Sixty healthy youths were given either an apple, compote, juice with fibre or juice without fibre before being allowed to take pasta from an unlimited buffet. The youths that ate an apple consumed less food than those who had the juice. Interestingly, the presence of fibre in the juice made no difference to the appetite of the subjects.

 

Several previous studies have shown that solid food is more satisfying than liquid food, so the results are not entirely surprising. 

 

In Fit for Life, Harvey and Marilyn Diamond suggest that it is better to eat fruit before a meal as they are more quickly digested than more solid food such as vegetables, cereals and nuts. If fruit is eaten after other foods, there is a risk that it gets blocked in the digestive tract and starts to rot before it has a chance to be digested. Therefore, to get all of the best nutrients from fruit and to make your food digests correctly, it is better to eat fruit before a meal.

Michael Pollan in his book, In Defense of Food, recommends eating "Food, not too much, mostly plants" in order to be healthy and have a good relationship with food. Eating fruit before a meal would certainly be aligned with Michael's concepts.
 

So there are two good reasons to eat fruit before your meal. Of the most important is the ability to maximize your nutritional gain and the secondary benefit is the reduction in appetite. What’s more Zen than eating good food, not too much and feeling good about yourself?

 

Source: http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-sciences-sante/2010-03-15/regime-pour-maigrir-manger-une-pomme-avant-chaque-repas/1055/0/433759

Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calliope/54070473