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Summer is the perfect season for enjoying various fruits, but eating them at the wrong time or without considering your body type might do more harm than good.
During summer, a variety of vibrant fruits are abundant: the eye-catching green-skinned, red-fleshed watermelon, golden mangoes, and clusters of plump lychees. These fruits can quickly replenish water and vitamin C, revitalizing a body fatigued by the summer heat. Hence, summer is the season when many people indulge in fruit.
Case Studies
- Xiao Qing, an office worker, is typically cold-sensitive and prone to diarrhea. Recently, she often buys large slices of watermelon from fruit stalls and eats them all at once when she gets home. She then finds herself feeling cold, shivering, and experiencing slight stomach pain.
- Linlin loves lychees. She smiles broadly when lychees are in season and often eats several bunches while watching TV. However, when it's time to sleep, she feels excessively hot and has trouble falling asleep.
Eating Fruits According to Your Body Type
Eating too much fruit can sometimes be harmful. "To achieve health benefits and disease prevention, you must match your fruit intake to your body type and the fruit’s properties," says Dr. Kun-Dao Tsai, Director of Internal Medicine at China Medical University Beigang Hospital.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) classifies the human body into cold and hot types. "A hot body type is characterized by a rosy complexion, aversion to heat, preference for cold drinks, and easy sweating," says Dr. Meng-Ting Zou, Director of Family Medicine at Mackay Memorial Hospital. "Conversely, a cold body type includes a pale complexion, aversion to cold, preference for hot drinks, and difficulty sweating."
However, your body type might be a mix of cold and hot. To understand your body type better, consult a TCM practitioner.
According to TCM, fruits also have properties and are mainly divided into cold, warm, and neutral categories.
- People with a hot body type should choose cold fruits and limit warm fruits to one serving (see "What is a Serving of Fruit?") to avoid excessive heat.
- People with a cold body type should choose warm fruits and avoid consuming too many cold fruits (also limited to one serving).
- Neutral fruits can be eaten by both body types.
Cold Fruits Common in Summer
Common cold fruits in summer include melons, bananas, kiwis, and dragon fruits. Cold fruits generally have cooling, fire-reducing, or detoxifying effects and can be used to treat heat symptoms (such as aversion to heat, dry mouth, constipation, and acne).
Watermelon: Avoid at Night
Watermelon can quickly replenish water, electrolytes, and vitamin C, making it an excellent afternoon fatigue reliever. However, those with a cold body type or gastrointestinal issues should limit themselves to one serving.
Banana: Half is Enough
Bananas and kiwis contain tryptophan, which can increase serotonin, helping to calm emotions and stabilize the nervous system. Medical research shows that bananas can alleviate depression and promote happiness. However, bananas are high in calories, so half a banana is equivalent to one serving of fruit.
Caution: People with a cold body type or prone to diarrhea should avoid eating too much watermelon as it can cause diarrhea. Eating watermelon late at night can lead to frequent urination and disrupt sleep. The white part between the watermelon flesh and rind has a stronger diuretic effect and should be avoided.
Warm Fruits Common in Summer
Common warm fruits in summer include lychees, longans, and durians. Warm fruits have warming, cold-dispelling, and yang-enhancing properties and can treat cold symptoms (such as aversion to cold, no dry mouth, diarrhea, and pale complexion).
Lychee: 5 Pieces per Serving
Lychee is sweet and sour, warm in nature, and can provide warmth. However, it's high in sugar and not easily digestible, so limit to 5 pieces per serving. "People with a cold body type feel less cold when eating lychees," says Dr. Kun-Dao Tsai.
Longan: 10-13 Pieces per Serving
Longan is sweet and slightly warm, can relieve fatigue, and enhance memory. If you have insomnia, drinking longan red date tea before bed can help improve sleep.
Caution: Lychees and longans can replenish blood, but those with a hot body type should limit to one serving to avoid excessive heat, difficulty sleeping, and irritability.
Neutral Fruits Common in Summer
Common neutral fruits in summer include pineapples, papayas, mangoes, and grapes. Neutral fruits are neither cold nor warm and can be consumed by both body types.
Pineapple: Eat After Meals to Aid Digestion
Pineapple is sweet and slightly sour, neutral in nature, and contains bromelain, which aids digestion. Papaya is also sweet and neutral, and its enzymes help digestive function. "Papaya is not overly sweet and is a good fruit for diabetics," says Dr. Kun-Dao Tsai.
"Orange-red fruits like papayas and mangoes are rich in beta-carotene, which can convert to vitamin A, preventing cancer, and inhibiting arteriosclerosis and hypertension." Mangoes also aid digestion, quench thirst, and promote urination.
Grapes are sweet and sour, neutral in nature, can generate body fluids, and replenish qi and blood. They are rich in anthocyanins, which have antioxidant properties, helping to delay aging.
Caution: Pineapples contain alkaloids that can irritate the oral mucosa, causing itching, so remove the outer skin before eating. Pineapples are also high in acidity and not suitable to eat on an empty stomach. Those with gastrointestinal ulcers should avoid them until healed. Mango skins contain histamine, which can cause skin allergies, so clean them thoroughly before eating.
Smart Fruit Consumption for Chronic Disease Patients
Diabetics
Limit total fruit intake to two servings (for the general adult population, it's 2-4 servings) and avoid high-sugar fruits like watermelon and lychee on an empty stomach. "It's best to choose fruits with a low glycemic index (GI) like guava, apples, grapefruit, and tomatoes," says nutritionist Wei-Ning Wang from Taichung Veterans General Hospital.
Kidney Disease Patients
Control total potassium intake to below 3000 mg daily and avoid high-potassium fruits like bananas and kiwis (one serving contains about 180 mg). Avoid starfruit.
Hypertension Patients
Avoid consuming too many warm fruits like lychees, longans, and durians.
Gastrointestinal Ulcer Patients
Avoid eating acidic fruits like pineapples on an empty stomach and limit overall intake.
What is a Serving of Fruit?
A serving of fruit contains 15 grams of carbohydrates and 60 calories, about the size of a woman's fist. Equivalent servings include:
- 1/3 guava
- 1 small apple
- 1.5 kiwis
- Half a banana
- About 10 grapes or cherries
- About 1 bowl of watermelon or papaya
- 10-13 longans (20 grams of dried longan)
Can Drinking Fruit Juice Replace Eating Fruit?
"We don't recommend drinking store-bought fruit juice as it often exceeds the recommended sugar intake and the fiber is filtered out," says Wei-Ning Wang. For instance, a cup of watermelon juice made from five or six slices of watermelon can unknowingly lead to excessive sugar consumption. "Unless you have dental issues, it's best to consume whole fruit to retain fiber."
Popular energy soups and vegetable juices, which include various vegetables, fruits, flaxseeds, walnuts, etc., differ from pure fruit juices.
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