Digestion times. Why you need to know the rate of digestion of various foods

If you suffer from an unhealthy habit - overeating, think about it, maybe you start eating while your stomach has not yet coped with the previous dose of food?

Different foods require different “attention” from our digestive system. What happens to food after we have swallowed it? In order for food to benefit a person and give the necessary energy, it must turn into chemical elements, which the body then absorbs.

This process begins in the mouth, when saliva dissolves and teeth grind food. Later, in the stomach, it is attacked by acid and gastric juices. After leaving the stomach, food enters the intestines, where it continues to interact with gastric juice. Then it is absorbed through the capillaries into the blood passing through the liver - thousands of enzymes located there neutralize any poison (such as alcohol, for example), while retaining useful iron, vitamins and glucose.


More specifically, all food can be divided into 4 categories according to the time of its digestion in our stomach:

- the food that passes quickly (this is mainly carbohydrate food)
- average digestion time (this is mainly protein food)
- food of long assimilation (it includes fatty foods and a combination of fatty with protein)
- food that is too long in assimilation and practically indigestible.

To the first category include: almost all fruits (with the exception of bananas, avocados and the like), vegetable and fruit juices (not mixed), berries, kefir. All of the above products do not stay in our stomach for more than 1 time. For example, fruits pass into the intestines from the stomach after 40–45 minutes. In some situations, it can take 35-40 minutes.

To the second category include: vegetables, herbs, dairy products with the exception of cottage cheese and hard cheese, sprouts, soaked nuts and seeds, all dried fruits. All of them enter our intestines in about 1.5–2 hours.

To the third category belong: cereals and cereals, nuts and seeds that are not previously soaked in water, cottage cheese and hard cheese, all types of mushrooms, legumes (if they are boiled), bakery products made from high-grade flour. Their residence time in the stomach is 2–3 hours from the moment they are received.

And finally group 4 includes: tea with milk, coffee with milk (more than 9 hours or not digested at all!), pasta (with the exception of those made from whole grain flour or durum wheat flour), all types of canned food. All products from the 4th group are digested very problematic, or practically not digested at all.


What conclusion can we draw now, guided by the information about how much food is digested in the stomach? Everything is very simple:

- If you want your health, it is not necessary to stick to a diet, you just need to eat as many foods as possible that are absorbed in a short period of time. Thus, you protect your digestive system, and the body spends less energy on its processing.
– Avoid or eat at a minimum those foods that belong to category 4.
– If you have problems with your stomach or intestines, eat only food from categories 1 and 2.

Digestion time in the stomach

After dinner, food is digested in the stomach for two to four hours, after which it enters the small intestine, where the digestion process lasts another four to six hours, after which the food passes into the large intestine, where it can stay for about fifteen more hours.

Water
If you drink water on an empty stomach, the water immediately passes into the intestines.

Juices and salads
– Fruit juices, vegetable juices and broths are digested in 15-20 minutes
– Semi-liquid (mashed salad, vegetables or fruits) 20-30 minutes

Fruit
– Watermelon is digested in 20 minutes
– Melons - 30 minutes
– Oranges, grapefruits, grapes - 30 minutes
– Apples, pears, peaches, cherries and other semi-sweet fruits - 40 minutes

Vegetables
– Mixed salads (vegetables and fruits) are digested within 20-30 minutes
– Raw mixed vegetable salads - tomatoes, lettuce (romance, Boston, red, leaf, garden), cucumber, celery, green or red pepper, other juicy vegetables are digested within 30-40 minutes

- If vegetable oil is added to the salad, then the time increases to more than an hour– Vegetables boiled in steam or in water, as well as leafy vegetables - spinach, chicory, kale - 40 minutes

– Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin, corn on the cob - 45 minutes
– Root vegetables - turnips, carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, etc. - 50 minutes


Semi-concentrated carbohydrates - starches
– Artichoke, acorns, corn, potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, yams, chestnuts - 60 minutes
– Starchy foods, like husked rice, buckwheat, millet, cornmeal, oatmeal, quinoa, Abyssinian panicle, barley are digested on average 60-90 minutes

Concentrated carbohydrates - cereals
– Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, corn flakes, oats (the first 3 are best) - 90 minutes

Beans and legumes (Concentrated carbohydrates and protein, starches and proteins)
– Lentils, lima beans, chickpeas, peas, kidney beans and beans - 90 minutes
– Soybeans - 120 minutes

Nuts and seeds
– Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pepita, sesame - about 2 hours
- Nuts - almonds, filberts, peanuts (raw), cashews, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pecans - 2.5-3 hours

Dairy
– Skimmed milk, low-fat cottage cheese, ricotta, low-fat cottage cheese or cream cheese about 90 minutes
– Whole milk cottage cheese - 120 minutes
– Hard cheese from whole milk - 4-5 hours

animal squirrels
– Egg yolk - 30 minutes
– Egg (full) - 45 minutes
– Fish - cod, scrod, flounder, sole seafood - 30 minutes
– Fish - salmon, trout, herring, oilier fish - 45-60 minutes
– Chicken - 1-2 hours (no skin)
– Turkey - 2 hours (without skin)
– Beef, lamb - 3-4 hours
– Pork - 4-5 hours

Warm food in the stomach is digested for about 2-3 hours and only after that it enters the small intestine, where the stage of splitting nutrients from food continues.

Two to three hours is the optimal time for the digestion of food in the stomach and the breakdown of proteins. This is the norm, since with the ingestion of undigested proteins in the small intestine, the fermentation process begins.

Cold food in the stomach is digested much faster: proteins do not have time to digest normally and go straight to the small intestine, whose function is based on the breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates, since it is in it that the bacteria responsible for this “event” are located.

As a result of the ingestion of undigested food in the stomach (proteins) into the small intestine, proteins, of course, are not normally absorbed. In addition, bacteria living in meat products (proteins) begin to multiply, which leads to various types of discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract (bloating, gas, constipation, etc.).


