Introduction: A self-narrative from the "Dietary Biological Clock": Time for breakfast? Why not have some fruit first? It's delicious and appetizing! My job is to tell you what to eat and what not to eat at certain times. Follow me, and you can enjoy delicious food while absorbing more nutrients.
We all know that the body has a biological clock, but food also has its own "nutritional food clock". By eating according to the optimal "food clock", you can fully enjoy your food while absorbing the most nutrients.
I. Timing Your Meals
● Fruit: Best eaten before breakfast and in the afternoon
10 minutes before breakfast: Eating fruit at this time can enhance the absorption of vitamins, and the fruit acids can also act as an appetizer. For those who don't like breakfast, using fruit to stimulate the appetite is a great idea. Fruits best eaten before a meal should be not too acidic and not too astringent, such as apples, pears, bananas, grapes, etc. However, people with stomach problems should not eat fruit during this period.
Around 10 AM: This is a time of high work stress for most people, and many will feel irritable. The sweet and sour taste of fruit can refresh your mind and help relieve tension and impatience.
1 hour after lunch: Eating fruit at this time aids digestion. Fruits rich in protease, such as pineapple and kiwi, and those rich in organic acids, such as oranges, hawthorn, and apricots, are suitable.
Around 4 PM: This is a time when people easily feel hungry, and fruit can serve as an afternoon snack. The choice of fruit can be similar to the one for 10 minutes before breakfast. If you are concerned about raw and cold fruit, you can drink a glass of warm water before eating it to ensure gastrointestinal comfort. Eating fruit as an afternoon snack can relieve the fatigue and tension of a long workday.
Fresh and Tart Fruit Tart
● Congee and Soup Dumplings: Best eaten in the morning
For breakfast, a warm bowl of congee is the best care for your stomach. It's even better to add some chopped vegetables and an egg to nourish the stomach while enriching the nutrition.
There are two main reasons for choosing to drink congee for breakfast. When you first wake up in the morning, some people experience stomach cold and pain. A warm vegetable congee can immediately relieve these conditions, whereas foods like bread and biscuits can worsen the discomfort. Additionally, the digestion time for vegetable congee is slightly longer than that of milk, about an hour, which coincides with the peak of food digestion. This provides you with enough energy as you head to work.
If you're worried that congee alone will make you hungry, you can add some soup dumplings. Soup dumplings have higher calories than congee and provide a longer-lasting feeling of fullness, keeping your stomach continuously "warm".
● Potatoes and Pumpkin: Best eaten at noon
Starchy foods like sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkin should be eaten with main meals, and preferably as a staple food. These foods not only ensure a supply of carbohydrates but also provide a variety of vitamins and essential trace elements for the body.
It is incorrect to eat starchy foods after a meal, as it is easy to overeat and the nutrients are not easily digested and absorbed, which is a real pity.
Starchy foods are best eaten at noon as the main meal. This is because the calcium contained in them requires 4-5 hours for absorption in the human body, and the afternoon sunlight can promote calcium absorption.
Starchy foods are high in carbohydrates, which are an important element for ensuring physical activity. Eating them at noon can make you more energetic and improve work efficiency in the afternoon.
● Yogurt: Best drunk one hour after a meal
Yogurt can aid digestion and improve gastrointestinal function, but not drinking it at the right time will yield these effects. Generally, one hour after a meal is the best time to drink yogurt.
While yogurt is delicious, getting the active lactic acid bacteria to work effectively requires some consideration. Normally, the human stomach's pH value is between 1 and 3. When the stomach is empty, the gastric juice is acidic and not suitable for the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Only when the pH value is above 3 can the active lactic acid bacteria in yogurt thrive. About an hour after a meal, the gastric juice is diluted, and the pH value rises to 3-5. Drinking yogurt at this time allows its nutrients to be most easily absorbed.
Braised Potatoes
● Snacks: Best eaten at 4 PM
Around 4 PM is the most tiring time of the day, making it a suitable time for snacks.
About 4 hours after eating, carbohydrates are basically depleted. At this point, most people have difficulty concentrating and feel very tired. For office workers with a long gap between lunch and dinner, snacks are the best energy supplement during this period.
