Kelly- I think food combining is the hardest part of this whole lifestyle. The hardest part for me is, I want to combine avocados with everything because they are my favorite food lol. A favorite, simple, meal of mine that combines well is some spirilized zucchini or butternut squash with avocado pesto.
thanks! the nori rolls sound really good. it is really hard. i've been trying to eat mostly mono meals because i can't figure out which food combining charts are correct. they all contradict eachother. i eat a handful of soaked almonds and brazil nuts a few days a week. i dont use very much oil or fat except for avocados (i eat 1 everyday), a little cold pressed coconut oil and olive oil every once and a while.
Yummm, nori rolls are really good, and nice because you can change the ingredients everytime based on what you're feeling. The other night I did kelp noodles, avocado, cilantro, sprouts, and bell pepper. so good.
The best food combining chart, in my opinion, is the only Natalia Rose has in her books. It is simple and easy to follow and I have had great results from following it. Basically she just breaks food into 4 groups, starches, veggies, nuts/seeds/dried fruits, and flesh/dairy. Everything can be combined with veggies but other than that, everything should be kept separate. Avocados can be combined with bananas as well as dried fruit, but not with nuts.
My biggest issue is wanting to put guacamole on flax crackers. I guess I could make some kind of veggie only cracker so it would be a fine combination.
This is my favorite recipe on this site, have you tried it? http://goneraw.com/node/9813
Only a little oil, not too much, and it is so yummy and simple.
i don't stress too much about food combining because i have found that is not the source of the digestive troubles if i have them at all. i think it's possible to stress so much that you leave out a lot of good meals. just gently experiment with what works for you.
I'm not a vegan but I practice 'natural hygiene' which is all about eating raw (except I eat lightly steamed fish at times but mostly raw fish) and about proper food combining. It's all about using energy to digest your food efficiently so that you end up feeling more energetic. If you eat breads with proteins or mix proteins, you'll notice that you feel tired and sleepy shortly after a meal. That's because you're body is using more energy to digest that last meal. I've been using these principles for many years and I swear by it. Basically, these are the main rules:
PROTEINS: eat with vegetables and don't mix your proteins. A protein meal takes 4 hours to digest so it's best to eat your main protein meal for dinner.
COMPLEX CARBS: eat with vegetebles. A complex carb and veggies meal will take 3 hours to digest.
VEGETABLES: if eaten alone, it will take 2 hours to digest.
FRUITS: don't eat fruits with carbs or proteins and don't mix your fruits. ie you can combine melons (honeydew, cantelope, watermelon). you can combine acidic fruits eg, oranges, grapefruits, berries, kiwis, etc, and you can combine other fruits like apples, pairs, apricots, peaches, etc.
* melons:- take 10 minutes to digest
* bananas and mangos:- take 1 hour to digest
* other fruits:- take 20 minutes to digest.
* juice of any fruit (or vegetable, or combined fruit and vegetable):- 10 minutes to digest
FATS: mix with either proteins or complex carbs but not fruits.
I always eat fruits for breakfast as they digest quickly and provide you with instant energy. I also have fruit before a meal, ie melons, 10 minutes before a meal, or a banana, an hour before a meal etc. I drink water 1 hour before and after meals. Never overeat. Since I eat raw (except the fish sometimes) it's easy to follow these guidelines. The idea is to always eat on an empty stomach. If you must have a meal that's not properly combined, it will take from 8 to 12 hours to digest, therefore it is best to make this your last meal of the day so that you're eating breakfast on an empty stomach the next morning.
very interesting aviatrix, but for me, I find I can't eat melons with anything, before during or after a meal. Any type of melon causes me so much stomach pain if I eat it with another food. I find for me, I have to follow the old "melon, eat it alone or leave it alone" mantra:-) Just shows how everyone is different:-)
the hissing: yes everyone's different but I actually typed that melons should be eaten on their own but you can mix one melon with another melon if you want.
Hi Kelly,
I really recomend trying different combinations and keeping a journal... otherwise you might be restricting yourself from eating some combination that you might enjoy, but that isn't "recomended", eventhough it might work for you. Just a thought.
melons on an empty stomach.
banana and celery.
banana and greens.
unsweet fruit with greens! (nothing better than whole tomatos and whole heads of romaine)
dates and bananas
those are my favorite combinations, i don't eat any overt fats, can't help you there.
I'm with Bitt, I generally don't worry about food combining. However, I think my digestive tract is coated with teflon because nothing seems to upset it.
ahh, but it's not about upset stomachs or digestive tract, it's about maximising the absorption of nutrients and using energy efficiently. It allows your body to use the extra energy saved from digesting a meal to eliminate toxins.
