Harmoniously combining food

Published: 03/18/2008 - Updated: 03/27/2017

It is very important to pay attention in a proper combination of foods at mealtime. It has been found that combining food properly in every way we encourage the digestion, assimilation and elimination process, or even combining food helps fight diseases, or to assimilate all the nutrients of each food, to balance the whole body and to maintain appropriate weight and not lose the weight necessary.

The right combination of foods is closely related to the process of digestion. A good digestion equals a good combination of food. The gastric juices of the stomach acid needed to digest certain segregate each food group. As receiving a combination of bad food at a time, the stomach has to make a tremendous effort to balance the food it has ingested. Digestion, it may take a long time, especially with meat which is harmful. If the combination is very bad, the food can be fermented in the body without being digested properly. This causes fermentation to occur in the body and alcohol, although we have not consumed alcohol, it will be like if we had done.

The human stomach is designed to digest a single cooked food (which has been subjected to some form of heating such as soups, rice, stews, pasta, cooked vegetables, meat, potatoes, tortillas, etc.) at once. It is highly recommended that cooked meals are always accompanied by a food with high water content (liquid food) and raw vegetables in salads, preferably before this food concentrate.

Combination of carbohydrates and proteins

The combination of protein and carbohydrates are chemically incompatible. When we eat carbohydrates, the stomach secretes gastric juices to digest alkaline. When we eat protein, your body secretes acidic gastric juices. Alkaline gastric juice prevents the action of acid. So if we combine these two food groups in a single meal, the stomach requires alkaline digestive juices and acids, respectively. At the time the juices are segregated at the time neutralized. Then occurs in the stomach a sign of emergency because food cannot be digested, the stomach understand this as a sign that we need more of each gastric juices, so it secretes more alkaline and acidic juices. After a while of not being able to digest these foods, is what we know as indigestion or heartburn. After the stomach made a tremendous effort to assimilate these foods without success, to expel the food that was not properly digested. This can take hours, and the stomach is just extremely exhausted, without having really achieved nourishing the body. Below we give a short table to learn to distinguish between carbohydrates and proteins and put emphasis on the combine when cooking.

Combine fruit properly

Fruit is a liquid food full of vitamins, minerals and fructose, a natural sugar and essential for the body, especially the pancreas and brain. The liquid from the fruit pass through the intestine where it releases energy and nutritious substances, so the only food that is not only energy, but purifies the body.

However, eating properly is essential to optimize all the favorable reactions. The only condition is that when eating fruit, eat it alone, not combined with any other food, and on an empty stomach, which indicates that we do not eat immediately after eating (waiting at least an hour and a half) either immediately before (consumed 40 minutes before eating). The reason for this is obvious: the success of avoiding any food fermenting. So if you combine, for example, a protein, the latter is decaying, and if combined with carbohydrate, it is fermented, which causes what is known as stomach pain.

Correct consumption of water at lunch time

Take plenty of water at mealtimes, this dilutes the gastric juices of the stomach so that it hinders their work. It is necessary to take as little as possible of water during the meal, and avoid soft drinks or sweetened beverages, for the same reasons that the fruit (sugar ferments and rots food).

Table of proteins:

  • LEGUME: beans, peas, green beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.
  • DAIRY: cheese, milk, yogurt, cream, etc..
  • ALGAE: agar-agar, arami, spirulina, wakame, and so on.
  • SOYBEAN AND ITS DERIVATIVES: lecithin, milk, sprouts, sauce, tofu, and so on.
  • OTHER: olive, coconut, fungi, pollen, brewer's yeast, cactus, wheat germ.

Table of carbohydrates:

  • WHOLE GRAIN BREAD: oat, rye, wheat, etc.
  • GRAINS: brown rice, amaranth, rye, barley, oats, wheat, etc.
  • PASTA: fetuccini, lasagna, spaghetti, etc.
  • TUBERS: sweet potato, beets, potatoes, cassava, carrots, turnips, jicama, and so on.
  • OTHER: fruit and avocado.

Offset a bad combination of food

The body has mechanisms that, indeed, may offset the effects of improper food combinations. For millennia, man has survived and adapted to their omnivorous quality. However, knowing how the stomach works when digesting anything can give us an interesting proposal to help support an optimal harmony.

About the author
  • K. Laura Garcés G

    Writer, therapist and lecturer. She is a lover of natural medicine and the power of mind and emotions in body and life. In addition, he has studied nutrition and develops appropriate diets to support this healing process.She has written more than 1500 articles in magazines in Spain and Mexico, winner of two literature contests. Linkedin.