Ayurveda’s point of view on consumption of fruits

Nowadays all modern physicians insist on eating a fruit after meals. Consumption of fruits is also believed to be part of a balanced diet. What is the truth behind this? Let us understand Ayurveda’s point of view on consumption of fruits through this article.

1. Fruits although are nutritious, they are hard to digest

Most of the fruits are juicy. They provide nutrition to seven elements of the body such as blood, juice etc. In general, all such food items that make our body strong are difficult to digest, e.g. black gram. Fruits also fall under same category. If a fruit does not get digested then one has to take medicines to recover from indigestion e.g. even if jackfruit is good for health, it is very heavy to digest. Even if it is very nutritious, if it does not get digested then it weakens the digestive system further, causing dullness, sleepiness, heaviness in stomach or stomach ache, restlessness etc.

2. As far as possible, fruits should be consumed in the morning

In general, except for digestive fruits like Papaya, Indian gooseberry, Pomegranate, Pineapple, all other fruits are difficult to digest. Therefore fruits should be consumed along with the meals. If one consumes a food item which is difficult to digest after the meals, then it affects the digestion of the meal itself and causes indigestion. As far as possible, fruits should be consumed in the morning along with the breakfast due to which they get digested during the day time. Since fruits are hard to digest, they should never be consumed in the night.

3. Benefits of consuming only a fruit during the day of fasting

One of the days, rather than having a wholesome meal, consume only a fruit. With this, the body gets its necessary nutrients and it also does not put a stress on the digestive system. In view of this, there are various kinds of fasts prescribed in our tradition.

4. Do not consume fruits along with milk

Fruits should never be consumed along with milk. Whenever any fruit is mixed with milk, the milk gets rotten. If bananas are cut and mixed with milk along with sugar and consumed frequently, it is observed that it results in skin diseases, deformity in digestion and allergies down the line. Food item prepared by mixing fruits and milk together is termed as ‘Viruddha-anna’ in Ayurveda (meaning mixing two opposite food items).

5. Eat fruits instead of drinking fruit juices

It is wrong to extract fruit juice and drinking it. Only those who do not have teeth or false teeth to chew, should drink fruit juices. Rest should eat fruits by chewing them multiple times and along with their skin when possible. The saliva in our mouth should get properly mixed with the juice of the fruits. Through the medium of saliva and tongue, the brain gets to know the fruit of a particular taste is going to pass to the stomach and accordingly it readies the appropriate mechanism to digest the fruit in the stomach beforehand.This enables the necessary digestive enzymes to accumulate in the stomach. When a fruit juiceis drunk with a straw, keeping the tongue unaware of it, it never gets digested.

6. Effect of artificial chemicals
sprayed over the fruits on our health

One should check if the fruits are clean prior to consuming them. Nowadays, except fruits like Guava, Jackfruit and Jasmine flowered Carissa, all other fruits are ripened artificially by spraying poisonous chemicals such as Carbide on them. One can even see the sprayed chemicals on the most selling fruits such as Apple, Mango, Grapes, Watermelon, and Bananas etc. with our naked eyes. In spite of washing and scrubbing, these chemicals still remain on the fruits. In order to increase production, chemicals are sprayed on the trees or fertilizers in the form of poisonous substances such as urea or sulphate are applied to the roots of the trees. No one gives a thought to the fact that these chemicals enter our body through the medium of such fruits.

7. Harmful chemicals on the fruits inviting diseases like cancer

Because of the harmful chemical fertilizers and chemicals used to ripen the fruits, the number of cancer patients are increasing day by day. The expert researchers from renowned institutions and modern doctors strongly support this view. One comes across many cancer patients in the country who have never touched cigarette, tobacco or alcohol in their life, then how did they attract cancer? The above point provides the answer to this question. Normally group of bananas at a level get ripened and then in the next level, one after the other from bottom to top on a branch. Then how is that the bananas available on the shoppers cart in the market get ripened all at the same time? These bananas are dipped in a specific chemical which is extremely poisonous. These chemicals themselves are the cause of various diseases such as cancer.

8. Because of the presence of high
number of cancer patients in Bhatinda district
of Punjab due to maximum usage of chemical fertilizers,
government forced to start a new train by the name Cancer Special

Maximum usage of chemical fertilizers within our country happens in Bhatinda district of Punjab. In Bhatinda district itself there are maximum number of cancer patients. The number of cancer patients are so high that there are Cancer Special trains operated twice a week to let these cancer patients visit a government run main cancer hospital in Rajasthan

–  Vaidya Suvinay Damle, Kudal