How much vegetable soup is digested. How long does it take to digest and assimilate different foods. After how many minutes will such food enter the intestines

For many of us, "not eating after six" sounds like a Chinese curse. Still would! When you come home at 7 pm, and dinner was at 12 pm, it is difficult to restrain yourself and not rush to the refrigerator with all your might. However, in this case, there is an alternative: you need to eat something that will definitely be digested at least 2-3 hours before bedtime. After all, the meaning of the "do not eat after 6" diet is not that after a certain time food should not enter the stomach, but that during sleep your body does not bother itself with such hard work as digesting food, but directs its forces to other useful things (cell regeneration, etc.) and just rested. Therefore, if you eat a cottage cheese casserole at 6 or, say, a vegetable salad at 7:30, the result will be the same: your stomach will sleep soundly with you, and not digest the dinner eaten "at the wrong time".
In this article, we will consider the time of digestion of food. In medicine, the term "digestion" refers to the stay of food in the stomach. Knowing the digestion time of food is very important for maintaining your health. If you know the digestion time of food, you can prepare dishes that will be digested normally in your stomach and will not poison the body with toxins from undigested residues food.

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 split into useful material. 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 assimilation process takes place, and then into colon for withdrawal.

The figures below are average values. The time of digestion and assimilation also depends on individual features organism, 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

Fruit on average, 30-60 minutes are digested. Energy and enzymes are almost not spent on the digestion of fruits.

fruit- 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, as 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 for more time than juicy fruit, but still very fast compared to products that follow. Watermelon - 20 minutes. Melons - 30 minutes.

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

Vegetables boiled, stewed or steamed
Leafy vegetables - spinach, chicory, kale - 40 minutes
zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin, corn on the cob - 45 minutes
Root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, etc. - 50 minutes.

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.

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 one type: 2.5-3 hours Mixed 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.

seeds - sunflower, pumpkin, sesame - about 2 hours.

nuts - almonds, peanuts (raw), cashews, Brazilian nut, Walnut, 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 in about 90 minutes.
Milk is completely digested in 12 hours.
Tea or coffee with milk: 24 hours
Curd from whole milk- 2 hours
hard cheese from whole milk, such as Dutch and Swiss, will require 4 to 5 hours to digest.
Sour milk drinks - 1 hour

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, due to fat lowers stomach acidity. For most people, it is difficult to digest. Fat significantly prevents the secretion of gastric juice, contractions of the stomach and reduces absorption.

Fatty food. It can be like fat in pure form, for example, lard, or just fatty meat or fish, ice cream, and so on. Fat slows down gastric digestion. Exactly fatty food takes the longest time 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 several kilograms stool, which turn into slags and release toxins that poison the body.

It is important not how long the food is in the stomach, but in what form, digested or not digested (digested or underdigested), it will pass into the intestines, and what will happen to it next.

If you do not eat while there is food in the stomach, then you can not only lose weight (based on not overeating), but also maintain a healthy gastrointestinal tract. Gradually, the stomach will decrease in size, and the habit of not overeating will remain with you.

Today, many men and women are addicted to the right and balanced diet. This is one of the main elements healthy lifestyle life in general, along with maintaining a good physical form and lack bad habits. In addition, very often people begin to adhere to proper nutrition to get rid of a few extra pounds and improve your figure.

In order to eat a balanced diet, it is necessary to understand exactly how the processes of digestion and assimilation of food in the human body proceed. In this article, we will tell you about what is meant by these terms, and how long food is digested in the body of an adult and a child.

What is the digestion and assimilation of food, and what determines the time of these processes?

Despite the fact that many people consider these concepts synonymous, in reality, there are significant differences between them. The term " digestion"Means the length of time that food is in the human stomach. Proteins and fats are broken down during this time, so in the case of them, these two concepts are similar.

Meanwhile, the processes of digestion and assimilation of carbohydrates in the human body are a little more complicated. Getting into oral cavity, the products are preliminarily split into chemical elements, and only after that are gradually absorbed by the digestive tract.

