Best Time To Have Fruits

It is a well-known fact that fruits are rich in nutrients and provides numerous health benefits to our body. They provide vitamins and minerals necessary to lead a healthy life. We normally purchase fruits, cut and eat them at will. But there is a little known fact about eating fruits.

There is a right and wrong time to eat them. Most people prefer eating fruits immediately after a meal. They replace dessert with fruits and feel that they made a healthier choice. But although it is commendable to avoid fattening desserts, right after a meal is not the best time to have fruits.

Just because fruits are healthy for you, does not mean you eat them randomly. The best time to have fruits are listed below.

Empty Stomach
Eating fruits on an empty stomach is an excellent way to detoxify your system. This is also the best time to ensure optimum absorption of all the vitamins and minerals in the fruits by the body. Eating fruits for breakfast is a good way to kick start the digestive system in the morning. It also ensures the slow increase of blood sugar levels in the body.

Exercise
Fruits are the perfect snack if you exercise regularly. Snack on a fruit a little while before you start exercising. Fruits maintain the energy levels in your body, but does not give you the sensation of being full or bloated. The body can also use the sugar from the fruit more efficiently since the ability of insulin to transport sugar to the body cells is improved by exercise.

Seasonal Fruits
Traditional medicine recommend eating fruits according to the seasonal changes. For example, seasonal fruits like mango are perfect to have during the summer. Importing fruits from other countries that are not grown natively will cause loss of nutrients due to artificial preservation. It is always advisable to have seasonal fruits like guava which is grown locally. The best time to have fruits is according to their season.

Between Meals
The best time to eat fruits is one hour before a meal and two hours after a meal. This ensures that Vitamin C, pectin and fibre are completely absorbed by the body. The level of cholesterol in the body is also reduced by the consumption of fruits between meals.

After Meals
When fruits are consumed directly after a meal, the absorption of fructose by the body will be slow. The remaining fructose in the digestive system will produce organic acids that cause bloating and diarrhoea. The disintegrated fruits in the stomach take more time to be digested, causing them to decay.

Eating fruits without nutritional knowledge will do more harm than good. So make sure you have fruits at the best time to reap their numerous health benefits properly.