Question of the Week: Food Combining

Happy post-holiday Monday, people! Hope you’re all managing to keep your spirits up.

So I’d been saving this QOW for a week when I’d have a little more time to explore it. But in light of Ms. Gliding Calm’s question about food combining in the comments section of my last post, not to mention the tons of questions I’ve been getting about it via email, it seems like it’s time. The original prompt for this question came from the lovely Shelby, who asked me to elaborate quite a while ago. She wrote,

“I’m confused about the food combining though…maybe you should do a post on it?!”

Well, Shelby, here we go: my basic food combining primer! I’m going to crib a bit from my Digestive Health and Cleansing 101 tab, which gives a fairly decent baseline explanation, and add a few points that I think will be helpful for you guys.

First, though, I should answer a question which is probably on most of your minds: why combine in the first place?

Here’s the answer: different food groups take different amounts of time to digest. Meats take about eight hours; fruit takes about thirty minutes. The basic idea behind food combining is that we ought to eat foods that take a similar amount of digestive transit time together, rather than mixing foods that digest quickly with foods that digest slowly. We also tend to believe that eating a diet of mostly quickly digestible foods will ensure efficient and seamless digestion.

Why? Your digestive system is smart; it knows how to distinguish between foods that will take a while and foods that won’t. But there’s a slight hiccup here: when your body takes in heavy, slow-digesting food along with light, quick digesting food—especially if you eat light food after heavy—it’ll make the slow-digesting food its priority, and it will immediately devote its resources to breaking that food down. In so doing, it will forget about the lighter food. So if you eat a bowl of berries after a piece of chicken or a slice of steak, your body will get busy digesting the protein. The berries – which should, in theory, pass through your system in half an hour or so – will go undigested behind the denser food.

My friend Gil likes to equate this scenario to putting a Mack Truck in front of a sports car on a one lane highway: the Mack Truck will amble along slowly, and the sports car—which is, after all, designed for great speed—will try angrily to pass by. So too with the fruit: as it waits to be digested, it—or any light food stuck behind a heavy and slowly-digesting food—will start to break down partially, and poorly. As it does, it can emit gas. Ever eat fruit after a meal and watched your belly bloat up like a balloon? You were probably wondering why—after all, isn’t fruit a “healthy” dessert? This is why–the fruit is healthy, but if you eat something so light and so cleansing after or alongside something dense and slow-digesting, it’s likely to cause more harm than good, at least with regards to your belly.

The trick to avoiding these situations is to eat foods with different transit times separately. It’s a mind-boggling concept at first, mostly because it’s so foreign to anyone coming from a mainstream nutritional paradigm. Starting from childhood, we’re inundated with the idea of a “balanced plate”—the notion that a health meal must include a whole grain, a protein, a vegetable, a dairy source, and so on. The notion of simplicity—of eating foods in singular and simple combinations—is entirely foreign to us.

As always, I’m not here to convert anyone. If eating complex combinations of food groups is working for you, that is terrific! Enjoy it. But I can speak to the fact that many women I know–acquaintances, clients, friends, colleagues, and family–suffer from persistently compromised digestion, whether that’s bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, IBS, acid reflux, or other. And as someone who suffered from IBS herself, I can tell you that it’s not something any of you should have to accept–nor should you feel that taking some Metamucil (which is what doctors always told me to do) is the only course of action. Food combining, even when followed loosely, can be helpful for those of you who have sensitive digestive systems.

So let’s demystify it. Here is how food combining works:

There are four major food groups that shouldn’t be mixed with each other. These are starches (which include bread, root vegetables like sweet potatoes or winter squash, grains, avocados, and coconuts), flesh (which includes fish and dairy), nuts and dried fruits, and fruit. You want to avoid eating these groups together—fleshes with nuts, starches with fruit, and so on. Vegetables and sea veggies, meanwhile, are neutral, so they can be eaten with any of the other food groups. Same with most condiments: honey, agave, vinegar, nama shoyu, etc. And same, fortunately, with dark chocolate: you can enjoy it with any food group!

Sound easy? It is! There’s only one more rule: try to eat fruits on their own, and on an empty stomach. If you like fruit for dessert, this rule stinks. But think back to that one-lane highway, guys, and you’ll be reminded of why eating fruit after a heavy meal is a lousy idea.

I know, I know. At this point, you’re probably sitting at your computer aghast, thinking, “What? This chick is telling me that I can’t have string cheese with crackers? Granola with yogurt? Almond butter with toast?! Say it ain’t so!”

And I get it, guys. For most newcomers, food combining feels intimidating and restrictive. Which is why I always am sure to a) offer it as an option to clients—I say, “Are you interested in hearing about food combining? If so, great!” and b) remind clients that it’s OK to combine imperfectly for a while. As you get used to food combining, you’ll most likely find that it’s easier than you thought it was, and you’ll be so euphoric at how gas and bloat-free you feel—not to mention how regular you suddenly are, if you’ve had constipation in the past—that you’ll be delighted to combine forevermore. But everyone—even longterm raw foodists—can afford to miscombine here and there. Believe me when I say it won’t be the end of the world! Many raw foodists do not honor combining, and they feel fine: as with all matters of diet, the choice to honor food combining is totally personal.