It should be borne in mind that the rate of digestion of food and the assimilation of various dishes can vary significantly depending on their composition.

In general, these processes begin with the mechanical and enzymatic processing of food in the oral cavity. Further, any food enters the stomach. Food stays in the stomach for an average of 30 to 360 minutes. Then, until 7-8 o'clock, the products continue to be sent to small intestine, while at the same time splitting and partially assimilated.

Finally, everything that has not had time to be digested moves to the large intestine, where it can stay for up to 20 hours until it leaves the body. Only upon completion of all these processes, it is possible to figure out how long a person's food is digested.

How long does it take for various foods to be digested in the human stomach and intestines?

The only product that practically does not linger in the stomach is pure water without impurities. If you drink any amount of water on an empty stomach, it moves into the intestines almost immediately, after a maximum of 5-10 minutes.

For all other types of food, it takes some time to digest first in the stomach and then in the intestines. Consider how long various foods are digested in the stomach in an adult and a child.

The body of newborn children is able to absorb only milk protein, while for the final digestion and splitting of the milk of his mother, the baby needs approximately 2-3 hours, and the milk of a cow or goat - about 4 hours.

By the age of 7, the volume of the child's stomach increases to one liter, and the number of glands in it increases significantly. The time it takes to digest a certain kind food at this age is about two norms compared to the time needed for an adult.

At the age of 10-12 years, this figure is about 1.5 norms, and adolescents after 15 years of age need the same time to digest any food as adults. In addition, it should be borne in mind that in men, food is broken down and absorbed a little faster than in women, and in older people after 75-80 years required time for digestion of dishes can be slightly increased.

Depending on the type of vegetables and fruits, the time required for their assimilation in the stomach of an adult has approximately the following values:

• Natural fruit and vegetable juices, as well as vegetable broths - about 15-20 minutes;
• Puree in the form of mashed fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as light fruit and vegetable salads, not seasoned vegetable oil– from 20 to 30 minutes;
• Watermelon is completely digested and broken down in the body of an adult within 20 minutes, melon, grapes, grapefruit and grapes - about half an hour, peaches and apricots, apples, as well as cherries and other berries - about 40 minutes;
• Pumpkin, zucchini, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, broccoli spend about 40-45 minutes in the stomach. Approximately the same amount of digested kale, chicory, spinach, bell pepper, celery and fresh cucumbers;
• Various root vegetables such as turnips, beets, turnips, parsnips or carrots take at least 50 minutes to digest.

In addition, it should be borne in mind that fruits and vegetables eaten raw take longer to digest than the same foods that have been processed. heat treatment. So, any vegetables, boiled, stewed or steamed, are digested for about 40 minutes.

At the same time, in such dishes, the amount of valuable and nutrients, due to which, accordingly, the time of their processing is reduced.

In turn, other products are digested in the human body much longer.

For example:

• Many people are interested in how much time is digested in the human body milk and dairy products. On average, this figure for fresh cow and goat milk is about 120 minutes. Pasteurized milk leaves the stomach a little longer, while boiled milk takes even longer. In addition, the disintegration period of this drink directly depends on the percentage of fat in it. So, more fat milk leaves the human body longer than less fat. However, this figure refers only to the breakdown of the drink by the stomach. Fresh milk is completely absorbed by the body after at least 12 hours. As for dairy products, kefir and others fermented milk drinks leave the stomach in about an hour, cheese and homemade cheese - after 90 minutes, cottage cheese - after 2 hours, and hard cheese - after 4-5 hours;
• Pasta and vermicelli are split in the stomach for about 3 hours, most cereals - about 4-5 hours, peas, beans and other legumes - at least 2 hours;
• Almost all nuts are digested in about 2.5-3 hours. Meanwhile, if you soak them in water overnight or even for a day, this period will be significantly reduced;
• Boiled eggs are completely digested in 45 minutes, while the yolk does this much faster;
• Fish and dishes from it are digested quite quickly - from 30 to 60 minutes, while meat, on the contrary, remains in the human stomach for a long time. The digestion time for poultry, such as chicken or turkey, is about 2 hours, for beef, 3-4 hours, and for pork, about 4-5 hours. Despite the fact that any kind of meat leaves the stomach after a maximum of 5 hours, they can remain in the human body for up to several days. Fatty and well-done meat, which most men love so much, is fully absorbed only after about three days. Human body spends on digestion and assimilation of these types of food great amount energy. Regular use of such products inevitably leads to slagging of the body and the appearance of extra pounds.

