I came across something this morning that really resonated with me. I was reading an article online and the author Dr. Pickering spoke about the 3 principles of health; the first being
“You are automatically healthy, by design, and sick only by default”.
If you read my article The Cure to Sugar Cravings or have heard any of my rants you know this is a notion that I believe very strongly in.
When our bodies are angry with us they always let us know. If you eat too fast and don’t allow enough time for digestion, your stomach will bloat. If you don’t drink enough water you might get a headache or feel really sluggish. And, believe it or not, if you don’t combine your foods well at meals you may feel bloated, gassy, really tried, or suffer from heartburn (acid reflux).
Food combining is very important because it allows for optimal digestion, which inhibits yeast from growing (candida). Undigested foods like to stay in our intestinal tract, cause an acidic environment and allow parasites to grow. Are you sticking to your diet and exercising regularly but not seeing results? It could be because you aren’t digesting your foods properly.
Before I jump into some food combining principles itsimportant to understand Acid-Alkaline 
(pH) balance and how the foods we eat affect it. This isn’t going to be as entertaining as watching the new James Bond movie but please bare with me.
pH actually stands for “pressure of hydrogen”, and the amount of hydrogen ions in our bodies is what affects the acid-alkaline balance. This balance is affected by the residue that remains after the food we eat is metabolized.
Our body tissues and blood are slightly alkaline, so it is important that we are eating foods that are broken down into alkaline elements. One thing to note is that the pH level of a certain food does not determine how that food will break down in the body. For example, we all know lemons are quite sour, but they actually create an alkaline ash once metabolized.
Here are a few important food combining rules that might save you some embarrassment, and more importantly, discomfort after meals:
1) Avoid eating proteins with starchy vegetables
Meats require a acid digestive medium, while starches need a more alkaline environment to be digested. When proteins and starchy vegetables are combined it causes their separate digestive processes to neutralize one another and inhibit digestion. This means the meat and starch you just ate is just hanging out in your gut causing all of the adverse effects I discussed earlier. Instead of combining meat with things like rice and potatoes it’s suggested that it is combined with non starchy vegetables such as leafy greens, green beans, sprouts, broccoli, squash or carrots.
2) Always eat fruit alone and on an empty stomach
Fruit only takes 30 minutes to digest while carbohydrates and protein take much longer. If you eat fruit after eating a carbohydrate or a protein it will sit on top of what was consumed before it and it won’t be able to digest resulting in fermentation. Sugar hanging out too long (or at all) in the body causes things like yeast and other pathogens to grow in the body. You might as well just pour some chocolate frosting on your steak before you eat it.
3) Avoid eating dessert after dinner (what, no dessert?!)
This rule goes along with number two. Most desserts are full of sugars that if not digested quickly will ferment and feed yeast.
So, why didn’t our ancestors who consumed proteins and starches at every meal experience these adverse affects? The first thing the comes to my mind is because they were flipping cavemen! When I think of cavemen I think of the Hulk, and I’m pretty sure his stomach is made of iron. The more probable explanation though, is that the introduction of processed foods, antibiotics, and refined sugar combined with high stress levels caused by today’s fast paced lifestyle has lead to poor gut health. That means it’s more important for us to be mindful of the way we’re combining our foods.
Here are some more quick and easy things you can do to help digestion:
- Drink a glass of warm water with lemon before each meal. This balances the pH level in your body and allows for optimal digestion.
- Consider taking digestive enzymes
- Put down the fork! Take your time eating. After each bite, put down your fork and chew 20-40 times. Chewing stimulates our digestive enzymes before our food even makes it into the stomach
- Practice food combining and take note of the difference you feel after your meals
Have any questions on how fit food combining into your life? Thats what our team of professional personal trainers/ nutrition coaches are here for. Drop us a line here
Resources: “Staying Healthy with Nutrition” by Elson M. Haas, MD and Buck Levin, PhD, RD.
