Food Combining For Weight Loss
Food Combining For Weight Loss
To optimize weight loss, many of my clients have had success with properly combining food. Some people have supersonic digestive power and do not experience bloating, acid reflux, weight gain around the middle section, or any other effect from combining the wrong foods.
For the rest of us, however, paying attention to which foods we eat together can vastly improve our health.
There are very simple rules to follow when it comes to eating the right combinations of food to optimize digestion and the assimilation of nutrients. This can also reduce bloating and gas, improve skin and help with the assimilation of nutrients.
Here are the founding principles of food combining:
EAT FRUIT ALONE: Fruit digests itself, passing through the digestive system within 20 minutes. By eating fruit alone, you avoid it getting stuck behind slower-digesting foods and fermenting in your belly. Fruits should be eaten either half an hour BEFORE or 3-4 hours AFTER a meal that contains animal protein.
EAT STARCHES WITH VEGETABLES: Starches require different digestive enzymes than proteins, so you want to eat them separately for optimal digestion. Starchy vegetables like carrots or sweet potatoes should be eaten alone; with another vegetable; or with a small amount of fat. Quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice, millet, or amaranth should only be eaten with vegetables, not animal protein.
EAT PROTEIN WITH VEGETABLES: Unlike starches, proteins require an acidic environment for ideal digestion, so it is best to eat protein with vegetables and a healthy fat. When you add a starch, you force your body’s natural enzymes to compete to digest your food, which slows down digestion, which slows down weight loss.
ACID AND SUB ACID FRUITS AND VEGETABLES:
You can combine sub-acid fruits such as apples, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums or acid fruits such as cranberries, grapefruit, kiwi, strawberries, lemons, limes, oranges, pineapple or pomegranate with a low-starch vegetable.
Check in and experiment with these principles to see if they make a difference for you and remember that it could take time to figure it out, so be patient with yourself.
Dana Dinnawi is an Integrative Nutrition health coach specializing in empowering women to improve their health and family life. She received her training from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, where she studied more than one hundred dietary theories and a variety of practical lifestyle coaching methods. She can be reached through her website and Facebook page.
