Is it good to eat fruit after a meal? Is it good to eat fruit after a meal?

Is it good to eat fruit after a meal?

People usually think that it is best to eat fruit after a meal, and treat fruit as a dessert after a meal. The organic acids in the fruit will combine with minerals in other foods, affecting the body's digestion and absorption; the pectin in the fruit has the function of absorbing water and increasing the moisture of food in the gastrointestinal tract, so eating fruit after a meal will also increase the burden on the stomach. However, a professor in Taiwan has put forward a new view, emphasizing that it is most beneficial to eat fruit one hour before a meal. The reason is: Fruit is a raw food. If you eat raw food before eating cooked food, the body will not produce reactions such as increased white blood cells, which is beneficial to protect the human immune system, thereby enhancing the ability to prevent diseases and fight cancer. Eating fruit after a meal does not have this protective effect. In addition, if you eat fruit after a full meal, the fructose contained in it cannot enter the intestines in time, so it ferments in the stomach, produces organic acids, and causes abdominal distension and diarrhea. Therefore, you need to wait one hour after a meal before eating fruit.

It is best to eat fruit before meals

Experts point out that the right time to eat fruit is 1 hour before meals and about 2 hours after meals (except persimmons). First, many ingredients in fruits are water-soluble, and eating them before meals is conducive to the absorption of essential nutrients. Second, fruits are low-calorie foods, and their average calories are only 1/14 of the same weight of pasta, and about 1/10 of the same weight of pork and other meats. Eating low-calorie foods first makes it easier to control the total calorie intake of a meal. Third, many fruits are easily oxidized and corrupted. Eating fruits first can shorten their residence time in the stomach, reduce their oxidation and corruption, and reduce possible adverse effects on the body.

In addition, we should also be careful not to eat fruit before going to bed at night, otherwise the full stomach and intestines will affect your sleep. Don't think that eating fruit is a trivial matter. Only by eliminating these misunderstandings can we develop a living habit that is truly beneficial to health.

Diabetic patients should eat between meals or before bedtime.

1. Prerequisites

: Under the premise of ideal diabetes control, that is, fasting blood sugar <8.0mmol/L, 2-hour blood sugar <10.0mmol/L, and no large fluctuations in blood sugar, you can try eating fruits; when blood sugar control is not ideal, it is recommended not to eat fruits temporarily, but you can eat vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers as fruits.

2. The best time to eat fruit:

Fruit is usually eaten as a snack, that is, between two meals or before going to bed. The best time to eat fruit is between 3 and 4 pm, and you should do some exercise after eating. It is worth noting that snacks do not require additional insulin injections or oral hypoglycemic drugs.

3. The calories of fruit should be calculated

In the total daily calorie intake, each serving of the following fruits is equivalent to the calories provided by half a tael of grain: 1 jin of watermelon, 6 taels of strawberries, 4 taels of pears, peaches, apples, tangerines, oranges, and kiwis. Do not eat more than 1 serving of fruit a day, and reduce half a tael of staple food.

4. Type: No

The sugar content of the same type of fruits is not the same. Watermelon, apple, pear, orange, and kiwi have lower sugar content; banana, red dates, lychee, and red fruits have higher sugar content; cherry tomatoes (some people call them small tomatoes) are similar in shape to tomatoes, but have a higher sugar content. Patients should try to choose fruits with lower sugar content and eat less fruits with higher sugar content.

5. Pay attention to blood sugar monitoring:

Due to differences in human bodies, everyone may have their own suitable or unsuitable fruits, and the indicator for measurement is blood sugar. If you can measure your blood sugar before and 2 hours after eating fruit, it will be helpful to understand whether you are suitable for eating a certain fruit and whether you are eating too much.

Health Tips

Being hungry and eager to fill your stomach is very harmful to your health. The following are some foods that should not be eaten on an empty stomach to avoid unnecessary harm to your health.

Persimmon, tomato

Contains more pectin and tannic acid, which react chemically with gastric acid to form difficult-to-dissolve gel blocks, which are easy to form gastric stones. If you eat persimmons on an empty stomach, a large amount of persimmon tannin and red tannin astringent will condense into hard lumps with gastric acid, forming "persimmon stones". It is easy to cause nausea, vomiting, gastric ulcers, and even gastric perforation. It is not easy to form "persimmon stones" if you eat persimmons after meals.

banana

Bananas contain a lot of magnesium, which is a sensitive element that affects heart function and has an inhibitory effect on cardiovascular system. Eating bananas on an empty stomach will cause a sudden increase in magnesium in the human body and destroy the magnesium-calcium balance in the human blood, which will have an inhibitory effect on cardiovascular system and is not good for health.

Hawthorn, orange

It contains a large amount of organic acid, fruit acid, hawthorn acid, citric acid, etc. If consumed on an empty stomach, it will cause a sharp increase in stomach acid, causing adverse stimulation to the gastric mucosa, causing stomach bloating and heartburn. If consumed on an empty stomach, it will increase the feeling of hunger and aggravate the original stomach pain.

Milk, soy milk

These two foods contain a lot of protein. If you drink them on an empty stomach, the protein will be "forced" to be converted into heat energy and consumed, which will not have a nutritional and nourishing effect. The best way to drink it is to eat it with foods containing flour, or drink it two hours after a meal, or drink it before going to bed. It has a nourishing and health-care effect, promotes digestion, and has a laxative effect.

sugar

Sugar is a food that is very easy to digest and absorb. Eating too much sugar on an empty stomach will cause a sudden increase in blood sugar. The human body cannot secrete enough insulin in a short period of time to maintain normal blood sugar levels, which can easily lead to eye diseases. Sugar is also an acidic food. Eating sugar on an empty stomach will also disrupt the body's acid-base balance and the balance of various microorganisms, which is not good for health.

sweet potato

Sweet potatoes contain tannins and gelatin. If eaten on an empty stomach, they will stimulate the stomach wall to secrete more gastric acid, causing discomfort such as heartburn.

cold drink

Eating a large amount of frozen food on an empty stomach will stimulate gastrointestinal contracture, which will lead to various enzymatic chemical reactions being out of balance over time, inducing gastrointestinal diseases. It will also cause damage to the functions of internal organs. It will also cause menstrual disorders in women during menstruation.

liquor

Drinking on an empty stomach can easily irritate the gastric mucosa, causing gastritis, gastric ulcers, and other diseases. The human body will easily experience hypoglycemia, which will lead to dizziness, cold sweats, palpitations, and in severe cases, hypoglycemia coma or even death.

garlic

Garlic contains the pungent allicin. Eating garlic on an empty stomach will irritate the gastric mucosa and intestinal wall, cause stomach cramps, and affect gastrointestinal digestion function.

Tea

Drinking tea on an empty stomach will dilute the gastric juice, reduce digestive function, and also cause "tea drunkenness", which manifests as palpitations, dizziness, weakness in the limbs, gastrointestinal discomfort, hunger in the abdomen, etc.

Black Dates

Black dates contain a large amount of pectin and tannic acid. These ingredients combined with stomach acid will also form lumps in the stomach.

Vitamins

Although vitamins are not food, if you eat them on an empty stomach, they will be excreted from the feces before the body has time to absorb and utilize them. Fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A can only be absorbed by the gastrointestinal mucosa when dissolved in fat. They should be taken after meals so that they can be more completely absorbed by the body.

Pineapple

Pineapple is rich in strong enzymes, which can hurt the stomach if eaten on an empty stomach. Its nutrients are best eaten after a meal so that they can be better absorbed.