Fruit first thing in the morning?

by Lisa
(Boston MA)

Hi Sassy!

I read on your site about starting the day with fruit. My daughter and I have been eating mostly vegan for a year. We both eat breakfast really early in the morning and tend to go for whole grain cereal and almond milk, or maybe toast, nut butter and grapefruit.

Can you please explain the importance of eating fruit first thing in the morning, and also if it must be eaten alone?

Thanks so much!

Lisa
(Thanks for all of your great information!)

*****
Sassy Sez: Hi Lisa! The basic reason it is such a good idea to start your day with fruit is because after sleeping for 6-8 hours (or more), you have basically been fasting. And that is what "break" "fast" is, breaking your fast.

If you have ever actually gone on a 1- or 2-day fast (or more), then you know how important it is to break your fast gently to reintroduce the foods back into your system.

So this basic idea applies to waking as well.

Start your day with a few sips of water before drinking the rest of the glass of water down to gently nudge your system awake. Then move on to fruit - as much fruit as you want - which slowly brings your digestion around. Yes, it is best to eat fruit all by itself. Then give it some time to digest. Some fruits digest more quickly than others; melons tend to digest quite rapidly because of their high water content. And it is because of this melons should never be mixed with other foods, not even other fruits.

If you are able, wait an hour before moving on to more food groups in order to let your fruit digest. This allows you to derive the maximum benefit from the fruit - that of waking your digestive system up and cleaning out "the pipes" with these water-rich foods.

If push comes to shove and you don't have time to wait an hour, then simply hold off for as long as you possibly can.

The name of the game is to allow each step to have their rightful time to shine before kicking it into high gear for the rest of the day.

Hope this helps explain things.

Great to hear from you, and I am glad you are finding VeganCoach.com helpful. xo