Nobody Eats Like Me

This is the last “installment” for Food Combining. I thought I would give you a few ideas on how to eat this way.

First of all, you might want to try this for one meal for a week or so. If you start with breakfasts, do that for one week; then move onto lunch, and eventually dinners. For example, you might want to try eating fruit alone for breakfast for one week, choosing foods from any of the three groups (acid, sub-acid, sweet). Also, you can combine sweet and sub-acid fruits or acids and sub-acid fruits, but not sweet with acid. Each day you can use different fruits in proper combinations. (See earlier posting on fruit combinations.)

Here’s a fruit salad combo using sub-acid with acid: strawberries (or any berries), kiwi, peach, plum, and grapes.
Or try eating melons alone as a group, mixing cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon.
Wait at least 20 minutes before eating proteins or starches.

For lunch, you can eat a tossed garden salad with greens, tomatoes, cucumbers & sprouts. Or you can also combine greens with fruits such as berries, tangerines or apples.

You can follow this with either a protein (ex. tofu, chicken, fish) and green veggie or a starch (pasta with pesto).

For dinner, choose either a starch or protein with veggies, whatever you did not have at lunch.

This is stir fry using edamame beans (soybeans are a complete protein) and veggies.

Please feel free to contact me with questions about Food Combining. It can be challenging, but if you are having digestive problems, this way of eating might help you.

Note: I will be moving this blog onto my website newsletter in September. My website is www.menupause.info. I hope you will continue to follow Nobody Eats Like Me on menupause and subscribe to that website.

Natural Hygiene’s “take” on food is that digestion is more efficient and easier when protein, carbs, and fruits & veggies are not all eaten together. Since most protein foods require an acid digestion environment and most carbs digest properly in an alkaline environment, the idea is to combine foods at a meal that have similar and/or compatible digestive juices.

(Information for these guidelines are in all the Natural Hygiene literature, but I am using mt chart from The Canadian Natural Hygiene Society.)

11. Combine Fruit only with lettuce & celery: The uncooked vegetables (lettuce & celery), when combined with a fruit meal, may enhance digestion of the fruit. (My experience with green smoothies [pureed fruits w/ greens] is my own endorsement of this combination. es)

I recently posted this recipe on www.menupause.info under Kitchen Nutrition with recipes.

12. Salads combine very well with starches & proteins. Further defined, the salad ingredients need to be of the non-starchy type, such as lettuces. These and other green, non-starchy veggies leave the stomach with little change, unless delayed by foods that require more gastric digestion. (The chart includes oily dressings.)

13. Melons are recommended to be eaten alone. Because melons are more than 90% liquid and leave the stomach quickly when eaten alone, the recommendation is to eat them alone. (Ex. I combine honeydew, watermelon & cataloupe as a fruit salad with no other fruits. es)

14. Sprouts. The best way to eat sprouted grains is as sprouts. This includes legumes and seeds. (As a big proponent of sprouting, I agree with this strongly and now there are some sprouted grains ready to cook in health food stores. es)

15. Other non-recommended foods. Cranberries, rhubarb, overripe fruit and bitter vegetables. (Will have to investigate these further. es)

Other recommendations: Natural hygiene suggests that we need to avoid certain spices and condiments, such as salt, pepper, vinegar, oils, garlic, radishes, mustard, cranberry sauce and all other condiments, as they are irritants. (Most people would find this difficult, but if digestive problems are severe, this might be a good plan to follow. es)

Water– Natural Hygiene does not have a rule of how many glasses of water you need. The recommendation is that you drink water only when thirsty. Here are the specific guidelines from Dr. Herbert Shelton, probably the leading doctor in modern Natural Hygiene: Drink water at least:

15 minutes before meals
30 minutes after a fruit meal
2 hours after a starch meal
4 hours after a protein meal
The reason for this is that drinking water with meals or too soon before or after meals dilutes the natural enzymes in your body that are important for digestion.

Next week I will provide a sample of my food combining meals and some recommendations for you to experiment with when creating meals or eating out.

Author: Nobody Eats Like Me

Food Combining Menu Ideas

Food Combining: Part Four