Have any of you heard of food combining? I first read about it a few years ago, and have tucked away tidbits of it in my mind over the years, but just recently started being interested in learning more about it. To me it makes sense, explained as it is below. It's actually quite interesting.
I don't know that I would be willing to switch my diet to obey the proper food combining 100% (you know...I can't give up eggs & toast, sandwiches, dessert, etc.........), but I do try to eat fruit on it's own when I can.
Here's an article that I found online that I felt explained it well.
By Dr. Herbert M. Shelton
Reprinted from Dr. Shelton's Hygienic Review
There are sound physiological reasons for eating foods in compatible combinations. In other words, some foods, if mixed in the digestive system, will cause distress!
The principles of food combining are dictated by digestive chemistry. Different foods are digested differently...
- Starchy foods require an alkaline digestive medium which is supplied initially in the mouth by the enzyme ptyalin;
- Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion- hydrochloric acid.
As any student of chemistry will assure you, acids and bases (alkalis) neutralize each other. If you eat a starch with a protein, digestion is impaired or completely arrested!
The undigested food mass can cause various kinds of digestive disorders. Undigested food becomes soil for bacteria which ferment and decompose it. Its by products are poisonous, one of which, alcohol, is a narcotic that destroys or inhibits nerve function.
It plays havoc with nerves of the digestive tract, suspending their vital action such that constipation may well be a result! As set forth in Dr. Herbert Shelton's FOOD COMBINING MADE EASY these are the salient rules for proper food combining.
The Nine Basic Rules of Proper Food Combining:
1. Eat acids and starches at separate meals. Acids neutralize the alkaline medium required for starch digestion and the result is fermentation and indigestion.
2. Eat protein foods and carbohydrate foods at separate meals. Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion.
3. Eat but one kind of protein food at a meal.
4. Eat proteins and acid foods at separate meals. The acids of acid foods inhibit the secretion of the digestive acids required for protein digestion. Undigested protein putrefies in bacterial decomposition and produces some potent poisons.
5. Eat fats and proteins at separate meals. Some foods, especially nuts, are over 50% fat and require hours for digestion.
6. Eat sugars (fruits) and proteins at separate meals.
7. Eat sugars (fruits) and starchy foods at separate meals. Fruits undergo no digestion in the stomach and are held up if eaten with foods that require digestion in the stomach.
8. Eat melons alone. They combine with almost no other food.
9. Desert the desserts. Eaten on top of meals they lie heavy on the stomach, requiring no digestion there, and ferment. Bacteria turn them into alcohols and vinegars and acetic acids.
Here's a handy chart I found
here that helps us understand what goes together and what doesn't
All foods in touching boxes combine well. Foods in boxes not touching do not combine well.
