I ALREADY wrote about food combination in a previous column. But some interested readers insisted that I write more about the topic. I first learned about food combination from a vegetarian-friend, who is a fitness buff and loves to eat right. I was quite surprised because she has remained healthy and thin even if she eats a lot. Her skin looks glowing and shiny.
I grew up eating meat and rice, spaghetti and meatballs, chicken and sandwiches, fish and rice. I thought that as long as there’s protein and rice in my diet, it would already supplement my hard day’s workout. But I was wrong. Then, I met this lady who taught me the right food combination. I started to experiment it myself and to my surprise, it worked! That’s the reason that why in spite of my maturity in age, I am able to retain my slim figure and keep myself fit. However, I admit that there are times when I violate this and indulge in food that is not so healthy. I do this every Sunday, which I call my “free day.”
Food combining is not only the healthiest way to eat but it is also the right approach to losing weight without getting hungry. It’s not about counting calories or controlling portions. It’s about respecting the chemical properties of each food and how each food reacts when combined with other foods. This is an eating program that I could live with the rest of my life. It is a lifestyle change, and not just another fad diet.
Why combine?
The first time I tried food combining, I felt lighter and more balanced and I wanted to feel that way forever. I felt stronger, stood up straighter and really felt better about myself. And believe me, it showed in everything I did. But every time I violate the rules, I feel bloated and my stomach becomes acidic. With the right proper combination, your digestion will be much better and the volume of food you can eat will surprise you. You lose that gassy, bloated, stomach distended feeling. Suddenly, your food starts working for you, not against you.
When we were younger, we ate what our parents fed us. We were unaware that is such a thing as food combination. Maybe some of you have heard or read about food combination but because it does not satisfy your taste, you completely ignored it and continued to practice your old eating habits. Did you know that the principles of a proper food combining diet are easy to follow once you grasp of the basics? The best thing is that you get to eat more food than that when you are on typical diet, but you will also be eating less food than when you pig out. It allows you to eat more on a daily basis without going out of control with your food intake.
How it works
The theory behind food combining was popularized by Dr. William Hay in the 1920s. He suffered from high blood pressure and heart problems. Through his experimentation with food combining, Dr. Hay discovered that within a matter of a few months his weight dropped significantly and his health improved a great deal. He found out that when protein and starches are eaten together it takes too much energy to digest that particular meal. The body gets confused and cannot manufacture the necessary enzymes to properly digest the food. Undigested food just sat in the stomach for hours, rotting and unable to digest properly which creates toxins in the bloodstream. Some digestion does takes place but partially through bacterial action which causes fermentation that then causes side effects as gas bloating and abdominal pain. Bacterial fermentation of starch can also result in toxic by-products like acetic acid, lactic acid and carbon dioxide.
Proper food combining helps the body digest enzymatically, which produces essential amino acids that repair and maintain the body. When we eat the wrong foods together, the result is digestive trouble. We are so used to feeling lousy after a meal (stuffed, bloated, and gassy) that unless we feel that way we don’t feel we have eaten.
Food combining is a simple plan to follow and if practiced properly, wit ill result in preserving one’s health vitality. We don’t need a lot of food to feel satiated (especially if the food we are eating is truly feeding us). Food combining does not limit your choices in terms of what to eat but only in what to eat together for best results. It’s not a diet in the traditional sense because it allows you to a healthier amount of food than most other diet programs. It gives you the best chance to digest everything you eat in a sensible, efficient, healthy way. It’s a whole new way of approaching eating.
One simple way to understand why food combining works is a lesson in our chemistry subject. Imagine, your stomach as a beaker. When you eat protein (fish, chicken, meat, egg, dairy) your mouth sends a signal to the brain to put an acid base in the stomach to digest the protein. When you eat a starch (bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, grains) your stomach sends a different signal to the brain to send an alkaline base to digest it. When you eat proteins and starches together,
everything gets neutralized and nothing gets
digested. It’s scientific. We derived absolutely no nutritional value from undigested food. In fact, food that is left undigested just rots in our stomachs. The rotting causes a toxic response by turning into poison and alcohol leaving us with a toxic mess worse than Japan’s nuclear power leak.
Once we eat food has two choices: It either
digest or it does not. Proper food combining leaves you with only once choice and that is proper digestion. It also sets a stage for more energy and less weight. You will realize how wonderful food combining feels once you try it. I have seen it work on my clients and myself! Here are the basic rules of food combining:
1. Do not eat proteins and starches together. Your body requires an acid base to digest
proteins and an alkaline base to digest starches. Proteins and starches combine well with green, leafy vegetables and non starchy vegetables but they do not combine well with each other.
2. Do not mix fruit with proteins, starches, or any kind of vegetables. Fruits digest so quickly that by the time they reach your stomach they are already partially digested. If they are
combined with other foods they will not digest and ferment. Eat fruit only with other fruit.
3. Melons digest faster than any other food. Therefore, you should never eat melons with any other food, including fruits. Always eat melons on their own.
4. Do not mix acid and/or sub-acid fruits with sweet fruits at the same meal. Acid fruits such as grapefruits, pineapple, can be mixed with sub-acid fruits such as apples, grapes, but neither of these categories can be mixed with sweet fruits such as bananas, dates, or raisins.
5. Eat only four to six different fruits or vegetable at one meal.