Food combining revisited

The raw food diet is a pretty strict diet to begin with.

We don't eat bread. We don't eat meat. We don't eat dairy

products. We don't eat eggs (at least most of us don't!)...

and we don't eat most of what other people eat as well.

But on top of that, we have these rules about not being able

to combine certain foods with each other, and how just

eating one food at a time is best.

And I must say, for a long time I subscribed to all of these

rules. But I also knew that not all food combining rules are

valid.

For example, the original book "Food Combining Made Easy" by

Dr. Shelton gave a lot of rules with no reasoning at all

behind them.

Also, a lot of people have misinterpreted that book. Because

Shelton said "eat melons on their own", some people think

they should never eat melons with other fruits (such as

peaches), when in fact Shelton clearly stated you could do

so.

Essentially, his rule was meant to avoid the common

combination/abomination in those days of a big slice of

watermelon after of rich meal of meat and pasta.

In my book the "Raw Secrets", I simplified food combining

rules in the raw diet to three essential rules:

- Do not combine fat with sugar


- Do not combine

acids with starch


- Do not combine different types

of fatty foods within one meal

Today, I'm going to simplify these rules even more, and

completely deconstruct the food combining theory!

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How I Reconsidered These Rules

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For many years, I followed food combining rules blindly

without questioning them. Then I started simplifying them

over the years, and realized that some of them weren't

necessary.

At this point, I have eliminated most of the "rules" I once

thought were essential.

How did I get to this?

Over the years, I've watched some other raw-foodists eat who

didn't know these food combining rules.

They simply made combinations they liked that tasted good,

without paying too much attention to the combinations like I

did.

My big surprise was to realize that I could eat many

combinations that I thought were "bad" without any negative

effect whatsoever.

The main combination I'm talking about has to do with mixing

fat and sugar together.

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Why Certain Combinations Occur in Nature

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The idea behind many food combining rules is to simplifying

the process of digestion. So naturally, the "sandwich" is

one of the worst combinations ever, because it combines many

classes of food which are optimally digested in a completely

different acidic or non-acidic environment in the stomach.

In the raw food diet, we naturally avoid most of these

combinations, leaving mainly one: the combination of fat and

sugar.

The idea behind this rule is that combining fat and sugar,

such as dates and almonds together, will let the sugar

ferment in the stomach.

The reason is simple: almonds and other fats take a lot more

time to digest than simple sugars. If you eat them together,

the sugar you eat will spend much more time in the stomach

and intestines and start to ferment.

So far so good...

But even with that rule, the traditional rules of food

combining allow for certain exceptions. For example, you can

combine acid fruits with nuts together.

The idea is that because nuts digest well in an acidic

environment, acid fruits don't compromise that picture, and

also contain less sugar than other fruits.

This line of reasoning always appeared a little suspicious,

but I noticed that the effects of that combination were

generally positive, as long as I ate very small amounts of

fat.

But there's one strange observation:

- Many foods in nature contain the combination of fat and

sugar in significant proportions!

For example, the durian, a beloved fruit of many

raw-foodists, is very rich in sugar and quite rich in fat

(20% on average).

Even avocados contain some sugar and carbohydrates, and so

do nuts.

And surprisingly, all fruits and vegetables contain a

certain percentage of fatty acids.

There are also other fruits in nature that contain this

forbidden mixture of fat and sugar, such as the "Ackee

fruit", popular in Jamaica.

So it seems to me a little strange to completely ban this

combination, when you can enjoy a ripe durian which contains

a mixture of fat and sugar.

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Raw-Foodists Eating Too Much Fat

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After thinking about this a lot, I realized that most

raw-foodists who benefit from these food combining rules

have something in common: they eat too much fat!

I agree that the combination of a huge handful of almonds

with a bag of dates is a nasty mixture that leads to a lot

of fermentation and gas.

But try eating three dates and three almonds together.

You'll probably find that this combination goes down

perfectly well.

The same goes for other fatty foods:

Eat a huge guacamole and then have all the figs you can eat,

and you probably will experience some gas.

But dice up a third of an avocado in a salad that contains

lettuce and mango, and you'll probably be fine.

So my main observation with the rule of not combining fruit

and fat together has to do with quantities.

When small quantities of fat are used in the diet, there is

no reason to fear combining some fruit with some fatty foods

once in a while.

So my new "rule" is: you can throw in some fruit in a salad

containing some fat. Try to avoid fruits that are very

concentrated in sugar such as dates or dried fruits or

bananas, and instead use juicy fruits. Also, avoid large

quantities of fat.

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Eating Fruit is Better than Eating Fat

(in spite of food combining rules)

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Another problem with the food combining rules that have been

presented before are the restrictions they pose on people.

Let's say you have a salad that contains some avocado.

According to food combining, you should not eat anything for

several hours after that, or only eat more of the same

ingredients for optimal digestion.

So if you're not satisfied after a meal of salad and avocado

(and most people aren't) because you didn't eat enough fruit

during the day or before the meal, then your only option is

to wait several hours or eat more avocado.

What I recommend now is to eat fruit, whenever you feel like

it or feel hungry, even if the combination is not perfect.

Eating some fruit after a salad containing avocado will be a

LOT better than eating more avocado and more fat after that

same meal.

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The Spirit of Food Combining Rules

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I still believe in the spirit of food combining rules, which

is about keeping things simple and avoiding long lists of

ingredients.

However, it's probably not necessary to obsess about these

rules, when you can enjoy some simple, tasty and low fat

combinations that will taste great and digest well, even if

they don't follow the rules 100%.

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