3 Easy Rules to Follow When Eating Fruit 🍐

FRUIT 🍐🍐🍐

Who doesn’t love fruit? Below are 3 easy rules to follow when eating fruit for the best digestive and nutritional support possible. And with this old-school Ayurveda advice, you’re going to love your fruit even more. I am also sharing my favorite warm pear recipe at the bottom, which I sincerely hope you will try. It’s just pear, water, and spice, and 10 minutes in the oven. A nice alternative to pie with all the satisfaction!

Over the past two years, I’ve had personal conversations with many of you about fruit, surprising some with new information about when to eat and why and even sharing that fruit smoothies aren’t as great as they seem, especially in non-summer months. 

The 3 Rules for Fruit Consumption:

There are three rules I want you to hear about and follow for the rest of your life. You can occasionally fall off the fruit wagon, but overall, this is how you should eat fruit.

RULE #1 🍐Fruit should be eaten on its own.

Fruits become toxic when mixed with milk, yogurt, cheese, or other dairy products. This is because the acid from the fruit can alter the natural molecular formation of the proteins, resulting in curdling or clumping. 

Fruits also don’t agree with vegetables and grains; mixing causes digestive delays and discomfort. This is because fruits, vegetables, and grains all have different digestion times. 

Fruit requires 1 hour in the stomach, 1 hour in the small intestine, and 1 hour in the large intestine for digestion, absorption, assimilation, and elimination. Approximately 3 hours in total.

Vegetables take 2 hours each in the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine, and grains and pulses take 6 hours each in the stomach and small and large intestines. Taking approximately 6 hours to digest veggies and 18 hours for grains and pulses.

There are exceptions, though, for the most part the above rule does not apply to raisins, dates, and figs.

RULE #2 🍐 Don’t eat fruits right after your meal.

I know the Europeans do this but that is because of a tradition of loooong meals. If you are socializing and hanging out around the table talking and enjoying yourself, if enough time passes then fruit can be eaten without any harm. But here are the reasons why Ayurveda says no to fruit right after your meal~

Eating fruits as dessert after lunch or dinner disrupts digestion. This is because your fruit will be more quickly digested and this causes a  delay in digesting the full meal you just consumed. Some signs of this are bloating, gas, or burning indigestion. 

RULE #3🍐 Avoid fruits after sunset

Fruits have active enzymes that block melatonin, affecting your sleep cycle. 

When is the best time to eat fruit? In the morning either one hour before breakfast or two hours after eating breakfast. And, just before sunset. I have to admit that this is not the easiest system to follow, but I can honestly say that I enjoy fruit a lot more now and so does my gut. 

I am sharing my favorite baked pear recipe below. The pears’ sweet taste and the relaxing aroma of the spices make for a light breakfast or soothing snack. Baking the pears makes them tender, more sweet, and easier to digest. They also satisfy my desire for a treat, feels like dessert, but acts like nourishment! I’ve listed other benefits for you below too.  

When you are sick and have inflamed lungs ~  Baked pears gently relieves raw and upset tissue in the lungs, stomach, and intestines. Ever notice how pear juice is thicker than apple juice? This thickness is due to its soluble fiber and is key to the pear’s comforting demulcent quality.

For creating regular elimination (daily and in the morning) ~  Pears are high in fiber as evidenced by their grainy texture. Fiber helps to keep the intestines squeaky clean and acts as a gentle laxative to support regular elimination. This makes pears with a sprinkle of spice a great breakfast for those who suffer from constipation and/or sluggish digestion because it’s not only a gentle laxative, but is also light and easy to digest.

Recipe:

Easy Baked Pears 🍐

• Servings: 2
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 10 minutes
• Meal: Snack-Dessert, Breakfast
• Preparation: Baked
• Eat In Autumn-Winter, Summer
• For Occasion: Cleanse, On-the-Mend, Bed-Time

Ingredients:

• 2 whole pears 🍐🍐
• ½ cup water
• Sprinkle cardamom cinnamon or ground ginger

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Cut pears in half and lay pears down on a baking dish. I find that either side face-down works.
• Put about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water at the bottom of the dish.
• Sprinkle the pears with cardamom, cinnamon, or ground ginger
• Bake at 350°F until tender (this is about 10 min max)

The original baked pear recipe with cardamom is from joyfulbelly.com

Let me know what your experience is with these 3 fruit-rules and how you like the baked pear recipe. I would love to hear from you!

Take care and I’ll be sending more information on Ayurveda and Yoga next week.

Marisa

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