Combining vs. seperating

[Cerellia]

Up to now, I have allways believed that the best way to eat is having a fruit on its own and waiting some time before you have the next to give your body time to digest. That sounded reasonable to me because different fruits at once might cause unwanted chemical reactions in the body.
Now, I read that you should combine certain fruits and vegetables to get the best effect. The theory behind that was that different fruits/ vegetables/ greens contain different amino accid. Only if you eat all eight essential amino accids at once, your body can build a full protein.
Which is true? Does anyone know?

[spicyfull]

2009 Copyrighted material!
Please reference this source when sharing this information: www.rawfamily.com

Food Combining in Green Smoothies

A chapter from Victoria’s up-coming book “Green Smoothie Revolution”

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.
:—Plato


The most frequent question I receive about green smoothes is about food combining. People ask if it is proper to combine fruits and vegetables in a smoothie. I usually reply that I never combine fruits and vegetables in my smoothies, only fruits and greens. I believe that greens were erroneously placed in the category of vegetables. Greens do not contain starch, and most vegetables do. Both cheese and beef come from a cow, but they belong to different food categories.

Similarly, there is a substantial difference between green leaves and vegetables, even though they are often harvested from the same plant. And of course, there are...continue reading



©2009 Copyrighted material!
Please reference this source when sharing this information: www.rawfamily.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria's Newest Book

Green Smoothie Revolution


You may pre-order Victoria’s new book “Green Smoothie Revolution" by clicking here. We offer FREE shipping for all pre-orders, both international and domestic. We appreciate your support and will mail these new books as soon as we receive them from the printer in July, 2009.

Please note: This book has to be ordered separately from any other items in our shop and quanity discounts do not apply.



View the Table of Contents

[Tee42]

Only if you eat all eight essential amino accids at once, your body can build a full protein.
Which is true? Does anyone know?

This is no longer accepted as fact. It is now believed that we have - for lack of a better term - an amino acid "pool" that the body can contribute to and take from to form structural proteins.

Interesting about not combining vegetables and fruits in smoothies. I get confused because there are fruits, foods that we think of as vegetables but that are actually classified as fruit, vegetables and leafy greens. I'm having enough issues just staying raw so I guess I put this on a list to tackle at some point in the future. She lists savory smoothies in her original GS book but perhaps there are no vegetables in them just "fruit" vegetables - I guess checking that will go on that same list. :confused:

[HolyGuacamole]

I believe that greens were erroneously placed in the category of vegetables. Greens do not contain starch, and most vegetables do. Both cheese and beef come from a cow, but they belong to different food categories.
©2009 Copyrighted material!
Please reference this source when sharing this information: www.rawfamily.com

Oy.
What makes a fruit a fruit is that it is the edible portion of a plant containing seeds. Spinach leaves do not contain seeds. Kale leaves do not contain seeds.
I have Green for Life in my hands at this moment and she does indeed mix botanical fruits and botanical vegetables. I see onions and tomatoes, for instance. Onions are vegetables. Tomatoes are fruits. I see avocados and celery. Avocados are fruits, celery is a vegetable.
"Greens" were not "placed in the wrong category." "Fruit" has a definition, and greens do not meet it.
Why not just say greens are neutral in terms of digestion and can be properly combined with both vegetables and fruits, while sweet fruits and vegetables should not be combined because ___________________?

Furthermore, the cheese/beef thing is just illogical and a bad comparison.
And cheese does not come from a cow. I would be very interested to see these cows that are giving cheese.
Good grief.
I truly don't understand using faux science to prop up your claims. It's unnecessary and destroys your credibility.

In answer to your question, OP:
I don't combine sweet fruits and vegetables other than greens, generally, because I would agree based on both intuition and my own experience that it is more difficult to digest. It has also been absolutely, empirically shown to be the case that it is not necessary to combine foods in a certain way to get a representation of every possible amino acid at once, so I wouldn't worry about that. :)

[tzip]

But whay about juicing? Is that the same or do you still need to separate? I love a fresh juice made with celery, cuc, pineapple, chard, and cilanntro. It tastes great and makes me feel great but there is a mix of fruits and vegies. Is that a problem?:cool:

[Cerellia]

It has also been absolutely, empirically shown to be the case that it is not necessary to combine foods in a certain way to get a representation of every possible amino acid at once, so I wouldn't worry about that

Ok, thanks. That makes it a lot easier :)

[blizzful7]

I think you have to go with how your body feels. Physiologically speaking, our bodies begin to break down food (carbohydrates particularly--fruits and vegetables) as soon as it enters the mouth. The hydrochloric acid and other gastric juices in the stomach break it down even more. I know that this goes against much of the information out in the raw community, but the idea of proper food combining isn't really necessary. But, if a combination makes you sick, don't eat it.

Also, I agree that you don't have to worry about combining foods all at one meal to get
your essential amino acids. We do have a sort of "pool". However, it is suggested that combining certain foods increases the utility of certain minerals (i.e. eating foods high in vitamin C to aid in the absorption of iron).

It can be very confusing. There are so many contradictory ideas. Nutrition as a science is still pretty young. I used to stress out about "doing it right". Now I'm learning to listen to my body more and make choices for myself.

[gabriele]

This is no longer accepted as fact. It is now believed that we have - for lack of a better term - an amino acid "pool" that the body can contribute to and take from to form structural proteins.

:

I have read this also. Primitive man and animals didn't read books about what to combine. They just ate what they wanted.

Lannette, missing you on the weight loss challenge thread, where are you, are you ok???

[mommyliz]

Oy.
What makes a fruit a fruit is that it is the edible portion of a plant containing seeds. Spinach leaves do not contain seeds. Kale leaves do not contain seeds.
.........................
"Greens" were not "placed in the wrong category." "Fruit" has a definition, and greens do not meet it.
Why not just say greens are neutral in terms of digestion and can be properly combined with both vegetables and fruits, while sweet fruits and vegetables should not be combined because ___________________? :)

Based on other things she has written, I'm pretty sure she's not saying that greens should be classified as a fruit! she's suggesting that they be classed separately from vegetables, i.e. in a separate class of there own: "greens" i agree with this wholeheartedly, because so many people, especially SAD, but raw too, think that as long as they get an assortment of veggies every day they'll be good, but they don't recognize the significance of GREENS. even if you mention greens to them, they often say something like, yeah, we eat peas, broccoli, green pepper (!), etc. not realizing the difference from green leaves, because they're all just classed as vegetables.

victoria boutenko rocks!

[sport]

Oy.

I have Green for Life in my hands at this moment and she does indeed mix botanical fruits and botanical vegetables. I see onions and tomatoes, for instance. Onions are vegetables. Tomatoes are fruits. I see avocados and celery. Avocados are fruits, celery is a vegetable.
. :)

I think that celery can be classed as a green. It may be because it is a swollen leaf.