To not drink tea if I've just had a piece of fruit?

[PuppyMonkey]

I was always told the tanin interferes with the absorption of the vitamins in fruit, so you'd be undoing all the good of your banana, apple etc.

I have to wait at least half an hour before having a cup of tea, otherwise I get all het up about it.

Work colleagues tell me I am a loon.

Am I?

You could wash it down with a cup of blood, of course, to maximise its ferral goodness

Why did no one tell me this when I was pregnant?

They're too busy taking blood out of you when you're pregnant to think of recycling it, IME.

My hospital kept losing my blood samples and asking for more. It was quite alarming for a Buffy watcher.

Mmmmm blood.

I don't sleep in a coffin. Honest.

Mind you, drinking blood in the office would probably not be the best thing. Stick to tea. With or without a banana.

But I drink tea all day, with everything and did so while I was pregnant. Midwife said she had never seen such perfect levels of iron in a pregnant lady!

A very mature midwife told me that about 20 years not to eat fruit and then drink tea.

Her exact words were and Ive never forgotten them.

"You Northern women drink far too much tea and, you actually think its ok to drink it after youve eaten fruit when, actually, you have cancelled all the benefits by drinking the tea you are so addicted to."

TBH PassionKiss I think the ability to retain iron is more genetic than anything. My gran and mum both suffer from low iron and I've inherited that. Before becoming pregnant I often had low iron levels, despite being careful about tea and trying to eat plenty of red meat. Currently I am 35 weeks pregnant and my iron levels are teetering on the edge of low despite the fact that I take supplements as well as everything else. My mum's iron was so low she had to have injections every week for six weeks

And motherinferior I'm afraid I can't subscribe to your incredibly odd ideas. Drinking cups of blood is perfectly normal IMO but tea with a banana ? Clearly you are mad.

Espresso? I eat an apple with an espresso most mornings. It is a divine combination.

Maybe I should change to blood, of course.

Yup, totally mad, just as I thought.

[gibber]

Apple with espresso?

Yes, have heard of calcium inhibiting iron levels too. No milk or joghurt. I got be quite an expert on how to increase iron levels when I was pregnant.

There is the fantastically named, "Blutdrunk" that my German midwife sent me off to get. Would that do you, MI?

I thought that it was caffeine that stops iron absorption and vitamin C helps calcium absorption.

Nope, it's the tannin.

Can't stand herbal tea.

I agree PuppyMonkey Herbal tea is evil.

The apple forms part of my breakfast. At the espresso stage. I have already usually consumed a boiled egg and a slice of granary toast with orange juice.

I rather yearn for Blutdrunk.

I was told that the rule about fruit is not to have it straight after the meal but to wait for at least half an hour.

Why, though? Who told you? Based on what research, involving how many people?

These food myths circulate.

Was this to me motherinferior?
A friend who was studying nutrition. She said is about digestion, fruit interferes with it.
I hope it is food myth because i love my fruit after meal.

Hmm. Where is she studying it - and it's nutrition, not dietetics? And how exactly does fruit interfere with digestion? And which fruit? And how many studies prove it, etc etc?

And what about if fruit has been part of the meal, like apple crumble? And how does 'fruit' differ from vegetables - especially those vegetables like tomatoes which are technically fruit?

I asked about fruit in meals ie moroccon cuisine who has appricots and raisins in main meals and she said that's not right
Oh well i am eating my fruit after meal and i dont have digestion problems.
You shouldnt mention apple crumble. I want some now, i love it.

which has

So she'll be declining cranberry sauce on Christmas then

I'd ask her about tomatoes and she'll get all confused.

Good idea . I didn't think about tomatoes.

Actually, just ask her about rates of indigestion in Morocco. Because if fruit does indeed 'interfere with the digestion' there'll be a notable rise in digestive problems in Morocco, and/or other dietary cultures which combine them.

And I'm still confused about the tomatoes. Also baked apples, baked bananas, Eve's pudding, apple pie, cherry pie, rhubarb crumble (OK, rhubarb is technically a vegetable so it's presumably OK), apple sauce with roast pork, gooseberry sauce with mackerel....