Eating fruits and skipping main meal seems like a healthy way to detox your system and give your digestive system in night. Full of fibre, vitamins and antioxidants, fruits are indeed a healthy choice for fuelling your body with essential micronutrients and boosting your immunity. However, is it a good idea to just have a plate-full of fruits and give a cooked meal of vegetables, roti or rice a miss? Here’s what a nutritionist has to say. (Also read: Drink saunf and mishri water on empty stomach for these wonderful benefits)
Dissatisfied with the weight loss journey, people often go on extreme diets and exclusive fruit diets. But can eating just fruits and skipping other important food groups like protein, fats, carbs have an impact on your health?
Eating fruit for dinner a good idea?
“It is sad when you hear someone saying something about food and decide to follow it blindly without realising the repercussions that it can pose towards your body. Here I am breaking one of the most common myths of today about whether you can eat fruits in dinner or not. The answer is no. Dinner needs to be light but balanced in nature. Traditionally, Indians have been consuming preparations like pulao, Khichdi, dalia, and millet dosas for dinner. These are always topped up with ghee or eaten along with dal/kadi to fulfil the protein content. That makes a complete meal. But when some day you decide to start eating only and only fruits for dinner- you basically starve your body,” says Nutritionist Juhi Kapoor in her recent Instagram post.
“I will not suggest consuming only fruits in dinner meal for general population with no underlying medical conditions. We think wheat has carbs and sugar but fruits also contain carbs and has natural sugar. I usually suggest consuming fruits in breakfast or as evening snack but not as a main meal. One can definitely watch portion sizes consuming in dinner. Dinner is our major meal when the entire family sits together and enjoys dinner. Little quantity of fruits is fine to consume in dinner with other options, but not just fruits. It is important to focus on both micro and macro nutrients. Both are equally important. We can meet our daily nutritional requirements with balanced meal only. Each food group is important whether cereals, pulses, milk and milk products or fruits and vegetables,” says Shruti K Bhardwaj, Chief Dietician Zydus Hospitals, Ahmedabad.
Bhardwaj says there’s no major disadvantage in consuming fruits in dinner but it’s important to take balanced nutrition in other meals in that case. “In case one skipped breakfast and lunch and taking only fruits in dinner, it’s definitely not advisable,” says the nutritionist.
If one is taking early dinner around 7pm or so and feeling hungry at before sleep taking a apple or nuts are a good option
Healthy dinner options
Kapoor says keeping your body bereft of the much-needed nutrients can ultimately results in deficiencies, hair fall, dull skin and bone loss and recommends eating a balanced dinner and lists some options:
- Khichdi and sabzi
- Dal and chawal
- Millet Khichdi
- Millet dosa and sambar
- Dalia made with milk
- Egg pulao
- Egg curry and rice
- Omelette with chapati and sabzi
- Roti, sabzi, dal
- Roti sabzi and kadi
Kapoor recommends eating Indian meals as they are ‘wise and healthy.’