Principles of Proper Food Combining (Cont’d)

Dear Veggie Lovers: Below is a guest post from a new contributor, Lulu. You may want to read this article and also read my past post on the basic principles of food combining HERE. The biggest food combining mistake most of us are trained to make while eating the Standard American Diet is combining dense carbohydrates (like bread & rice) with dense proteins (beans, meat). If you are are experiencing problems with gas while eating raw foods, it may have to do with the fact that you are not combining your meals well. Learning to food combine is an essential as eating the right foods for optimal health, so don’t take it lightly. -XoXo Raw Girl

The food combining system is simple and easy to understand. Basically, food combining is based on the discovery that certain combinations of food may be digested with greater ease and efficiency than others. Correct food combination leads to an immediate improvement in health by lightening the load off the digestive organs. Better nutrition is achieved because of better digestion, better assimilation, less fermentation and less gas. So-called food allergies often disappear as a result of proper food combining. In his book Food Combining Made Easy, Dr. Herbert Shelton explains that starchy foods have to be eaten alone because starches are digested with enzymes different from those used for any other food group.

Dr. Shelton has found that combining green, leafy vegetables with every food group produces favorable results.There are several benefits of adding greens to other foods. Besides having high nutritional value, greens contain a lot of fiber. The fiber in the greens slows down the absorption of sugar from fruit. This makes drinking green smoothies, for example, possible, even for people with high sensitivity to sugar. Vegetables such as carrots, beets, broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, eggplant, pumpkin, okra, peas, corn, green beans, do not combine well with fruit due to their high starch content. While these veggies are nutritious, their high starch content makes them unsuitable for use in sweet smoothies.  If you do not want to mix sweet fruit into your green smoothies, you can use non-starchy vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, avocados, celery and others. You can also consider using low–glycemic index fruit such as berries (any kind), apples, cherries, plums, and grapefruit.

Any non-starchy vegetables (greens) may be combined with proteins or starch. Tomatoes should especially not be used with starches. The use of fat (avocados) with starch is considered acceptable, provided a green salad is included in the meal. Since avocados are high in fat, they tend to slow down the digestion of foods that normally require a shorter digestion time. They are only a fair combination with sub-acid and acid fruit. They are usually considered a poor combination with sweet fruit, especially dried sweet fruit.

Dr. Vivian Vetrano says that exceptions may be made in combining avocados with fresh sweet fruit, such as bananas, but that they should not be combined with dried sweet fruit, unless the fruit has been soaked overnight. The next best combination for the avocado is taking it with sub-acid or acid fruit. Avocado should never be used with nuts, which are also high in fat, nor should they be used with melons.

Melons are best eaten alone or with other melons. They are more than 90 % liquid and leave the stomach quickly if not delayed and fermented by combining with other foods. This is because the sugars in melons are in a less stable form and decompose quicker than those of other fruits. Alfalfa sprouts may be combined as a green vegetable. During the sprouting process, the carbohydrate and protein components of the sprouting seed tend to diminish, and the composition becomes more like a green vegetable instead of a legume, grain or seed.

In summary, all raw, fresh, whole, ripe fruit; chlorophyll, vitamin, and mineral-rich raw, leafy green vegetable, sprouted seeds and raw, unsalted nuts and seeds are valuable. Eat lots of them according to food-combining rules. Do not complicate them with oily dressings and your body will easily adjust and progress toward optimal health. -XoXo Lulu, signing in for Raw Girl