How to Combine Fresh Fruit

Everyone needs to eat a healthy, well-balanced diet that includes generous amounts of fruit and vegetables. As well as being lower in calories than other foods, fruit and vegetables can help reduce the risk of diseases such as stroke, diabetes, cancer and heart disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that we eat approximately two cups of fruit each day to maintain healthy bodies. However, too much of one type of fruit can cause digestive problems such as excessive gas or heartburn. Avoid these unwanted effects and enjoy your daily fruit by combining fruit types to achieve optimum digestion.

Instructions

• 1

  Recognize the different types of fruit. Fruit can be categorized into five different types -- melon, sweet fruit such as bananas and dates, fatty fruit including avocado, semi-acidic such as cherries, grapes, apples and berries, and acidic fruit, which are mainly citrus such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit or limes.

• 2

  Eat fruit from the sweet category with fruit that is either also sweet or semi-acidic. Sweet fruit can also be easily digested with leafy vegetables such as lettuce. When sweet fruit is served with acidic or fatty fruit, or salad vegetables such as peppers or cucumbers, indigestion, gas and bloating can occur.

• 3

  Combine fatty fruit, such as avocado, with other fatty food, such as nuts, or with acidic fruit. Fatty fruit can also be enjoyed with leafy green vegetables.

• 4

  Enjoy semi-acidic fruit with other fruit from the same category, acidic or sweet fruit. Semi-acidic fruit such as mango, apricot or apples also work well with green, leafy vegetables. Avoid combining them with melon, fatty or salad vegetables such as pepper or cucumber as they may fail to digest properly and cause indigestion and gas.

• 5

  Serve acid fruit with fatty fruit such as avocado or with salad vegetables such as lettuce, squash or peppers. Avoid mixing acid fruit with any from another category.

• 6

  Do not combine melon with any other fruit because, although on its own melon is easily digested, when mixed with other fruit types it tends to ferment in the stomach and can produce large amounts of gas, heartburn and other digestive problems.