Source: bublik.delfi.ee

CONCLUSION: If your goal is to lose weight, then you should eat simple, easily digestible food, in small portions and at intervals of 2.5-3 hours, so that your body can normally accept and digest food, turning it into energy and not putting it off for later!

IF YOU NEED HELP IN PLANNING A MEAL PLEASE CONTACT ONLINE BODY TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM

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Many people, even those who monitor their diet, do not take into account such a factor as the time of digestion of food in the stomach and what it affects, so in this article we will understand in detail how long food is digested in the human stomach and what affects the speed of digestion.

  • Drinking water and other liquids during meals. It is not recommended to drink water and drinks during meals, as they dilute the gastric juice and the digestion time of the food increases (or the food is not completely digested).
  • Many products after heat treatment (boiling, frying, stewing) are absorbed in the human body longer (the time for assimilation of products increases).
  • Cold food is digested faster.
  • Food eaten at lunch is digested faster than food eaten in the morning and evening.
  • The rate of digestion in the stomach and assimilation in the body is strongly influenced by the type and amount of food consumed, since different foods are absorbed at different rates (from several minutes to several hours), while mixing them may increase the digestion time.

Of these factors, which significantly affect how quickly the food eaten and the drinks drunk will be digested, let's take a closer look at the speed of digestion of all foods separately and consider how many hours different foods are digested (meat, fish, cereals, vegetables, fruits, etc. .) in the human stomach.

With a detailed review of the presented table, we can conclude that the digestion time in the stomach of various categories of products is:

  • Water and drinks are absorbed within 20 minutes.
  • Vegetables are digested within 30-60 minutes (with the exception of vegetables containing starch in large quantities).
  • Fruits and berries are digested within 20-40 minutes.
  • Legumes are digested within 2 hours (120 minutes).
  • Cereals and cereals are digested within 2 hours (120 minutes).
  • Nuts and seeds are digested within 3 hours (180 minutes).
  • Milk and dairy products are digested within 2 hours (120 minutes).
  • Fish and seafood are digested within 1 hour (60 minutes).
  • Poultry meat is digested within 2.5-3 hours.
  • Cattle meat is digested within 4-6 hours.
  • Eggs are digested within 40-45 minutes.

On a note: the most quickly digestible foods are berries, fruits (excluding banana and avocado) and vegetables (with the exception of potatoes and Jerusalem artichoke), as well as fruit and vegetable juices. And products such as coffee, tea with milk, hard cheese, canned fish and meat, stew, pate are digested for a long time or leave the human body without being digested (partially or completely).

  • More thoroughly chewed food is digested better and faster.
  • It is more beneficial for the body to eat foods that have the same digestion and assimilation time in order to reduce the load on the stomach.
  • Foods with a high protein content are best consumed only in a warm form (they are digested longer in the stomach, due to which all proteins useful for the body are broken down). Cold protein foods do not have time to be digested in the stomach and are sent to the intestines, which can lead to unpleasant consequences (gastrointestinal upset, constipation, bloating).
  • It is better not to drink water and drinks during meals, so as not to dilute the gastric juice. By the way, ordinary drunk water is absorbed quickly (drinking on an empty stomach), while it does not linger in the stomach and immediately goes to the intestines.
  • Nuts and seeds are better absorbed if they are first soaked overnight in water, and then crushed.
  • Vegetables are better absorbed and bring more benefits to the body when they are not seasoned with oils (vegetable, olive), which prevent them from breaking down in the stomach (covering them with a “protective” film).

We hope the table in the article helped you find answers to questions such as how much oatmeal porridge on water, sauerkraut, canned corn, fat-free cottage cheese, dumplings, chewing gum, lard, fish, meat, bread, apple, tangerines, bananas, are digested in the stomach, grapes, persimmons and mushrooms.

In conclusion to the article, it can be noted that knowing how much food is digested in the human stomach, you can build your diet so that there is no big load on the stomach, and many healthy foods are absorbed better and they would be more beneficial for the body. We leave our useful tips and reviews on the topic: the time of digestion of products in the human stomach in the comments to the article and share it on social networks if it was useful to you.

Sometimes, without being a doctor, it is worth delving into the details of the digestion process, assessing how long food passes through the gastrointestinal tract, and comparing the absorption of foods by duration. Why know how to digest food quickly? The body of the dock in this matter, let him deal with it. Because the unconscious choice of unsuccessful combinations makes the stomach work harder and provokes the occurrence of complications. Let's see why it is important to know the digestion time of food.

The fuel consumed in the form of food is essential for the functioning of the body. Without the necessary nutrients, the development, repair and protection of cells is impossible. Eaten foods go a long way before becoming the bricks needed for the body, however, the energy costs of processing are highly dependent on the food belonging to a certain class.

The answer to the question of how much food is digested in the stomach may surprise you with a range: from half an hour to 6 hours. How long does it take for food to enter the intestines? After 7-8 hours of moving through the small intestine with parallel splitting, the food passes into the large intestine, where it can stay for about 20 hours. To sum up, how much food fuel will be processed to feces as much as possible (we apologize for the terminology “off the table”): around 1.5 days.

It is necessary to separate the concepts of "digestion" and "assimilation". The first determines how long the food is in the stomach, undergoing processing in the form of splitting into simple chemical compounds. The second involves the absorption of the received elements and their use to replenish energy needs, regenerate cellular tissues, and maintain the viability of organs and systems.

The end date of protein processing is significantly different from the indicators of how much carbohydrates and fats are absorbed over the same period. For the first, the splitting process coincides with the moment of digestion, facilitating further absorption, for the second, digestion is already transferred to the intestines (complex carbohydrates), delaying penetration into the blood.

It is important to understand how much food is in the stomach, to distinguish between the time of digestion of products and the time of assimilation. Doctors are not recommended to mix meals, throwing in a new batch of "fuel" before the old one is completely processed. In our article, digestion will also mean complete assimilation for ease of orientation.

