Quick question about food combining.

[sonar]

I'm interested in the food combining theory. How long should one wait between eating one type of food and then having another? For example, if I eat an apple or 2 apples at 10:00 then how long should I wait before eating a handful of nuts? Does it make a difference if I ate nuts first (I think I read nuts take longer to digest). Oh, and is there an opinion on whether nuts or seeds are better healthwise. Thanks!

[pizda]

I'm interested in the food combining theory. How long should one wait between eating one type of food and then having another? For example, if I eat an apple or 2 apples at 10:00 then how long should I wait before eating a handful of nuts? Does it make a difference if I ate nuts first (I think I read nuts take longer to digest). Oh, and is there an opinion on whether nuts or seeds are better healthwise. Thanks!

One hour to be on the safe side.

"...DIGESTION TIME OF VARIOUS FOODS
(approx. time spent in stomach before emptying). ........
Water
when stomach is empty, leaves immediately and goes into intestines,
Juices
Fruit vegetables, vegetable broth - 15 to 20 minutes.
Semi-liquid
(blended salad, vegetables or fruits) - 20 to 30 min.
Fruits
Watermelon - 20 min.digestion time.
Other melons - Canteloupe, Cranshaw, Honeydew etc. - 30 min.
Oranges, grapefruit, grapes - 30 min.
Apples, pears, peaches, cherries etc. - digest in 40 min.
Vegetables
Raw tossed salad vegetables - tomato, lettuces, cucumber, celery, red or green pepper, other succulent vegetables - 30 to 40 min. digestion. -
Steamed or cooked vegetables
Leafy vegetables - escarole, spinach, kale, collards etc. - 40 min. - Zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans, yellow squash, corn on cob - all 45 min. digestion time
Root vegetables - carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips etc. - 50 min.
Semi-Concentrated Carbohydrates - Starches
Jerusalem artichokes & leafy, acorn & butternut squashes, corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yam, chestnuts - all 60 min. digestion.
Concentrated Carbohydrates - Grains
Brown rice, millet, buckwheat, cornmeal, oats (first 3 vegetables best) - 90 min.
Legumes & Beans - (Concentrated Carbohydrate & Protein)
Lentils, limas, chick peas, peas, pigeon peas, kidney beans, etc. - 90 min. digestion time
soy beans -120 min. digestion time
Seeds & Nuts
Seeds - Sunflower, pumpkin, pepita, sesame - Digestive time approx. 2 hours.
Nuts - Almonds, filberts, peanuts (raw), cashews, brazil, walnuts, pecans etc. - 2 1/2 to 3 hours to digest.
Dairy
Skim milk, cottage or low fat pot cheese or ricotta - approx. 90 min. digestion time
whole milk cottage cheese - 120 min. digestion
whole milk hard cheese - 4 to 5 hours digestion time
Animal proteins
Egg yolk - 30 min. digestion time
Whole egg - 45 min.
Fish - cod, scrod, flounder, sole seafood - 30 min. digestion time
Fish - salmon, salmon trout, herring, (more fatty fish) - 45 min. to 60 digestion time
Chicken - 1½ to 2 hours digestion time (without skin)
Turkey - 2 to 2 ¼ hours digestion time (without skin)
Beef, lamb - 3 to 4 hours digestion time
Pork - 4½ to 5 hours digestion time

(Editor's notes
Note1: raw animal proteins have much faster digestion times than the above times for cooked/heated animal proteins.
Note2: The digestion times given are under an ideal situation of eating only one food, chewing well, and having efficient digestion, as is the case e.g. after a fast. They are digestion times for optimally healthy persons, with good eating habits. The digestion times are to a large part derived from Dr. Gian-Cursio's and Dr. Bass' practices.
Digestion times are much longer on a conventional diet, and for persons with non-optimized digestive systems, or persons lacking in energy, and for meals with many ingredients put together haphazardly = not in the optimum sequential order.)..."

[solarliving]

I have read that you shouldn't combine fruits with nuts. Does that mean I shouldn't be putting almond/coconut milk in my banana smoothie?

[sonar]

Pizda, thanks for the great info...I'll print out.

Solar Living, I heard also that you don't want to combine nuts and fruits. I'm new at being a raw fooder and am trying to experiment, so even though I am enjoying the meals from Alissa's book, I'm checking out what it feels like to eat with food combining principles.

