What is it?

Food combining is not what one would call a diet but a eating habit! You still eat your 3 meals a day, you can snack if you have to. What food combining means is that you only combine certain food types when you are eating. Simply put, you don’t have Carbohydrates when you are eating Protein etc.

'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’ Our digestive system is a complex system which has a delicate balance of digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes are secreted in very specific amounts and at very specific times. Carbohydrates require a special enzyme to break it down, as does protein and lipids. Some of these enzymes work optimally in an alkaline environment and some work well in an acid environment.

The following are some pointers on the basic food combining diet.

• Carbohydrates food and acid foods should not be eaten in the same meal. For example you should avoid eating pasta with tomato sauce. Tomatoes are very acidic and obviously pasta is a carbohydrate. The reason they should not be combined is because an enzyme needed to digest Carbohydrates is destroyed by even the mildest, thus it can prevent the digestion of the pasta and there is a higher chance of getting gas as the acid can also cause a fermentation of your food! You can eat acidic food like tomatoes with leafy vegetables and fat foods. Heartburn (hyperacidity) can result in poor digestion of carbohydrates and cause fermentation of your food.
• Do not mix Protein and carbohydrates in the same meal. Nuts, eggs, meat, fish, dairy products etc. should not be mixed with bread, cereals etc. Cakes for example are a mixture of protein and carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates inhibit the secretion of gastric juice and can slow down your digestion. Protein needs an acid environment to be digested and the carbohydrates need an alkaline environment. Thus if you mix the two you get a similar reaction as when you mix acidic foods with Carbohydrates.
• Avoid eating two concentrated proteins in the same meal. Each protein needs a different strength of digestive juice to be secreted in order for it to be digested efficiently. By mixing up too many proteins together you are putting an extra strain on the digestive system.
• Avoid eating fats with proteins. Do not use things like butter, oil etc with meat, cheese, nuts etc. When you eat fats it delays your appetite. This means that when we would have less/no gastric juice swirling around in anticipation of our meal, slowing down our digestive system.
• Avoid mixing acid fruit with proteins. Fruits like oranges, lemons etc should not be eaten with meat, eggs, nuts etc. Acid fruits seriously hamper protein digestion. Even though proteins need an acid environment to be digested effectively, it need hydrochloric acid in particular, and any other type of acid only impede’s the digestive process. and sugars together. Cakes, sweet cereals, biscuits etc can cause Avoid mixing starch fermentation in the gut.

Some general tips

• Try not to mix more than one type of starchy food in you meal. Why? Because it’s unnecessary! By only eating one type you are reducing the demand on the digestive system and you can prevent overeating
• Eat melons and high acidic fruits (pineapple, oranges etc) on their own. They just don’t mix well with other foods and can increase the risk of fermentation when mixed
• Milk should be ingested on it’s own too! If you think about it, milk is for babies. When a baby is drinking milk its not taking in any other source of food. It even gets digested in the intestine and not in the stomach.