The period indicating how long the food enters the intestines after being processed in the stomach is the rate of digestion. Products sometimes differ in directly opposite characteristics with respect to this parameter.

The table of digestion of food by time will help to systematize indicators and divide food into groups.

Rapid absorption (carbohydrates) Berries, fruit and vegetable juices, fruits (except banana, avocado), vegetables

No more than 45 minutes.

How much fruit is digested - 35-45 minutes

Medium digestion (proteins with little fat) Eggs, seafood, poultry, dairy products (except cottage cheese and hard cheese)

About 1-2 hours.

How much fish is digested - 1 hour

Long-term absorption (complex carbohydrates) Potatoes, cottage cheese, hard cheese, cereals, mushrooms, legumes, bakery products, nuts

Approximately 2-3 hours.

How much porridge is digested - 2 hours

Not digested Canned fish, stews, pasta (from durum varieties), tea and coffee with milk, animal meat, mushrooms

More than 3-4 hours or simply displayed.

How much pork is digested - up to 6 hours

It became clear how much food is digested in the stomach. The table reflects approximate product grouping vectors, presenting the big picture. However, certain ways of processing and mixing ingredients can affect the absorption of food. We single out three stages of complicating the life of the gastrointestinal tract:

  • The same digestion time, no heat treatment, fats and sugar are not mixed.
  • The same digestion time, sugar or butter, spices are added.
  • Different digestion times, different processing and preparation methods, oils or fats are added.

In the third situation, it will be especially difficult for the body to assimilate the incoming fuel due to fats, which create a film that repels gastric juice, and stretching the processing time of the “material”. A feeling of heaviness and lack of appetite will tell you how long the food actually takes to digest. The simple compatibility of the components in terms of processing time and the pacification of fanaticism from fats will improve overall well-being.

A competent analysis of the data, how much food is digested, will allow you to build an infallible nutrition system that is ideally suited to the body. There are a number of general rules, following which will greatly facilitate the work of the digestive tract:

1. Try not to mix products of different time parameters so as not to burden the stomach.

2. Strive to create recipes and combinations within the same time group.

3. The addition of oils increases the duration of food digestion by an average of 2-3 hours.

4. Dilution of undigested food with any liquid will reduce the concentration of gastric juice, complicate the processing of "material" and clog the intestines with undigested residues subject to fermentation.

6. Boiled and fried foods lose some of their useful properties and lose their original structure, so the digestion time increases by 1.5 times.

7. Cold food is processed faster and can lead to obesity due to a violation of the absorption process. The feeling of hunger returns faster, the processes of absorption and utilization are disrupted, the intestines undergo decay processes. In particular, this rule applies to protein foods, which should be digested for at least 4 hours, and leave the body cold in 30 minutes.

8. Keep in mind that the most favorable time for processing the “material” is lunchtime, so it is fashionable to quench the thirst for mixing incompatible categories without consequences. Breakfast and dinner do not differ in such activity, so try to select foods of the same digestion time and quick assimilation.

9. When asked if food is digested during sleep, the answer will be a call to simple logic. Nighttime is a period of rest and recovery for the whole body, including the gastrointestinal tract. Eating before bed is tantamount to filling the stomach with useless rotten food, since the body will digest and assimilate the fuel fermented during the night only in the morning.

Despite the visual isolation and independence of the gastrointestinal tract, the indicators of how many hours food is digested in the stomach sometimes directly depend on our conscious choice. Make it easier for your body.

The indicator of how many hours food is digested in the stomach directly depends on the nature of the material itself. This topic has already been touched upon by the above table “The time of digestion of foods in the human stomach”, now we will analyze the categories in more detail.

Cereals and legumes

  • Let's take cereal. Buckwheat - the digestion time will stop at 3 hours.
  • The digestion time of rice in the stomach is 3 hours.
  • The digestion time of millet porridge is 3 hours.
  • How much barley is digested? Also 3 hours.
  • The digestion time of oatmeal is 3 hours.
  • How much is oatmeal digested in water (from flakes)? Only 1.5 hours.
  • Is corn digestible in the human body? Yes, if there is enough weight in the body to secrete the necessary enzymes. The procedure will take 2.3 hours (corn grits).
  • Let's move on to beans. How long does it take to digest lentils? The answer is 3 hours.
  • How much peas are digested (dry) - 3.3 hours.
  • The digestion time of green peas will stop at 2.4 hours.
  • How much beans are digested in the stomach? At least 3 hours.

Meat

  • How much pork is digested depends on the part: tenderloin - 3.3 hours, loin - 4.3 hours.
  • The digestion time of lamb converges at 3.3 hours.
  • How long does it take to digest chicken breast? About 3.2 hours.
  • How many hours meat (beef) is digested does not depend on the part. Approximately 3.3 hours.
  • How many dumplings are digested in the stomach - 3.3 hours.
  • The digestion time of fat can exceed a day.

Seafood

  • How long the fish is digested depends on the variety: low-fat (cod) will fit in 30 minutes, fatty (herring, salmon, trout) - 50-80 minutes.
  • How long do shrimp digest? About 2.3 hours.
  • Assimilation of sea cocktails will take approximately 3 hours.

Vegetables

  • How long does a potato take to digest? Young - 2 hours.
  • How long does a fried potato take to digest? Already 3-4 hours. Boiled - only 2-3 hours.
  • How are raw carrots digested? For 3 hours. The question why carrots are not absorbed without oil is not entirely correct: vitamin A is poorly absorbed, since it is fat-soluble. With oil, carrots take longer to digest, but the benefits are higher.
  • How much fresh cabbage (white cabbage) is digested - 3 hours.
  • How long does sauerkraut take to digest in the stomach? About 4 hours.
  • How much is boiled beets digested? This will take approximately 50 minutes.
  • How long does a cucumber take to digest? An average of 30 minutes (like tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, herbs).
  • Vegetable corn is not digested for more than 45 minutes (cook without oil).

