Food combining guidelines are a way of looking at food to get the most efficient digestion possible. What that means to you is that it can help with bloating, gas, weight loss and energy levels...
If you've looked at food combining rules before, they can be tough to figure out. Basically, proper food combinations are based on the idea that there are categories of foods that digest well with each other, and others that don't.
Most food combining guidelines spell things out in terms of proteins, fats, starches and sugars. This is great information, but how do you actually go about using it? What food is a 'protein' and what food is a 'starch'?
This transcription will have some mistakes because it is partially automated.
Hey guys! This is Heather from HealthyEatingStartsHere.com. So today I wanted to talk about food combining. I get a lot of questions from you guys about this and there are a lot of different ideas about it work.
It can get pretty complicated and it can be kinda difficult to understand so I wanted to break it down as simple as possible for you guys. It’s something that Phil and I look into quite a bit when we were first transitioning to healthy diet and it really help us basically food combining is looking at the different categories of food and finding out which combinations work and which ones don’t.
And what I mean by working is they digest efficiently. They don’t cause any reaction or anything like that. Things that don’t work are food combinations that will cause gas, causing bloating, low energy levels and preventing you from losing weight.
So it can be really important and you can find some really great benefits if you look into food combining for a little while and understand it and make it work for you.
Now like I said, it can be pretty tricky to understand so the best way I know to do this is I’ve written out the basics of food combining rule and Phil put together a beautiful chart for you guys to make it really really clear. I posted those over on my site at HealthyEatingStartsHere.com. So go over and check those out.
I’m not gonna go too much about the details because if I start talking about it, you’ll probably gonna get confuse. Basically you wanna split food into certain categories. Proteins, starches, fats, sugars and those categories some of them combine well together, others don’t combine well at all.
Sometimes people look at food combining and make it sound pretty crazy to separate the categories of food into separate meals to make them digest better because your body is design to digest food so why can’t it just handle it.
Well it can if your healthy but if you’ve been eating complex combinations for a long time which is pretty common in North American diet or Western diet. If you’ve been doing that for a long time, your body might be starting to have trouble keeping up and the main benefit I see of food combining is that it is a simplification of the combinations and if you do it strictly for a little while you can actually cleanse your system.
That’s a form of a detox or a cleanse from a very complicated diet with combinations that might not be digesting properly, if you simplify things for a little while get really strict with it you can see great benefits and then from there once you get into balance you can start to ease back on these strict guideline.
You can listen to what your body has to say whether the combination works for you or whether they don’t so for some people fruit has to be eaten alone. I found that after I was being strict food combining for a little while I can handle fruit with grains in breakfast.
So you have to get to that point first thought. That is the main thing I want to get across that in order to listen to the messages that your body you have to make sure that everything is clean out and you’re getting the right messages to listen to.
Now every rule of course has an exception and there are some people who actually do worst with the simple food combinations than the uncomplicated one so people who are really really skinny or have fast metabolism were people with really wide blood sugar fluctuations. Those people actually do better when they have food combinations that slow their digestion.
So for people who are skinnier, have fast metabolism they need to carry their energy further because they’re going to burn through it really really quickly so if they eat fruit on their own they are going to be hungry very very quickly and for people who have crazy blood sugar swings what will happen when if you eat fruit on its own your blood sugar is going to spike and then go down.
So for those people having a little bit of protein or fat with fruit can help even the curve of the blood sugar. So every rule have its exception but again the important thing is to get yourself to a place being healthy enough that you can listen to these messages that your body is giving you from there you can ease back a little bit but it can often help when you’ve coming with a diet that’s excessive like a Western diet to really simplify and get strict with the food combination for just a little and see how it goes.
So that is my spill on food combining, be sure to go check out the site for the guidelines that I put together and the chart that Phil made which is really awesome, I think you guys will really like it. He even did a printable version so that you can keep on your fridge to keep it handy.
And I wanna hear from you guys on what experience of your food combining has been, if you found some combinations to work for you, if there are some that really don’t, let me know, I would really love to hear and I’m sure everyone else wants to. So that’s for food combining, I hope it helps and I will see you guys next time.
