Food Combining

[styersky]

Over the years I have heard and read a lot about Food Combining for weight loss, improved health, etc. However, I read about as much negative as positive regarding Food Combining.

When I google "food combining" I see just about as many negative as positive sites.

What is your knowledge, experience, and/or opinion regarding the benefits of Food Combining.

I am particularly curious if anyone has had positive experience for weight loss by Food Combining principles. Or any other health related issues.

When I first started RAW it seems I was eating mainly one food at a time. I did not mix fruit with greens, always had tomato with green smoothie, etc. I believe I felt better then, and when I started having sweet (with fruit) smoothies I stopped losing weight. Any comments?

[alicemagooey]

no idea if food combining has anything to do with weight loss, dear Styersky..but this is another thing i know a little (little) about through experience.. Once i learned about food combining, quite a few years ago, i just began practicing it..I have been doing it ever since,most of the time, more-or-less by instinct or habit..and because i have ALWAYS had digestive problems or a propensity for them,it has always made my 'eating' life much easier. ( if you have poor digestion , your 'eating life' creeps into the very fabric of the rest of your life, i find)..like with upset stomach or headaches caused by bad choices. For me, food combining just eliminates all the bad side effects..which eating could cause. I am speaking of the Natural Hygiene method of food combining, which i figure you must mean, as the 'other kind of food combining method' is for cooked foods, supposedly combining certain incomplete proteins to make more complete proteins.
Well, now that we are rawies , we can say with even more authority that the Creator created complete proteins just fine, and more easily assimilable than any combinations we could 'cook up'..

after all that is said, Yes, i believe food combining principles per the natural hygiene method could not possibly do a person harm, and for people with digestive weaknesses, it is positively a wonderful tool to use to assist the body functions work better ..with less digestive stress.

does that help?

alice

[styersky]

Thanks, Alice. I had not thought of this in years (food combining) but was exposed to it when I owned the HFS.

Now that I am really paying attention to what I eat and how I feel, I really do believe food combining is playing a part in it all.

I am going to do more research and do more. I know that I love watermelon and greens smoothies. But I feel bloated aferwards. Now I learn that fruit and greens should not be mixed ?!?!?!?

Gotta do more research.

[alicemagooey]

Styersky..

i was going to mention that fact when you said your favorite green smoothie was melon and greens.

one of the food combining principles is 'melons: eat them alone or leave them alone.

BUT, at least most of the food combining things i read, say that GREENS GO WITH most fruits just fine..especially in a blended state.

so , i think you are safe with that.

best way to find out is experiment with your own digestive system.

Melons digest really quickly, tho.. so if you want to eat a mono-meal of melon, i think it would be digested in an hour or so.. but don't quote me on that.

simple is the best, and mono meals.. as you have discovered ( me too)

ps. vegetables seem to take longer to digest than fruits.
and i have found that many veggies and fruits do not combine all that well.

best consult your chart..
i think the best charts are found in Natural Hygiene areas of the Web.

cheerio
alice

[solarliving]

I practice food combining most of the time. As far as greens with fruit, even chimps are known to wrap fruit in leafy greens according to the, "Greens for Life," book. I experienced some bloating and gas when starting the green smoothies, but my intestines needed a good cleaning and now after 2 years of them every morning, no bloating, no gas.

Melons definately eat them alone. If I ever eat something too soon with watermelon I get severe cramping.

I recently read of having some greens anytime consuming nuts, so that's an interesting thought.

The most important rule is not combining sugars with fats, but I don't think once a while is going to kill us. Besides I can't give up the Date Nut Torte.

[styersky]

Solarliving and Alice . . . thanks for the input on Food Combining. I think I definitely need to pay attention to this. Have some chart info so should be able to do that. After I started eating melon and greens in a smoothie, the weight loss stopped, I noticed the bloating, and not good energy.

[islesgirl]

I tried strict food combining quite a few years ago - after menopause - following a book entitled "The New Beverly Hills Diet" by Judy Mazel. It wasn't easy and I didn't follow it perfectly but quite closely. I lost an average of 1-2 lbs a day and I had lots of energy. I ate lots of fruit. But I found it very hard to wait the required time between different foods. And her diet wasn't all raw - mostly though. Personally, I think there is a connection between food combining, eating fruit and my own rate of weight loss. I have 2 pineapples sitting in the fridge now and am tempted to try this method again. Yes, I do want to be healthy but I am also feeling very tired of the slow process of losing this weight. Having said this, I am still going to try to drink more truly "green" smoothies or juices - leaving out fruit for a while other than berries to see what happens. I have been reading from this "Over 50 group" all morning and think this is where I belong. Anyone know if Douglas is still around and how he is doing? What a sweetie he is.

Sue.

[Colorawdo girl]

Reading Fit For Life and book two of same years ago, gave amazing principles and reasons for being concerned about food combining.

One important one that applies to raw food is fruit eaten alone. First in the day. Once fruit is done being eaten, wait thirty or so minutes before eating other foods.

Of course greens and fruit in smoothies has been proven combinable(haha).

Once one switches to veggies, fruit is done for day unless 6 hours elapses.

Fruit is like a farrari in your body. Zips right through. If you put veggies right on top which take longer to digest,fruit gets stopped and ferments causing gas and bloating and long transition time=no weight loss.

Brief explain but the books are great. They are based on all things things people out there eat though.Cooked,grains etc. What applies to us I sited here.

Happy combining ...or not!

[Jenifae]

Hey Sue..........Good to see you. I was wondering where ya been. ;)

Anyways, when I follow Food Combining principles I feel better, have more energy, and I don't have bloating, belching, or gas. Pretty simple! :)

[Everchanging]

Food combining as one of the basics for weightloss in the raw food detox diet book. mainly, keeping starches (which includes avocados) away from nuts/fats. Her idea is that it helps with weight loss because it allows foods to digest more quickly and leave the body more quickly too. i think it simplifies meals for me, like having a salad with a fat dressing or a zucchini pasta with marinara meal.

[Jenifae]

Here is a Link to a really Nice and Simple Easy Chart to follow:

http://www.thewolfeclinic.com/foodcombining.html

[sprouts2go]

Ok I was reading this food combining and I have been making the watermelon soup and it has mango and watermelon in it. I find it very refreshing. But by the chart they should not go together. Am I reading it right?

[Jenifae]

Ok I was reading this food combining and I have been making the watermelon soup and it has mango and watermelon in it. I find it very refreshing. But by the chart they should not go together. Am I reading it right?

Yep, you got it right.

[sprouts2go]

I got it right that they go together or that they shouldn't got together LOL?

[sport]

I got it right that they go together or that they shouldn't got together LOL?

They should not go together.
Melons should not be mixed with any other fruit and watermelon can not even be mixed with other melons.