Fruit

  • Consider kiwi. The digestion time will be 20-30 minutes.
  • How much an orange is digested - 30 minutes.
  • Let's take a grapefruit. The digestion time is 30 minutes.
  • How long does it take to digest an apple? The process will take 40 minutes.
  • How much is a banana digested? Approximately 45-50 minutes.
  • Wondering how long a pineapple takes to digest? The answer is 40-60 minutes.
  • How long does a mango take to digest? About 2 hours.

Animal Products

  • How much milk is digested - 2 hours.
  • How long does curd take to digest? Approximately 2.5 hours. Is the cottage cheese low fat? About 2.4 hours.
  • How much cheese is digested - 3.3 hours.
  • I wonder how much kefir is digested? 1.4 to 2 hours (non-greasy to fatty).
  • The digestion time of ryazhenka will be 2 hours.
  • How long does yogurt take to digest? Approximately 2 hours.
  • For gourmets: how long does ice cream take to digest? The process takes 2.3 hours.
  • How much a boiled egg is digested - 2.2 hours. What about egg white? The same indicators.
  • How much fried eggs are digested depends on the volume. A dish of two hard-boiled eggs - 2-3 hours.
  • How long does an omelet take to digest? A little over 2 hours.

flour products

  • The time of digestion of bread in the stomach depends on the type of flour: from 3.1 hours (wheat) to 3.3 hours (rye).
  • The question of how much bread is digested is difficult. The product has a lot of fiber (100 grams = 4 loaves of rye bread), which is digested for a long time.
  • How long does pasta take to digest? Approximately 3.2 hours.

Sweets (honey, nuts, chocolate)

  • How much marshmallow is digested - 2 hours.
  • The digestion time of chocolate will be 2 hours.
  • How much is halva digested? Approximately 3 hours.
  • Peanuts, like other nuts, are digested on average 3 hours, but the process can be accelerated if the product is crushed and soaked.
  • Let's take dry fruits. Digestion time varies from 2 hours (raisins, dates) to 3 (prunes, pears).
  • The digestion time of honey is 1.2 hours.

Liquids

  • Coffee with milk is not digested, as tannin and milk proteins form an indigestible emulsion.
  • The digestion time of tea in the stomach will be about an hour.
  • How long does water stay in the stomach? Together with food - about an hour. The liquid, drunk on an empty stomach, immediately enters the intestines. It is absorbed at one time about 350 ml (concerns water and food).
  • How long does soup take to digest? Vegetable broth - 20 minutes, meat - depends on the base and ingredients, difficult to determine.

The residence time of food in the human stomach is an extremely variable value, but it can be easily brought under control. Follow simple rules for eating, combine the right ingredients at the right time to avoid overloading the digestive tract and causing fermentation, choose the right time. It's easy to be healthy.

The digestive system in the human body has different motor properties depending on age. The mechanisms of digestion of the child in the mother's womb are launched, when the time of life has not actually begun its countdown. In the course of history, food in the stomach of an adult begins to be digested more and more slowly.

To maintain health, a person should know the nuances of his metabolism and how the process of digestion occurs. This information becomes especially relevant when studying the methods of preparing various dishes. Then the digestion time becomes optimal. At the same time, the stomach feels comfortable, it will not be tormented by toxins from undigested food residues.

Speaking of digestion, they usually mean a full cycle, that is, the period of time from food entering the human body until it is completely broken down into useful substances. A gastroenterologist can say that even for heavy meat products, the digestion time does not exceed five hours. However, in this case we are talking only about the moment of finding food directly in the stomach. Indeed, this is the average time a lump of food stays in it. Then it moves to the small intestine for absorption, after which it reaches the large intestine, where it is excreted. Of course, how long this cycle lasts depends largely on the physical condition of a person, the individual characteristics of his gastrointestinal tract. In addition, food will be digested differently with excellent diets, the size of single servings of food, and the compatibility of products with each other.

In the science of proper nutrition, there are various tables with the division of products into certain categories. The main thing is to listen to your body and know the general principles of digestion. For ease of reference, the following table can be suggested.

Factors affecting absorption

When planning proper nutrition, it is important to know what determines the time spent by food in the stomach. The following factors influence this:

1. Temperature of finished products. The rate of assimilation of cold food is lower than that of hot food. The digestion time of warm food is the most optimal for the stomach.

2. The method of heat treatment, that is, how exactly a person prepares his food. So when cooking or frying food, its original structure, characteristic of the raw state, changes, some of the enzymes are destroyed. As a result of such transformations, the time required for digestion increases several times.

3. How much food is digested in the stomach also depends on the duration of the meal. The most optimal time for digestion is in the middle of the day (lunch). During the periods of morning and evening meals, a person needs to spend more body resources on the same process.

4. Mixing food is one of the most important factors for digestion time. It has been established that different products are characterized by an unequal rate of assimilation. For example, hard cheese takes about 7 times longer to digest than an apple. There are types of food that are not digested at all, or it takes a lot of time and body resources to do this. Accordingly, the time of digestion of food in the stomach will depend on what products get together with a person.

Answering the question about the digestion time, most often they talk about the variety of dishes on the menu and their usefulness, while forgetting to mention the importance of the thermal cooking regime. In this case, warm food of medium temperature is most suitable. This is due to the peculiarities of the structure and functioning of the mucous membranes of the human body. In case of violation of the temperature regime, the epithelial tissue of the internal organs begins to suffer, negative processes are triggered, which can even lead to cancer.

Science knows the fact that cold and icy food can lead the body to obesity. This is due to the disrupted time of digestion of chilled food in the stomach. Instead of the necessary 4-5 hours, she leaves it in half an hour, as a result of which normal digestion becomes impossible. It is much more difficult to get enough, a feeling of hunger covers a person faster. In addition, the indicated reduction in time leads to an increase in the processes of putrefaction in the intestines, and the normal mechanism of assimilation and utilization is disrupted.