Of course, this is all incredibly relative. In fact, the process of digestion of food begins even before it enters the oral cavity. In addition, adding any, even the most insignificant product to a certain dish, can completely change the time required for its absorption by the human body.

Every living organism, be it a bacterium, a reptile or a person, has adapted to life in the course of its development largely due to the ability to assimilate nutrients from environment. What are the features of food digestion in humans and animals, what are the principles of separate nutrition based on? You will learn about this from our publication.

For digestion various kinds food is needed different time.

AT different ages the functioning of the human digestive tract has its own characteristics, which is most pronounced when comparing infants, older children and adults. The work of the digestive system begins in a child in the womb. In the second half prenatal development the fetus begins to absorb the so-called amniotic fluid with the nutrients present in it, which are absorbed into the blood in the stomach and intestines, and the secretory cells of the pancreas and stomach are already beginning to produce a small amount of enzymes.

In a newborn baby, all digestive organs are tuned to absorb mother's milk. The salivary glands are still poorly developed, and active production of saliva begins only by 4-5 months of age, but even at this time its volume is only 10% of that of an adult. Enzymatic activity saliva is small, but it is enough for milk casein to be well absorbed.

At infants short esophagus and horizontally located stomach with weak advanced departments, which explains the phenomenon of regurgitation after feeding. In addition, in young children in the stomach fewer glands than in an adult, the acidity of the digestive secretion is also lower. The digestive enzyme pepsin in infants is able to process only milk protein. For digestion mother's milk the baby needs about 2-3 hours, and the cow - up to 4 hours, which is why the latter is absorbed worse.

By the age of seven, the number of glands in the stomach increases, and the volume of the stomach increases to 1 liter. In children under the age of 10-12, there is an intensive absorption of nutrients in the stomach, while in adults this process mostly occurs in small intestine. The acidity of gastric juice, corresponding to an adult, is achieved by the age of 15 due to an increase in the production of of hydrochloric acid. The activity and concentration of digestive enzymes is highest in the period from 20 to 40 years, then it decreases. In men, the concentration of hydrochloric acid is higher than in women, but after 75-80 years this figure levels off between the sexes. In old age, both the activity of pancreatic secretion and the intensity of absorption of digested food decrease.

Digestion time for different foods

Consider the time it takes to digest various food in the stomach of an adult. Knowing it, you can competently build your own daily menu and prevent intestinal blockage. The data is summarized in the table below.

Food is digested in the following order: carbohydrates, proteins, fats. Raw animal proteins are processed much faster than cooked ones. The more time it takes heat treatment, topics it gets worse digestion process, which is why a soft-boiled egg will digest faster than a hard-boiled one. This table will help you correct compilation your menu. For example, potatoes are healthier to eat with lean fish, chicken meat with lentil porridge, etc. In addition, if you follow the rule that you can’t eat until the stomach is free of food, you can lose weight without strict diets overweight and restore normal work gastrointestinal tract.

Principles of a separate type of power supply

The ideal option for the stomach and the body as a whole is to eat foods with the same digestion time at one meal, and each next move should be carried out after the complete assimilation of the previous portion. An inconsistent diet containing dishes with many ingredients is not considered optimal and leads to cluttering of the intestines and an increase in the processes of putrefaction in it, to the accumulation of toxins.

