The principle behind food combining is that different food classes require different enzymes, different rates of digestion, and different digestive pHs for proper digestion. If the foods of the different food classes are combined incorrectly, the specific requirements for their proper digestion tend to cancel each other out. For example, flesh foods require an acid media for digestion, whereas milk is highly alkaline, so it can neutralize the acid required for digesting the flesh foods. Fruit digestion results in the release of an alkaline secretion, which neutralizes the acid secretions, needed for protein digestion. Because of this, it is not a good idea to eat fruits and proteins at the same meals. Some foods are digested faster than others. If fast-digesting foods like fruits are held up in the digestive system for a longer time than necessary through being combined with foods that digest more slowly, fermentation takes place. For this reason, it is good for digestion to eat fruit and starches, which are digested slowly at different meals. Fruits and vegetables require different digestive enzymes, which tend to neutralize each other, so these too are best taken at separate meals. The simplest rule of food combining is to eat foods or combinations of foods that in our direct experience are easiest to digest. It is usually easy to digest foods from the same food group or from two compatible food groups. Vegetables should be eaten with protein meals and carbo meals. However, too much of even a single food is taxing on the digestive system. Easy to digest combinations include predigested proteins with vegetables or sweet or sub acid fruits.

Sprouted grains and vegetables, vegetables and low starches, and high and low starches are all generally easy to digest. Relatively easy to digest food combinations to explore are protein and leafy greens, and avocado combined with leafy greens, acid, or sub acid fruits. Combinations that are likely to produce purification and fermentation are protein and starches, oil and protein, protein and sweet or sub acid fruit, oil and sweet or sub acid fruit, fruit and vegetables, and melons with any other type of food. For some people these combinations may not be a problem if eaten in small amounts. Papaya and lemons go well with any other foods. The timing of eating foods is also important. If you are having a salad and a protein, by eating the salad first, the hydrochloric acid needed for digesting the protein is blocked. There is better digestion if we eat the salad after the protein or while eating the protein. Also, it is best to not drink cold liquids with your meals, as this causes the blood vessels in the stomach to constrict, resulting in indigestion. The way we tell if our combinations or timing are good for us is through results. If we get gas, constipation, diarrhea, and feel bloated, nauseated, and enervated after eating, we have a clue that what we are eating is not digesting easily and that we need to pay more attention to food combining or food excesses. It is hard to enjoy the peace and flow of the cosmic energies when fermentative indigestion is raging inside our stomach and bowels. The key to an easy time with food combining awareness is to experiment in developing a routine of eating in which we eat what is easy to digest. In other words, trust your own experience and use your intelligence to make life easy.

Mixing starches and proteins leads to disease states.

Simple rules to follow:

  • Sugars and starches cannot be eaten with proteins and acid fruits at the same meal.
  • The large part of the diet should consist of vegetables, salads and fruit. Proteins, fats and starches should be eaten in small amounts
  • All refined and processed foods should be eliminated, and only whole grains should be used.
  • An interval of at least four hours should elapse between meals.
  • The first rule of good digestion and assimilation of protein is: Do not mix major portions of protein and starch at the same meal.

If protein is eaten with too many carbohydrates (bread, crackers, potato, rice, pasta) or with fruit (sugar), digestion is severely compromised. Consequently, the body becomes a breeding ground for bacteria in the gastro-intestinal tract. Moreover, such a combination contributes to higher levels of cholesterol. Eating Proteins with carbohydrates is a major cause of cholesterol problems. Perhaps one reason why cow’s milk causes so many allergies is that it is a protein and carbohydrate (sugar) combination.

Separating these two types of food is one of the first steps to being free of allergies. The digestion of protein and carbohydrates are physiologically separate and conflicting functions. The protein is digested in an acid medium which means that the enzymes function in an acid environment. Combining protein and carbohydrates (digested in an alkaline medium) impairs the proper digestion of one or the other food. Historical and current observations show that the body opts for the digestion of the carbohydrates if both foods are present, perhaps after the principle of a “path of least resistance.” Or the body opts for the digestion of the carbohydrates in mixed meals to meet immediate energy and survival needs. In this way, the body will function effectively and will be able to obtain proteins at another time.