Certain foods will cause the bodies organs to tire out, and then they won't be able to keep up with the digestive process, making you sick.
It's like working out a muscle , like bicep curls , and the muscle gets tired and starts to burn and you can't do anymore.
The same thing happens to your organs.
Just stay away from SAD diet foods, possible high fat foods like avocados as well, since they put more strain on various organs.
Basically watch out for high salt high fat raw diets, they put strain on your digestive organs just like the SAD diet does.
BTW I ate 2 lbs of grapes for breakfast and now I am eating a big bowl of hot oatmeal. I just worked out for 1 hour, and I feel fine. A good mix of healthy raw and healthy cooked is the best way to go IMHO.
Hmmm... Someone just told me the reason I got so constipated for four days, resulting in some spastic colon, was because I mixed in some boiled potatoes to my raw diet. Are you saying I can eat potatoes once in a while Raw Canadian?
I think I just over ate. I ate too much, too many different things and kept eating. When I was SAD I had the habit of eating a box of cookies in one sitting. I have to stop treating eating like it is an activity....
Good morning (here) Carnap,
Clearly rawcanadian doesn't have this issue but I think we are alike in that indulging in a cooked starchy food tends to be some kind of trigger. We just want to continue eating it even though we know we are not hungry anymore. I think there just has to be some sort of brain chemical connection that is shorting out or perhaps overflowing (insulin, what have you).
Once in awhile might not be the smartest thing for some of us. Unless it serves to finally get the light bulb lit over our heads, lol. My best tip here is to only have a bit of bread, rice, potato (whatever the temptation) fairly close to bedtime so it doesn't get the chance to be an on going, day long crap fest. Which in your case has some painful repercussions.
hugs, m
thank you everyone. i can tell that i need to be careful about how much avocado i eat. i always feel a little sluggish after i eat one.
if you have boiled potatoes you have to drink the water you boiled it in. a lot of the nutrients leave the potato and go into the water. eating potatoes as raw as possible is really healing. i have a hard time eating certain kinds totally raw so i will just lightly steam it so the outside cooks just a little. just make sure not to mix potatoes wth protein otherwise it will have a really hard time digesting. they're best with other starches it think but they mix alright with fats. sometimes i spread a little avocado on it and it tastes like butter.
"Are you saying I can eat potatoes once in a while Raw Canadian?"
Not if they are giving you problems and not if you are following 100% raw diet.
Try reducing the amount or try different potatoes, experiment, see which ones agree with you the most.
Boiled potatoes have a moderate gylcemic load, like a banana. Eating the skin slows down their digestion because of the added fiber and nutrients. It's the topping on potatoes that probably makes them bad, like everything else with toppings. They have way more potassium then bananas and saved millions of lives during the famines.
So I would say yes to them, especially boiled in moderation.
I wonder if there are any raw topping that can be placed on them after they cool, like some kind of strawberry dressing???
an awesome thread! i also have some questions though...
does anyone know about chia seeds and how fast or slow that digests?? i know that the gel that is created help digestion but maybe not if its eaten on a full stomach? i love it and on many places its served as a desert, but wondering if i will benefit more by starting eating that.... and im also confused about different charts of food combining. for instance i read several diff statement that one shouldnt mix fats and proteins...but nuts is almost just as high in fats as they are in proteins?? and i also wonder when one says dont mix 2 proteins, does that mean not mix for ex diff nuts together and diff seeds??
i don't really understand the problem with combining fats and proteins. all foods have fats and proteins so it's impossible not to have them at each meal. the nuts are very high in fat and probably slow the digestion down of the other foods you eat them with. i honestly just listen to my body and eat what i want to eat. if i want a banana orange smoothie, i'll go ahead and combine the "acid" fruit and the "sweet" fruit. i'm not too concerned with it.
Hi All - I'm new here, and I specifically joined because I am interested not only in raw food, but in the dilemma surrounding food combining... I don't want to get too far out on all this, though - I know some folks who have some serious issues with what/how/when they eat, and I don't want to start down that road, as I tend to get carried away with details sometimes.... I agree totally with aviatrix79 (sounds like the name of an agent/spy!) in that food combining is about maximizing the absorption of nutrients so your body can use energy efficiently and perform optimally. Oh yeah - and feel good!
However, it gets a bit muddy when one chart says that a food is a protein and another says its a fat, like coconuts. For instance, I like to make fruit smoothies in the morning, and so, can I add whey protein powder to my shake of strawberries and spinach? It's true that I must go with what works for me, but it's kind of hard for me to tell, as I was/am used to eating just about whatever I want without my body vehemently protesting...
