Food Combining Diet
Food-Combining Diets
Books and programs on food combining have been on and off the best-seller
lists for years. They should be in the fiction section. The authors claim that
eating protein and carbohydrates, or fat and carbohydrates together causes
problems because they require different enzymes for digestion, and either acid
or alkaline conditions. They give you elaborate lists of foods that you can or
cannot eat at the same meal. If any of this were true, the human race would be
extinct. Few foods are "pure" protein, carbohydrate or fat. Your digestive
system has evolved to deal with mixed foods, and the enzymes secreted by your
pancreas can digest them all in any combination.Your stomach is strongly acidic, no matter what food you eat. Stomach acid is
much stronger than lemon juice, tomatoes or any other acid food. Nothing you eat
escapes this acid "soup" while it is in your stomach, so it makes no difference
whether you combine acid and alkaline foods.
These authors tell you that the undigested food will ferment and putrify,
causing you to accumulate toxins in your intestines. This just doesn't happen.
Your intestines do a very efficient job of breaking down carbohydrates, fats and
proteins into their building blocks, which are then absorbed into your
bloodstream. As long as you are not constantly constipated, your colon does an
excellent job of removing the waste products of digestion. If you have a problem
with constipation, the answer lies not which foods you combine, but in adding
fiber and water to your diet.
They even claim that the undigested food makes you fat, which is impossible.
To be stored as fat, a food must be broken down into its building blocks and
pass from the intestines into the bloodstream. Any undigested food would be
excreted, making you thinner, not fatter.
People who lose weight following these nonsensical rules do so simply because
they are forced to limit their food choices and therefore consume fewer
calories.
Do not confuse these ridiculous diets with serious "combination"
recommendations that are made in two special situations:
Diabetics and others who are concerned about sharp rises in blood sugar are
advised to eat fruits and root vegetables only in combination with other foods.
Fruits and root vegetables contain lots of sugar or quickly digested starches
which can cause blood sugar to rise after eating. However, a healthy diet does
not eliminate these foods because they also contain lots of vitamins, minerals
and other phytochemicals that your body uses to keep you healthy and prevent
diseases. When you eat these foods WITH other foods, particularly proteins or
fats, they are digested more slowly. Diabetics should include a variety of
fruits and root vegetables in their diet, but eat them with meals, not alone.
Strict Vegetarians who eat no animal products are often advised to COMBINE
beans and grains so they will get complete proteins. This is true, but you do
not need to eat the foods together at the same meal. The proteins found in meat
and dairy products contain all nine essential amino acids (the ones your body
needs and cannot make), and so they are called complete proteins. Most plant
sources of protein, such as beans and grains, contain only two to seven of the
essential amino acids, so you must eat a variety of these foods to assure that
you get them all. However, you can do this over the course of the day or week.
Amino acids circulate constantly in your bloodstream and are used as needed. You
do not need to eat the foods simultaneously to supply your body with the
different amino acids you need.
Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing
physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties,
including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health
reports at
http://www.DrMirkin.com
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