When carbohydrates (starches) are eaten, the digestive system sends forth alkaline or neutral gastric juices, such as amylase which is most efficient at an alkaline pH of 7.1 – 7.2. However, when proteins are eaten, the digestive system sends out acid gastric juices at a pH of 3, for example. If these food groups are eaten simultaneously, the gastric juices (if both are provided) cancel each other out and poor digestion results. Anything that inhibits digestion is an enemy of health. But the body is concerned with conservation of energy and does not send for conflicting digestive enzymes. Protein digestive enzymes are much more costly to the body to manufacture. If both protein and carbohydrate are eaten simultaneously, the body may only respond to the easier carbohydrate digestive process and let the protein pass through. This results in poor absorption of amino acids and poisoning of the body due to putrefying/decaying protein (i.e. rotting meat in the intestines). When a food is chewed, the ptylin or amylase enzymes in the saliva begin processing the carbohydrates.

If carbohydrates are prevalent, a signal is sent via the hypothalamus to the pancreas to produce more alkaline amylase enzymes to further process carbohydrate food. If protein is prevalent, the signal is sent to the pancreas to produce more protease enzymes to process the protein. The pancreas mass-produces one or the other enzyme at a time. if both proteins and carbohydrates are eaten simultaneously. The pancreas opts for pancreatic amylase (the easier enzyme to produce) for the digestion of carbohydrates and neglects the protein digestion. Usually, some carbohydrates will be eaten in any protein meal, because the vegetables so strongly advocated as absolutely essential in a protein meal contain carbohydrates. We can also add a tortilla or a few croutons to the meal and not exceed the body’s ability to digest the protein. If the carbohydrates are less than 18% by volume, the body can still recognize the focus of the meal as protein and digest it accordingly. Some protein foods and some vegetables become starches when cooked for an extended period of time or at high temperatures, particularly above 200° F. Those foods include beans, corn and peas. Although dry or sprouted beans and peas are proteins, they become starches when cooked. Always have vegetables with a protein meal. In fact, if you wish to live long and vitally, you will have organic vegetables with every meal.

Fruit

Fruit, more than any other food, brings to the body the “essence of the seasons” or the particular minerals and enzymes for the body to adapt to the change of seasons. Fruit is considered by many health experts to be the ideal food because of its ease of digestion, high water content, rich supply of living enzymes and organic minerals, and general cleansing effect. Fruit can add a vital dimension to a person’s diet. As a rule, fruit for breakfast as a way of life is detrimental in the long run. The reason is as follows: During the latter part of a person’s sleep cycle the body is in an alkaline state. During this alkaline pH state, the best sleep, best dreaming and best body repairs take place. Then the body heads for its acid pH swing, which brings the activity and productivity of morning. The acid side is required for enthusiasm and energy, just as the day follows the night. But if fruit is eaten first thing in the morning, it pushes the body back toward an alkaline pH when the natural body cycle is heading for a more acid swing. This inhibits the digestive activity of future meals. It tranquilizes the brain leading to low productivity and the use of stimulants (coffee, tea, tobacco, refined carbohydrates) to bring energy to the body. And by inhibiting the acid pH cycle, fruit pushes the alkaline cycle further into alkalosis, thus contributing to greater stress on the blood sugar. Because of its high sugar content, fruit generally appears in the carbohydrate family, but it actually falls into a class of its own dietarily. A general dietary rule regarding fruit is to eat it by itself.

Categories

The food combining plans divide fruit into subcategories of sweet, acid, sub-acid, and melon, a tedious division for general use. But for those people who want to work with the subcategories, they are listed here. Separating fruits, however, is not a major factor in health. The following are suggestions on how to use fruit: Eat fruits alone or as a meal, not with a meal of other foods (proteins, carbohydrates, oils). If eating several fruits, it is best to mix fruits within their own subcategory, but this is not a major concern. The main concern is that most people do better eating melon by itself. Use fresh fruits when your urinary pH registers excessively acid (5.5 or below) since most fruits are alkalizing (some excessively so) and balances the acid pH. Even though fruit may taste acid due to the citric acids, to the body’s metabolism they are mostly alkalizers. Cranberry is an exception and is an acidifier. This is why people often drink cranberry juice to overcome bladder infections. The acids discourage bacteria proliferation, which occurs best in alkaline urine. Fresh fruit meals are great for supper, particularly in summer, or in the fruit’s natural season. Using fruit “in the season thereof” works with the natural, seasonal cycle of nutrition.

Acid

Blueberry, cherimoya, grapefruit, lemon, lime, loquat, orange, pineapple, pomegranate, sour plum, sour cherries, strawberry, tangerine, tangelo

Sub-acid

Apple, apricot, blackberry, cherry, grape, kumquat, mango, nectarine, papaya, peach, pear, plum, prune, kiwi

Sweet

Banana, dates, dried fruit, raisins, persimmon

Melon

Banana melon, cantaloupe, casaba, crenshaw, honeydew, musk, Persian, watermelon