Your digestive system may not look like a car wash, but it
sure acts like one. As your car goes through the car wash, a
sequence of chemicals squirts out of different nozzles, aimed at cleaning various
parts of your car. Your digestive system
does the same thing.
In the mouth, our saliva mixes with the food. The enzymes in our saliva partially break
down the starches before the enzymes in the stomach can break them down
completely.
In the stomach, glands in the stomach lining secret acidic
gastric juices to begin the breaking down of proteins.
As the food enters the duodenum, bile produced in the liver
and stored in the gallbladder digests the fats. Enzymes secreted by the pancreas breakdown the
proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.
The final stage of digestion takes place in the small
intestine. Additional enzymes combine
with the bile and pancreatic juices to reduce the food to molecules which pass
through the wall of the small intestine. Here, nutrients are carried by the
blood stream to the liver for storage and distribution. Undigested food
residues pass into the large intestine.
What does this matter? When you eat proteins like poultry, fish, meat, and eggs,
your stomach secretes hydrochloric acid and the enzyme pepsin to break down the
food in a highly acidic environment. When
you eat starches like potatoes or bread, your stomach secretes the enzyme
ptyalin to create an alkaline condition.
Hence, when you eat starches and proteins together two categories of
digestive juices (acidic and alkaline) are secreted and end up neutralizing
each other.
But your body is a stubborn soul. It then secretes more digestive juices, and
more, and more. Several hours later, the
body is still working hard without much progress made in the actual digestion
of the food as the digestive juices kept neutralizing each other. Animal proteins, under normal circumstances,
can take up to 24 hours to digest. But when you ingest them with starches, this
time period may be doubled. As a result,
we begin to experience indigestion or heartburn (feeling of heaviness). Eventually, the food--even those that are
only partially digested or undigested--are “forced” out of the stomach by the
peristaltic action of the intestines.
Imagine this: Much of
the protein, after so many hours, has putrefied and turned completely rotten
and toxic. The carbohydrates have also
fermented, since no digestion has really taken place, despite volumes of juices
having been generated and precious vital energy used up for the attempts at
digestion. Because of this putrefaction
and fermentation, gas pains flatulence, more heartburn and acid indigestion
occur so very frequently. This also
creates a toxic environment that makes your blood more acidic and allows yeast,
viruses, cancer cells and parasites to grow inside you. In essence, your inner
ecosystem is damaged and you are more prone to illness.
Most of our every day comfort food is a deadly combination
of starches and proteins: hot dogs,
hamburgers, sandwiches, pizzas, pastas, even ethnic food like sushi, wonton
noodles, etc.
This is why food combining is important. But how do we combine food properly? There are three simple guidelines.
1.
Eat fruits alone on an empty stomach
2.
Eat proteins (including animal protein and fats
containing proteins such as nuts, seeds, dairy products) with non-starchy vegetables*
3.
Eat grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables**
with non-starchy vegetables
*Non-starchy vegetables Include:
Leafy greens, broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, carrots, bok choy, cabbage,
celery, lettuces, green beans, garlic, fennel, onions, chives, turnips,
sprouts, red radish, yellow squash, zucchini, cucumber, beets
*Starchy vegetables include:
Acorn and butternut squash, lima beans, peas, corn, water chestnuts, artichokes
and red skinned potatoes (red skinned potatoes have fewer sugars than other
kinds of potatoes).
Additional tips:
·
Wait 3 hours after eating a grain-based meal
before you have a protein meal.
·
After a protein meal, give yourself 4 hours to
fully digest.
·
Try not to drink iced or cold water during
meals. A cup of warm tea, however, will aid digestion. Do not drink for at
least 15 minutes before you eat or 1 hour after a meal.
