Nutrition: How to eat fruit

We all know that incorporating fruits into our diets is part of a healthy lifestyle. However, questions still abound on how best to consume them for maximum nutritional benefit.

As with everything we ingest, combining and timing do play a role in maintaining one’s health. Below are to tips to consider when consuming fruits.

It is not recommended to mix fruits with meals since fruits are digested faster than other food groups.

When eaten together, fruits wait in the digestive system for these other foods to be digested. This causes them to ferment and produce gas which leads to digestive issues such as heartburn and bloating.

It is therefore recommended to eat fruits alone before a meal, preferably on an empty stomach.

One should also not combine fruits with starchy vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkin and peas since they are both sources of carbohydrates. Doing this might lead to unwanted weight gain or poor ability to control blood sugar for diabetics.

It is however, okay to mix fruits with non-starchy vegetables since most of the nutrients in both foods either complement one another or facilitate each other’s absorption.

Best times to eat fruits

Morning: Preferably at break fast, when your body is just recovering from overnight ‘hunger’. At this time, the stomach is empty and the body therefore, has maximum ability to absorb most, if not all, the nutrients from fruits.

Before or after your workout: Fruits are a great source of energy. Before a workout, they will help build up energy reserve to be use during the workout, and after a workout, they will again help to replenish energy that was depleted during the workout.

The worst time to eat fruits is before bedtime. You do not need all the energy from fruits when you are going to sleep. When you eat fruits before bedtime, it could lead to unwanted weight gain.