Fruit Before/ After Meals?

If my kids are too hungry to wait for dinner and their behavior is compromised because of it, I'll give them fruit before dinner. But typically, we have it as part of dinner or after for dessert. I can't imagine it makes a bit of difference in what order it is consumed, as long as it is consumed.

My son loves fruit so he is allowed to eat it whenever he wants.

I don't really care, to be honest. We have an open fridge policy when it comes to fruit and veggies. If someone is hungry, we all can eat fruits and veggies, whenever we want. We ALWAYS have fruit with dinner, or directly after. (We eat fruit and veggies with every meal.) We are a bunch of skinny minnies, so I'm not worried about the metabolism thing. (I will say, I do think it's a myth.) We simply encourage healthy eating, no matter the time of day.

eh, so long as they're eating fruit, i wouldn't put too much stock into the timing. if your kids are in the habit of eating fruit for dessert, you should pat yourself on the back and roll with it. if they're hungry before dinner, that's an excellent choice of snack, of course. but i certainly wouldn't mess with their already great eating habits to try and stay in line with a fairly illusory nutritional claim.
we eat it as a snack mostly, and in green smoothies. what i'm trying to do before dinner is remember to drink that full glass of water!
:) khairete
S.

Do you mean healthier as far as nutrient absoprtion? Or healthier as far as metabolism?

From a blood sugar standpoint, it's best to eat sugar by itself. From a nutrient standpoint, lots of vitamins can't be absorbed without an accompanying healthy fat, so with a meal (whether before or after) is best, or with a few nuts. Or in a salad.

In my family, we eat fruit whenever. We love it!

We will have melon or grapefruit as a first course and other fruit (whatever is in season) for dessert. We also eat fruit with breakfast (I put it in my cereal, DH and DS use a separate bowl) and as part of lunch. Snacks are either fruit or vegetables. I will also cook with fruit - chicken with apricots or raspberries, middle eastern rice with dried fruit, grilled peaches as a side for whatever else is on the grill.

We eat fruit as part of the meal many times. It is so hot here, we have fruit salad (only cut up fresh fruit) many times when we are having a "cold meal"
For lunch or dinner.

Fruit is not considered a treat in our lives, it is just as important as veggies. we have it along with breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Again, this is fresh fruit, no added, mayo, jello, cream cheese, sugar, etc..

Hi C.-

Here we view fruit as a 'sweet treat'. We value you it as a snack between meals...or as almost a dessert.

As little ones...when introducing foods, the fruit was sometimes held a bit in reserve as a treat for tasting a new veggie or meat item.

All my kiddos are healthy good eaters...

Best luck!
michele/cat

I try to give my kids fruit before their meals too, so that they are not too full after dinner to have it.

The only fruits my 3 year old will eat are bananas and apples, and won't even bite a veggie if he sees it. So, I cut up apples before every meal, as I figure he will definitely get enough whole grains and protein each day, but getting fresh fruits and veggies is a struggly.

Fruit is ALWAYZ available here as well as fresh veggies, before, during, after, snack time, any time.

We typically eat our fruit during snack time. I do some complex carbohydrates, protein, and fruit at most afternoon snacks and a fruit with something like a graham cracker for morning snack. Something not too heavy that will burn off quickly and they will want to eat lunch.

We rarely eat fruit.

Oranges during soccer season. Muscat grapes once a year. Bananas during growth spurts. 1 pineapple, a couple of mangos, a handful of huckleberries or blueberries while hiking. 1 berry cobbler. That's about it.

((Unless you count savory fruit like tomatoes))

We just don't eat a lot of sweets.

Veg we have several times a day. Before, during, and after meals.

If it's fruit, veggies, or another actual healthy snack I allow it. I have to allow my special needs daughter to graze and snack whenever she wants because she doesn't eat very much and has a very limited menu (I've posted about this before).

With my other two girls, I allow it as well but I do keep track of the serving size. I don't allow an amount that would "interfere" with supper.

However, sometimes while I'm preparing supper all/some of the girls will taste test what I'm cutting up and cooking. That's often fresh veggies and other foods, so I consider that "part of supper."

It's probably best to eat fruit by itself. From a calorie burning standpoint, eating sugar (fruit has fructose) after a meal will result in your body burning the sugary food first. Then the more complex carbs (i.e. bread, vegetables) get burned, then the fat and protein.

If a lot of sugar and complex carbs are consumed, your body may just start storing fat.