Food Combining Questions :) !!

[MightySunTzu]

Greetings,

I have read up on the basics of food combining and i have a strong intuitive belief that it is sound, though i know some will disagree.

For those who believe in the principles am trying to figure out a couple of subtleties of the art.

First of all, since it is not good to mix heavy proteins with heavy starches, i am trying to determine if protein powder (100% whey) is considered to be so light of a protein that it can be mixed rather nicely into a starch meal, or if indeed it shouldn't. I am looking to get some light protein into my post-am-cardio starch (glycogen refill) meal without it being a bad combo, not wanting to wait 4 hours from awakening to get the first substantial protein into my system.

Secondly, i have read in many places that fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach and always alone since it spends no appreciable time in the stomach and would cause other foods to ferment if combined with them. But i have also seen (in fewer places) that oil would be a good combination for fruit (if i am not mistaken because it causes the fruit to favorably metabolize slower, but perhaps not in the stomach)? What do you think? And if indeed fruit and oil are mixed, will they then sit together in the stomach longer, or will the oil/fruit combination act as fruit does alone and all but skip through the stomach and primarily digest in the intestines? Bottom line, all things considered is it better to mix fruit with oil (good time for the omega 3 capsules perhaps), or to have the fruit all by itself. And if the oil is a good mix, how much with say a 300 calorie fruit feast?

Thanks,

Mighty Sun Tzu

[Milena]

You know what... I read up on food combining but I found it too complicated to adhere to

The fruit thing is an interesting question... from all I've read about fruit I have to say that "ideally" it shouldn't be eaten often and not in high quantities. Maybe one or two pieces a day. Although fruit is healthy, it contains sugar which throws your body out of whack.

Also, it's funny how people disagree on this - fruit should be eaten with other things because it keeps the blood sugar from rises, but it shouldn't be eaten with other things because it slows down the digestion of those things. What do I take away from this? Nothing really, lol. Everyone's body is different.

Oh, and you know what? In food combining articles they'll talk about how bad fermentation is, and how you want to avoid it by not eating things together and whatnot. But I had a professor in a nutrition class that talked about fermentation all the time (as if fermentation = digestion). So to be honest, I'm not sure what the food combiners are talking about. I realize that you want to avoid "gassy-ness" , but I think fermentation itself is a natural process.

[MightySunTzu]

Originally Posted by Milena

I realize that you want to avoid "gassy-ness" , but I think fermentation itself is a natural process.

Hi Milena,

I think fermentation is a natural process in an improperly combined diet .

[Kasha]

hi there :-)

The principles of food combining are indeed confusing at times. The purpose however of combining the right foods has to do with the digestive enzymes released when that food is metabolised. If a food is overly acid, certain digestive enzymes are produced, likewise if its acidic. I wrote an article for my site you can read here: Balancing Acid/Alkaline foods for Optimum Health and Weight Loss | thinspiration.gr

Some basics you can follow:

Starches combine with veggies
Veggies combine with proteins
fruit should be eaten alone

I'm not sure about the fruit/oil thing though! Do you pictures our ancestors bringing fruit back to the cave, then eating it with oil? That's how I analyse things! Consider that we existed 4.9 million years on one diet, and a couple hundred on our current diet. Which period of time had the most disease?

I wish you the best of luck!