The humble fruit, exotic or mainstream is more than a delicious taste and a zing to the tastebuds. It has some real hidden power, dorment, waiting for you to unlock it's benefits within your body. But, do you know how to unlock these benefits? Read along to learn the first key – how to combine your fruit.
Did you know that tree/plant rippened, raw fruits, berries and melons have;
1. The highest nutritional chemistry of any foods on the planet
2. The highest electrical properties of any foods on the planet.
Fruits are abundance with;
● Electrolytes
● Vitamins
● Minerals
● Phytonutrients
● Flavones
● Bioflavonoids
● Antioxidants
● Carbohydrates
● Hydration
● Astringents
● Some even have essential fats and much, much more. Science is constantly learning about the power locked within fruits, year to year.
fruit
How can we harness this energy efficiently within our body? The first step we must understand, is the food combination between the different types of fruits there are, and why.
The fruit kingdom is split into the below categories
1. Sweet fruits
2. Sub acid fruits
3. Berries
4. Melons
Understanding what fruits pair well together for us is very important. Why? letting a fast digesting melon sit ontop of something that is slower digesting like a banana, can lead to fermentation and alcohol within the body.
To understand why food combination is important, we must know what our body is even doing with the food we ingest. Our bodies have four phases of chemistry processing, that it must go through to harness and eliminate chemistry from food. These are:
1. Digestion
2. Absorbtion
3. Utilisation
4. Elimination
To have good digestion, food combinations are paramount for a body to function correctly. Carbohydrates are broken down with alkaline enzymes, starting in the mouth, and down to the stomach where there are alkaline digestive juices. For example, Amylase (Ptyalin, etc). Proteins are not digested in the mouth, but instead use an acid within the stomach called Hydrochloric Acid,. Here the acid is used to rip apart the protein structure to access the smaller structure called Peptones. Combining both carbohydrates and protein is a poor food combination that leads to poor or no digestion at all, due to the chemistry neutralising digestive enzymes in the stomach. A simple way to look at it is below;
● Fruit are best eaten alone
● Melons are best eaten alone
● Startches combine well with vegetables
● Proteins combine well with vegetables
● Startches and proteins do not combine well
Back to the fruits, let's focus on how we can harness all the power within the fruit within our body. We want to enable our cells to metabolize the fructose sugar (simple sugar) with as little work as possible and with little to no insulin requirement by the body to feed your cells with these simple sugars.
Remember, the fruit kingdom is split into the below categories;
1. Melons;
I. The most hydrating of all fruits. Approximate digestion time 10 minutes, depending on amount consumed.
2. Acid fruits;
I. Have the most fibre and are rich in antioxidants. Approximate digestion time 20-30 minutes
3. Sub Acid Fruits;
I. Approximate digestion time 30-40 minutes
4. Sweet Fruits;
I. Have higher natural sugar concentation and therefore take longer to digest. Approximate digestion time 40-60 minutes
5. Berries;
I. Approximate digestion time 20-30 minutes
As you see the above shows how the fruit can be paired, but what about exotic fruits? Below is a list of some exotic fruits and their relation to their grouping. Note: Fruits like Durian, Avocado and Coconuts are “Neutral” with long digestive times similar to sweet fruits.
The list for Exotic / Tropical fruits in the sections “Sweet and Sub Acid” is huge only a small selection has been provided above. It provides a good relevant understanding for how these food groupings translate over into our real world with rare fruits. Exotic fruits tend to all fall into either Sweet Fruits or Sub Acid Fruits. Understanding the climate these fruits grow in, it makes sense as to why the tropics have so many alkaline rich sweet fruits available to eat – which is good to know.
I hope this has inspired you to try and test out some new smoothies, juices etc with this new knowledge regarding fruit combinations. Let the fruit have no barriers between the fruit and your bodies cells .
Written by Mark Norman,
Certified Regenerative Detoxification Consultant