How long the stomach will digest food is directly related to its temperature. Drinking after a meal, even a glass of cold water can do much harm. The protein component does not have the ability to correctly break down into amino acids, and bypassing the stomach, it begins to actively rot in the intestines. Thus, the food is digested incorrectly, which in turn serves as the basis for inflammatory diseases (eg, colitis, enteritis, dysbacteriosis). As a result, a person falls into a vicious circle when food is digested in a disturbed way.

Hot food is no less dangerous for the proper functioning of the body. In a similar temperature state, the walls of the esophagus are burned and its mucous membrane necrosis occurs. This can lead to swelling of its tissues and impaired swallowing. In the future, this situation leads to the formation of ulcers, which, when healed, cause a narrowing of the esophagus. Thus, at incorrect temperatures, food is not only digested incorrectly, but poses a danger to the functioning of the whole organism.

In order for the diet to be as balanced as possible, it is recommended to take into account not only calorie content, but also compatibility. There are three main categories:

1. In the first - easily combined products that are digested the same amount of time. This category includes fruits and vegetables, as well as mixed salads and broths.

1. bitterness in the mouth, putrid smell;

2. frequent disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, alternating constipation with diarrhea;

3. fatigue, general lethargy;

2. Products of the following type can also be mixed, they take approximately the same time to assimilate. However, sugar, spices and oils are added to them. Due to this, the stomach releases a large portion of acid for digestion, which leads to an increase in the time the food bolus stays in it. Eggs, fish, skinless chicken fall into this list.

3. The third category is characterized by different chemical indicators. They will be digested for a longer amount of time, as they undergo additional processing during cooking. A wider choice is already presented here: nuts, cottage cheese, cereals, potatoes, mushrooms and legumes.

Thus, food is digested both depending on its physical properties and on the products with which it is taken. The following list of foods will be digested the longest in the body: pasta (mainly from durum wheat), hard cheese, canned fish, stews, pates, tea and coffee with milk.

Basics of separate nutrition

It is optimal for the body as a whole, and in particular for the stomach, to eat one type of food at a time. Since the time relevant for its digestion is the same, such an approach makes it possible to accurately calculate it and maintain the necessary pause, after which you can eat products from another category. When a person eats inconsistently, it not only changes the time the food stays in the stomach, but also clutters the intestines, leading to the accumulation of toxins.

How long should I wait before the next meal? The amount of time required for this process directly depends on the category whose products are currently being consumed. How many hours then do not eat at all? According to the principles of separate nutrition - about two. The exception is fruits: the time between taking them can be reduced to half an hour. It is also important to initially eat liquid meals, do not drink during and after meals. Chew thoroughly until soft. The fewer items a person mixes at one time, the better the food will be digested and there will be less chance of earning obesity.

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Digestion of food, depending on its type, takes from 15 minutes to 6 hours, however, these time frames have individual fluctuations. The maximum activity of the digestive tract occurs in the middle of the day, the minimum - at night, according to this, the time for digestion of food changes. In children and young people, digestion is accelerated, in the elderly it is slowed down. Slow down digestion and pervert its diseases and digestive disorders. Food combinations also affect the speed - if they have different digestion times, the total time spent in the gastrointestinal tract increases.

From several factors:

  • chemical composition - carbohydrates are absorbed the fastest, their digestion begins already in the oral cavity, followed by proteins, and fats close the list, for the breakdown of which many enzymes and the entire surface of the small intestine are required;
  • water content in the product - the more water, the faster the absorption;
  • food temperature - cold food is digested several times faster;
  • cooking methods - raw foods are digested within an hour, and the assimilation of complex dishes of multi-stage cooking can take many hours;
  • food combinations - dishes from foods with approximately the same digestion time are quickly digested;
  • uniformity of food intake and portion sizes - fractional meals with a break of no more than 3 hours and a volume of about 1 cup are recognized as the most physiological;
  • eating habits without a feeling of severe hunger - if the previous portion of food is not digested, the absorption of the next one slows down, fermentation processes develop.

Easily and indigestible foods

By the time of assimilation, all products can be distributed as follows.

Category Products Digestion time, hour
Easily digestible Fruit and vegetable juices, vegetable broth 15 – 20 minutes
Juicy raw fruits eaten separately - watermelon, melon, cucumber, tomato, orange, grapes 30 to 60 minutes
stone fruit - cherry, apricot, peach up to 50 minutes
raw vegetable salads without dressing 40 minutes
boiled vegetables - zucchini, squash, cauliflower 30 – 40 minutes
fatty fish in salted, boiled or baked form - herring, salmon, trout 45 to 60 minutes
lean fish - boiled and baked up to 40 minutes
eggs 50 minutes
root crops - beets, carrots, turnips
skinless poultry meat - turkey, chicken up to 1 hour
Medium digestible avocado up to 2 hours
boiled whole grains - rice, buckwheat, millet, corn, barley, oatmeal up to 90 minutes
legumes - peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils up to 90 minutes
seeds, sesame, soy up to 2 hours
meat broth, cocoa up to 2 hours
dairy products - milk, low-fat cottage cheese and cheese up to 2 hours
nuts - peanuts, cashews, walnuts up to 3 hours
raw vegetable salad with butter from 1.5 hours
rye bread and potatoes, ham
Hard to digest hard fatty cheeses 4 hours or more
fatty and fibrous meats - horse meat, beef, lamb 5 or more hours
fried meat and mushrooms from 4 hours
indigestible vegetable fiber, fruit peel, hard cartilage

How to speed up the digestion time of food?

It is necessary to speed up digestion only when there are violations, and the doctor confirmed the presence of the disease. In all other cases, it is better not to interfere in the processes regulated by nature itself, so as not to harm yourself with rash actions.