Food Combining Categories
- Lean Proteins: lean fish, lean meats and poultry, low-fat dairy, protein powder
- Starches and Starchy Proteins: grains (including bread, pasta, etc), potatoes, sweet potatoes, beets, parsnips, carrots, pumpkin, winter squashes, beans, lentils, peas, tofu, tempeh
- Fats and Fatty Proteins: avocados, olives, nuts, seeds, oils, butter, cheese, yogurt, eggs, fatty fish, poultry, meat
- Greens and Non-Starchy Vegetables: leafy greens, sprouts, celery, cucumber, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, radish, zucchini, onion, garlic, mushrooms, green beans, fresh corn
- Fruit: lemons, limes, grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes, strawberries, pineapples, apples, berries, pears, apricots, peaches, grapes, plums, cherries, mangoes, papayas, figs, bananas, dates, dried fruits, fruit juice, watermelon, canteloupe, honeydew
- Sweeteners: sugars, syrups, malt syrups, honey
I find the easiest way to understand the combinations of these foods that generally work well is with a visual. Phil was good enough to put together a lovely food combining chart for you guys to make it all crystal clear :)
Want to embed this image on your website? Use the html code below:
<a href="http://www.healthyeatingstartshere.com/weight-loss/food-combining-guidelines">
<img src="http://downloads.healthyveganrecipes.net/Heathers-Food-Combining-Guidelines.png"
alt="Food Combining Guidelines" title="Food Combining Guidelines" /></a>
<br />Source: <a href="http://www.healthyeatingstartshere.com">Healthy Eating Starts Here</a>
He also made a black and white version as a printable food combining chart you can post on your fridge to keep the info handy.
Proper Food Combinations
Some food combining guidelines get really detailed, but here are the basics that will go a long way to helping you digest food properly:
- Greens and non-starchy vegetables combine well with pretty much any type of food
- Lean proteins combine best with greens and non-starchy vegetables
- Starches and starchy proteins combine best with greens, non-starchy vegetables and fats
- Fats and fatty proteins combine best with greens, non-starchy vegetables, starches
- Fruits combine best with greens
- Sweeteners are best eaten on their own (i.e. in tea)
Exceptions
- Acid fruits (citrus, tomatoes, strawberries, pineapples) combine well with fats or proteins
- Melons should be eaten alone, they digest faster even than other fruits
- One pot meals cooked slowly with lots of water (like soups and stews) don't tend to cause as much difficulty in digestion when there are 'bad' combinations
Bad Food Combinations
These foods are considered bad combinations because the food groups work against each other as they digest. Proteins want to digest quickly, while fats slow down digestion. Fruits want to digest quickly too, but they tend to ferment when eaten with other foods, which causes gas.
- Proteins with other proteins, fats, fruits and sweeteners
- Starches with other starches, proteins, fruits and sweeteners
- Fats with proteins, fruits and sweeteners
Is Food Combining Really Necessary?
Some people - especially when coming from a standard American diet - will see a lot of benefits from getting very strict about food combining. It can do wonders for healing your digestive tract, and balancing your system.
My brother was having some real problems when he moved to New York from Shanghai. The totally different food was giving him a ton of gas. He felt awful, and heard about food combining so decided to try it.
By eating very simple combinations for his meals, and being really strict about his food combinations for a few months, he got rid of his gas. Once he got his digestion working properly, he had to take in all of his pants because his belly wasn't bloated anymore.
If your stomach is bloated with gas, if you find yourself tired after meals, if you feel full for hours after eating, or if you notice your food isn't getting broken down fully you should try following the food combining rules for a while to see if it helps.
When You Should Break The Food Combining Rules
After your body gets back into balance, and your digestive system is healthy and active, you should be able to handle more complicated meals. Your digestive system is, after all, designed to digest food and it'll do a really good job as long as you don't overload it too much or too often.
The key thing here is that once you've gotten back into balance, you should be able to listen to what your body tells you about which combinations work for you and which ones don't.
Some people - if they're very skinny, have a really fast metabolism or prone to huge blood sugar swings - will actually do better to follow the opposite of certain food combining rules.
For some people, eating fruit alone is actually bad for spiking their blood sugar. For them, a better combination is to have fruit with some grains or some seeds to level out the blood sugar fluctuation.
They need the energy from their food to last longer, or digest more slowly to regulate blood sugar, and combining proteins and/or fats to slow down the digestion of starches and sugars can actually help.
So, what I'm getting at here is that for every rule, there's an exception. Following the rules (food combining and otherwise) is important to get you to a baseline of health and balance.
Once you get to a place where you can listen to your body's messages, you're ready to try breaking the rules to figure out what's going to be the best thing for you.
Do you pay attention to food combinations? What do you find works for you, and what doesn't? Let me know below.
© Heather Nauta . heather@healthyeatingstartshere.com
Disclaimer: This website is for educational purposes only, from the research, education and experience of Heather Nauta. It is not intended as medical advice.
Disclaimer: This website is for educational purposes only, from the research, education and experience of Heather Nauta. It is not intended as medical advice.
