1. Eating Fruits – the correct way!

Eating fruits is good for health and you may be eating all the right kind of fruits but are you eating them the right way? If you are not eating them correctly, you may not be getting the best out of them! And getting it right is so simple… Based on my personal experiences and experimentations there are a few things that I would like to share about eating fruits the right way, which I have also been sharing with my clients and patients. In my opinion, this is the “best way” to get “The Best” out of your fruit diet.

Remember, just eating fruits is no good, if you are not eating them the correct way!

“Eat only when hungry” – this applies to fruits as well! The nutrients (carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals) which are available in plentiful in fruits are

easy to digest and absorb when fruits are eaten empty stomach. No other food or drink, including water should be taken after eating fruits, until the fruit is

digested and moves to the small intestine. No other food or drink should be combined with fruits. Do not eat fruits after a normal cooked meal consisting of grains, pulses, milk products,

vegetables, etc. Such a meal would require about 3 hours digesting in the stomach. If fruits are eaten along with or immediately after such meals, it would stay in the stomach even after its own digestion, and only after digestion of the remaining food stuff it would move to the small intestine. Any food stuff which stays in the stomach for longer than necessary would loose its nutritional value. In other words, if digestion of food takes longer than normal duration, the food may loose its nutritional value.

The only time fruits may be eaten with the meals is when you want to strengthen your Agni/digestive fire. This can be achieved by adding some citrus fruits or lemon to the food. This is why citrus fruits and lemon are common additions to the green salads.

Remember, food is first digested in the stomach. Almost no nutrients are absorbed in the stomach under normal circumstances. All nutrients – fat, carbohydrate, protein, vitamins and minerals, are absorbed in the intestines. Absorption of nutrients depends on proper digestion.

I have found that it takes about 30 minutes to digest a small to medium sized citrus fruit such as oranges, mosambi, pineapple, kiwifruit, grapefruit, pomegranates/dadam, jamphal, pear, a handful of grapes and strawberry, etc. Try it out yourself!

A similar portion of sweet tasting fruits such as sitafal, mangoes, fully ripped banana, papaya, apricots, sweet berries, sweet cherries, fresh dates, fresh figs, peach, water-melon, rock melon, apple (sweet), sweet plums, chhiku, etc. takes a few minutes more to digest.

Fruits such as avocado, and green/raw vegetable salad would take about an hour. Raw nuts would take about one-and-a half hour. If you roast or fry the nuts, it would take about

2 to 3 hours to digest! All dried fruits such as dates, figs, prunes or raisins should be soaked before consuming and

should be taken only in moderation. Actually, you don’t need dry fruits these days. Why eat dry fruits when you have loads of fresh fruits available at much cheaper price! (Also note that almond, cashew, peanuts, etc. are not dry fruits, these are NUTS, to be consumed with caution as they carry a lot of calories in the form of proteins and fats!)

It is a good practice to alternate between cooked meal and fruits. The traditional cooked meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner) can be consumed only three times in a day at the most, so whenever feel hungry in between, eat only fruits.

And there is more to come about “fruits for nature cure” and “fruits recommended according to your ayurvedic prakruti” ..….

Hope, this was useful. Wish you well!

Happy Fruit-Eating!LoveNimesh

Note:

This compilation is produced by Nimesh Shah. If required, you may send an email request to me at – nimeshkshah@gmail.com for a copy of this article.

Wish you a Happy Living!… … …

2. Eating fruits - Fruit diet or fruit fast!

Hi there! A few more facts about eating fruits the right way, following on the previous note…

Fruit Fast: I believe that when Fasting on fruits, one may consume fruits three to four times in a day, each time, having up to around 300gm of a combination of one or more fruits. Why so? Well, when the glucose supplied by the fruits or food consumed at the last meal is used up, the glycogen stored in the Liver will start supplying the required glucose, hence, begins the Fast. There is no Fast in my opinion unless you start consuming your glycogen. Therefore, for affecting a Fast, the interval between the two consecutive fruit meals should be at least two to three hours.

Fruit diet: when on long term fruit diet, you may take about 100 to 200 gm of fruits as many times as you feel hungry and feel like eating.

“The common myth - diabetics can’t eat fruits”! There is nothing like that. If you take precautions as mentioned in my previous note on eating fruits, there won’t be any problem. Just go for the fruits with lower glycemic index. (Please check on the following site for a list of food items with glycemic index. http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm- ).

If possible, increase the proportion of raw fruits and vegetables to 50% of the daily total food consumption. For treating any disease or illness, increase it to 70 to 80% fruits as suggested by Dr Ulric Williams.

Food should be taken only between 8am to 8pm (preferably between Sun-rise and Sun-set), including fruits, whether Fasting, dieting or on normal diet.

Fruits and anti-oxidants: Anti-oxidants are present in fruits in plentiful but only if you consume them fresh. And no juices please, including freshly squeezed juices! Fruit juices are acidic in nature while most fruits are alkaline. You also lose nutrients present in fibres and skin if you juice the fruit

Hope, you find this information useful.

