had a crisper drawer full of fruits but apparently not! I even made a special apple padded bag to carry three apples to work.

I’m fine without them, and my daughter is actively working on expanding her food choices so I plan to just continue.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 3:29 PM on September 27, 2023 [10 favorites]

I order about 8-12kg a week and restock as needed. I assumed other people had a crisper drawer full of fruits but apparently not!

I mean, just for reference, I do have a crisper drawer full of fruits and vegetables but

1. my crisper would fit, like, maximum 15-20 apples, if it was ALL apples, and if it was all apples where would all my other food go?
2. If I had a crisper drawer full of 15-20 apples that stock would last me...I dunno, 6 weeks? 2 months? Honestly any time I have more than 3 apples in my house at a time, I end up having to bake a pie to use them before they spoil.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 3:52 PM on September 27, 2023

To counter the naysayers/skeptics, I eat 3 apples a day, per work day, have done this for years and no doctor has ever blinked at that. You maybe be at the upper end of apple consumption, but I grew up in a family where we bought a bushel of apples each month in fall and slowly worked our way through them.

If there are no explicit medical concerns, chomp on.
posted by larthegreat at 6:19 PM on September 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

If you're peeling your apples, you're losing most of the fiber & vitamin/mineral content and eating mainly sugar, alas. Consider keeping the peel on??

I too stock two crisper drawers and the door of my fridge with fresh fruit and veg, by the way, and I couldn't fit more than about 40 apples max if I stocked nothing but apples! You obviously have a very large refrigerator :) more power to you.
posted by MiraK at 6:48 PM on September 27, 2023 [2 favorites]

you'd have to eat something like 200 apples' worth of seeds in one sitting to get a lethal dose of arsenic for the average adult

Why does everyone keep talking like apple seeds have arsenic? Apple seeds have cyanide!

(you probably are not eating dangerous quantities of apple seeds - of apples, I don’t think I’m qualified to say)
posted by atoxyl at 9:27 PM on September 27, 2023 [4 favorites]

Registered dietitian here, and while IANYRD, upon scanning the above responses I nth chariotpulledbycassowaries and others -- it's a snack food that works well for you, and hey, kudos to you for finding a way to get dietary fiber in that you like! Without knowing more details of your dietary pattern as a whole, as long as your lab work is coming back okay and it continues to fit your needs... I would keep on doing what you do.

If you're looking for alternatives or tweaks, there are dietitians out there who can help, and just like with a good therapist or doctor, you can search out one who works primarily with neurodivergent folks. Food is complicated, bodies are complicated, and nutrition is as individualized as we are, that's why we work our butts off to get certified and stay recertified & up to date with the latest science. A good RD will have some great ideas on how to help your daughter with her goals of expanding the foods she'll eat. If that's a path you're interested in exploring, you can search for your local or state chapter of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics or search for local registered dietitians.

....now to go find some apples to nosh on...
posted by OhHaieThere at 10:09 PM on September 27, 2023 [5 favorites]

To counter the naysayers/skeptics, I eat 3 apples a day, per work day, have done this for years and no doctor has ever blinked at that.

I mean, you're going to need at least four doctors, the first three aren't going anywhere near you.
posted by aws17576 at 10:53 PM on September 27, 2023 [12 favorites]

Apple seeds have cyanide!

Yeah, you are absolutely correct. I knew it was cyanide and I did actually search to make sure the numbers that I had read in the past were right. But there was something in some of the results about arsenic levels in apple juice, and I guess that was in my brain while typing.
posted by tubedogg at 6:14 AM on September 28, 2023

Arsenic is in soil of old apple orchards because it's a no-longer-legal pesticide or fungicide.
https://www.soils.org/news/science-news/tracking-arsenic-contamination-former-orchards/
posted by esoteric things at 12:06 AM on September 29, 2023