Exact Answer: 30 minutes
Fruits are considered as one of the best and healthiest foods, as it contains enough amounts of vitamins and nutrients. To opt maximum profit out of fruits, they should be consumed at the right time and also in the prescribed manner. Fruits are always a part of a healthy diet. They have low fat and calories and high fiber.
All the fruits contain compounds including required nutrients that enhance health. But it makes a lot of difference in the way you consume them. It is strongly advised even by doctors to follow the Ayurveda rules of eating fruits because the proper time gap is considered an important factor in an Ayurveda diet to maintain a well-balanced diet.
How Long To Wait After Eating Fruit In Ayurveda?
It is believed that the stomach is the main cause of disease, whereas your health condition depends on the type of food you consume along with your immune system’s ability to digest the food eaten as soon as possible. This capability of digestion is termed digestive fire Agni. Once if you have consumed fruits, try to wait for at least 30 minutes before eating another food.
In most cases, this time limit depends on the type of fruit you eat. Few people eat fruits along with breakfast, but there are certain fruits which should be avoided during the evening. You can even eat fruits on empty stomach, and most of the doctors recommend eating fruits in the morning as the first food on empty stomach except citrus, which can lead to risky disease.
This results in an easy and quick digestion process and your stomach will be ready soon to eat the next meal. Never consume fruits as dessert at the night, as they start to ferment in the stomach due to the slower digestion caused by the other food in the stomach.
It is also advised to avoid milk along with fruits that are not sweet. Especially the fruits which have acidic content does not allow the body to grab the nutrients from the milk. It is worthy to eat fruits before lunch and dinner, as they reduce the glycemic index of foods because of the large amount of fiber present in fruits. Also, fruits increase hunger by stimulating the endogenous production of insulin.
| Age (in years) | Servings |
| 2-8 | 1 cups |
| 9-18 | 1.5 cups |
| 19+ | 2-2.5 cups |
Why Do I Have To Wait That Long To Eat After Fruits?
Most people include fruits in their diet to avoid the risk of developing chronic diseases. Few fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, citrus, and cranberries have a few vital chemicals known as phytochemicals which are good for a healthy and strong body, which make our immune system to be active all the time without any risk.
Ayurveda recommends avoiding eating fruits after any kind of meal on a day. The recommended Ayurveda hours depend on the season ripening of fruits, and also on the solar and lunar energy in the fruits which can affect the immune system and digestive process of our body. The exact reason to avoid fruits is, it can become a big hurdle to the ongoing current digestion of the meal or food eaten and can result in indigestion, acidity, and gas problem.
In this process, the fruits remain in your body for the long term which is mixed with gastric juices and leads to fermentation. When you continue the same diet process, your body ought to few negative impacts as fermentation of fruits will not allow you to absorb all the nutrients from the meal and also does not allow the complete disposal of waste products.
Each fruit has its unique type of nutrients and prevents you from binge eating. As fruits are eaten without cooking, both vegetables and fruits should not be combined. It is advised to eat fruits before 30 minutes of your meal as fruits do not require a lot of time to digest, it digests abruptly.
Conclusion
On average, the human body can extract all possible amounts of nutrients from the fruits when consumed at the right time. Fruits are much beneficial as it contains a high amount of fiber and fewer calories. Your intestine can digest only a small amount of food at a time.
If you consume fruits along with a meal, it does not let your stomach become empty soon. When fruits are consumed in the right amount to maintain a well-balanced diet, they also reduce the risk of cancer, inflammation, heart diseases, and reduce the risk of diabetes.