Living Life : How to Eat Fruit

It is that time of the year when yummy fruit is constantly shoved into your face – a vegetarian’s paradise. Every day on my way home, am accosted by the appetizing sites of green and purple avocados and bananas in various shades of yellow, let alone the sight of green maize. The health benefits of fruit are immense. Some of you may consider that an unnecessary distraction away from the glamour of packed chips, pizza and the oily attractive food. Recently, a work colleague from the UK was amazed at how available avocado was in Kigali, commenting that “avocado is a luxury in Europe.” In Rwanda we can gain the benefits of fruit at almost no cost. To gain the best possible benefits from fruit, it’s important to eat a wide range of them. Nutritionists encourage us to make use of the rainbow of fruits – the wider the variety the better. Red fruits, such as watermelon, for example, contain lycopene, which is thought to help prevent prostate cancer and heart disease. Green fruits contain lutein and zeaxanthin, which may help protect against age-related eye disease. Blue fruit contain anthocyanins, which may help protect the body from developing cancer. Research has proven that banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy with just two bananas able to provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief. Meanwhile, Avocado helps a great deal to improve overall skin health and give a soft look and instant glow and is well known as an efficient multi-purpose beauty essential that nurtures your skin without the chemical additives which are found in over-the-counter beauty products. So an apple a day may keep the doctor away but the banana you look at with a wary eye might be the energy boost you need after a long day at the office while for the ladies, the beautiful skin you cherish might be a few hundred francs away – in form of avocado. Bananas and avocados are heavy fruit and you may want to avoid them first thing in the morning. Try eating these as afternoon or a midday meal as the digestive system will be more prepared for them. Eating fresh fruit should become your habit, let alone anything fresh and green from the farm, be it vegetables or green maize (baby corn or sweet corn). Remember that fruit is best eaten fresh and contrary to popular belief, fruit is best eaten alone not as a snack after a meal. Experts advise you not to combine fruit with any other food. Eat fruit separately, half an hour before anything else and three hours after a meal. If you must eat close to bedtime, and it is three hours since your last meal, then you can have a little fruit. This is because fruits digest quickly. When eaten with any other food like cereals and meats they cross react, ferment and ultimately putrefy or “decay” releasing toxic gases. As a result the nutrients are not only wasted but might give you a ‘troubling’ stomach for a while. I wish you a fruity Sunday! kelviod@yahoo.com