Food Combining

I thought about titling this blog "POOP" but I wasn't sure if you guys would be as interested.

Let me tell you, if there is anything you should obsess about, it should be your poop. Proper digestion and elimination is the KEY to health. If you are looking for a way to get rid of your gas, indigestion, heart burn, lose a little weight, or just wondering why your husband can crap 3 times a day and you are lucky to go number two once...then you might want to consider the lovely little principle of food combining.

Haven't you ever wondered where all your freaking food goes when you eat 3 meals a day but go #2 only once??? Well, it wouldn't surprise you that the average human is carrying around 5-7 lbs of undigested CRAP in their intestines. So next time you want to lose weight...don't try the "super-model" diet of laxatives and candy (which causes a world of problems later in life) give some healthy eating and food combining a try.

This is something that is glossed over in the BE book, so since devouring that book I have read a few books dedicated just to Food Combining.

What is food combining? (Boring, but necessary text book definition)

Food combining' refers to the combination of foods which are compatible with each other in terms of digestive chemistry. Food combining is a basic component of optimal nutrition because it allows the body to digest and utilize the nutrients in our foods to their full extent...Food combining is based on the theory that different food groups require different digestion times. Digestion is helped the most by using foods which have roughly the same digestion time.

Correct food combinations are important for proper digestion, utilization, and assimulation of the nutrients in our diet. The principles of food combining are dictated by digestive chemistry. Different foods require different digestive enzymes to aid in the digestive process - some acid, some alkaline. As any student of chemistry will assure you, acids and bases (alkalis) neutralize each other. When acids and alkalines come in contact, they neutralize each other and this retards digestion.

So here is the Cheat Sheet of tips I have gleaned from these books. Some of these are "DUH! You idiot!" type of common sense things, but if you pay attention to them, you will notice a difference. This is a simplified version...

1. Eat, and ONLY eat. I violate this one like everyday. While eating, I love to sit at my computer and read or work, talk on the phone (some of you might have experienced this before when talking to me...sorry), watch TV, plan my day etc...so its a tough habit to break. Ideally, you should eat and DO NOTHING while doing so. This allows for you to:
1) Be present while eating.
2) You can pay attention to exactly how much junk you are putting into your kisser instead of unconsciously shoveling fist-fulls of food in and wondering why you have a stomach ache later...(I might be speaking from experience).
3) Notice how different foods are affecting you as you eat.

2. STOP EATING WHEN YOU ARE 80% FULL. Only super active teenagers and genetic freaks have the capacity to stuff themselves silly and not pay the consequences in weight gain...HOWEVER this doesn't mean that their digestion is great. Your stomach needs room to secrete the hydrochloric acid to break down the food you just gobbled down into small enough particles for your small intestine to absorb the nutrients. If you just ate a huge dinner, odds are, the food in your gut will enter your small intestine 1/2 digested. So you will get 1/2 the nutrients from your food and the rest of the undigested food can either:
A) Start fermenting (ROTTING) in your intestines giving off methane gas (nasty farts)
B) Get stuck and slowly decompose causing overgrowth in bad intestinal flora (yeast, fungus, etc) which can then affect the immune system and the bodies ability absorb nutrients.
C) If it can't be discarded, you might have a hard time...um...getting it out.


3. CHEW!!! Digestion begins the minute you start gleeking on your food. Your salivary glands secrete amalyse which is a chemical that starts breaking your food down. This does a great job preparing the food for the stomach BUT only when you use your pearly whites to break down the bites. 20-30 chews per bite are recommended. This also helps to remind you to EAT YOUR FOOD SLOWER so your stomach doesn't freak out when it goes from empty to full in 30 seconds.

AND NOW FOR THE FOOD COMBINING Perfect Meal Day

1. Wake up Drink 12 oz of water. (You are telling your stomach its time to get to work)

2. If you are going to have juice, now is the time to do it. ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. Juices and fruits digest in 20-30 minutes. A tall glass of vegetable juice is sure to give you a great boost of enzymes and nutrients that can go right into the blood stream.

3. Fruit:
It is important to eat alone because the minute you put your starchy carb waffles drenched with strawberries and maple syrup into your stomach, those berries are likely to sit in your gut for 3 hours. While the starch digests, the fruit sitting on top starts fermenting...and we know the $&it storm that can cause. Best to eat fruits alone, when possible.

3. Eat Sugar alone, or better yet, don't eat sugar at all. Bad yeast love sugar and you can get candida, etc which can then lead into a number of immune and digestive problems down the road...

4. Eat your Starches, Grains, Carbs with only alkaline veggies (i.e. green vegetables) NEVER with Meat Proteins...the reason for this is that Starches need different digestive enzymes than proteins to digest well. This means no more steak and potatoes for you. Ideally you'd eat your Steak, Broccoli and salad. Pass on the bread and potatoes, or wait an hour or two before you have them. This ensures that you will be eating smaller meals which will help you digest better and speed up metabolism.

5. Eat Proteins with Alkaline vegetables.

6. Eat simple foods when possible. Think about the way people ate before we had processed foods and supermarkets. They ate seasonally, and probably fairly simple meals with fewer ingredients. I know it is impossible to eat one food at a time the rest of your life, but when possible stagger your meal ingredients. Eat your salad. Wait 20 minutes, then eat your meat, etc,etc,etc.

7. Dairy. Dairy is pretty much the Devil for your digestive system. This causes an abundance of mucus in the sinuses, throat, intestines which leads to constipation, etc. IF you are going to eat dairy, then have yogurt (preferably goat or soy---which isn't even dairy), or drink Kefir (which you can now get in grocery stores, although the fruity kinds are full of sugar). At least these ingredients are fermented with live bacterial probiotic cultures which can help your digestion. You can eat dairy with nuts and fruit (if you must) according to Body Ecology...no idea why.

Sensible order of INGESTION
1. Water and Juices
2. Fruits, Smooties, Soups
3. Vegetables
4. Beans and Grains
5. Meats, Fish, and Poultry

***NO DRINKING WHILE EATING***
Water can dilute your stomach acid, making it more difficult to digest your food. Ideally you are supposed to be eating smaller bites, chewing your food like crazy, and only eating until you are 70-80 percent full so you shouldn't need to guzzle 2 country-time lemonades with your meal. HOWEVER, I have read some conflicting view points on this. Drinking a modest amount of water with your meal isn't that bad, especially when you are eating primarily fruits, vegetables, legumes, and a modest amount of whole grains, since those foods are 50%-70% water anyway. HOWEVER, if you are eating a steak, eat small bites, chew chew chew, and try to drink as little water as possible since meat proteins are the most difficult thing to digest and you need as much hydrochloric acid as possible.

RESOURCES:
Something I have found among health food books, especially ones geared more to holistic, naturopathic health is that they are cheesier that the mickey mouse club. Great information, but you have to sift through the cheese frosting they drench everything in...

"Food Combining and Digestion," Steve Meyerowitz (easy to understand)
"Fit for Life" Harvey and Marylin Diamond
"Body Ecology Diet" Donna Gates
"Food Combining"--Wikipedia.