How to eat grapefruit?

Many people wonder how to eat grapefruit. Citrus fruit may not be as bitter and unpleasant as it seems at first glance. However, only with proper cleaning.

At the same time, bitterness helps reduce appetite and remove extra pounds. Proper use of fruit helps a person to replenish stocks of vitamin and mineral compounds. But not during the period of treatment with medicines, because grapefruit exhibits pharmaceutical incompatibility with drugs.

The fruits of grapefruit can not clean, and eat with a spoon. The reddish pulp is easily extracted with a special serrated device. It is enough to cut the fruit into 2 halves and pull out the bones. Thus, grapefruit is offered to visitors of restaurants.

However, in the absence of a special cutlery, it is recommended to use a sharp knife for cleaning.

• Before cleaning, it is recommended to moisten the fruit with water to prevent moisture from spraying the juice from the grapefruit zest. Juice may accidentally get into the eyes or on the mucous membrane of the nose, which will cause irritation. Affected areas should be washed as soon as possible with warm water, after washing their hands, which could be irritant.
• Using a knife, the skin should be divided into 4-6 parts, immersing the blade to a depth of zest up to 0.5-0.7 cm. The lines should intersect at the base of the citrus fruit, from which the rind will easily separate from cutting. Thanks to this method of cleaning, you can save large pieces of zest and dry them in the sun - dried peel will be an excellent basis for grapefruit tea. It is also necessary to peel the fruit from the white fibers remaining after peeling.
• The film covering the network of reddish sacks of juice can also be separated. It contains quinic acid and glycosides, which give a bitter taste. At the same time, these chemical compounds help fight overweight, reduce appetite and burn calories. If a person eats a grapefruit for the purpose of losing weight or is tolerant to bitterness, then the film and partitions can not be separated.

In the course of experimental studies with a pharmaceutical bias, it was found that grapefruit is incompatible with many drugs. The fruit of the citrus tree contains furanocoumarin, which during the initial passage through the liver activates the work of hepatocytes. Liver cells begin to actively process the substance. For a healthy person, furanocoumarin is safe and after 4 hours it completely leaves the body along with the metabolites. But if during the use of grapefruit to conduct drug therapy, the active substances of other drugs will not be transformed into hepatocytes.

In some cases, this leads to an overdose, because the plasma concentration of drug components begins to exceed the limit of the norm, because the drug can not leave the body without processing. In other cases, hepatocytes do not produce the necessary active metabolites that have a medical effect. In such situations, the therapeutic effect is not achieved.

It is strictly forbidden to eat grapefruit with the following drugs.

• Statins are required to lower plasma cholesterol concentrations. Furanocoumarin grapefruit increases the toxicity of drugs, which can cause death. With mild to moderate intoxication, liver failure, myopathy and digestive disorders are observed.
• Paracetamol-based antibacterial drugs. Furanocoumarin inhibits the activity of cytochrome P450, which causes a sharp increase in the toxic level of paracetamol.
• Immunosuppressants and immunomodulators to combat HIV infection.
• Medicines required for diseases of the cardiovascular system.Grapefruit increases the likelihood of developing coronary heart disease and atherosclerotic changes in the vessels.
• Pressure medication. You can not take grapefruit with antihypertensive drugs due to the high risk of side effects. Perhaps the appearance of hypertensive crisis.
• Antidepressants, psychotic drugs and antipsychotics.
• Analgesics containing methadone.
• Can not be taken with pills against erectile dysfunction.
• Antineoplastic drugs.

During the period of drug therapy, it is better to eat grapefruit after 4 hours after taking the pills or to abandon the fruit for the duration of the treatment. There is a negative interaction with contraceptive drugs: furanocoumarin suppresses their action, which is why a woman can become pregnant.

Of the citrus family, only grapefruit contains furanocoumarin. Because of this chemical compound, the fetus shows incompatibility not only with medicines, but also with food. The latter include:

• food with high starch content (potatoes, some confectionery and flour products, gelatin);
• different types of nuts;
• milk products;
• plants from the legume family, especially beans and peas.

Grapefruit is not combined with drugs and some food, but in some cases, even the disease can be a contraindication to the use of citrus fruit. Reddish pulp due to the high content of organic acids is strictly forbidden to use for people with ulcerative and erosive lesions of the stomach and duodenum, as well as gastritis and frequent heartburn. Acidic fruit can cause deterioration: when it is used, the acidity of gastric juice increases by 3-4 times, due to which hydrochloric acid can pass through the stomach wall (development of perforative ulcers).

At the same time, people with diabetes grapefruit when used within the normal range can help reduce blood glucose levels.

Experts in the field of nutrition recommend using the following tips for proper use of fruit, which in parallel will help to activate the processes of fat loss.

• People with low acidity of gastric juice is better to eat the fruit of citrus plants after eating. Alternative use implies the division of grapefruit into several portions. For example, ¼ of red citrus pulp should be taken before meals and the same quarter after that.
• If a person follows a grapefruit diet, then you need to drink about 100 ml of citrus juice on an empty stomach. At the same time, eating on an empty stomach is forbidden to people with inflammation of the gastric wall, an ulcer, or increased acidity of the gastric juice. If you have these diseases, you can not eat grapefruit in the morning or follow a citrus diet. It is necessary to limit the amount of citrus fruit in the daily diet: you can only use 2 slices of red flesh peeled from the film per day without harm to health.
• If you feel hungry in the evening, you can reduce your appetite with 1-2 slices of grapefruit with a film that tastes bitter. The product of citrus wood will help not only dull hunger, but also speed up the process of digesting food. Also, to reduce excess weight, it is allowed to use grapefruit before bedtime or citrus juice for dinner.It is important to remember that this method of fat burning often should not be used: a high content of organic acids increases the likelihood of gastritis and stomach ulcers.
• For breakfast or as a snack you can drink grapefruit juice. Active substances dull the feeling of hunger and begin to prepare the body for the next meal. If some diets are observed, it is necessary to take up to 1.5 liters of grapefruit juice per day, to which sugar or water is previously added to reduce acidity. In diluted form, you can drink the juice every day throughout the diet.
• If in the process of losing weight a person exposes the body to physical stress, then before or after exercise there is a grapefruit is strictly prohibited. Reception is allowed for 20-25 minutes before the start of physical activity or after 30-45 minutes after its completion.

It is important to use the grapefruit in food properly in order to gain benefits and avoid health problems. In order to lose weight, it is enough to consume 1-2 citrus fruits of medium size per day. But eating the fruit regularly for an extended period is impossible. After a 3-day intake of concentrated juice or fruit, you must take a break of 24-48 hours.

The best time to eat grapefruit is the period from the end of June to the end of September. When consumed, the fruit of citrus trees should be at room temperature, because such a temperature regime allows you to preserve the nutrients in their natural form. This is important for weight loss and for maintaining health.

In traditional medicine, it was previously recommended to eat grapefruit with a spoon in the morning or drink a glass of citrus juice, and then drink a vegetable product with kefir and milk. This combination caused a laxative effect. However, this cannot be done: a combination of citrus and dairy products has a negative effect on the digestive system, especially on the state of the stomach. The laxative effect causes the body to lose a large amount of fluid, due to which water and electrolyte metabolism is disturbed. Perhaps the development of heartburn.

If during the grapefruit diet state of health began to deteriorate, there was pain in the epigastric region and heartburn, it is necessary to stop taking citrus products. Especially if the negative effects do not go away within 3 hours. In this case, it is recommended to seek medical attention. Normalize the state will allow hot black tea with sugar or honey, after which after 30 minutes you need to eat rice.

See how to eat grapefruit without bitterness in the next video.