Happy Fruit-Eating!LoveNimesh

3. Answer to some of your queries on my previous notes on eating fruits:

I received some interesting questions after publishing “Eating Fruits – the correct way” note. I think I should share it with all as they seem to be quite common questions wondering around in most minds…

Q. Can I live on “fruit-only” diet?A. Yes. On fruits and nuts for at least five years without any problem, if you are too concerned about your Vitamin B12, and even longer, if you keep you mind cool.Q. Is it true that “fruits only” diet is no good for girls, as they need extra supply of calcium and it also affects their hair and skin?A. Not true at all. In my own experience, the quality of skin and hair improves, and you get plenty of calcium and other minerals from fruits such as Banana, papaya, etc. Aging process slows down, including the greying of hair. Q. Will the bulk of stool form if we eat fruits only?A. Yes. Initially, you may find the bulk of stool reducing, but as soon as you start consuming your daily caloric requirement, the bulk will return to its normal size but may change completely in its consistency, due to absence of other food stuff from the diet. I have found this to be true in my own experience.Q. What about quantity of fruit to eat? How many times in a day we can eat fruits?A. You may eat as much fruit as you wish, as many times as you wish, as long as you eat only when your stomach is empty and you feel hungry! Q. What should be the gap between two “fruit only” meals?A. One to two hour, as fruits move from stomach to small intestine in about half an hour. Once stomach is empty and you feel hungry, you may eat. One should never ingest another meal, if food from the previous meal is still in the stomach. Q. I want to know why after eating many fruits there is no feeling of full stomach and satisfaction like normal meal.A. It is only a matter of habit; it doesn’t have any physiological explanation. Because we are used to eating the so called normal food stuff like bread, cooked vegetables, milk products, sugar, salt, spices, etc., we actually become addicted to them. When we replace our regular cooked meal with fruits, the craving for these items doesn’t get satisfied, hence, giving a feeling as you described in your question. Some people may even have a feeling of intense desire to consume the regular cooked meal when switching to “fruit only” diet, and may even feel nauseated, head-ache, anxiety, restlessness, etc. which is nothing but what is commonly known as “withdrawal symptoms”. It generally subsides in a few days.Q. You said No drink should be mixed with fruits. What about milkshakes? Are they advisable?A. No. More explanation is given below in another answer. Q. What about eating fruits with peels on or off? I also heard somewhere that seed inside fruits should also be eaten. That seeds clear digestive track. Is it true?A. We can peel-off the yellow skin of an Orange, but we should eat the thin white skin. Apple, Jamfal, etc. should be eaten with the skin after washing them properly. Seeds of Dadam, water-melon, etc. are ok to eat. I don’t know much about the seeds of orange, etc.Q. Why raw or fried nut took longer to digest?A. Because heating changes its composition.Q. Why dry fruits needs to soaked before eating?A. It is not always necessary.

Q. Do you put on weight when eat Banana or Mango?A. You don’t put on weight because you are eating fruits but you put on weight when your calorie intake exceeds your daily calorie consumption. Banana has about 116 Kcal. per 100 grams of edible portion while Avocado has about 215, fresh Dates – 144 (dried Dates – 317) and Seetaphal – 104. All other commonly used fruits are below 100 Kcal per 100gm. Mango has about 80, Apple – 59, Grapes – between 60 and 70, Orange – 49 and Papaya - 32. So if you watch out your calories there is no reason to put on weight…

Q. Why do you say that foods or fruits should be eaten in a particular way? Eating a whole Avocado on its own would be too much fat too soon, instead 1/3 avo, with other foods might help break the fats in the avo down, for easier digestion. To my way of thinking, all foods, be they fruits, grains, veges, nuts, etc, are all made up of all the different nutrient groups. And once they enter the stomach, they are a mush of nutrients. To stomach, why should the mush matter, what they were, when they entered the mouth. In fact, because different food groups contain different nutrients, they seem to work together to complement each other, e.g. foods containing iron to be eaten with foods containing vitamin C, as iron absorption increases in the presence of vitamin C. And so on…. I always eat fruits, veges, nuts, grains, and herbs, oils and anything else that I eat, all together and so far, I have managed to stay healthy and young and fit as…. How do you explain that ?? A. Good to know your keen interest in the food and diet from health point of view. Your questions are more related to Food Combinations rather than fruit diet and clarifying that would require some time. Therefore, I recommend that you read the following book, which would give you the explanations that you are looking for. “Food Combinations Made Easy – by Herbert M Shelton”.It covers in reasonable details how the different category of food stuff could be combined for efficient digestion. Please write to me, if you have any further question after reading the above book.

My only addition to what Shelton has to say is the following,

1. That, for proper nourishment, you may be getting most of what your body needs, but for that how much food you have to ingest? Are you getting the most out of your food intake? My note is about getting “the best” out of the fruits. Therefore, it is all about the “Efficiency”. Also, that the body has various bacterial mechanisms in the intestines to breakdown and eliminate the “inadequately digested” food stuff due to wrong combinations or whatever other reasons, which goes almost unnoticed by most. This is reflected in the smell of the stool and the gas, and amount of gas formation in the intestines. (In your case, your ayurvedic prakruti too plays an important role, as you have a strong digestion by constitution, and so is your disciplined exercise regimen. In such cases, the excesses of the food and eating habits may show-up only as we get into the older age). 2. Fruits should not be combined with milk as fruits don’t need to stay in the stomach for more than a few minutes before entering into small intestine, while just a 100ml of plane milk would need at least one-and-a-half to two hours of digestion in the stomach. This means, the fruits would have to just sit in the stomach till the milk is digested. Longer the fruit stays in the stomach, it degenerates and loses its nutritional value as a result of fermentation at a high temperature in the stomach. We know what happens when we cut a fruit and leave it in the open at around 30 to 40 0C for an hour!

Happy learning!Nimesh Shah