Why does food combining matter?
Animals in nature eat very simply. They happen across a fruit tree and eat until they have their fill and move on. They rarely mix foods and when they do these foods are typically growing in proximity and are of a similar kind.
When the wolf kills his prey he does not stop eating to go collect some berries, kale, and carrots to make a “balanced” meal. He eats the prey and then goes to lie in the sun or finds a nice place to sleep. The meat-eating animal does not consume carbohydrates with proteins.
The deer grazing in the forest may move from tree to tree but they are still eating the same type of food. Birds have been observed to eat insects only in one part of the day and seeds at another part of the day. Only mankind has habituated to the consumption of a vast array of different foods in the same meal.
Why is food combining important?
We derive no value from foods that are not digested. To eat and have that food ferment or putrefy in the digestive tract not only wastes the food itself but is injurious to the body. The undigested fruit ferments creating alcohol to poison the body. Far worse, the putrefaction process of meat releases ammonia.
When the body encounters these chemicals, alcohol or ammonia, the body reacts to being poisoned by becoming enervated. This is akin to the red alert on a battleship – all hands on deck. The body incites a fury of activity, energy is released, and the body goes to work to expel the poison and protect itself. The side effect of this process is that we feel high – we get a burst of energy from the release of adrenaline.
Not understanding the cause-and-effect relationship we become addicted to the practices which harm us the most. The drug user gets addicted to the high, yet we know the drug is harming their system. The alcoholic gets addicted to the high while the alcohol destroys their body. The food addict gets addicted to the high of fat, salt, mis-combined meals, putrefying tissues, and fermenting starches and sugars. We connect the dangers of the drug and alcohol addicts’ behaviors but ignore the same cause and effect in our food choices.
It is the action of the body that the drug addict is addicted to, not the drug itself.
In short, proper food combining is important because it assures better nutrition as a consequence of better digestion and avoidance of poisoning.
How does miss combining food lead to undigested foods, fermentation, and putrefaction?
Foods as we eat them, in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are not usable by the body. They must undergo a series of disintegrating, refining, and standardizing processes which we call digestion. Digestion is both a physical process and a chemical process. Our focus in regards to food combining will be on the chemical process of digestion.
The body creates enzymes to break apart the larger elements of our foods into smaller usable elements that can pass into the bloodstream.
Each enzyme is specific in its action. The enzyme that acts upon carbohydrates does not and cannot act upon proteins, salts, or fats. Even down to more specifics, the enzyme that breaks down maltose is not capable of breaking down lactose, despite both being sugars (carbohydrates).
Dr. N Philip Norman, an instructor in gastroenterology, at New York polyclinic medical school and hospital, New York City, says: “In studying the action of different enzymes, one is struck by a Emil Fischers statement that there must be a special key to each lock. The ferment being the lock and its substrate the key, and if the key does not fit exactly in the lock, no reaction is possible. In view of this fact is it not logical to believe the admixture of different types of carbohydrates and fats and proteins in the same meal to be distinctly injurious to the digestive cells? If, since it is true that similar, but not identical locks are produced by the same type of cells is, it is logical to believe that this admixture attacks is the physiological functions of these cells to their limit.“
Digestion begins in the mouth as both a mechanical process (chewing) and a chemical process (saliva). Of the chemical digestion, only starch begins in the mouth, with the release of the enzyme ptyalin which breaks the starch down into maltose.
The action of ptyalin upon the starch in the saliva is essential, as the enzymes which break down sugars in the stomach cannot break down starch. Process one is necessary before process two can commence.
Our stomach‘s gastric juices range from neutral to strong acid depending on the food consumed some enzymes function with a high acid condition and others with a low acid or neutral condition. For example, pepsin acts upon proteins. Pepsin acts only in an acid medium and is destroyed by an alkali. Low temperatures, like drinking ice water, retards or even suspend the action of pepsin.
Each enzyme has specific conditions required to work adequately and the conditions of an enzyme are often contrary to that of another, so much so as to halt the digestion of one type of substance when the conditions are wrong for that substance.
I could go on for pages going through all of the various details of digestion but suffice for this post to say the ingestion of mixed meals leads to improper digestion, lack of absorption, fermentation, and putrefaction, all of which contribute negatively to our health.
If we are to mix meals, then care should be taken as often as possible to maximize the combinations which digest suitably in each other’s presence, and minimize those combinations which digest poorly together.
If you would like to read more details about the process of digestion I recommend Shelton’s “Food Combining Made Easy”, Lessons 22 & 23 of the Life Science Course, or “The Science and Fine Art of Food & Nutrition” (Chapter 26) also by Shelton. I will add all of these to the group’s files for anyone who is interested in learning more.
Food combining rules can get complicated and many people become overwhelmed by them, while others become obsessed and militant about them or ascribe powers to food combining which do not exist (more on this later).
