Understanding Food Combination

Consider the all-American cheeseburger. A bite of it might contain a starch (bread) a protein (meat), a fat (cheese), and an acid (tomato), what happens when a single bite of this hits the stomach?

The starchy bread was probably not chewed very thoroughly in the mouth and the starch-digesting enzyme had little chance to do its work. So, the bread reaches the stomach in an unprepared state. The meat will require a very acid environment to digest. This makes it difficult for the starch to digest, since acids are inimical to starch digestion. The fat in the cheese requires a more neutral environment than the meat protein to digest, and its fat content causes the stomach to slow its digestion. At the same time, the acids in the tomatoes interfere with the starch digestion of the bread.

In this single bite, there are over seven different types of food requiring four different sets of enzymes and digestive conditions, and all digest at different rates!
At best, such a conglomeration of food in the stomach will slow digestion down to the point of fermentation. This will lead to autointoxication. At worst, the food simply becomes half-digested and is pushed sluggishly through the system, releasing its poisons and gases throughout the body.

The same people who would never mix water, kerosene, or oil with their gasoline for their car will sit down to a meal and give their stomachs a mixture of mashed potatoes, steak, butter, and beer.

Fortunately, the stomach does not break down as fast as an abused automobile. But the stomach's resilient quality causes people to think they are getting away with their dietary indiscretions.

If different foods are to be put into the stomach at the same meal, they should at least be of the same type that requires the same set of digestive conditions. Ideally, of course, only one food should be eaten at a meal to ensure optimum digestion.

Food Combining

It is commonly believed that the human stomach should be able to digest any number of different foods at the same time. However, digestion is governed by physiological chemistry. It is not what we eat that is crucial to our health, but what we digest and assimilate that matters to the body the most.

The food combining system, as a whole, is simple and easy to understand. It logically evolved from the study of gastric physiology and the actions of enzymes and digestive juices. Hygienic food selection and the principles food combining are based on the nutritional needs of humans and the limitations of our digestive systems. It is not what we eat, but what we digest and assimilate, that determines the nourishment our bodies receive. Food combining is based on the discovery that certain combinations of food may be digested with greater ease and efficiency than others. So the next time you burp! or fart! don't blame it on the body or the food you ate but on how you combined it to eat.

Correct food combinations result in an immediate improvement in health by lightening the load of the digestive organs. Better nutrition is assured, and there is better digestion, less fermentation and putrefaction, more comfort, less distress and definitely lesser gas. So-called food allergies often disappear as a result of proper food combining.

Fermentation causes irritation and poisoning. Proper food combining removes fermentation as a cause of indigestion (though there are many other conditions that can cause digestive problems, such as overeating; eating hurriedly or when tired, worried, angry, fearful, grieved, etc.; or when you are in pain or have a fever or inflammation, about which I shall discuss in my next post).

The successful results obtained through the utilization of food combining rules can be explained and substantiated by the facts of physiological chemistry, particularly the chemistry of digestion.

No food program, nor any food combining program, will cure disease. Healing can be effected only by removal of the causes of disease. Incorrect food combinations can be an important cause.

In my next post, I shall elaborate upon how to combine food.

Our Natural Body Cycle

Just as the body requires the right fuels to build up its energy, it also needs time to utilize these fuels. Our body needs to balance, rebuild and eliminate constantly. It has its own natural rhythm, just as the earth has its rhythms of day and night, tides or the four changing seasons.

These three functions are continuously going on in the body, though a particular function is more intense during a certain time of day. These functions work in approximately eight hour cycles.

4.00 a.m. to 12 noon (Elimination)

The time when the body is getting rid of all its waste products and debris. All that the body cannot utilize are thrown out
at this time. This is also why, when we get up, we often rush to the toilet, or have to clean our mouth and face to get fresh.

12 Noon to 8.00 p.m. (Appropriation / Digestion)

The time to eat, so that the body can most efficiently break it down into nutrients.

