Certain foods require special “attention” from the digestive system. In other words, the body spends strength and energy on digestion and absorption of nutrients in different ways.
Experts divide food according to the time of its digestion in the stomach into four categories: food that is digested quickly (mainly carbohydrates); food with an average time of assimilation (protein food); long-lasting food (fatty foods and a combination of fatty and protein); food is excessively long indigestion, which is difficult to digest (fats + proteins + carbohydrates). Let’s tell more specifically what to expect from certain products.
Time of digestion
For those who suffer from a bad habit – overeating, we advise you to think: maybe you eat at a time when the stomach has not yet said goodbye to the previous portion of food? And you just overload it?
Digestion of food in the stomach
The first category, which we wrote about at the beginning of the article, ie, easily digestible food includes most fruits (except bananas, avocados, and the like), berries, and juices (both vegetable and fruit), and kefir. Such products enter the intestine from the stomach in 35-45 minutes.
The second category consists of vegetables and greens, dairy products (except sour milk and hard cheeses), nuts and seeds, and dried fruits. This food does not linger in the stomach for more than 1.5-2 hours. The third group is represented by cereals and porridges, nuts and seeds (NOT soaked!), Sour milk and hard cheese, mushrooms and legumes (only boiled), as well as bakery products from high-grade flour. For their digestion, the body needs an average of 2-3 hours.
The fourth category includes tea or coffee with milk, meat (including poultry), fish, pasta (except those made from durum wheat), and all kinds of canned food. Such products are digested for a long time, or not digested at all. These figures are the average value that applies to people with a healthy digestive system. And the time of digestion still depends on the individual characteristics of the body, as well as the amount of food eaten.
Here are the conclusions that can be drawn from this information:
It is not necessary to follow a grueling diet to keep your body in shape. It is enough to use as many easily digestible products as possible;
try to eat less food from category 4, especially in the morning and at bedtime;
competently combine products: we do not recommend eating food that has a different time of digestion in the stomach;
at problems with a gastrointestinal tract it is better to be limited to food from 1 and 2 categories;
in the evening it is recommended to eat food that belongs to categories 1 and 2.
Interesting is the fact that warm food is in the stomach for about 2-3 hours and only then enters the small intestine, where the process of breaking down nutrients from food is. Cold food goes through this process faster: proteins, not having time to fully digest, are sent to the small intestine, where just break down and absorb carbohydrates.
If you follow the principle we mentioned and do not eat while in the stomach is food from the previous intake, you can make the body well. Losing weight is one time because you do not overeat, the health of the gastrointestinal tract – two, and three – the stomach will gradually decrease in size, and the new habit of not overeating will remain with you.
It is worth knowing because this is what you need to start from when deciding to go on a diet, as well as when choosing a diet!
So, let’s take a closer look:
1. Fruit and vegetable juices are digested in 15 – 20 minutes.
2. When you drink water on an empty stomach, it immediately enters the intestines.
3. Mixed salads (vegetables and fruits) are digested for 20 – 30 minutes.
4. Watermelon is digested in 20 minutes.
5. Melons need 30 minutes to digest.
6. Oranges, grapes, and grapefruits also require half an hour to digest.
7. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, and other semi-sweet fruits are digested in 40 minutes.
8. Vegetables, such as tomatoes, lettuce (“novel”, Boston, red, leafy, garden), cucumbers, celery, red or green peppers, and other juicy vegetables, require 30-40 minutes for processing.
9. It will take at least 50 minutes for the body to process roots such as turnips and carrots.
10. Avocados, eaten on an empty stomach, are digested for 1-2 hours, due to the fact that they contain a large amount of fat.
11. To digest vegetables that contain starch, such as Jerusalem artichokes, acorns, pumpkin, sweet and ordinary potatoes, and chestnuts will take about an hour.
12. Starchy foods such as rice, buckwheat, quinoa, and pearl barley are digested on average for 60-90 minutes.
13. Legumes – starch and protein, lentils, lime and common beans, chickpeas, cayenne (pigeon peas), etc. require 90 minutes to master.
14. Seeds of sunflower, pumpkin, melon pear and sesame are digested for about two hours.
15. Nuts such as almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, pecans, walnuts, and Brazil nuts are digested in 2.5-3 hours.
16. If the seeds and nuts are soaked in water overnight and then crushed, they will be absorbed faster.
17. 1-2 hours – water, tea, coffee, cocoa, broth, milk, soft-boiled eggs, rice, boiled river fish.
18. 2-3 hours – hard-boiled eggs, omelet, boiled sea fish, boiled potatoes, bread.
19. 3-4 hours – chicken and beef (boiled), rye bread, apples, carrots, radishes, spinach, cucumbers, fried potatoes, ham.
20. 4-5 hours – beans (beans, peas), game, herring, fried meat.
21. 5-6 hours – mushrooms, lard.
Try not to eat 3-4 hours before bedtime.
Digestion time also depends on the individual characteristics of the body and the amount of food consumed. Be sure to share the article on social media. We believe that it will make someone think about how to eat properly.