When choosing snacks, it's best to select those rich in nutrients but relatively low in sugar and fat, with few preservatives. Suitable snacks for daily nutritional supplementation include low-fat cheese, peanuts, figs, seaweed, and fruit.
There are also dried fruit and vegetable slices sold in supermarkets, which are very crispy. They are not fried or puffed products but are made by drying moisture at high temperatures. This results in minimal nutrient loss, low fat and calories, and will not cause obesity.
● Milk: Best drunk half an hour before bedtime
Many people prefer to have a glass of milk for breakfast, but milk also has its optimal time for consumption, which is before going to sleep at night.
Drinking milk on an empty stomach in the morning is not advisable. Because the protein in milk must be broken down by the stomach and small intestine into amino acids before it can be absorbed by the body. In the morning on an empty stomach, the stomach empties very quickly, and the milk is excreted into the large intestine before it can be absorbed.
At night, energy consumption is low, so the protein is preserved. Moreover, milk has a sedative effect. It is best to drink milk about half an hour before bedtime. If you drink it too early, the milk may be digested with dinner, increasing drowsiness and leading to sleeping with a full stomach, which affects gastrointestinal function and can easily cause obesity. Drinking milk half an hour before bed avoids the dinner digestion period, and drowsiness sets in just half an hour later, leading to sound sleep.
Hawthorn Candy
II. Timing Your Fruit Intake
Fruits are rich in nutrients and health-promoting bioactive substances, and their benefits to health are widely recognized. "A fruit a day" is a healthy eating standard for many people. However, how can you eat fruit to ensure full absorption of its nutrients without adverse effects on the body? The timing of eating fruit is crucial; you must learn to "catch the timing".
● Best in the morning: Apples, pears, grapes
Eating fruit in the morning can aid digestion and absorption, promote bowel movements, and the sweet and sour taste can keep you feeling refreshed all day. After a night of rest, the gastrointestinal tract's function is still being activated, and its digestive ability is not strong. Therefore, fruits that are not too acidic and not too astringent, such as apples, pears, and grapes, are very suitable.
● Avoid before meals: Cherry tomatoes, oranges, hawthorn, bananas, persimmons
Some fruits should not be eaten on an empty stomach before a meal, such as cherry tomatoes, oranges, hawthorn, and bananas. Cherry tomatoes contain soluble tannins; if eaten on an empty stomach, they will combine with gastric acid, increasing pressure in the stomach and causing pain and bloating.
Oranges: Contain a large amount of organic acids; eating them on an empty stomach can easily cause bloating and acid reflux.
Hawthorn: Is sour; eating it on an empty stomach can cause stomach pain.
Bananas: Bananas are high in potassium and magnesium. Eating them on an empty stomach can increase the amount of magnesium in the blood, which can have an inhibitory effect on the cardiovascular system.
Persimmons: Have an astringent effect. When they encounter stomach acid, they form persimmon stones, which cannot be digested or excreted. After eating a large quantity on an empty stomach, symptoms such as nausea and vomiting may occur.
Red Wine Poached Pears
● Best after meals: Pineapple, papaya, kiwi, oranges, hawthorn
Pineapple: The bromelain in pineapple helps digest protein, supplementing the body's lack of digestive enzymes and enhancing digestive function. Li Shizhen also affirmed in his "Compendium of Materia Medica" that pineapple can strengthen the spleen and stomach and consolidate vital energy. Eating pineapple after a meal can whet the appetite, relieve greasiness, and aid digestion.
Papaya: The papain in papaya can help the human body break down meat protein. Eating a small amount of papaya after a meal has certain effects in preventing gastric ulcers, gastroenteritis, and indigestion.
Kiwi, oranges, hawthorn, etc.: Rich in organic acids, they can increase the activity of digestive enzymes, promote fat breakdown, and aid digestion.
● For a peaceful sleep: Longan
Eating fruit as a late-night snack is not good for digestion, and because fruits contain too much sugar, it can easily lead to excess calories and obesity. Especially eating high-fiber fruits before bed can fill the stomach and affect sleep, which is even more harmful to people with poor gastrointestinal function. However, if you have trouble sleeping, you can eat a few longans. They have a calming and sleep-aiding effect that can help you sleep more soundly.
Longan and Red Date Sweet Soup
♪ Queue bouquet ♪
Pepper chopper head
Pineapple
Coco Chi Fung
Margaret