Also, was very interested to find the (approximate?) times for digesting certain foods - I was always wondering how long I could/should wait before eating a different food...
Thanks again for sharing great information - very helpful.
I think food combining is only necessary for people who eat large amounts of starches and proteins. Raw plant food doesn't have much starch or protein, except for high protein nuts which are still mostly fats. You are supposed to eat fruits with fats, that's the whole design of nature. You are supposed to eat the seeds in a fruit when you eat it so that you might happen to go to the bathroom and plant a tree. This is the same reason hybridized fruits should be avoided. So if you're supposed to eat fruits with fat and veggies can be eaten with anything do not worry about food combining. If something upsets your stomach or you get a lot of gas don't eat that combination or eat less. Or try to eat each item individually and see if it is just a specific food that is causing the problems.
I think it is actually better to combine fats, sugars, and greens as long as they are balanced. The sugar mixed with the fat gives you sustained energy and the greens alkalize you while providing trace minerals. And something about that combo is just so satisfying, it really turns off the appetite switch.
Sara Tonin, there are only 2 food combining rules that you need to follow:
1) Avoid sugar and fat
2) Avoid acid and starch
So, essentially, don't eat sweet fruit with fatty foods (i.e. avocado, nuts and seeds) and don't eat bananas with citrus fruits. Greens can be combined with anything.
The rest of the rules only apply to cooked food eaters.
Hey swayze do you eat the seeds when you're eating fruit or do you spit them out so not to combine fats with sweet fruits. Does this make sense to you?
Thanks for the feedback - the past 3 weeks have been a bit blurry for this newbie - I overlooked this link and couldn't find my way back! I am on my way to look for some books, and Natalia Rose's name keeps coming up, so I that might be my first.
A big chart on the inside of a kitchen cabinet might help...
sharing raw, vegan recipes and advice
Kelly- I think food combining is the hardest part of this whole lifestyle. The hardest part for me is, I want to combine avocados with everything because they are my favorite food lol. A favorite, simple, meal of mine that combines well is some spirilized zucchini or butternut squash with avocado pesto.
Also, nori rolls with just veggies and avocado.
This broccoli salad- http://goneraw.com/node/616
Well I guess I should ask, do you eat nuts and oil or are you a low fat raw eater?
thanks! the nori rolls sound really good. it is really hard. i've been trying to eat mostly mono meals because i can't figure out which food combining charts are correct. they all contradict eachother. i eat a handful of soaked almonds and brazil nuts a few days a week. i dont use very much oil or fat except for avocados (i eat 1 everyday), a little cold pressed coconut oil and olive oil every once and a while.
Yummm, nori rolls are really good, and nice because you can change the ingredients everytime based on what you're feeling. The other night I did kelp noodles, avocado, cilantro, sprouts, and bell pepper. so good.
The best food combining chart, in my opinion, is the only Natalia Rose has in her books. It is simple and easy to follow and I have had great results from following it. Basically she just breaks food into 4 groups, starches, veggies, nuts/seeds/dried fruits, and flesh/dairy. Everything can be combined with veggies but other than that, everything should be kept separate. Avocados can be combined with bananas as well as dried fruit, but not with nuts.
My biggest issue is wanting to put guacamole on flax crackers. I guess I could make some kind of veggie only cracker so it would be a fine combination.
This is my favorite recipe on this site, have you tried it? http://goneraw.com/node/9813
Only a little oil, not too much, and it is so yummy and simple.
i don't stress too much about food combining because i have found that is not the source of the digestive troubles if i have them at all. i think it's possible to stress so much that you leave out a lot of good meals. just gently experiment with what works for you.
Kelly, hello...
I'm not a vegan but I practice 'natural hygiene' which is all about eating raw (except I eat lightly steamed fish at times but mostly raw fish) and about proper food combining. It's all about using energy to digest your food efficiently so that you end up feeling more energetic. If you eat breads with proteins or mix proteins, you'll notice that you feel tired and sleepy shortly after a meal. That's because you're body is using more energy to digest that last meal. I've been using these principles for many years and I swear by it. Basically, these are the main rules:
PROTEINS: eat with vegetables and don't mix your proteins. A protein meal takes 4 hours to digest so it's best to eat your main protein meal for dinner.
COMPLEX CARBS: eat with vegetebles. A complex carb and veggies meal will take 3 hours to digest.
VEGETABLES: if eaten alone, it will take 2 hours to digest.
FRUITS: don't eat fruits with carbs or proteins and don't mix your fruits. ie you can combine melons (honeydew, cantelope, watermelon). you can combine acidic fruits eg, oranges, grapefruits, berries, kiwis, etc, and you can combine other fruits like apples, pairs, apricots, peaches, etc.