Eating food with certain time digestion, it is necessary to wait until this process is completed completely, and the stomach and intestines are freed. During this time, the food will have time to go through a full cycle of decomposition. Only after that it is allowed to eat foods that are digested slowly, and vice versa. If you do not follow the sequence of eating foods with different digestion times, then fruits, cooked and raw vegetables, starchy and protein food start wandering together. In this case, gases, acids and even alcohol molecules are released, indigestion and blockage occur.

The principles of separate nutrition are based on the use of only one serving compatible products, and between meals it is necessary to withstand at least 2 hours. The exception is fruits, after which you can eat other food after 20-30 minutes.

An important rule is that first of all it is necessary to eat liquid food, and avoid drinking drinks during and after meals. You need to chew food thoroughly, to a consistency close to liquid. Remember that the fewer types of food you mix, the better it is digested, and the less likely you will be to overeat.

Features of digestion in animals

In different animals, the process of digestion and assimilation of food occurs in different ways, let's see this in the example of rabbits, birds, dogs and hamsters.

Rabbits are animals that need a large number of fiber, and per day they can eat up to 30 times, while young individuals are more voracious, for example, small monthly rabbits can eat up to 55 times a day. The structure of their gastrointestinal tract is also very interesting, since the cecum is 7-9 times larger than the stomach. This feature makes it possible to process a huge amount of plant fibers, since microorganisms that decompose cellulose live in such a large appendix of rabbits. Rabbits have a high acidity of the gastric secretion, and its production occurs constantly, even at night, and not just during meals. An interesting feature is coprophagia - this is the eating by rabbits of their night feces, which differs from daytime. Thanks to this phenomenon, the body of animals receives more vitamins of group B. Time complete passage feed on the gastrointestinal tract of a rabbit is up to 48 hours.

Birds are endowed with a two-chambered stomach, which is divided into two sections. Each performs its own function: the first produces gastric juice, and the second works like a millstone, it always has a lot of small pebbles and grains of sand. In time, grains are absorbed the longest - 6-12 hours, it takes 30-60 minutes to process insects. In a chicken, for example, grain can be digested up to a day, and in sparrows - up to 6 hours.

But in ruminants, the digestive system is more complex, and the stomach consists of several chambers at once: a scar, a mesh, a book, and the stomach itself, which is called the abomasum. The scar is the most for the most part, and y certain types, for example, in cows, can reach incredible volumes - 110-145 liters. Digestion of food is also not complete without burping, when food that has entered the scar enters the oral cavity again for more thorough grinding. It takes up to 4-6 hours to digest food.

And what interesting things can be said about dogs? For the complete processing of the food they eat, they need from 6 to 16 hours, depending on the type of food. These four-legged friends have a peculiarity, which is that the concentration of acid in the gastric juice will be different depending on what kind of food you offer your pet. The most sour secret will be when eating meat, less when eating bread. But the power of the juice, due large quantity enzymes are higher when the dog eats bread, and for meat, although the acidity is the highest, there are fewer enzymes in the juice. It is also interesting what is produced for bread in dogs liquid saliva, and for meat - thicker.

Animals with very sensitive digestion are everyone's favorite hamsters, which cannot be fed with anything. For example, soybean that has entered gastrointestinal tract hamster, can cause ascites disease, and the acid of citrus fruits is harmful to the gastric mucosa of these animals. Persimmon can cause diarrhea in a hamster, sugary foods often lead to diabetes, and salty food disrupts the functioning of the kidneys. Vegetables and not very sweet fruits, raw nuts and corn, beans, cereals on the water and even children food. Interestingly, the teeth of hamsters are devoid of a protective layer of enamel, this is another reason why animals should not be given sweets. The stomach of a hamster perceives well raw apples, pears and carrots. Also digestive enzymes the animal copes with protein food, and every three to four days the animal can be fed with protein chicken egg, low fat boiled fish or beef without salt. It takes 3-4 hours for the digestion of food in the hamster's digestive system.

