Food Combining and Digestion

As a complete novice, here's what I understand about food combining. (All the details are in Marilu Henner's book, "Total Health Makeover.")

The main reason to do food combining is to improve digestion. That is, efficient, effortless digestion that absorbs maximum nutrition from food with minimum bodily effort. (A side effect seems to be weight control.) Until digestion is complete, our brains can't produce seratonin, which is nature's feel good drug. Our bodies must always handle digestion first.

There are three main types of meals: protein-based, starch-based, or fruit & vegetable-based. Two other food types of foods are more enhancements than meals in themselves: fats and legumes.

• Protein---fish, chicken, meat, eggs, dairy, soy, nuts
  (4 hr buffer needed between meals)
• Starch---pasta, potatoes, bread, rice, grains, corn, carrots
  (3 hr buffer needed between meals)
• Fruit & Vegetable--fruits, vegetables, sugar, honey, whole grains
  (3 hr buffer needed between meals; 2 for fruit)
• Legumes---beans, peas, tofu, peanuts (These are meal balancers)
• Fats---oil, margarine, butter, avocado, mayonnaise, nuts (these are digestion slowers)

The stomach uses different digestive juices to digest different types of foods. When we mix incompatible foods in a single meal, we pit the stomach acids against each other. This not only slows the digestion process, but some food actually rots in our stomachs creating disgestive distress, such as heartburn, nausea, farting, burping, bloating, diarhea, constipation. The more food we eat, the harder the poor stomach and intestines have to work, and who knows when digestion is finally complete, maybe never.

My Rule #1---Don't mix proteins and starches at one meal.  Omigod. This is the American Way! Meat and potatoes. Burgers and fries (and shakes). Chicken and dumplings. Fish and chips. Spaghetti and meatballs. Sandwiches. Even sushi is bad food combining with its protein fish and starch rice. This---no surprise---is the hardest rule to follow.

My Rule #2---Eat fruit by itself.  Fruit digests very quickly, which can cause a problem if you eat fruit with other foods that don't digest quickly. There are three types of fruit:

• Acid---citrus, strawberry, kiwi, pineapple, cranberry
• Subacid---apple, grapes, peach, plum, berries, mango, nectarine
• Sweet---banana, dates, raisins, figs, dried fruit

Don't combine acid fruits and sweet fruits. Subacid and sweet are okay to eat together. Melons should be eaten alone. I get confused about fruit, so I eat fruit alone most of the time.

My Rule #3---If I eat badly-combined food, I try to fix it.  Legumes are great for correction. Legume+starch=protein, so if I eat starch and protein together, I add a legume and the starch magically thinks it's protein. Miso soup automatically corrects the bad combining of sushi. Acid fruit helps neutralize fat, for example, nuts+cranberries or chocolate+citrus. If I make a less than wonderful food choice for one reason or another, I try to keep it simple (peach pie and nothing but the peach pie), then wait four hours before eating or drinking anything else.
          Tip: Some morning-after fixes: An apple after pasta, grapes after sugar, watermelon after salt.

My Rule #4---Don't drink with meals.
This means any liquid, such as soda, water, iced tea (a smoothie is a meal, not a drink). Liquid just dilutes stomach acids, which slows digestion. If I have alcohol with my meal, I sip the alcohol. Yes, even beer. It is best to drink liquids 15 minutes before a meal or one hour after.

Why Do This
Here's why I'm trying food combining, in order of importance to me:

• Get more seratonin in my life
• Lose weight
• Reduce digestive distress