* melons:- take 10 minutes to digest
* bananas and mangos:- take 1 hour to digest
* other fruits:- take 20 minutes to digest.
* juice of any fruit (or vegetable, or combined fruit and vegetable):- 10 minutes to digest
FATS: mix with either proteins or complex carbs but not fruits.
I always eat fruits for breakfast as they digest quickly and provide you with instant energy. I also have fruit before a meal, ie melons, 10 minutes before a meal, or a banana, an hour before a meal etc. I drink water 1 hour before and after meals. Never overeat. Since I eat raw (except the fish sometimes) it's easy to follow these guidelines. The idea is to always eat on an empty stomach. If you must have a meal that's not properly combined, it will take from 8 to 12 hours to digest, therefore it is best to make this your last meal of the day so that you're eating breakfast on an empty stomach the next morning.
Hope this helps.
thank you for all the input! i appreciate it!
very interesting aviatrix, but for me, I find I can't eat melons with anything, before during or after a meal. Any type of melon causes me so much stomach pain if I eat it with another food. I find for me, I have to follow the old "melon, eat it alone or leave it alone" mantra:-) Just shows how everyone is different:-)
kelly: you're welcome...
the hissing: yes everyone's different but I actually typed that melons should be eaten on their own but you can mix one melon with another melon if you want.
Hi Kelly,
I really recomend trying different combinations and keeping a journal... otherwise you might be restricting yourself from eating some combination that you might enjoy, but that isn't "recomended", eventhough it might work for you. Just a thought.
yeah i heard that melons should only be eaten alone too.
that's a good idea about he journal!
melons on an empty stomach.
banana and celery.
banana and greens.
unsweet fruit with greens! (nothing better than whole tomatos and whole heads of romaine)
dates and bananas
those are my favorite combinations, i don't eat any overt fats, can't help you there.
I'm with Bitt, I generally don't worry about food combining. However, I think my digestive tract is coated with teflon because nothing seems to upset it.
ahh, but it's not about upset stomachs or digestive tract, it's about maximising the absorption of nutrients and using energy efficiently. It allows your body to use the extra energy saved from digesting a meal to eliminate toxins.
Certain foods will cause the bodies organs to tire out, and then they won't be able to keep up with the digestive process, making you sick.
It's like working out a muscle , like bicep curls , and the muscle gets tired and starts to burn and you can't do anymore.
The same thing happens to your organs.
Just stay away from SAD diet foods, possible high fat foods like avocados as well, since they put more strain on various organs.
Basically watch out for high salt high fat raw diets, they put strain on your digestive organs just like the SAD diet does.
BTW I ate 2 lbs of grapes for breakfast and now I am eating a big bowl of hot oatmeal. I just worked out for 1 hour, and I feel fine. A good mix of healthy raw and healthy cooked is the best way to go IMHO.
Good luck!!!
Hmmm... Someone just told me the reason I got so constipated for four days, resulting in some spastic colon, was because I mixed in some boiled potatoes to my raw diet. Are you saying I can eat potatoes once in a while Raw Canadian?
I think I just over ate. I ate too much, too many different things and kept eating. When I was SAD I had the habit of eating a box of cookies in one sitting. I have to stop treating eating like it is an activity....
Good morning (here) Carnap,
Clearly rawcanadian doesn't have this issue but I think we are alike in that indulging in a cooked starchy food tends to be some kind of trigger. We just want to continue eating it even though we know we are not hungry anymore. I think there just has to be some sort of brain chemical connection that is shorting out or perhaps overflowing (insulin, what have you).
Once in awhile might not be the smartest thing for some of us. Unless it serves to finally get the light bulb lit over our heads, lol. My best tip here is to only have a bit of bread, rice, potato (whatever the temptation) fairly close to bedtime so it doesn't get the chance to be an on going, day long crap fest. Which in your case has some painful repercussions.
hugs, m
thank you everyone. i can tell that i need to be careful about how much avocado i eat. i always feel a little sluggish after i eat one.
if you have boiled potatoes you have to drink the water you boiled it in. a lot of the nutrients leave the potato and go into the water. eating potatoes as raw as possible is really healing. i have a hard time eating certain kinds totally raw so i will just lightly steam it so the outside cooks just a little. just make sure not to mix potatoes wth protein otherwise it will have a really hard time digesting. they're best with other starches it think but they mix alright with fats. sometimes i spread a little avocado on it and it tastes like butter.
"Are you saying I can eat potatoes once in a while Raw Canadian?"
