Recently, a friend asked me about food combining and if it could help with her digestive distress. So I thought I would give you a brief idea of what food combining is and how it can work for or against you. The first thing you need to know is that all foods require different amounts of time to digest and move though our system. The next thing you need to know is that eating certain food combinations can hinder digestion. If you suffer from gas or bloating after meals you may want to give food combining a try.
One of the secrets of establishing good health as well as maintaining weight loss is to have a properly functioning digestive system. This means that you are able to absorb the maximum amount of nutrients, proteins and enzymes from your food. When this is accomplished it can prevent bloating, burping, gas and even indigestion.
Fruits digested faster than any other food. Next in line would be non-starching vegetables including herbs, nuts, seed, and seed and olive oil.
The third group is your grains (products made from grains), then sugars and starchy vegetables like corn on the cob. The foods that digest slowest are meats, dairy and fish.
1. Raw fruits (cooked fruits take a little longer and dried fruits even longer still) take approximately 30 minutes to exit the stomach. Try to eat fruits first thing in the morning or 3 hours after a meal. Problems arise when you eat a slow digesting food followed by a quickly digestible food. The quickly digestible food will remain in the digestive track too long and can cause gas and bloating.
2. All non-starch vegetables may be eaten with flesh dishes.
3. All vegetables may be eaten with starches.
This is very basic description of food combining. You can get much more detail and fine tune what you eat but this is a quick primer for those just starting with food combining. What I take away from this is that the traditional meal I grew up on of meat, potatoes, vegetables and a raw lettuce salad is hard on the digestive system. A better meal would leave out the potatoes. Or keep the potatoes and eliminate the meat!
There are many books available on the subject of food combining. When done properly, food combining can help you feel great, lose weight and maintain weight loss.
Dr. Tina Paul, BCND, Traditional Naturopath, Vibrant Living Wellness Center, 144 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre, (626) 470-7711 or visit www.vibrantlivingwc.com.