Food Combining
Apr 03, 2021
Food Combining
BY STELLA LUNA
I grew up in a household with a typical American diet and style of cooking. The staples in the early 80s were goulash, roast beef with potatoes in the crock pot, and fish on Fridays.
Bread was also a major part of our meals—my grandma was a huge fan of it. She had lived on the farm and throughout most of her adult life she would have to bake a loaf daily for the family of 10. Fast forward several years, when she could have as many loaves as she wanted, and it came sliced…well, then she would say, “Stella, I want you to butter every slice to the edge,” and I would make a stack of them for dinner, nightly. (It makes my belly hurt just thinking about it now.)
The Standard American Diet or the SAD diet is sad. It is a Meathead mentality and does dis-of-ease to the body in so many ways. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the nostalgia of meat and potatoes. My grandma made a good Beef Stroganoff and I really liked meatloaf, the quintessential horrible combo of ground beef and saltine crackers with ketchup…..mmmmm! I was raised on meatloaf, yet I will chose not to eat them together any longer and this is why.
When you know better you do better! The key is Food Combining.
Food Combining Basics
Think about your digestive tract as a train or a conveyor belt. We want things to run smoothly and not get backed up which can create a haven for unhealthy bacteria which causes bloating.
Some foods digest slow, some quick. We want the foods that digest quickly to pass through first. When you eat heavier foods first, your digestive tract needs time before you can put the next thing in it. So when we eat meat (slow to digest) and potatoes (quickly digested), or meat and starches together, like the meatloaf- we confuse/jumble up/bog down our digestive tract and make it slow down.
On the next few pages I’ve outlined a simple guideline. For optimal digestion, I suggest you follow it as much as you can.
Fruit
• Fruit digests quickly
• Do not combine with anything. Always alone. Always.
• This does not include avocados. (See ‘fat’ for more info on avocados)
Because fruit takes at least 20 minutes to digest, we suggest waiting 30 minutes before consuming anything else. This is why it’s a good idea to eat fruit in the morning alone. It makes it an easy way to remember to start the day off light and move through the day with Starch and then Protein. Especially if you are a vegetarian or vegan for the best possible digestion. Açai and banana are the exception. You may eat a banana with your nut butters.
Veggies
• Combine with anything.
Starches
• Potatoes, quinoa, grains, pasta etc.
• Combine with fat or veggies
• Take about 2 hours to digest. You need alkaline enzymes to break this down.
Fat
• Olives. Oils. Ghee. Avocado is a fruit however it has more fat so it counts here.
• Combine with Starch (and/or veggies)
• Fat combines with protein in moderation like a little cheese on a chicken salad is OK.
• Think potatoes go with butter but putting butter on my steak is ridiculous!
Protein
• Beans, lentils, meat, nuts + nut butter, eggs, fish, tofu, etc…
• Combine with veggies
• Takes 3 hours to digest and needs acid to digest.
• This is why you cannot combine meat and potatoes. When you do this your food putrefies. You have officially made a perfect environment to create bacteria. Yuck. This is the cause of so many upset tummies. The digestive fires burn too hard and can lead to things like heartburn because the tummy doesn’t have the right combo of enzymatic power to burn the food and instead it burns itself.
Good Combos
• Starch + Fat
• Protein + Veggies
For example:
• Avocado toast
• Chia pudding
• Green juice (no fruit) or salad with anything
• Veggie stir fry
• Chicken/protein with salad (no croutons or starch)
• “Protein style” everything you can
• Always a side of veggies or salad, veggies go with everything.
Bad Combos
For example:
• Pasta with meat sauce
• Meat and potatoes
• Fruit like orange wedges or cranberries in a salad
• Chicken and rice
• Oatmeal and almond butter
Yes, there is a ton of evidence and research behind all of this, but I wanted to make it easy for you.
And if you would like to incorporate this into your life, start with one thing. One small step at a time leads to long lasting results.
