Food Combinations For Optimal Health

Several years ago Adam and I noticed that the order in which we were eating our foods was having an effect on our digestion. At the time I was reading The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin, which talked a little about food combining diets. We looked into it briefly and made a few changes to our diets - mainly eating our salads and fruits first so that they didn't sit and rot in our stomachs after we were done eating. Adam noticed a change in his digestion immediately.

On the way home from work a few weeks ago, he heard a radio program by Dr. Ann Wigmore about food combinations and it reignited our interest in the topic. Many of the things we have learned during our research over the past few weeks has been very interesting.

Fun food-combining facts:

Eat Vitamin C with Green Tea because it increases the absorption of the antioxidants in the tea. For example - squeeze lemon into your tea.

Eat Vitamin-rich foods with Fats because many essential vitamins (especially A,D and E) are absorbed best by the body when eaten with fats. For example - cook your vitamin-rich veggies in an oil.

Eat Garlic with Fish because studies show the garlic helps lower the LDL-cholesterol in fish oil.

Eat Turmeric with Black Pepper because the piperine in the pepper increases the anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and tumor-fighting effects of the turmeric.

Eat Rosemary with Grilled Meat because the herbs antioxidants soak up the carcinogens in the meat. Eating cruciferous vegetables with grilled meat is also recommended. Read more about that here.

Eat Leafy Greens with Citrus because Vitamin C helps your body absorb plant-based iron. For example - squeeze lemon on your spinach.

Eat Oatmeal with Vitamin C because the combination of the phenols in both foods stabilizes LDL cholesterol. For example - squeeze an orange into your oatmeal.

Other Food Combination Rules:

These are based on Dr. Ann Wigmore's program.

1 - Eating one food per sitting is always best.
2 - Melons should always be eaten alone.
3 - There are three kinds of fruits - acid, subacid and sweet. Never eat acidic (orange, grapefruit, pomegranate, strawberry, pineapple, tangerine, lemon, lime, and kiwi) and sweet (banana, dates, raisins, papaya, fresh fig, grapes, persimmon and other dried fruits) together.
4 - Don't mix fruits and veggies, except for tomatoes.
5 - Don't mix starches and proteins, because starches create alkali in the stomach, while proteins create acid - they neutralize one another and make digestion difficult.
6 - Don't drink while eating because it dilutes your stomach acid and enzymes, making it harder to digest food.
7 - Eat raw foods before cooked.
8 - Only eat one type of protein per meal.
9 - Don't eat milk with meat.
10 - Don't drink wine with ale or beer.

Some of these things seem like common sense, but others go against everything our society teaches about healthy eating. We have always been told that you should eat a well-balanced meal, complete with protein, carbs, fruits, veggies and a large glass of water to keep you from overeating. This research by Dr. Wigmore shows that doing so causes serious digestive problems, which may be the reason that the average American walks around with nearly 5 pounds of undigested, rotting meat in their system.

We hear a lot about how eating small meals, or grazing, throughout the day is a great way to keep your metabolism burning, but it may also be a good way to follow these food combination rules. Eating one item at each sitting, several times throughout the day, may be the best way to keep your digestive system healthy.

I realize that there are a lot of different rules out there and it is really hard to keep them all in mind when you are planning a meal. I think that every little bit helps and if you can remember to do a few of them at a time it is better than not doing any of them at all. Eventually the rules will become easier to follow as you slowly incorporate them into your diet.

-Jessica

Sources:

"Ann Wigmore and the Hippocrates Health Program." Reasonably, Rationally, and Realistically Raw. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

"Healthy Food Combinations." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

"Healthy Food Combinations: Men's Health.com." Men's Health - Men's Guide to Fitness, Health, Weight Loss, Nutrition, Sex, Style and Guy Wisdom. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .

"Vitamin C May Boost Absorption of Green Tea's Antioxidants." Alternative Medicine - Everything You Need to Know About Alternative Medicine. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. .