Food Combining Question: Fruits and nuts
Can you eat fruits and nuts at the same meal?
I am confused. Some sites say you can mix fruits with nuts, some say fruit alone.
I would think the nuts would slow down the sugar and help slow the insulin spike.
I work out in the mornings and spend 2 hrs in the gym, so I wonder what food would be best to keep me going. I know that a piece of fruit won’t cut it. Any thoughts?
(Fruits are best eaten by themselves or with other fruits.)
At the heart of this concept is digestion time. Your body can digest some inappropriate combinations of foods, but not as fast or efficiently as it normally should. Proper food combining will speed up slow digestion and promote more complete digestion.
These two concepts underlie the reasoning behind the diet:
* Starch or carbohydrate digestion requires an alkaline environment, and this process starts in the mouth with your saliva, which begins to breakdown the carbohydrate chains in the starchy foods that you eat with the enzyme ptyalin.
* Protein digestion requires and acidic environment which is provided by hydrochloric acid.
The Hay Diet also described various classes of foods in terms of being acid or alkaline forming in the end result of their digestion. Improperly combining foods will require longer digestion time and accompanying digestive discomfort.
* Fruits and vegetables are alkaline forming in their final end products, even the acidic tasting citrus fruits like lemons and oranges.
* Concentrated Proteins such as eggs, cheese, meat, fish, and foul (poultry) are acid forming
* Concentrated carbohydrates (starches) such as grains, flour based foods, and all foods containing sugar with the exception of fruit.
Dr. Herbert M. Shelton a prominent American health educator and holistic nutrition advocate established nine principles for proper food combining. These principles have been reprinted from his book: “Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review.”
* Eat acids and starches at separate meals
* Eat protein foods and carbohydrate foods at separate meals
* Eat but one kind of protein food at a meal
* Eat proteins and acid foods at separate meals
* Eat fats and proteins at separate meals
* Eat sugars (fruits) and proteins at separate meals
* Eat sugars (fruits) and starchy foods at separate meals
* Eat melons alone. They combine with almost no other food
* Desert the desserts. Eaten on top of meals they lie heavy on the stomach, and ferment into alcohols, vinegars and acetic acids.