If such a need still exists, you can use the following methods:


When I eat I am deaf and dumb

This saying is true in all cases. When a person eats, he should not do anything else. Nutrition is the most important process for sustaining life. Food is the "fuel" on which each of us lives. Everything that interferes with digestion must be set aside:

Food swallowed "under stress" cannot bring benefits. When a person is involved in emotions, whether positive or negative, the whole organism reacts to it. The heart speeds up, the lungs breathe faster, and the stomach and intestines contract. Normal digestion against the background of the scandal is completely impossible. Food is "stale", rotting begins with all the ensuing consequences.

What about in other countries?

In many nations, the laws concerning food are dictated by the peculiarities of the climate. The Jews were especially successful in this. Their food is divided into 3 types: meat, dairy and neutral - cereal and fruit and vegetable. In the kitchens of many restaurants, and some at home, there are 2 refrigerators - separately for meat and dairy products.

Before the invention of the refrigerator, the separate consumption of meat and milk protected Jews from food poisoning in the heat of the day. Over time, this acquired a religious consecration, but the principles remained unchanged.

For those who have slow digestion, it makes sense to adhere to this division. Meat and milk are digested in completely different ways, since proteins have a completely different structure, different enzymes and digestive juices are required. The simultaneous "loading" of the digestive system with heterogeneous proteins and fats can significantly disrupt digestion in those who already have a defect. Therefore, it is advisable to use meat and dairy food separately, mixing it only with neutral - cereals, pasta, vegetables.

You can also avoid complex gravies and sauces that contain a lot of superheated fats. It is convenient to bake meat with fruit - organic acids not only make it soft, but add flavor and perfectly replace the sauce.

It doesn’t take much to “tune” digestion - just don’t throw anything into your mouth.

Consider the digestion time of various foods. I think this will be interesting to many and everyone should have an idea about this. Knowing the digestion time of foods is very important for maintaining your health. If you know the digestion time of food, you will be able to prepare dishes that will be normally digested in your stomach and will not poison the body with toxins from undigested food residues.

Speaking about the time of digestion of food, we will understand the full cycle, that is, the period of time that is necessary for the products to be completely broken down into useful substances. Many gastroenterologists will tell you that the digestion time of even heavy meat products does not exceed 4-5 hours. But they talk about the time of digestion of foods in the stomach. In fact, food is not in the stomach for more than 4 hours. After that, it enters first into the small intestine, where the process of assimilation takes place, and then into the large intestine for excretion.

The figures below are average values. The time of digestion and assimilation also depends on the individual characteristics of the body, on the diet, food composition, the amount of food eaten and on the compatibility of products with each other. So friends, let's take a look at which products pass through our stomach almost instantly, and which ones stay there for long hours.

Water- if your stomach is empty, then the water passes immediately into the intestines

Fruits and vegetables

Fruits are digested on average 30-60 min. Energy and enzymes are almost not spent on the digestion of fruits.

Fruit and vegetable juices and vegetable broths - 20-30 minutes.




Semi-liquid juices, such as pureed vegetable or fruit salad - 20-30 minutes. For example, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice will leave our stomach in 20 minutes after you drink it.

Juicy fruits: oranges, apples, pears, plums and so on. For example, a couple of eaten juicy and fragrant oranges will leave the stomach in 30-40 minutes. Grapefruits, grapes - 30 minutes. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc. - 40 minutes

Meaty fruits and dried fruits: bananas, figs, dates will pass the stomach in more time than juicy fruits, but still very quickly compared to the products that follow. Watermelon - 20 minutes. Melons - 30 minutes.

Raw mixed vegetable salads- tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, celery, green or red pepper, other juicy vegetables - 30-40 minutes

leafy vegetables- spinach, chicory, kale - 40 minutes

Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin, corn on the cob x - 45 minutes

Roots- carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, etc. - 50 minutes

Cereals, cereals and legumes

Grain digestion time

Concentrated carbohydrates - cereals and cereals. The time of digestion of cereals and cereals in the stomach increases dramatically. Therefore, it is recommended to eat fruits on an empty stomach, separately from cereals and cereals. A plate of ordinary porridge leaves the stomach only after 4-5 hours!

Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, cornmeal, oats, pelovka- 90 minutes

Durum wheat pasta: 3 hours

Semi concentrated carbohydrates- starches, Jerusalem artichoke, acorns, corn, potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, yams, chestnuts - 60 minutes

legume digestion time

Beans and legumes. Ordinary peas and chickpeas, lentils, beans (white, red, black) - are digested in an hour and a half. Soybeans - 2 hours

Cereals or legumes of the same type: 2.5-3 tsp.
A mixture of grains and / or legumes (no more than two types): 3-3.5 hours.
A mixture of grains and / or legumes (more than two types): more than 4-5 hours.

Nuts and seeds

Seeds - sunflower, pumpkin, sesame - about 2 hours
Nuts - almonds, peanuts (raw), cashews, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts are digested - 2.5-3 hours.
Tip: If seeds and nuts are soaked overnight in water and then crushed, they will digest faster.
Soaked nuts: 1.5 tsp

Dairy

Raw milk slowly leaves the stomach, pasteurized even more slowly and boiled even more slowly. High-fat milk passes through the stomach more slowly than low-fat milk.

Skimmed milk, ricotta, low-fat cottage cheese, cheese, homemade cheese - digested for about 90 minutes.
Milk is completely digested in 12 hours. Tea or coffee with milk: 24 hours

Whole milk cottage cheese - 2 hours
Hard cheese made from whole milk, such as Dutch and Swiss cheese, will take 4 to 5 hours to digest.
Sour milk drinks - 1 hour

animal squirrels

Boiled eggs stay in the stomach longer than raw eggs. The scrambled eggs stay there for a long time as well.
Egg yolk - 30 minutes
Egg (totally) - 45 minutes.
Fish - 45-60 minutes
Chicken - 1-2 hours (no skin)
Turkey - 2 hours (no skin)
Beef, lamb - 3-4 hours
Pork - 4-5 hours

On average, meat is digested in the stomach within 4-5 hours, and absorbed by the body for a very long time. Bacon is digested slowly, because of the fat it lowers stomach acidity. For most people, it is difficult to digest. Fat significantly prevents the release of gastric juice after eating, reduces absorption and delays the digestion process.

