Food Combining. Is It For You?

     So, I had some quiet time to look up some information to refresh my memory about just what food combining is. I liked what I read so on Thursday last week I started following the program, although somewhat loosely. Tomorrows post I will give you the update if I think it works or just another opinion.
     In yesterday's post I summed it up something like this: bad combinations of food impedes your metabolism, making it nearly impossible to loose weight. Since some foods need an acidic environment to break them down, others need a alkaline one, your stomach can not be both a the same time. When we eat foods that oppose each other in the stomach, it makes for unhealthy guts. Food ferments and goes undigested for hours, when it should be out of you stomach and ready for elimination.
     The proponents of Food Combining say it's important not to eat certain groups of foods together at the same time because it hinders good digestion. Resulting in incomplete digestion, leaving stagnant foods undigested in your stomach. You know you've combined opposing foods because you're gassy, bloated, feel stuffed, have indigestion, heartburn, crampy, constipated or the opposite, soon after eating. It also causes malabsorption of nutrients which leaves you drained of energy. Over time you can become very sick.
     
  From what I understand there are 4 Groups of foods. Some digest very quickly like fruits while proteins take much longer. The idea is if you eat your foods in the right combination, you maximize your digestive capacity and ability to break down foods more effectively.
# 1:  Proteins (meats, poultry, cheese, fish, eggs, milk, nuts) These all produce ACID juices for their digestion and digest very slowly.
# 2:  Carbohydrates- these are grains and the foods made from them (breads, pastas, cereals, flour, etc) and starchy vegetables (potatoes, sweetcorn) which all produce ALKALINE juices. They digest quickly and require different enzymes than proteins.
     If you eat group 1 and 2 together, the competing enzymes and juices will neutralize each other. The result is food doesn't get digested properly and rots or putrefies in the gut causing the ills listed above.
# 3:  Salads and non-starchy vegetables, roots vegetables and seeds.  These can be digested with either Group 1 or 2.
# 4:  Fruit. Is the fastest food to digest. Fruit uses completely different enzymes to digest than the above groups.

     Don't over think it. It's really not that complicated.

DO NOT eat foods from #1 and #2 together in the same meal. They oppose each other.
#3 foods can be eaten with #1 or #2.
#4 foods must be eaten alone, at least 30 minutes before or after other foods. If you eat fruit after a meal it can't go anywhere because it gets stuck behind foods that require much longer to digest.

     I'm sure that's why salads are eaten before the entrée, too. Let those nutrients get on their way into your system before packing on the heavier, harder to break down foods.
     Makes good sense to me. Even if you don't try this, at least try noticing what you have eaten prior to having gassy episodes. Or attack of heartburn. Maybe there's a correlation.

I have heard from others that proper food combining is a very effective way to lose and control weight.  I figure it sure can't do any harm to try. So far,  my results have pointed to the positive. Tune in tomorrow. .

For more Information on Food Combining read Fit For Life or do a Google search on Suzanne Somers Food Combining, The Hay Diet, Pete and Donna Thompson "All you Want to know About Food Combining.