When you eat a piece of fruit, you probably think you’re doing your body a favour, right? Well you’re probably not going to like this, but our friends at Shanti Som Wellbeing retreat have written a very interesting article about eating fruit.

Unless you eat fruit on an empty stomach, it is of no benefit to you. Further still, if you eat fruit after you’ve had a meal, you can be doing damage to your health. Shocking, I know, but that doesn’t make it less true.

Fruit is wonderful. It provides us with so many beneficial vitamins and enzymes. It is incredibly alkalising and will promote healthy skin, increased energy and heightened detoxification. But all of this can only be achieved if you eat your fruit on an empty stomach.

Fruit is digested very quickly – much faster than almost anything else we eat, especially meat, dairy, cooked foods and grains. So, if you eat a big meal and follow it up with some fruit you will create a traffic jam in your digestive system. Let’s say you’ve just eaten a plate of brown rice and cooked veggies. Down the hatch it goes and into your digestive system.

Here, it takes its time, while your body breaks down the complex carbohydrates and decides which nutrients need to go where. This can take some time. If you go ahead and eat some fruit while your body is still busy digesting the meal, the fruit will sit on top of it and ferment. It then becomes acidic and causes a whole host of problems. It’s much worse if your meal contained a hard-to-digest protein like meat – this can stay in your digestive system for up to three days! Gross, right.

Fruits do pair well with fresh, raw greens, which is why green smoothies and juices that contain apple or pear are such a great addition to your daily routine – especially first up in the morning. However, melons should be eaten totally on their own. If you eat melon with anything else it will cause trouble in your intestines and lead to bloating and fermentation.

Did you know that fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach? Do you think this is a difficult food rule to stick to?

For more information about the healthy programs at Shanti Som Wellbeing retreat, please click here