In this article, we will consider digestion time various products . I think this will be interesting to many and everyone should have an idea about this. Know food digestion time very important for maintaining your health. If you will know food digestion time , then you can cook dishes that are normally digested in your stomach and will not poison the body with toxins from undigested food residues.

talking about food digestion time , we will understand the full cycle, that is, the period of time that is necessary for the products to be completely broken down into useful substances. Many gastroenterologists will tell you that digestion time even heavy meat products does not exceed 4-5 hours. But they talk about digestion time in the stomach. In fact, food is not in the stomach for more than 4 hours. After which she goes first to small intestine , where the assimilation process takes place, and then in colon for withdrawal.
The figures below are average values. The time of digestion and assimilation also depends on the individual characteristics of the body, on the diet, food composition, the amount of food eaten and on the compatibility of products with each other. So friends, let's take a look at which products pass through our stomach almost instantly, and which ones stay there for long hours.
Water - if your stomach is empty, then water passes immediately into the intestines

Digestion time of fruits and vegetables

Fruit on average, 30-60 minutes are digested. Energy and enzymes are almost not spent on the digestion of fruits.
Fruit and vegetable juices and vegetable broths- 20-30 minutes.
Semi-liquid juices, such as pureed vegetable or fruit salad- 20-30 minutes. For example, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice will leave our stomach in 20 minutes after you drink it.
Juicy fruits: oranges, apples, pears, plums and so on. For example, a couple of eaten juicy and fragrant oranges will leave the stomach in 30-40 minutes. Grapefruits, grapes - 30 minutes. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc. - 40 minutes
Meaty fruits and dried fruits: bananas, figs, dates will pass the stomach in more time than juicy fruits, but still very quickly compared to the products that follow. Watermelon - 20 minutes. Melons - 30 minutes.
Raw mixed vegetable salads- tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, celery, green or red peppers, other juicy vegetables - 30-40 minutes
leafy vegetables- spinach, chicory, kale - 40 minutes
Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin, corn on the cob- 45 minutes
Roots- carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, etc. - 50 minutes

Digestion timeh millet, cereals and legumes

Grain digestion time
concentrated carbohydrates- cereals and cereals. The time of digestion of cereals and cereals in the stomach increases dramatically. Therefore, it is recommended to eat fruits on an empty stomach, separately from cereals and cereals. A plate of ordinary porridge leaves the stomach only after 4-5 hours!
Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, cornmeal, oats, pelovka- 90 minutes
Durum wheat pasta: 3 hours
Semi concentrated carbohydrates- starches, Jerusalem artichoke, acorns, corn, potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, yams, chestnuts - 60 minutes

legume digestion time
Beans and legumes. Ordinary peas and chickpeas, lentils, beans (white, red, black) are digested in an hour and a half. Soybeans - 2 hours
Cereals or legumes of the same kind: 2.5-3 hours
A mixture of grains and / or legumes (no more than two types): 3-3.5 hours
A mixture of grains and/or legumes (more than two types): more than 4-5 hours.

Digestion timenuts and seeds

seeds- sunflower, pumpkin, sesame seeds - about 2 hours
nuts- Almonds, peanuts (raw), cashews, Brazil nuts, walnuts, pecans, Brazil nuts are digested - 2.5-3 hours.
Advice: if the seeds and nuts are soaked overnight in water, and then crushed, they will be absorbed faster.
Soaked Nuts: 1.5 hours

Digestion timedairy products

Raw milk slowly leaves the stomach, pasteurized even more slowly and boiled even more slowly. High-fat milk passes through the stomach more slowly than low-fat milk.
Skimmed milk, ricotta, low-fat cottage cheese, cheese, homemade cheese - digested for about 90 minutes.
Milk is completely digested in 12 hours. Tea or coffee with milk: 24 hours
Whole milk cottage cheese - 2 hours
Hard cheese made from whole milk, such as Dutch and Swiss cheese, will take 4 to 5 hours to digest.
Sour milk drinks - 1 hour

Digestion time animal proteins

boiled eggs stay in the stomach longer than raw. The scrambled eggs stay there for a long time as well.
Egg yolk- 30 minutes
Egg (totally) - 45 minutes.
Fish– 45-60 minutes
Chicken- 1-2 hours (without skin)
Turkey- 2 hours (without skin)
Beef, lamb– 3-4 hours
Pork– 4-5 hours
On average, meat is digested in the stomach within 4-5 hours, and absorbed by the body for a very long time. Bacon is digested slowly, because of the fat it lowers stomach acidity. For most people, it is difficult to digest. Fat significantly prevents the release of gastric juice after eating, reduces absorption and delays the digestion process.

Digestion time fatty food

It can be either fat in its pure form, for example, lard, or just fatty meat or fish, ice cream, and so on. Fat greatly inhibits gastric digestion. Fatty foods take the longest to digest. By the way, fatty fried meat, such as barbecue, is digested up to 72 hours, while our body spends a lot of energy on digesting such food. A person who regularly eats meat carries in himself several kilograms of feces, which turn into toxins and release toxins that poison the body.
It is not important how long the food is in the stomach, but in what form, digested or not digested (digested or not fully digested), it will pass into the intestines, and what will happen to it next.

Food digestion time table


This table should be printed and hung in a conspicuous place: how long do certain foods take to digest

Choosing food products in the supermarket and preparing food from them, we first of all think about the calorie content of food, its chemical composition and expiration date, but we don’t ask ourselves the question: how much food is digested? Meanwhile, the process of assimilation of different nutrients occurs in different ways. And how food is digested affects our well-being and health. The time of digestion of food for different products is different, and therefore mixed food can create heaviness in the stomach, enhance the processes of fermentation and decay, clogging the body with toxins. But first things first…

The food we eat, after entering the body, is a source of nutrients necessary for growth, energy, metabolic processes. The body is a real chemical laboratory, where food must be broken down into chemical components, and then used for its intended purpose. The time of digestion of food in different departments varies significantly.