I have noticed how some things really effect me (eating melon with cottage cheese - I'm off dairy now) I was amazed at how much better I felt with melon alone. I would say technically the almond milk shouldn't go in a fruit smoothy, but since fruit is the overwhelming food in the smoothie, it might not effect you negatively. But, like I said, I'm new and this is my way of transitioning.

[RawTruth]

SolarLiving, I tend to agree with several raw authors who feel that, at first, what's most important is eating 100% living foods and not to worry about food combining at that point. Later, however, one might wish to start combining foods properly, especially if you can tell that your digestion isn't optimal. Alissa feels this way, whereas Rhio tends to believe that food combining isn't as important and mentions that in earlier times, humans likely just picked what they wanted and ate it without regard to combining rules.

I, personally, follow those rules now. Despite having made seed-banana milk to pour over raw granola earlier in my raw food journey, I don't do that now. It's not okay to add almonds to a fruit smoothie, but using coconut water is fine.

Food combining living foods is simple and you don't really need charts.

Simplicity itself:

* Fruit should be eaten only with other fruits -- empties from stomach in 30 to 45 minutes maximum at which time you can eat other food.
* The only exception is watermelon which should be eaten alone since it digests in 15 minutes or so.
* Vegetables can be eaten with seeds and nuts.

There, isn't that simple?

I attended a seminar given by a local raw food chef/expert who taught that there should be an order to our eating based on the digestion rates of raw & living foods. The order is:

Watermelon
Fruit/Blended Soups
Salad
Seeds
Nuts

I don't know if the last bit is confusing to y'all. If it is, let me know and I'll delete it.

p.s. The exception to food combining is Victoria's green smoothies. She states that blending breaks down the greens so that they're digested along with the fruit in the smoothie and, so, trumps the food combining rules.

[JMD]

I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT FLAX AND OLIVE OILS ..How should they be combined and added to foods?? Normally, I just put the oil on my veggies, but as winter approaches, I find I crave flax oil with my almonds or sunflowers seeds along with my veggies for lunch and dinner. I guess i want more substance?? Is this a horrible combination??







SolarLiving, I tend to agree with several raw authors who feel that, at first, what's most important is eating 100% living foods and not to worry about food combining at that point. Later, however, one might wish to start combining foods properly, especially if you can tell that your digestion isn't optimal. Alissa feels this way, whereas Rhio tends to believe that food combining isn't as important and mentions that in earlier times, humans likely just picked what they wanted and ate it without regard to combining rules.

I, personally, follow those rules now. Despite having made seed-banana milk to pour over raw granola earlier in my raw food journey, I don't do that now. It's not okay to add almonds to a fruit smoothie, but using coconut water is fine.

Food combining living foods is simple and you don't really need charts.

Simplicity itself:

* Fruit should be eaten only with other fruits -- empties from stomach in 30 to 45 minutes maximum at which time you can eat other food.
* The only exception is watermelon which should be eaten alone since it digests in 15 minutes or so.
* Vegetables can be eaten with seeds and nuts.

There, isn't that simple?

I attended a seminar given by a local raw food chef/expert who taught that there should be an order to our eating based on the digestion rates of raw & living foods. The order is:

Watermelon
Fruit/Blended Soups
Salad
Seeds
Nuts

I don't know if the last bit is confusing to y'all. If it is, let me know and I'll delete it.

p.s. The exception to food combining is Victoria's green smoothies. She states that blending breaks down the greens so that they're digested along with the fruit in the smoothie and, so, trumps the food combining rules.

[Sharon in Colorado]

I love Dr.. Doug Graham's food combining chart. www.doctorgraham.cc It's very detailed, however I'm not sure if it lists times between foods. I place it on my fridge and it's very user friendly.

There's another book called "food combining made easy" I believe by Herbert Shelton (or another Hygenist)

I think practicing food combining, especially in the beginning is a good thing to do because introducing so many fresh foods and so much fiber may cause a lot of digestive problems & gas, and if you are going to be around a lot of people, well, you know... :rolleyes:

[NYNewbie]

Once you're on the site for DR Graham- what do you link to?

[Sharon in Colorado]

Click on shop-products (on the left) then publications...charts

[VeggieMel]

Here are the food combining rules I abide by, at least most of the time!

1. Liquids alone (Allow 15-60 min to digest)

2. Melons alone, one variety at a time. (Allow 30-60 min to digest.)

3. Do not combine sweet fruit with acid fruit. Sub-acid fruit may be combined with either sweet or acid fruit. (Allow 30-60 minutes to digest.)