So how does it all work? The idea is to simply stick within food groups at eat meal. If you want avocados with your lunchtime salad, you want to eat them with veggies and other starches. So you could add grains, beans, legumes, or root vegetables to the salad, too; you could have a slice of sprouted bread alongside, if you like. If, on the other hand, you have a big salad with raw nuts for lunch, eat it with a Larabar or some dried fruit, or a nut-based salad dressing (such as tahini dressing). But the trick is not to combine starches with nuts, so don’t eat your avocado or sweet potato along with a Larabar. Likewise, if you have fish for dinner, try to avoid eating it with a grain. And if you have roast vegetables with melted goat’s cheese, try not to sprinkle it with nuts.

How long after a meal do you have to wait to switch food groups? Again, this depends on the person, but you should be totally fine if you wait 3-4 hours. So if you have a big lunchtime salad with avocado at noon, you want to wait until 3 pm or so to have a Larabar snack. If you have a salad with goat cheese at dinner, you want to wait at least three hours before you have a nighttime treat of dates and peanut butter. If you have a sprouted bread sandwich at lunch, you want to wait at least 3-4 hours before you broil salmon for dinner. But if you do have salmon, you can feel free to have it alongside some steamed veggies with raw goat’s cheese, and if you have some baked acorn squash at night, you’re free to stuff it with some millet or quinoa. Get the idea?

When I first introduce a client to food combining, I like to leave it at that. But I have been getting a ton of questions from some of you who have already read up on combining and want to know about specifics or exceptions, of which there are a few.

So here we go:

•Bananas are a bit denser than other fruits, which means they can combine with starches or nuts and dried fruits. (This means it’s cool to have banana with almond butter or dates.)

•Avocados combine with fruit and dried fruit. I love—and will soon be posting my recipe for—mango and avocado salad, so I’m pretty psyched about this fact.

•Beans. There are a few reasons that most of us find beans hard to digest: one is that we lack the enzyme needed to break beans down (this is where Beano comes in). But the main reason is that beans are inherently both protein and starch: they are nature’s own little food miscombination. Don’t fret, though: the fact that they aren’t well combined shouldn’t freak you out too much. Most people find, and I agree, that beans and legumes can combine quite safely as a starch. So you can go ahead and eat them with roots, avocados, or grains.

So, is food combining for you? Well, if you have a sensitive digestive system or a history of IBS, I’d say it might be. Forget raw foods: combining properly may be enough to give you tremendous and permanent relief. I was shocked at the difference that food combining made for me, and I’m guessing you might be too. This also goes for any of you who have sensitive tummies: if you’re prone to gas, or bloating, or constipation, or if you suffer from the post-meal belly bloat (that swollen abdomen that so many ladies can relate to, and hate), this could really help. Again, you don’t have to go whole hog. In fact, avoiding the most problematic combination, which is meats with starches (sorry guys, no mashed potatoes with your steak) might make a serious difference.

As always, though, I encourage you to take food combining with a big grain of salt. If you think it’s for you, do your best to combine well. But you certainly shouldn’t be freaking out about getting it “right” — instead, I like to tell clients who are new to raw that the best way to approach food combining is simply to envision yourself eating simple meals. Rather than trying to stuff each plate with each food group, minimize the number of food groups you’re eating. And you should also feel free to pick and choose certain “miscombinations” that you refuse to give up! Example? I really like raw almond butter on sprouted toast. I don’t eat it all that often, but when I do, I refuse to panic about mixing nuts with starch: it ain’t gonna kill me. In fact, I try to miscombine every now and then, simply so that my body doesn’t get too highly sensitive to combinations: truth be told, there will be times in my life (traveling, restaurant meals, dinner parties) where perfectly combined plates won’t be an option, and I like to be prepared for those occasions. The priority is to eat healthy foods, period: how we combine them is secondary.

Think I’m full of s**t? I don’t blame you, my dears. There are many who dismiss combining as unnecessary. Then again, there are many—and I’m one of them—who will basically tell you that combining changed their life. If you think I’m bonkers, but I’ve managed to make you curious, then try it. Even for a couple of days. If you have improvement in gas, constipation, or bloating, that is terrific! Keep it up. If you don’t see a difference, or if you find that it’s just too much of a pain in the a**, then don’t sweat it. Keep doing what works for you — different strokes for different folks

I hope this was a helpful answer, Ms. Shelby. And to all of you who were curious, I hope this offers some clarity. Remember, my raw adventurers: relax. I’ve gotten some emails from folks who are worried that they’re combining incorrectly, and I cannot repeat this enough: the raw lifestyle is meant to be liberating. Not imprisoning. We want to focus on simplicity and freedom, not stress. So if food combining—or the thought of it—freaks you out, take a deep breath, and take it s-l-o-w-l-y. You don’t have to dive in all at once, and you don’t have to be perfect. The idea is to give the whole approach a shot. And, as always, to have fun!

Finally: I’ve been getting so many smart, sweet, and inspiring questions from you guys! But I’m afraid I may not always be able to respond to multi-part or highly personalized questions: I can’t answer the former without taking time away from my clients, who’ve got to be my priority, and I can’t address the latter without a deep sense of your history and what you’re eating. So I apologize for anything I can’t respond to in depth–as for the short queries, keep ‘em coming

xo