I’ve always found nutrition and health interesting and since I personally struggled with gut issues for so long and still do on and off, I wanted to research more and test the “Proper Food Combination” theory! 🙂
I did share in “Tip #3” how eating fruits ONLY an empty stomach did wanders for me! & I did mention that I’ll do a full post about “Proper Food Combination” so here it is… 🙂
But before reading the below rules about proper food combinations, I want you to know that I am still working on practising proper food combining, it is definitely not easy! Since most of us have been programmed for so long to eat food the incorrect way!
Since today is the 1st of December, I am challenging myself this month to practise Proper Food Combination, anyone want to join me??!
It is not what we eat but what we digest and assimilate that adds to our health, strength and usefulness.
Following Proper Food Combining Rules will allow you to make excellent Food Combining Recipes that would constitute a very healthy Food Combining Diet.
Acid-Starch Combinations
- Never eat carbohydrate foods and acid foods at the same meal.
Do not eat bread, potatoes, peas, beans, bananas, dates, or other carbohydrates with lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, tomatoes or other sour fruit.
Why? The enzyme, ptyalin, acts only in an alkaline medium; it is destroyed by a mild acid. Fruit acids not only prevent carbohydrate digestion, but they also favour their fermentation.
In cases of hyperacidity of the stomach, there is great difficulty in digesting starches. Much discomfort is caused by eating them. They ferment and poison the body. Acid-starch combinations are very rare in nature—the sour apple coming nearest to being such a combination.
Protein-Carbohydrate Combination
- Never eat a concentrated protein and a concentrated carbohydrate at the same meal.
This is a hard one! 🙁
This means do not eat nuts, meat, eggs, cheese, or other protein foods at the same meal with bread, cereals, potatoes, sweet fruits, cakes, etc.
Why? The digestion of carbohydrates (starches and sugars) and of protein is so different that when they are mixed in the stomach they interfere with the digestion of each other. An acid process (gastric digestion) and an alkaline process (salivary digestion) cannot be carried on at the same time, in an ideal way in the stomach. In fact, they cannot proceed together at all for long, as the rising acidity of the stomach contents soon completely stops carbohydrate digestion, and this is followed by fermentation.
Protein-Protein Combination
- Never consume two concentrated proteins at the same meal.
That’s me when I go to a buffet and want literally everything in front of me!!! Chicken, meat, fish give it to me all it’s cheat day! lol
Do not eat nuts and meat, or eggs and meat, or cheese and nuts, or cheese and eggs, etc., at one meal. Do not use meat and milk, or eggs and milk, or nuts and milk at the same meal. Indeed, if taken at all, milk is best taken alone.
Let’s just quit milk altogether and have coconut milk instead which is much better for you – anyone here agrees with me?!
Protein-Fat Combination
- Consume proteins & fats moderately!
This means do not use cream, butter, oil, etc., with meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, etc. Fat depresses the action of the gastric glands and inhibits the pouring out of the proper gastric juices for meats, nuts, eggs, or other protein. Fats, mixed with foods, delay the development of appetite juice and diminish its quantity.
No more fried egg?!! Well you can boil it I guess…
Acid-Protein Combination
- Do not eat acid fruits with proteins.
This is to say, oranges, tomatoes, lemons, pineapples, etc., should not be eaten with meat, eggs, except with protein fats such as avocado, cheese or nuts.
Sugar-Starch Combination
- Do not consume starches and sugars together.
Jellies, jams, fruit butter, sugar, honey, syrups, molasses, etc., on bread, cake, or at the same meal with cereals, potatoes, etc., or sugar with cereal, will produce fermentation. Hot cakes with honey or syrup are an abomination.
The practice of eating starches that have been disguised by sweets is also a bad way to eat carbohydrates. If sugar is taken in, the mouth quickly fills with saliva, but no ptyalin is present. Ptyalin is essential to starch digestion. If the starch is disguised with sugar, jellies, jams, syrups, etc., the taste buds are deceived, and carbohydrate digestion is impaired. Monosaccharides and disaccharides ferment quicker than do polysaccharides, and are prone to ferment in the stomach while awaiting the completion of starch digestion.
O no! No more pancakes?! 🙁
Starch-Starch Combination
- Eat but one concentrated starch food at a meal.
The rule to consume only one starch food at a meal is probably more important as a means to avoid the over-consumption of various starches, than as a means of avoiding bad combinations. While the overeating of starches may lead to fermentation, there is no certainty that the combination of two starches will do so.
Again people, this is just information I found very interesting and I’ll test it this month and see how I feel. Some are extremely hard, and I personally would hate life altogether if I had to live by all these rules, I love food too much and breaking a rule or two every now and then is not a sin! 😉
In summary try your best to follow the following beauty rules for a happy belly! 🙂
Non-concentrated Foods = fruits and non-starch vegetables (water containing foods) therefore concentrated foods = everything else (foods that do not contain water).
BEAUTY RULE #1: our bodies can properly digest only one concentrated (non-water containing) food at a time therefore stick to mono-fruit (only 1 fruit type at a time)
BEAUTY RULE #2: Protein (dairy except butter, seeds and nuts etc.) and starches (bread, pasta, cereal etc.) don’t mix
Not combining proteins and starches at the same time will optimize the amount of nutrients you can extract from foods and will free up a lot of energy. INSTEAD OF HAVING AN ENERGY DEFICIT, YOU WILL HAVE AN ENERGY SURPLUS.
**Use dairy free milk with your cereals and avoid cheese with your sandwiches – working on my dairy free cheese recipe!
***The general rule is to wait 3 to 4hrs before one concentrated food before eating another so we have time to clear the first food out of our bellies.
BEAUTY RULE #4: Mixing two starches is okay
BEAUTY RULE #5: Mixing two different types of animal protein is not okay.
BEAUTY RULE #6: Fats should be eaten moderately with protein (animal & plant) but are okay to eat with carbs.
BEAUTY RULE #7: Fruits should be eaten only on an empty stomach
This is one rule I manage to stick by all the time, I used to have fruit salad after my meals as a desert and didn’t realise that that was the reason why I went to bed bloated and constipated! I now eat fruits on an empty stomach and preferably 1 fruit at a time only and the difference in my energy levels and ease of elimination is unreal!
Soon I will post about fruits combination and if mono fruit meal is too boring for you then you’ll enjoy my next post where I’ll share with you the four different types of fruits and which types you should NOT combine for a happy belly!
& Just remember that simple meal digest the best 🙂
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