Not if they are giving you problems and not if you are following 100% raw diet.
Try reducing the amount or try different potatoes, experiment, see which ones agree with you the most.
Boiled potatoes have a moderate gylcemic load, like a banana. Eating the skin slows down their digestion because of the added fiber and nutrients. It's the topping on potatoes that probably makes them bad, like everything else with toppings. They have way more potassium then bananas and saved millions of lives during the famines.
So I would say yes to them, especially boiled in moderation.
I wonder if there are any raw topping that can be placed on them after they cool, like some kind of strawberry dressing???
"if you have boiled potatoes you have to drink the water you boiled it in."
How about letting the water cool, and then placing it in a smoothie lol
Would that be ok??
haha yeah always let it cool down. it is mineral rich and so good for you. it's also really good to water your plants with it.
an awesome thread! i also have some questions though...
does anyone know about chia seeds and how fast or slow that digests?? i know that the gel that is created help digestion but maybe not if its eaten on a full stomach? i love it and on many places its served as a desert, but wondering if i will benefit more by starting eating that.... and im also confused about different charts of food combining. for instance i read several diff statement that one shouldnt mix fats and proteins...but nuts is almost just as high in fats as they are in proteins?? and i also wonder when one says dont mix 2 proteins, does that mean not mix for ex diff nuts together and diff seeds??
garetful for your opinions
i don't really understand the problem with combining fats and proteins. all foods have fats and proteins so it's impossible not to have them at each meal. the nuts are very high in fat and probably slow the digestion down of the other foods you eat them with. i honestly just listen to my body and eat what i want to eat. if i want a banana orange smoothie, i'll go ahead and combine the "acid" fruit and the "sweet" fruit. i'm not too concerned with it.
Hi All - I'm new here, and I specifically joined because I am interested not only in raw food, but in the dilemma surrounding food combining... I don't want to get too far out on all this, though - I know some folks who have some serious issues with what/how/when they eat, and I don't want to start down that road, as I tend to get carried away with details sometimes.... I agree totally with aviatrix79 (sounds like the name of an agent/spy!) in that food combining is about maximizing the absorption of nutrients so your body can use energy efficiently and perform optimally. Oh yeah - and feel good!
However, it gets a bit muddy when one chart says that a food is a protein and another says its a fat, like coconuts. For instance, I like to make fruit smoothies in the morning, and so, can I add whey protein powder to my shake of strawberries and spinach? It's true that I must go with what works for me, but it's kind of hard for me to tell, as I was/am used to eating just about whatever I want without my body vehemently protesting...
It's a new thing, this Awareness of the Body...
Also, was very interested to find the (approximate?) times for digesting certain foods - I was always wondering how long I could/should wait before eating a different food...
Thanks again for sharing great information - very helpful.
I think food combining is only necessary for people who eat large amounts of starches and proteins. Raw plant food doesn't have much starch or protein, except for high protein nuts which are still mostly fats. You are supposed to eat fruits with fats, that's the whole design of nature. You are supposed to eat the seeds in a fruit when you eat it so that you might happen to go to the bathroom and plant a tree. This is the same reason hybridized fruits should be avoided. So if you're supposed to eat fruits with fat and veggies can be eaten with anything do not worry about food combining. If something upsets your stomach or you get a lot of gas don't eat that combination or eat less. Or try to eat each item individually and see if it is just a specific food that is causing the problems.
I think it is actually better to combine fats, sugars, and greens as long as they are balanced. The sugar mixed with the fat gives you sustained energy and the greens alkalize you while providing trace minerals. And something about that combo is just so satisfying, it really turns off the appetite switch.
Sara Tonin, there are only 2 food combining rules that you need to follow:
1) Avoid sugar and fat
2) Avoid acid and starch
So, essentially, don't eat sweet fruit with fatty foods (i.e. avocado, nuts and seeds) and don't eat bananas with citrus fruits. Greens can be combined with anything.
The rest of the rules only apply to cooked food eaters.
Hope that helps,
Swayze
http://fitonraw.com/blog
Hey swayze do you eat the seeds when you're eating fruit or do you spit them out so not to combine fats with sweet fruits. Does this make sense to you?
Fruit and fat do NOT combine well. EVER.
Hi Kelly,
I STRONGLY recommend reading Raw Food Detox by Natalia Rose. She makes food combining very simple and easy to understand.
Hope that helps, Erin
Thanks for the feedback - the past 3 weeks have been a bit blurry for this newbie - I overlooked this link and couldn't find my way back! I am on my way to look for some books, and Natalia Rose's name keeps coming up, so I that might be my first.
A big chart on the inside of a kitchen cabinet might help...