8.00 p.m. to 4.00 a.m. (Assimilation / Absorption)

The time when the body is doing all its building and repair work. All the nutrients it has received during the day are now used to make new cells and tissues. This is the time to rest or sleep, (and certainly not eat!) since the body is hard at work anyway!

Living and eating (or not eating) according to these eight hour cycles, are key methods to tune in to the natural harmonious rhythm of the body.

The secret of losing weight, feeling more energetic, getting rid of illness, and staying fit in the long run, lies in following this eight hour cycle of the body.

Eating fruits during the Elimination cycle, gives our body the time and energy to clean its toxins. You can eat any amount of any fruit during this time.

The difference between a banana and a watermelon is only the water content. So no fruit is actually fattening or acid forming or mucous causing or heat producing!

Remember even if you feel like eating a wrong food, try and eat it at the right time! So do all your indulging at lunch time or between 12 noon and 8.00 p.m.

We often tend to ignore and neglect the factors of rest and relaxation. The body requires this time between 8.00 p.m. and 4.00 a.m. to rebuild. A child tends to mostly sleep during the early months and that is how it doubles the weight.  Never do we grow as much, as in those early months. So therefore allow the body to rebuild and grow, through rest, sleep and relaxation.

Food and Brain Activity

Each 1 Teach 10. That's how we grow.

I would like to share about food and brain activity.

Brain activity depends on quite a lot of factors, namely-

1. time of day
2. attitude of the person towards using the 'head'
3. consistency of blood
4. level of oxygen supply
5. level of chemical neuro transmitters present at any given point of time
6. status of neural pathways
7. level of stress hormones and feel good hormones

       The first 2 factors are external. Foods that improve the efficiency of the brain should necesarily need to be 'living' with good amounts of mineral content and should also enhance the production of neuro transmitters. Consistency of blood and the Oxygen content supplied to the brain are also major factors. 

Classification of Foods that affect mental activity

Although Western science has only recently discovered the relationship between mental states and nutrition, people in the Eastern countries have been aware of the effects of diet on the mind since around 4000 B.C.

The Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Hindu text on spiritual conduct, classifies foods into three types:

1. Pure foods ("sattvic"),
2. Stimulating foods ("rajasic"), and
3. Impure or rotten foods ("tamasic").

Pure Foods

Pure foods, which consist primarily of fresh fruits and vegetables, are said to bring calmness and tranquility to the mind. These foods are reputed to increase the clarity of mind and sweetness of disposition. They are especially recommended by those desiring spiritual growth and a meditative mind.

Stimulating Foods

Stimulating foods including spices, meat, eggs, onions, etc., are said to create animal passions and to cause a restless, unsatisfied state of mind. These foods contribute to nervous disorders and emotional outbreaks.

Impure Foods

Impure foods which include putrified, processed and preserved foods, decrease thinking capacity, dull the senses and contribute to chronic mental ailments. They accelerate the aging process and cause early death.

Regardless of our particular beliefs in religious systems, we should appreciate the painstaking observations made over thousands of years by these students of the diet and the mind. They have long known, as is being discovered by scientists, that the quality of our food directly affects the quality of our thoughts.

In his series on Diet and War, J. I. Rodale provided a correlation between a country's tendency toward war or peace based on its national dietary habits. He discovered that the national attitude was more warlike and aggressive in proportion to the amounts of sugar, meat, wheat and rye products consumed by its populace. Throughout history, it has been the meat-eating nomads who have made war on the peaceful agrarian tribes.

Food Affects Our Mind and Emotions in Two Ways

Basically, foods affect our mental and emotional state in two ways:

1. They either furnish or deplete vital nutrients upon which our mental and emotional health depend, and
2. They either do or do not produce toxic by-products, in the body which poison the brain and contribute to emotional problems.

As for some examples, eating grapes furnishes the blood with readily-assimilated natural sugars and minerals that are conducive to mental activity; consuming white sugar, on the other hand, depletes the body of B-vitamins, and this leads to nervousness and mental depression. Eating fresh raw foods places little or no toxic matter in the body; whereas eating preserved and cooked foods saturates the bloodstream with toxins that poison the body and interfere with brain function.

