Digestion Times in Nutrition

Knowing the time it takes to digest the food we eat is hugely important in planning a healthy lifestyle, for sports or strenuous activity, and for helping our dieting be most effective. Knowing the digestion times of various foods means we can order our meals before we start doing exercise, or before we sleep, to allow for full, healthy digestion and energy input.

For example, if we need to eat something an hour before we start walking, exercising or carrying out any job that requires power, we should be looking for things which are easily digested, preferably within the hour. 

For a general overview to start off with, the rough digestion times of a variety of foods can be summarized as follows:

Foods digested in 1 hour : Water, tea, coffee, energy drinks, and concentrated carbohydrates, particularly for athletes. 

Foods digested in 2 hours : Milk, cocoa, yogurt, meat puree, white bread, bananas, cereals  like cornflakes or müesli, light vegetables, rice, and canned fish products.

Foods digested in 3 hours : Black and multigrain bread, cake, potatoes, eggs, red meat, chicken, vegetables, apple.

Foods digested in 4 hours : Sausage, salami, turkey, fricandeau, beef, peanuts/hazelnuts.

Foods digested in 5 hours : Nuts, fried foods, fried potatoes.

Foods digested in 6 hours : Pastrami, mushroom, tuna fish.

Foods digested in 7 hours : Goose, sardines, salted fish.