Food Combining: More Important than You Think?
You are what you eat. It’s cliche, it’s trite and it’s true… or is it? Actually, it’s not what we eat, but what we digest and assimilate, that determines the nourishment our bodies receive. So, in actuality, you are what you absorb from what you eat… right?
When you eat certain types of foods with others, you are better able to absorb their benefits. And on the other hand, when you eat some foods with others you diminish the body’s ability to garner what the foods have to offer you, nutritionally speaking. (If only this principle applied to calories!) That’s because different foods are digested differently. Enzymes are produced to break down certain foods and a whole mess of incompatible foods is, at the least, going to leave you with some uncomfortable indigestion, bloating and gas.
Correct food combinations can result in improved health and vitality by lightening the load of the digestive organs, and certainly a feeling of ‘lightness.’ You can insure better nutrition and digestion and less fermentation, putrefaction, gas and other discomfort by combining your foods in an intelligent way. And often, food allergies disappear as a result of proper food combining.
Raw foodists have been championing proper food combining for years, but the principles need not apply only to this fringe diet (of generally radiant, healthy people!). The following rules can get you started on a road to health, vitality and a properly-functioning digestive system.
The Basic Rules of Proper Food Combining:
1. Avoid concentrated starches and concentrated proteins at the same meal
Examples: Meat and Potatoes, Cereal and Milk, Fish and Rice, Hamburger on a Bun, Cheeseburger, Chicken and French Fries, Hotdog on a Bun
2. Avoid two concentrated proteins at the same meal
Examples: Nuts and Cheese, Meat and Cheese, Meat and Milk, Nuts and Milk, Milk and Eggs, Eggs and Cheese (i.e. Omelets)
3. Eat fruits by themselves, especially melons
Examples: Apples, Bananas, Pears, Peaches, Strawberries, Kiwis
4. Eat one type of fruit at a time
Have some bananas, then wait on hour. Eat some apples, wait an hour, etc.
5. Desert the desserts. Eaten on top of meals they lie heavy on the stomach, and ferment! Bacteria turns them into alcohols and vinegars and acetic acids. Instead, consider eating your dessert beforehand (fruit is best!). Dessert first? Not a bad plan…
Want this information in a way that’s, well, a bit easier to digest? And more thorough? Check out this chart, The Divine Way to Combine.
image: Wild Tofu