Sugar

Sugars occur naturally in most of our foods. Fruits especially are high in sugars that supply the body and mind with high-quality fuel. Sugars in their natural forms as they occur in fresh, unprocessed foods are a valuable part of the diet.

Refined white sugar, however, is a chemical menace because it lacks the essential minerals and B-vitamins for its metabolism. As a result, the body surrenders its own minerals and B-vitamins for use in metabolizing refined sugar.

The sugar-caused depletion of vitamins and minerals from the body upsets the body's nutritional balance and predisposes the individual to mental and emotional illnesses that have their roots in nutrient deficiencies.

White sugar causes emotional outbreaks, especially in children and adolescents. Interestingly enough, it was discovered that the juvenile offender in Chicago on the average consumed over three times more white sugar in his diet than did the nonoffender. Schools that have removed their carbonated drink and candy machines have discovered that vandalism and absenteeism also decrease.

Long-term sugar consumption, as indulged by the majority of the American population, leads to chronic blood-sugar level problems that may manifest as diabetes or hypoglycemia. People with such blood-sugar problems are prone to periods of depression, irritability and nervous attacks. Many times they actually experience "nervous shakes" as their blood-sugar level slides and rises.

An abnormal plunge in blood-sugar levels is insidious—it sends shock waves through every cell in the body and affects the brain and nervous system most of all. An erratic mental state results, and some of the accompanying symptoms are: headaches, fatigue, insomnia, irritability, restlessness, crying spells, nervous breakdowns, excessive worry, inability to concentrate, depression, forgetfulness, suicidal thoughts, illogical fears, allergies and so on.

local and sesonal vegetarian food can reduce fuel price

Even as the country is struggling to counter the hike in petrol and diesel prices, experts point out that turning vegetarian could drastically bring down the fuel prices. “ Production and transportation of animal-based foods require more fossil fuels like petrol and diesel than any other activities. One calorie of beef, milk and other meat products require 35 calories of fossil fuel. But for producing one calorioe of rice, wheat and potato require less than a calorie of fossil fuel,” said Dr. Nanditha Krishna, environmental scientist and honorary director, CPR Environmental Education Centre, Chennai.

Delivering the keynote address at a workshop for teachers on the importance of animal welfare and vegetarian diets organized by CPREEC here, Dr. Krishna pointed out that drinking water and food meant for the population was being diverted to factory scale animal farms all over the world.

“ As on date, calories of food meant for 8.7 billion people were being consumed by animals which are being bred only for producing animal-based foods. There has been a 500 per cent increase in the number of meat eaters over the last couple of decades.” She said.

“ We forget the fact that non-vegetarian foods are not suited for Indian climatic condition. Our climate is very hot and we do not require fat foods unlike the Scandinavian countries. It has been found out by nutrition experts that consumption of non-vegetarian foods could lead to various kinds of cancer and heart diseases.” she added.

Nutrition and its relevance to RDA

Nutrition is the study of how food, once swallowed, makes you enthusiastic to work. It describes the activities which start right from swallowing the food to digestion, absorption, assimilation through blood and carrying on functions at the cell level for reproduction, maintenance and elimination. Nutrition also accounts for the forces at work, not just elements in food. That means other factors, such as air, sunshine, activity, sleep, rest, socially productive interaction and mental poise are equally important for good nutrition. Health and nutrition are synonymous, but without right nutrition, health at both mental and physical levels cannot be achieved. In today’s position there are limitations to what we can do, but there is no limitation to try.

Let us start thinking in these terms. In view with these facts, question how relevant is RDA and the measures commonly used to determine the health of humans? Also bearing in mind that there are nutrients yet to be discovered, that can be found only in natural and wholesome foods. Can science decide to feed people only according to what is known to it? Think and then eat… It might save you a few years pondering what went wrong.