Acid fruits: Orange, lemon, sour fruits, pineapple, grapefruit, kiwi...

Sub Acid fruits: Apple, sweet berries, apricot, mango, papaya, pear...

Sweet fruits: Banana, date, fig, persimmon, sweet grapes all dried fruit...

4. Do not combine dense, oily proteins with dense starches or starchy vegetables.

Low starch & green vegetables and sprouts may be combined with dense/oily porteins, fermented foods and starchy vegetables and dense starches.

Dense oily proteins: Avocado, beans, cereals, nuts, peas, seeds... (2-3 hours to digest)

Dense and starchy vegetables: Artichokes, beets, peas, carrots, cooked corn, potatoes, squash, potatoes, pumpkin. (1-2 hours to digest)

Low starch & greeen vegetables & sprouts: Asparagus, Beet greens, bell peppers, cabbage, celery, chard, collards, raw corn, cucmber, garlic, kale, lettuce, leeks, onions, parsley, radishes, spinach, tomato, turnips, watercress... (1-2 hours to digest)
[/I]

[RawTruth]

I WAS CURIOUS ABOUT FLAX AND OLIVE OILS ..How should they be combined and added to foods?? Normally, I just put the oil on my veggies, but as winter approaches, I find I crave flax oil with my almonds or sunflowers seeds along with my veggies for lunch and dinner. I guess i want more substance?? Is this a horrible combination??Seeds (and the oils derived from them) can be eaten with vegetables - there should be no problem. (Just curious -- by vegetables do you mean mostly salads or root vegetables or ... ? -- have you been raw for a while -- have you been following food combining guidelines the whole time or is this something new?)

[JMD]

Rawtruth


i have been food combining for about 5 years. I normally eat large salads with raw carrots ,lettuces, zucchini, cucumbers etc...with a couple tablespoons of flax oil and lemon or apple cider vinegar. I wanted to add some sunflower seeds to the mix or half an avocado...but do not want to end up bloated and irritable. i guess trial and error is the answer--just wanted to learn before i try i guess.

My breakfasts are ususally just fruits throughout the morning.

I welcome any input:)
JMD

[RawTruth]

If you're all raw and eating only the foods you've mentioned, I can't imagine how some oils, seeds, and avocado can make you "bloated and irritable." I assume, from your concern, that this has happened to you before. If not, I suggest just trying it and seeing -- the only way you'll actually know. If you're not all raw, the same thing applies, because, according to all food combining books and charts I've read, these items again should not be a problem.

[JMD]

Thanks for the advice--I will try and see. Maybe this is a "airhead" question but what would you combine with flax crackers??
thanks:)

[RawTruth]

Flax crackers are made from seeds. Seeds can be eaten with vegetables and nuts -- as mentioned in the posts above (see #5 and others for details).

[Sharon in Colorado]

You know what I just realized that the food combining chart in Alissa's book is Doug's chart, only in black in white. So whoever has this book, you can use this as a reference. It is very complete.

[RawTruth]

I dunno why, Sharon, but trying to figure out that chart almost gives me a headache -- it's just really hard to follow some things across and down and ... aaargh!!! Maybe that's because I've never gotten into the sub-acid fruit category and stuff that detailed.

[Sharon in Colorado]

Maybe cause it's not in color? The one I have is in color and is a lot easier to use.

Actually I don't really use for eating it except as a reference. I like that it's so complete with all those fruits and veggies.

[RawTruth]

I don't think it's because it's in black and white (although I haven't seen one in color so I can't be sure) -- it's the horizontal and vertical thing. For instance, I find lettuce & celery up at the top (and on the left) but I don't see it intersecting with any other food, yet I know that it combines with other vegetables and with nuts and seeds. So ... it doesn't make sense to me.

The earlier food combining books & charts and even Susanne Somers' books are where I got my info.

Thanks, Sharon.

[Sharon in Colorado]

I see what you mean. It should have been squared off on top instead of stepped down like that.

For lettuce and celery, you use the bottom as a starting point and then go up to intersect. It looks like it combines well with everything.

For sweet fruits, you use the left side as a starting point and move across to find where it intersects.

I just like it because it's on one sheet and takes only a moment to find if it's a good combination or not, but I can see how it can get confusing. Definately should have a squared off top, like a multiplication table. Looks like it couldn't be done because of space on the page. I will put in a word to Dr. D about that one.