Personally, I believe in the middle-of-the-road approach. My primary meals are simple, usually one fruit sometimes two or three of a similar type. When I eat combined meals I try to avoid making big mistakes. Food combining is a great tool to minimize the work the body does with a combined meal but ultimately our goal should be to predominantly eat simple uncombined meals.
Here are Dr. Shelton’s original 9 food combining rules:
1. Never eat carbohydrate foods and acid foods at the same meal.
2. Never eat a concentrated protein and a concentrated carbohydrate at the same meal.
3. Never consume two concentrated proteins at the same meal.
4. Do not consume fats with proteins.
5. Do not eat acidic fruits with proteins.
6. Do not consume starches and sugars together.
7. Eat but one concentrated starch at a meal.
8. Do not consume melons with any other foods.
9. Milk is best taken alone or let alone.
Here is how I simplify them even more for my own use:
- Eat Melons alone or leave them alone
- Greens are neutral and pair well with almost everything
- Don’t mix sweet fruits with acidic fruits
- Don’t mix fats with sweet fruits
These abridged rules are not perfect, but if we are eating mostly simple meals, then the small number of combined meals we have are not a huge burden. If you get the food combined a little wrong your body will tell you with gas, bloating, or discomfort, and next time you simply don’t make that combination again.
Some people spend time memorizing the charts. To me, it has never been a big enough factor to warrant memorizing or stressing over. In reality, if we are eating raw we should be mostly eating simple meals or mono meals anyway. If you can remember the big rules like eating melons alone, keeping fats away from sweet fruits, and not mixing proteins with sweet fruits that will usually be sufficient. If you want to make something more elaborate you can always refer to one of the various charts.
The primary reason I look at the charts is if I have eaten something and my digestion becomes a little sluggish or I get some mucus, gas/bloating, or some other symptom. Then I might check to see if the food combination was poor among other things, like did I drink enough water today. If it is a poor combination I will make a mental note and not mix those in the future.
Addressing Myths and Misconceptions
Food combining is definitely an important factor in optimal digestion, but it’s one of many factors of health, and if we are getting stressed out about it then we are missing the forest for the trees. The Life Science Course has 101 Lessons on the factors necessary to creating and maintaining health, and two of those Lessons discuss food combining. Important to understand and incorporate, but not the central focus, not a magic shortcut or secret path to ultimate health.
When Shelton wrote the food combining book the primary focus was to help people who wanted to continue eating animal products.
Those who are predominantly eating raw naturally tend to move towards more and more simple meals over time as they enjoy the flavor of the fruits rather than the stimulation of the mixed meal.
One misconception I see frequently about food combining is to ascribe to it powers that simply do not exist. Food combinations get blamed for a person still having detox symptoms. Food combinations get blamed for fatigue when the body is trying to clean and heal. Food combining gets the credit for lack of symptoms.
Mis-combining foods can cause gas, bloating, indigestion, and even fatigue.
Proper food combinations cannot stop your body from ever having a healing event.
Improper food combinations on occasion will not stop your body from healing.
It might give you some digestive symptoms -gas, bloating, or indigestion.
If we are eating raw foods and sticking to our natural foods the burden of the occasional wrong combinations will be a minimal burden on the body. We won’t feel optimal, but we are not going to set back our healing if we give in to a mis-combined meal here or there.
Learn the basic concepts for optimal digestion, but don’t let it become something that stresses you out. Stress is acidic and simple eating is the natural progression of the return to the natural diet. Keep your meals simple overall and the small indiscretions here and there will be of minimum stress to the body.
In closing, I will leave you with the words of Dr, Shelton:
“There are reasons for believing that man, like the lower animals, once instinctively avoided wrong combinations of foods, and they were remnants of the old instinctive practices still extant. But having kindled the torches of intellect upon the ruins of instinct, man is compelled to seek out his way in a bewildering maze of forces and circumstances by the fool’s method of trial and error. At least this is so until he has gained sufficient knowledge and a grasp of proved principles to enable him to govern his conduct in the light of principles and knowledge. Instead, then, of ignoring the great mass of laboriously accumulated physiological knowledge leading to the digestion of our food stuffs, or glossing over them as is the practice of the professional physiologist, it behooves us, as intelligent beings, to make full and proper use of such knowledge. If the physiology of digestion can lead us to eating practices that ensure better digestion, hence better nutrition, only the foolish will disregard it’s immense value to us, both in health and a disease.”
Have more questions? Want to get answers about your specific health issues or concerns? I offer consultations, learn more about them here: https://www.therawkey.com/consultations/
Ready to make changes but not sure how to begin? Need some motivation or accountability? Why not join our 30-Day Terrain Model Diet Support and Education Group: New Groups start on the 1st of every month! https://www.therawkey.com/terrain-diet-support-group/
Eat fruit and be well my friends.
