The Science Behind Proper Food Combining

There may be times in your life that you eat a meal and have various adverse reactions. These could include bloating, belching, headache, dry mouth, gas pains, diarrhea, constipation or an overall feeling of being uncomfortable.

Most often these presentations are blamed on overindulgence eating or excessively rich foods that you rarely get a chance to enjoy. However, it could be the mismanagement of food choices that are not only creating digestive difficulty after a special meal, but could be plaguing you on an everyday level without you even knowing it.

The science behind proper food combining, also known as Trophology, suggests various ways you can optimize your digestive health, save unnecessarily used energy and reduce gastrointestinal discomfort.

The Protein Starch Problem

Combining a starch and protein such as a burger on a bun may cause your system to digest this small amount of food longer than you may want to. Alone, it has been found that it takes about two hours to digest a starch and about four hours for a solo protein. However, when eaten together the digestion time rises to about thirteen hours.

The amount of energy it takes to continually digest food for over half a day could be the reason you may be feeling sluggish more often than not. To remedy this, try not to mix protein and starches (rice and beans are the only exception).

The Lone Melon

Melon practically has a digestion pattern all its own. It is theorized that because of the rapid decomposition of melon during digestion any other food introduced quickly turns the whole process on its head.

Therefore, it is recommended to always eat melon by itself. Be careful here because a lot of people will eat melon in-between meals when food is still digesting so make sure your stomach is empty to avoid the potential stomach bloating results that often accompany melon mixed with other foods.

Daniel Reid, author of The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity comments,

“Melons are such a perfect food for humans that they require no digestion whatsoever in the stomach. Instead, they pass quickly through the stomach and move into the small intestine for digestion and assimilation.”

Acids Don’t Like Starches

If you look at the diets of cultures beyond the western diet you will notice that, in many ways, food combining naturally occurs. Yet, Americans continue to shovel any food they desire on top of one another.

Take breakfast for instance. Touted as the most important meal of the day, an American breakfast is often considered an abomination to the digestive tract. Aside from the fact that proteins and starches (eggs, bacon, toast and home fries) are often combined, add in orange juice and an acidic component is thrown into the mix.

According to Natural News (8/27/14),

“When a good beverage like orange juice is consumed with something like cereal and milk, the secretion of ptyalin inside your mouth is disturbed. This means that when the enzyme used to break down the starch is used and essentially runs out (temporarily) that things like orange juice or grapefruit reach your gut and have no way to be digested. In turn, the acidic process will essentially ferment inside your stomach.”

Sugar Shock

Processed sugars are practically poison to your system, yet they are a major staple consumed after so many meals. Natural sugars, like fruit, are obviously a better choice but overall any sugar after a meal can cause problems.

If you cannot avoid processed sugars such as cakes, cookies, ice cream and the like, be sure and wait as long as possible before dumping them on top of an already consumed meal. When sugar is eaten too soon, it significantly impedes the digestion process already in full swing considerably slowing it down and turning it into a putrefaction (rotting) process. In turn, this can result in a variety of indigestion difficulties that can easily be avoided if not eaten at all.

Some Good Combining Choices

Knowing the food combining choices to avoid is essential, but also being aware of optimal combining choices can be an excellent digestive, as well as assimilation tool.

• Organic Tomatoes, Avocados and Olive Oil – This combination allows for the superfood components of avocado to be combined with the lycopene from organic tomatoes that becomes more bioavailable with olive oil.
• Organic Peanut Butter and on Whole Grain Bread – Even though this is a protein and starch it is able to digest the essential amino acids and complete protein assimilation making it a power food snack.
• Dark Chocolate and Apples – Dark chocolate is made with refined sugar but it is a minimal amount if you choose a 70% cacao mix. This combination offers powerful antioxidant quercetin from the apples and essential flavonoids from the dark chocolate for a healthy one-two punch.

The science behind food combining is an excellent way to keep your body running on all cylinders rather than struggle with digestive difficulties after each meal. There’s no need to suffer, just combine properly.