tofino yoga

Food Combining

by Sarah Platenius

Food Combining is the art of taking foods from different food groups and combining them in order to create a meal in which the body makes the best of the foods nutritional value; the body has a happy digestion in the process.

Too often, we eat a great variety of foods thrown into one meal which contributes to excess habits of eating, fermentation, a heavy mind and in extreme cases, contaminated blood. The key to food combining and eating in general is to stick to simple foods and combine them minimally.

It is best to eat the highest protein foods at the beginning of the meal since such foods require the most stomach acids for digestion. Salty foods are to be eaten next or before other flavored foods. Proteins, fats and starches are good when combined with green non-starchy vegetables. Eat proteins at the beginning of the meal with lots of green vegetables. And then eat your starches and fats. Lastly, the sweet stuff including fruits come later. Either eat a little bit at the end of a meal or separately as their own meal.

The problem with eating sweets and fruits first in a meal is that they tend to take over all the digestive functions so any foods also hanging out in the stomach waiting to be digested will ferment.

These four rules will benefit digestion. There are more details for combining foods depending on how sensitive the digestive is in an individual.

Food combining takes conscious effort and contributes to conscious preparation of food and consumption. In the long run, its main purpose is to aid digestion, inspire vitality and bring us back to the wholeness that can be found within simplicity.

(Notes from Paul Pitchford's Healing with Whole Foods)