It is interesting

The process of digestion of food begins even before it enters the stomach, as the salivary and digestive glands are activated when you are hungry or smell the aroma. delicious dish or see it. This phenomenon is based on conditioned reflexes.

Per day salivary glands human produce more than 1.5 liters of saliva. Incredibly, the average person consumes up to half a ton of food per year. The total surface area of ​​the small intestine is 250 m 2 .

The main percentage of the hormone responsible for joy and high spirits is produced in the stomach, and it is called serotonin. digestive juices unable to digest chewing gum, therefore, when passing through the stomach and intestines, it remains unchanged, and can cause or block the lumen of the intestines.

Video about separate meals from the program "Malakhov +"

DIGESTION TIME OF DIFFERENT FOOD
(approximate time spent in stomach before passing on)

Water
if the stomach is empty, passes immediately to the intestines

Juices
fruit and vegetable, vegetable broth - 15-20 minutes
Semi-liquid (mashed salad, vegetables or fruits) - 20-30 minutes

Fruit
Watermelon - 20 minutes
Melons - 30 minutes
Oranges, grapefruits, grapes - 30 minutes
Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc. - 40 minutes

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

Vegetables boiled, stewed or steamed
Leafy vegetables - spinach, chicory, kale - 40 minutes
Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin, corn on the cob - 45 minutes
Root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, etc. - 50 minutes

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

Concentrated carbohydrates - cereals
Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, cornflakes, oats (first 3 - best) - 90 minutes

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

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

Dairy
Skimmed milk, ricotta, low-fat cottage cheese or cream cheese - about 90 minutes
Whole milk cottage cheese - 120 minutes
Whole milk hard cheese - 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, more oily fish- 45-60 minutes
Chicken - 1-2 hours (no skin)
Turkey - 2 hours (no skin)
Beef, lamb - 3-4 hours
Pork - 4-5 hours

Editor's Notes
approx. one: raw animal proteins are digested in more than a short time than that given above for prepared/heated animal fats.
approx. 2: given time digestion is given for the ideal situation where you eat one food at a time, chew well, your digestive tract works effectively, as, for example, after fasting. This is the digestion time for optimal healthy person with healthy eating behavior. For the most part, these data are taken from the work of Dr. Gian-Curcio and Dr. Bass.
Digestion time for a regular diet, for people with suboptimal digestion who have little energy, and for meals mixed from a large number ingredients (not collected in right order), much longer.

For proper nutrition, you need to know not only the number of calories in food, but also the time it takes to digest a particular product, so as not to burden the stomach with a senseless load in the form of some apple eaten between lunch and dinner. Fast-digesting foods give a person fast energy, digested slowly - a long feeling of satiety. Everything that is not included in the digestion time described below is digested even longer.
1 hour 15 minutes
Parsley

1 hour 30 minutes
Lemon
sea ​​kale

1 hour 45 minutes
Avocado
Grape
Mango
Olives
Raspberry

2 hours
Blueberry
Sweet cherry
grapefruit
oranges
Raisin
Coconut milk
artichokes
Garlic
Potatoes
tomatoes
brown rice

2 hours 15 minutes
Fresh figs
Pear
A pineapple
Strawberry
Asparagus
Carrot
Cabbage
Salads: lettuce, head, etc.

