Ripe fresh fruits must be present in a balanced diet of any person. It is scientifically proven that eating fruit raises the mood, helps cleanse the body of toxins and even slows down the aging process. How to eat fruits to get the most out of your health and mood?
Fruit benefits
Fruits (especially fresh seasonal ones) are for the body one of the main sources of fiber, which is responsible for metabolism and the state of the immune system. They are saturated with vitamins and minerals, in addition, they can almost completely satisfy the body's need for water.
Most acidic fruits, such as citrus fruits, reduce cholesterol and break down fats, preventing the appearance of excess weight. They are recommended for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases.
It is noticed that people who like to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables are always energetic, they are less likely to get colds, they have practically no cosmetic problems with skin and hair.
Daily Intake
Almost all fruits are healthy, but this does not mean that they should be abused. There is a certain norm of their daily intake - about 300 grams. Determining how to eat fruits during the day, it is better to include them in a light breakfast and dinner. For example, in the morning you can have a healthy porridge snack with the addition of slices of fresh fruit or drink a glass of freshly squeezed juice. Most juicy fruits contain sugar, which helps the digestive system "wake up" and get started.
In the evening, you can cook a light fruit salad or make a smoothie. If there is a goal to lose weight, once a week you can arrange fasting days and eat only fruits. However, before such experiments, it is worth consulting a doctor, because not all of them are equally useful.
In what form is it worth eating fruit?
Even after a little heat treatment, these tasty fruits lose most of their beneficial properties. Therefore, it should be clarified how to eat fruit properly. Of course, only in raw form. In such popular products as jam, jams or jams, vitamins and minerals are practically not stored, and the sugar added to them is simply unhealthy.
If you want to prepare fruits for the winter, it is better to freeze seasonal products. Of course, frozen ones are not as useful as fresh ones, but much better than canned ones. They can also be dried, dried fruits are also useful.
Before or after a meal
There is still no clear definition of how to eat fruit. In principle, a definite answer does not exist, it all depends on the state of human health and the fruits themselves.
It is best to feast on them 40 minutes before a full dinner. After all, they are absorbed very quickly, literally in twenty minutes. The secret to this is that fruits are not digested in the stomach, but in the intestines. Therefore, if you eat them immediately after a hearty meal, the process of fermentation will begin in the stomach, causing discomfort. It turns out, despite the popularity of sweet fruit desserts, you should not get involved in them. Especially knowledge of how to eat fruit after eating is useful to people with problem digestion.
Nutritionists recommend eating fruits separately on an empty stomach and it is advisable not to mix different types. Ideally, a maximum of two species at a time.
For different fruits, the digestion time is different. Juicy fruits - peaches, kiwi, grapes - are assimilated in 20 minutes. But fleshy fruits (bananas, dates, figs) are digested in about an hour.
However, these are only general rules, regarding each type of fruit there are recommendations that tell you how to eat fruit before eating.
Fruit features
To get from the fruit not only pleasure, but also the maximum benefit, it is worth remembering the simple rules regarding their features. Find out at what time it is right to eat fruits of a certain type.
Favorite apples should not be eaten before meals. They contain a lot of acid, enhancing the secretion of gastric juice. This can lead to irritation of the mucosa and cause heartburn. Apples are better to eat 30 minutes after a meal, or maybe later. Although this does not apply to baked apples.
Pears should also be treated with caution. They are quite difficult for the stomach, although they help arouse appetite. People with digestive problems should not get carried away with pears, and even eat more than two fruits a day.
Finding out how to eat fruit, you need to know that bananas and melon are very high in calories. They should not be eaten before bedtime, and you do not need to combine them with other fruits either. Optimal use of banana for a light snack.
Few people know that grapes should not be washed with water, this can cause digestive upset. Due to its high fructose content, it should not be eaten by people with diabetes.
Do not stand in the afternoon there is a watermelon - its strong diuretic properties will not allow you to sleep soundly. Surprisingly, it is better to enjoy watermelon in the morning on an empty stomach, then the polysaccharides contained in it will have a beneficial effect on performance.
In the mornings, it is good to eat citrus fruits, they have a unique ability to remove toxins and give energy. Citrus juice is best diluted with water by about 20-30%, so as not to irritate the gastric mucosa. And for a good sleep, it’s useful to drink herbal tea with a few slices of lemon in the evening.
Few people know that the content of vitamin C in kiwi is many times higher than in citrus fruits. And this is the only fruit that can be combined with fish or cheeses. If you need to get rid of the feeling of heaviness and discomfort after eating, you can eat the kiwi fruit.
Sour or sweet
Finding out how to eat fruit, it is worthwhile to figure out whether it is possible to combine different types of fruits.
The easiest way to combine sweet fruits - bananas, apples, dates, figs. For example, you can make a fruit salad with natural yogurt dressing for breakfast. And they are also allowed to add to cereals, cottage cheese, make juices and fruit purees from them.
Sour fruits (citrus fruits, mangoes, kiwi, sour varieties of apples) are also well compatible with each other. And you can eat them with sour-milk products and mild cheeses. You can make a light salad of boiled chicken and kiwi, or combine mangoes with walnuts.
Sweet and sour fruits (plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines, pears) should not be combined with dairy products. Although they are ideally compatible with each other.
Nutrition experts do not recommend mixing different types of fruits. So, sweets should not be combined in one dish with sour or sweet and sour.
Choose healthy fruits
Often on the shelves you can see beautiful shiny fruits, almost the same size and without external defects. This is especially true of exotic fruits, which are treated with special substances to extend their shelf life. The benefits of such products will not be at all.
In the spring-summer season, it is better to choose local fruits, preferably from familiar gardeners or trusted sellers in the market. For example, strawberries should always be dry and odorless. The most delicious peaches are usually irregular in shape and have pink or white flesh. Berries of ripe grapes are a little transparent, with a slight yellowish tinge.
It is better to choose large bananas, they are much tastier. The peel of a high-quality banana should be uniform yellow or yellow-gray. Sometimes black dots are visible on ripe fruits - this is a sign that the banana has ripened and will be very sweet.
The best time to enjoy oranges and tangerines is the middle of winter. The peel of citrus fruits should have a uniform bright color, then their taste will be as saturated as possible.
A bit about etiquette
Despite the fact that eating fruit after meals is not very useful, it is impossible to refuse a dessert from them at an official event. Sometimes serving a fruit table may seem confusing, but there’s nothing complicated here. Let's try to figure out how to eat fruit according to etiquette.
Cream berries and fruit salads are usually served in individual bowls, in which case the fruit is eaten with a dessert or teaspoon.
If a fruit bowl is passed from guest to guest, you need to know that the product you like should be put on your dessert plate and eat with a knife and fork.
From a whole bunch of grapes it is not necessary to pinch off individual berries, you need to break off the brush and put it on your plate. It is not customary to peel a whole banana, the skin is carefully cut with a fruit knife along the entire length and removed on a plate. Cut the flesh of a banana in small pieces and eat with a fork.
Peel tangerines with a fruit knife and peel them with hands. For a whole orange, you need to carefully cut off the top, make several vertical cuts and remove the peel. Cut into slices and cut small pieces from them.
Fragrant grapefruit can be cut into 2 halves and eat tart flesh with a dessert spoon. It is permissible to sprinkle sugar on top of it.
Peaches, plums or apricots need to be placed on a plate, with a knife to separate their bones and cut off the flesh in small pieces.