Not only is what you eat so important to optimum health in body, mind and spirit – how you eat, and what things you combine in each meal, are just as important.
Think of your digestive tract as a laboratory. A scientist combines an acidic substance, like vinegar, with NaHCO3, or baking soda, to create a foaming, frothy volcano in a test tube. Substitute your stomach for the test tube, unknowingly combine foods that can trigger similar dramatic chemical reactions, and you’ve got an unpleasant drama playing out inside your body.
Beyond just the obvious consequences, like producing excess gas that urgently has to leave the body one way or another, inappropriate combinations can also prevent your system from properly absorbing all the available nutrients in your food.
In our Food Combining class at Optimum Health Institute (OHI), we teach about the five main food categories – dense/oily proteins; dense starches & starchy vegetables; low-starch & green vegetables & sprouts, fruits; fermented foods and liquids. We also teach which things can be safely eaten together, and which unwise combinations can result in embarrassing and/or unhealthy consequences.
In a nutshell – here are the basic guidelines:
The “Alone” rules:
· Liquids alone
· Fruits alone
· Melons alone
And the “Do Not Combine” rules:
· Do not combine protein and starches
· Do not combine acid and sweet fruits
When you break these rules, beware – and stand downwind of friends. Combining melons, which take only about half an hour to digest, with a dense protein like peas, which need a good three hours, will cause the fruit to ferment in the stomach. Combining fruits with animal proteins, which are not on the OHI plan, slows the process down even further. That shrimp cocktail can linger in the stomach and keep the accompanying melon hostage for as long as eight hours. You don’t even want to imagine what a pressure cooker that toxic combo creates!
The other reason to follow the food combining rules is that some items, like dense, oily proteins (nuts, avocados, beans), require a completely different digestive environment than, say, acid fruits (strawberries, pomegranates, citrus). Eating a handful of almonds while you’re also nibbling orange segments means you don’t get the complete nutrition of either, and might even trigger indigestion.
For the full skinny, and an easy-to-follow Optimal Food Combining chart, pick up a colorful placemat or postcard in the Optimum Health Store, or call us at (800) 993-4325. You can also visit our website at www.OptimumHealth.org