Consider the digestion time of various foods. I think many people will be interested in this and every person should have an idea about it. Knowing the digestion time of foods is very important to maintain your health. If you know the digestion time of food, you will be able to prepare dishes that will be digested normally in your stomach and will not poison the body with toxins from undigested food residues.
When talking about the digestion time of food, we will understand the full cycle, that is, the period of time that is necessary for foods 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 it takes for food to be digested in the stomach. In fact, food does not stay in the stomach for more than 4 hours. After which it goes first to the small intestine, where the process of absorption occurs, and then to 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, amount of food eaten and on the compatibility of foods with each other. So, friends, let's look at which foods pass through our stomach almost instantly, and which stay there for many hours.
Water - if your stomach is empty, then water goes straight into the intestines.
Fruits and vegetables
On average, fruits take 30-60 minutes to digest. Digesting fruits requires almost no energy or enzymes.
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 within 20 minutes after you drink it.
Juicy fruits: oranges, apples, pears, plums and so on. For example, a couple of eaten juicy and aromatic oranges will leave the stomach in 30-40 minutes. Grapefruits, grapes - 30 minutes. Apples, pears, peaches, cherries, etc. - 40 minutes
Fleshy fruits and dried fruits: bananas, figs, dates will take longer to pass through the stomach than juicy fruits, but still very quickly compared to the foods 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, endive, kale - 40 minutes
Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin, corn on the cob - 45 minutes
Root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, etc. — 50 minutes
Cereals, cereals and legumes
Digestion time for grains
Concentrated carbohydrates - cereals and grains. The digestion time of cereals and grains in the stomach increases sharply. Therefore, it is recommended to eat fruits on an empty stomach, separately from cereals and cereals. A plate of regular porridge leaves the stomach only after 4-5 hours!
Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, corn flour, oats, pearl barley - 90 minutes
Durum wheat pasta – 3 hours
Semi-concentrated carbohydrates - starches, Jerusalem artichoke, acorns, corn, potatoes, Jerusalem artichoke, yams, chestnuts - 60 minutes
Digestion time for legumes
Beans and legumes. Regular peas and chickpeas, lentils, beans (white, red, black) are digested in an hour and a half. Soybeans - 2 hours
Grains or legumes of one type: 2.5-3 tsp.
Mixture of grains and/or legumes (no more than two types): 3-3.5 tsp.
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 in 2.5-3 hours.
Tip: If you soak the seeds and nuts in water overnight and then crush them, they will be absorbed faster.
Soaked nuts: 1.5 tsp.
Dairy
Raw milk leaves the stomach slowly, pasteurized milk even slower, and boiled milk even slower. Milk that is rich in fat passes through the stomach more slowly than milk that is low in fat.
Skim milk, ricotta, low-fat cottage cheese, feta cheese, and homemade cheese are digested in about 90 minutes.
Milk is completely digested within 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, will require 4 to 5 hours to digest.
Fermented milk drinks – 1 hour
Animal proteins
Boiled eggs stay in the stomach longer than raw eggs. Scrambled eggs remain there for just as long.
Egg yolk – 30 minutes
Egg (completely) - 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 is absorbed by the body for a very long time. Bacon is digested slowly and lowers stomach acidity due to its fat. It is difficult for most people to digest. Fat significantly interferes with the secretion of gastric juice after eating, reduces absorption and delays the digestion process.
Fatty food. This can be pure fat, for example, lard, or simply fatty meat or fish, ice cream, and so on. Fat greatly inhibits gastric digestion. It is fatty foods that take the longest to digest. By the way, fatty fried meat, for example, kebab, takes up to 72 hours to digest, while our body spends a lot of energy on digesting such food. A person who regularly eats meat carries several kilograms of feces, which turn into waste and release toxins that poison the body.
It is important not how long the food stays in the stomach, but in what form, digested or not digested (digested or undigested), it passes into the intestines, and what happens to it next.