2 hours 30 minutes
Dates
Dried figs
Gooseberry
fresh peach
Almond
Dandelions
Greens
Leek
Mushrooms
beans
Beans
White rice
Basmati rice

2 hours 45 minutes
fresh apples
fresh apricots
Currant
Dried apricots
Prunes
Watermelon
chestnuts
fresh coconut meat
Pecan
pine nut
Beet
vegetable marrow
wheat bran

3 hours
Lime
Dried prunes
Hazelnut
Walnut
Broccoli
Cabbage
Swiss chard
Sweet corn
Chicory
Kohlrabi
Rhubarb
Spinach
White beans
Lentils
Soya beans
germinated wheat

3 hours 15 minutes
Cranberry
Cantaloupe
Melon-"torpedo"
Olive oil
Pomegranate
Cashew nuts
Dried coconut pulp
Celery
cucumbers
Onion
Sweet green pepper
Pumpkin
radish
Swede
sweet potato
Turnip
fresh peas
Peanut
Millet

3 hours 30 minutes
Sesame oil
eggplant
Mustard
dried peas
Soybean oil
Rye

3 hours 45 minutes
Persimmon
Quince
red cabbage
Barley
Wheat

4 hours
Brussels sprouts
Horseradish

Useful products that deserve more attention.

There are a number of products that we very rarely or never buy. Let us recall at least those vegetables and fruits that our mothers and fathers forced to eat, but we stubbornly refused. It's a pity! They help to improve health without a doctor's prescription. The benefits of such products have been proven by many years of use, and some - literally for centuries.
First on the list -kiwi. This exotic fruit is last years became a regular guest on our shelves. One kiwi a day covers daily allowance vitamin C, which is known to strengthen immune system, blood vessels, increases the body's resistance to all kinds of infections, helps the body fight stress. In addition, kiwi contains a lot of magnesium, mineral salts potassium and fiber, which helps to eliminate cholesterol from the body and normalizes digestion.
Second in line useful product - cranberry. This berry is indispensable for colds - it has an antipyretic effect, kills viruses in acute respiratory infections. The use of these healing berries lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients, strengthens the gums, enhances the secretory activity of the pancreas.
Raisins are delicious and nutritional product, has many useful properties. Raisins have a strengthening effect on nervous system, helps to suppress anger, strengthens the heart. Raisins contain substances that stop the growth of bacteria that cause tooth decay and gum disease.
Ends our list broccoli. This is an excellent supplier of vitamins C, PP, K, U and beta-carotene. ascorbic acid(vitamin C) in broccoli is almost 2.5 times more than in such recognized suppliers of this vitamin as citrus fruits. In addition, broccoli is a valuable source minerals: in terms of the content of potassium, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, it competes with its closest relative - cauliflower, surpassing it twice in terms of not only mineral salts, but also protein. Even for broccoli, the fame of a famous cancer fighter was entrenched - because of selenium, which this product is especially rich in. And, finally, for those who care about their figure, it will be useful to know that the calorie content of broccoli is only some 30 kcal per 100 g!

Külmkapp Foto: Sven Arbet

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? 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 (these are mostly carbohydrate foods)
- average digestion time (this is mainly protein food)
- food of long assimilation (it includes fatty foods and a combination of fatty with protein)
- Excessively long in the assimilation of food and practically indigestible.

The first category includes: 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 hour. For example, fruits pass into the intestines from the stomach after 40–45 minutes. In some situations, it can take 35-40 minutes.

The second category includes: 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.

The third category includes: 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 flour higher grades. 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, meat (including poultry, as well as fish), 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 to be healthy, you don't have to stick to a diet, you just need to eat as much as you can. more products, which 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.
- It is not recommended to combine foods and foods that have different digestion times in the stomach.
- If you have problems with your stomach or intestines, eat only food from categories 1 and 2.
- In the evening, you can also eat foods only 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.

The numbers below show how much time the products spend in the stomach and refer to people with a healthy digestive system with a single intake of only one specified product.

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

Read more

Vegetables
- Mixed salads (vegetables and fruits) are digested within 20-30 minutes
- Raw mixed vegetable salads - tomatoes, leaf lettuce ("roman", 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
- Steamed or water-cooked vegetables and leafy vegetables - spinach, chicory, collard greens - 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 food, like husked rice, buckwheat, millet, cornmeal, oatmeal, quinoa, Abyssinian panicles, 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 for 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 (no skin)
- Beef, lamb - 3-4 hours
- Pork - 4-5 hours