anytime I eat any fruit that is not quite all the way ripe, i get an ache in my stomach that feels like there is a brick in there! does this happen to anyone else?

Redstar,

One of the big mistakes when trying to eat more fruit is eating to much unripe fruit always wait till it is ripe.

Bananas are a good example wait until they have does brown freckles on them .

And dont forget to have a good supply of fruit ripening for the following days.

Cherimoya

Love Peace and Happiness,

I always preferred my fruit firm and crunchy. In other words, unripe. Then I discovered that ripe fruits are more nutritious. It took some getting used to but now I prefer my fruit ripe and sweet.

Unripe fruit can also do serious damage to tooth enamel. Read this story at Mango's website, but please don't let it scare you away from fruit all together...ripe fruit is our natural food!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2007 03:04AM by macfly.

redstar,

Bananas, cited above, are one of the best known examples of the advantage of eating fully ripe fruit. Bananas go from starchy and hard to digest to sweet and easy digesting. Most of my family back east still eat their bananas when there's green color near the stem, no spots and then complain when they get gas from them. Stores here mark ripe bananas down in price when they spot. It's a good way to save money, but you have to eat them soon before they go over the hill.

Some fruits do not ripen further once picked like citrus, figs and watermelon, so chose them carefully when you buy. Hachiya persimmons are astringent when unripe, but will ripen to softness and sweetness. The non-astringent Fuyu persimmons can be eaten when they're still firm and crunchy, sweet, but not as sweet as they can be if one is patient.

When I ate field ripened pineapple in Costa Rica it was a whole new ball game of flavor and the imported ones just don't do it for me anymore. I did see some in the conventional produce section that were from Hawaii and tagged "field ripened". I don't know if they're shipping organic ones that way, but if they do I'll try them again.

One of the challenges I've faced in eating raw has been to get as many calories as I can from my fruit so I don't wind up trying to make up the calories with fats, therefore I'm learning to go for things when they're in peak season and ripeness.

Thanks! I will be more observant (and patient!) next time.

well, if its not ready to eat don't eat it. My friend came over the other day and she ate a unripe persimmon, why? I ask. He rmouth felt funny afterwards.

Yes, I can't eat store-bought (picked unripe) fruit.

A couple of months ago, I ate tree-ripened plums from a neighbour's tree and I felt great with them.