Food passes through the digestive system, making a series of transformations in each department, mechanical and enzymatic:

  1. In the mouth, food is crushed and moistened with saliva. In saliva, the enzyme amylase begins the breakdown of carbohydrates.
  2. Several enzymes are already “working” in the stomach, aimed at digesting proteins and fats, curdling dairy products. Hydrochloric acid helps break down, destroying microbes along the way and neutralizing some poisons. Absorption of nutrients does not occur in the stomach. Products are there for a maximum of 3-4 hours.
  3. Enzymes continue to work in the duodenum, decomposing food into even smaller components, turning it into gruel. Here, the absorption of substances into the intestine partially begins.
  4. There is already an active process of absorption of the chemical components of food that enter the bloodstream, are cleared in the liver and blow to their destination (cells). All these processes take 7-8 hours.
  5. Remaining batteries are absorbed. Here, the remains of undigested food (slags) can be up to 20 hours.
  6. Waste products are excreted from the body through the large intestine.

The organs of the gastrointestinal tract push food through the digestive tract with the help of periodic contractions of smooth muscles, this process is called peristalsis. It is not difficult to calculate how much time the body spends on digesting food. The entire digestion process takes approximately 24 hours. From several kilograms of food eaten per day and 2-3 liters of liquid drunk, 200-300 g of undigested residues are excreted.

Important! Even before eating, a conditioned reflex “wakes up”: saliva is released for hunger, and gastric juice for tasty smells. Enzymes also begin to be released at a certain time if you eat strictly on time.

Digestion in the stomach

A person who is prone to overeating throws various products into his body, as if it were a firebox. But firewood burns for about the same time, and different foods need different times to digest. Knowing how much this or that product is processed, you can competently approach the creation of the menu, choosing food that decomposes in about the same time.

Important! Proteins, fats and carbohydrates take different times to break down. Try not to eat too often, knowing that the previous portion is still in the stomach. If you add hard-to-digest foods to the diet, then it is provided. Also, stop eating at least 4 hours before bedtime.

Food groups by digestibility time

All products can be divided into four groups according to the duration of their processing by the stomach. How long does it take to digest what we eat?

Group 1. This includes mainly carbohydrates, processing time: 30-35 minutes. These are broths, light salads, natural juices, as well as fresh (raw) vegetables and fruits.

Group 3. These are products containing starch and complex carbohydrates, processing time: 2-3 hours. This includes nuts, legumes, cottage cheese, hard cheese, potatoes and cereals.

Group 4. This list includes foods that are digested longer than others or are not digested at all. These are coffee, canned food, stew, mushrooms, bread and pasta.

Digestion time table of individual foods in the stomach

The table shows that carbohydrates are digested the fastest in the body. Next in ascending order are proteins and fats.

Important! Water without impurities does not need to be digested. It passes almost immediately into the intestines, which takes 10-15 minutes. In addition, it is an important component of our body, because every cell of the body is 80% water.

In addition to the types of products, other factors also play an important role in the speed of digestion.

What affects the duration of digestion?

  1. Temperature. Hot foods take longer to digest than cold foods. For example, okroshka takes less time to digest in the stomach than borscht or casserole from the oven.
  2. Meal time. The most active food is processed during the day, at lunchtime. Food taken at breakfast and dinner needs more time before it ends up in the intestines.
  3. Treatment. In cooked and fried foods, enzymes characteristic of raw food are destroyed during the cooking process, and the stomach absorbs them one and a half times longer.
  4. Combination. How and with what a person mixes products depends on their processing. For example, an apple takes half an hour to digest, and hard cheese takes five hours.
  5. A soft-boiled egg is processed by the body faster than a hard-boiled one.

Important! You do not need to eat until the stomach is free from the previous portion of food. Then the problem of excess weight will be solved by itself, and without heavy and strict diets it is easy to lose the hated kilograms.

Basics of separate nutrition

Often tasty and healthy food are mutually exclusive concepts. Even so-called haute cuisine dishes often consist of products with different absorption times by the body. Therefore, a restaurant menu suitable for special occasions should not be made your daily meal.

It is useful to eat foods with the same digestion time at one time. And only after the complete assimilation of the nutrients received by the body, be taken for the next intake of food intake. A diet that contains mixed foods with different digestion times leads to "clutter" of the gastrointestinal tract, as some foods have already been digested, while others have not yet been digested.

With such inconsistent nutrition, the processes of fermentation and decay begin, which are accompanied by bloating, belching and flatulence. Further, there is an accumulation in the intestines of toxins. Over time, they will interfere with the absorption of food, as the intestinal walls become slagged. Digestive disorders are also possible.

The principles of separate nutrition are based on the following rules:

  • a single serving should contain compatible products that are mastered at the same time;
  • the interval between meals should be at least 2 hours (the only exception is fruits);
  • do not mix solid food with drinks;
  • liquid foods should be consumed before meals, not after it;
  • chew food slowly and thoroughly, and do not swallow in pieces.
  • be sure to add dry herbs and a variety of spices to food, as they contribute to the production of enzymes.

All this will help the work of the digestive tract, good health, lightness. So you avoid overeating and.

We often try to indulge ourselves by including in the diet products that are little or completely incompatible. But eating delicious doesn't mean eating right. Here you need to think over the menu to combine business with pleasure. Unfortunately, we do not always have enough time, energy and desire for this. However, in order not to bring your body to illness, it is worth taking the time to develop a balanced daily menu.

Anton Palaznikov

Gastroenterologist, therapist

Work experience more than 7 years.

Professional skills: diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and biliary system.

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