Once again, I tend to look to our ancestors as they often had the right idea concerning health and nutrition. Food combining is actually a centuries old way of eating for optimal digestion and assimilation of nutrients.  It centers around the idea that meals should be kept simple in order to be digested properly.  Different foods require different enzymes our bodies need to produce to break down the food and get absorbed.  Too many different food classes eaten at the same time tend to confuse the body which can lead to malabsorption resulting in digestive issues such as gas, heartburn, abdominal pain and can also lead to weight gain.  Therefore, if you combine foods properly, your body has more of a chance to actually digest what you eat, help alleviate digestive issues and even lose weight.

To follow are some basic principles of food combining:

1. Eat Fruits Alone on an Empty Stomach
Eat fruit before at least 30 minutes before a meal as it can help digest your meal later or just eat it alone in between meals.  If blood sugar spikes are a problem, sprinkle cinnamon on the fruit to slow the absorption and lessen the sugar spikes.  However, you shouldn't have fruit as dessert as it will not digest on top of the meal just eaten and will ferment in your intestine. 

Also,  should always eat melons alone as they digest very quickly.  Do not mix acid and/or sub acid fruits with sweet fruits at the same time.  Acid fruits such as grapefruits, pineapple, and strawberries, can be mixed with sub acid fruits, such as apples, grapes, and peaches, but neither of these categories can be mixed with sweet fruits such as bananas, dates or raisins.  It sounds confusing but this chart by Alder Brooke Healing Arts will sort out these differences more clearly.

2. Avoid Eating Proteins with Concentrated Carbohydrates. 
Our modern American diets of Steak and potatoes, sandwiches, cereal with milk, hamburgers are an assault on our digestive systems.  This is because we need hydrochloric acid and the enzyme pepsin to break down proteins which promotes a very acidic environment.  However, when you eat starches like potatoes or bread, your stomach secretes the enzyme ptyalin to create an alkaline condition.  This causes the intestines to be neutralize its environment and inhibit the digestion of both types of food.  Instead couple your protein with non starchy green vegetables and save your starches for a different time apart from eating protein.

3. Eat Grains and Starchy Vegetables with other Vegetables Only.
Try to keep to one concentrated starch at a meal but you can couple it with a variety of vegetables.  For example, go for rice with veggies.  However, be sure to avoid starches with sugars or fruit such as toast with jam or jelly or pancakes with syrup.  Sugar combined with starch leads to fermentation, which results in little digestion and could cause digestive upset.

4. Milk is Best Eaten Alone. 
However, you can add acid fruits such as berries, pineapple and oranges such as with yogurt without inhibiting digestion.

These are the basics to food combining but use this simple chart by Alder Brooke Healing Arts that will make your exploration into food combining more easily understandable.  Are you combining your foods properly?  This can be the difference between weight loss and digestive issues.  This may  also be an answer for those who thought they couldn't eat certain foods.  Try Food Combining for a week and let me know what difference it made for you.

What do you think?   Let's have a conversation  Jill the Health Coach FB page