What to Eat With What
You may have heard about food combining before - the careful consideration of which foods to eat together at a meal. This can be a very beneficial tool for improving your digestive abilities and promoting weightloss- especially if you’re already experiencing some digestive problems.
Let me try break the theory behind this down for you in a quick and easy fashion:
Products rich in protein require acidic enzymes for their digestion, while those rich in carbohydrates require alkaline enzymes. When acids and alkalies mix in the stomach, they neutralize each other and therefore actually worsen digestion. Proteins putrefy and starches ferment because of the constant presence of bacteria in the digestive tract. This is the primary cause of all sorts of digestive stress, including gas, heartburn, bloating, constipation etc…
It is also believed that this will render the nutrients in the protein food largely useless to you and produce toxic wastes and gases. Yikes!
Although living completely by the food combining rules is too complicated for most of us, and not always necessary if you feel great and don’t experience any digestive issues.
Yet - there are some great lessons and take away’s that we can apply to our daily lives:
1. Eat fruit alone! Fruit goes through your digestive system very quickly and if eaten with other foods the fruit may be “slowed down” in your system, start fermenting and cause gas.
Instead - eat fruit on it’s own as a snack or an appetizer (just wait 30min before your next meal) - fruit has beneficial enzymes that may actually help with the digestion when eaten properly.
2. Don’t wash down your food. Drinking lots of liquids with your meal dilutes the digestive gasses and can really compromise your digestion and cause bloating…
3. Always eat lots of non-starchy vegetables with your protein/meat. Fill your plate with salad, greens, roasted vegetables etc and a small piece of meat, fish or beans.
4. Make your starch-dish vegetarian. Eat your pasta, rice, bread or quinoa with lots of vegetables for best possible digestion.
5. Eat cultured vegetables - this is not really a food combining rule, but rather a tip for improved digestion, curbing sugar cravings and promoting weight loss.
