Fruits, the fibre of health
Why is it important to make fruits part of our daily diet?
Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.GOING BANANAS Cricketers Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh munch on a banana during a training camp
We manage to eat our daily requirement of vegetables. But fruits? If you are like me, you would average just a single serving of fruits, that is, one serving a week! All that changed recently when I happened to meet an occasional fruitarian; a still supple and sharp-sighted 85-year-old woman, lady who beamed with health like a Kashmir apple.
Some people think vitamin pills can substitute for fruits. “That simply won’t work. Fruits are loaded with over 400 phytonutrients, antioxidants and anticancer ingredients, apart from vitamins and minerals. Our bodies need all of these,” says Nirmala Jesudason, consultant dietician. We need to eat five to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. A ‘serving’ roughly translates to one medium-sized apple or mango or, in the case of cut fruits — a small cup full. “We don’t enjoy the good health our ancestors did. A major reason for this is we don’t consume fruits,” says Dr. V. R. Seshadri, ayurvedic consultant.
But there is such a thing as when, what, and how fruits should be eaten. Fruits such as jackfruits are difficult to digest and need to be eaten on an empty stomach or before a meal. In fact, most fruits, with the exception of mango, banana and papaya, need to be eaten before meals or on an empty stomach, or along with the meal, not after it.
Fruits and your constitution
Not all people can eat all fruits at all times either. Ayurveda lays great emphasis on the physical constitution of the individual, which it classifies into pitham, vaatham, and kapham. An imbalance in pitham, vaatham and kapham makes the body susceptible to disorders. “People with kapha bodies should avoid watermelon and guava, which increase…More
