I originally got started on the raw food diet by reading books such as Fit for Life
and The Body Ecology Diet
that talk about food combining as well as natural hygiene and natural body cycles and rhythms. Food combining is a great tool to understand and keep in your back pocket just in case you ever fall off the raw food diet. Personally I have found that as I keep going on raw food, my body is healing itself and creating stronger digestion as time goes on. The reason food combining is so great for the average person, is because it stops shocking the body with a thousand different foods at once all in one meal. The body finally gets a chance to take a breath and focus on maintaining itself. Even though it was years ago that I read Fit For Life I still use some of the principles today. I believe that if people would only do what that book talks about, everybody would be much healthier and have less of a need for pharmaceutical medications.
There have been mountains of books and website articles, blog posts ad infinitum about how to properly food combine. Personally I don't remember or memorize all that info. All you need is a handful of basic principles about food combining. Mix in a little intention and intuitive thinking and you'll be able to fill in the gaps of what you don't remember. I'm going to make this short and sweet so that it's easier to remember.
Reasons to combine your food properly :
1. More energy
2. Weight Loss
3. Ability to absorb more nutrients
4. Better digestion
5. Less bloating and gas
General food combination principles :
1. Do not mix starches with proteins (turkey sandwiches, or salmon with potatoes. Have one at a time and the other one later)
2. Have a salad with every cooked meal
3. Don't eat starches and sugars in the same meal (bread, crackers with fruit)
4. Eat most fruits alone on an empty stomach. I like to eat fruit in the morning until about 12 noon
5. Skip desert after your meal
6. Drink water before or after your meal
7. Chew your food thoroughly and don't eat too fast
8. Eat only one kind of starch or protein during each meal
I know that there is a lot I left out, and that is by design. I wanted to make this simple and easy so that people could remember these ideas. People have written volumes of books about this subject. But what I'm trying to pass on is a couple of key ideas that you're actually able to remember. I could go more into the reasons for each principle but we're after the meat here. These principles have really helped me in the past as well as today.
Everybody's digestion is different depending on your ayurvedic body type of Vata, Pitta and Kapha. I have a pretty strong digestion and it's been getting better as time goes on so I am able to play around with different food combinations at different times of the day. If you have gas, get bloated or extremely tired right after a meal, there is a chance you at a combination of food that didn't agree with you. You may also want to look into increasing your HCL, (celery juice), good bacteria (probiotoc supplements), enzyme levels and eating hot spices to help with digestion. When I used to eat wild salmon, I would put cayenne pepper and lemon juice on top. I would eat it before 2pm and with a salad and enzymes and never had a problem.
If you're looking for good books about this subject checkout the ones mentioned above as well as these. They are really great reads.
