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Myth Buster: The Right Time to have Fruits

There are a lot of myths regarding the best time to have fruits. This article will clear all the doubts you have, so that you can have fruits at the time, they will benefit you the most.

Picture credits - Wikimedia

The best time to have fruits is early morning after a glass of water. Having fruits early morning makes them move into the small intestine easily. As the fruits are rich in fibre they clean intestine preventing constipation. Moreover, when we eat fruits on empty stomach, the sugars in fruits break down quickly which allows you to get full nutrition.

There is a myth that having fruits after meal causes fruit to rot in stomach which results in bloating, diarrhoea, gas etc. making you uncomfortable. This is a big myth. Fruits and stomach are both acidic in nature. Having fruits after a meal increases the stomach pH that prevents growth of micro-organisms. Thus, this can not lead to rotting of food in our stomach.
Fruits also delay food to get released from stomach that makes you feel full for longer, which can help you to intake fewer calories.

But that doesn't mean that you should take fruits right after having a meal. There must be a minimum gap of 30 minutes between meal and fruits as it helps in better absorption of nutrients. Having fruits right after food won't let your digestive system absorb the nutrients.

Many people think that having fruits in an empty stomach increases stomach pH causing acidity. It depends on the type of fruit that whether you are having high ,medium or low acidic fruits. Having high acidic food on empty stomach will surely increase your pH causing acidity. Thus selection of fruit is important as per the time.


Low acidic - guava, dates, plum
Medium acidic - apple, melon, mango, olives, grapes
High acidic - citrus fruits like lemon and indian gooseberry

Another myth says that the best time to have fruits is afternoon but there is no evidence behind it. The truth is that your metabolism slows down in afternoon and if you have fruits in this time, temporarily, the sugar will increase until it gets absorbed. This sugar gets used as fuel, which doesn't cause any change in the metabolic rate.

And if you wish to have fruits in the night just keep a gap of 30 minutes between your dinner and fruit intake. There is no gain in weight as you go to sleep after eating fruits. Your body does not switch from burning calories to storing them as fat when you go to sleep. The metabolic rate decreases when you sleep but your body still burns calories to keep your body running.


Key points:
1. Keep a gap of 30 minutes b/w fruits and meal.
2.Have fruits early morning after a glass of water.
3. There is no permanent increase in blood sugar on eating fruits in the afternoon.
4. Eating fruits in the night won't increase your weight.

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