Ok, I'm really confused about all this. Is it really necessary to keep acid, sub-acid, and sweet fruits separate?

Should I be keeping veggies and fruits separate? (like dates out of a veggie dressing) And is agave nectar a neutral food or does that count as a sweet fruit?

Also, how should algae and seaweed combine? (like spirlina, E3 and dulse) Is it ok to mix them with fruit?

And...Rejuvelac. Is that considered a starch b/c it's made from grain? I need help on this b/c I love to use it in soup and smoothies.

Sorry about all the questions but I'm getting conflicting views from all my books.
I'll be thankful for any suggestions! My intestines have been hurting after my dinner meals and I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong! Thanks!

Opinions:

-I'm sure there are MANY wonderful people on this board (and sources on the net) that can provide you with all of the exact rules.

-A simple way to remember is that things like soft fruit & juice digest very fast (30-60 minutes).....while fibrous vegetables & nuts can take 60 minutes or more. Cooked...mixed....& animal product meals can take many hours to digest fully.

-A simple rule to remember is to always eat fast things first - and give them time to digest....before eating slower items.

-It's just MY thing. Simple and easy to remember! LOL.

-David Mason

The easiest meals to digest are those that have only one item, say like a fruit mono-meal. This might mean eating for lunch 4 pounds of watermelon, or a honeydew melon, or 6 oranges.

For most people on the SAD diet, they don't need to worry about food combining because the spices and condiments (salt, pepper, garlic, onions, vinegar, etc) cause food to be rushed through the digestive system (because they are toxic) and no fermentation occurs.

On the raw diet, especially when one is using no spices or no condiments, food combining is very important.

The only veggies that fruit should be eaten with are greens like lettuce and celery. fruit does not combine with starchy veggies like broccoli, carrots, cauliflour, potatoes, etc.

Agave nectar is a sweetner and should be treated as a sweeet fruit.

Algae and seaweed should be treated as a protein food.

Rejuvelac is a fermented food, and as such should be treated as a condiment like vinegar.

The food combining rules are:

Don't combine starch and protein.
Don't combine starch and fruit
Don't combine starch and fat
Don't combine protein/fat with fruit

As for fruit
Don't combine sweet with acid
Don't combine sweet with fat

fruit goes well with greens
fat goes well with acids

greens go well with everything (except melon)
melons are best eaten alone

Don't take my word for any of this. Have your own experience. Also, over time, things may change in terms of how well they combine for you.

Thanks for your help!

I am still eating condiments like salt, pepper, garlic, onions, vinegar and raw soy sauce....I wasn't aware that these things were toxic! I personally crave garlic! I hope that's not a bad sign.

Ok, so I got the eat fruits alone thing, except with lettuce and celery... That clears up alot b/c so many smoothie recipes have those ingredients in them.

Also, eat fast foods first...no more banana cream for dessert! Unless I wait a few hours.

Last night for dinner I had an Asian salad that had dressing with dates in it. It did NOT do me well...I was uncomfortable all night.

Ok, one more question

Most days I do all fruit until dinner, so I'm cool until then. But in most cases, like tonight I have a salad with a homemade dressing for dinner. But the recipe called for agave nectar and lemon juice. Most dressings have lemon and a sweetener in them. I love trying all these raw food recipes in my books but I'm disappointed most of them don't combine well ;( So far the nectar and lemon juice haven't felt weird. I guess I have to pay more attention to what my body feels like after I eat things.

Thanks for your advice guys! I'm going to print out your posts and keep them in my kitchen.

Peace.
Jen

Holy crap, I don't think I could eat that much watermelon for a meal!!

since I am new to this, I'm wondering if i'm eating whole grain cereal for breakfast, then fruit for snacks, then vegie salads and sticks for the rest of my meals, is that ok? sometimes I'll trade a fruit snack for a granola bar, though. Am I not eating enough fruit????

A few years ago, I ate an entire 21 pound watermelon in a single day

Nowadays I am unable to eat that quantity of watermelon.

Bryan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> >
> The food combining rules are:
>
> Don't combine starch and protein.
> Don't combine starch and fruit
> Don't combine starch and fat
> Don't combine protein/fat with fruit
>
> As for fruit
> Don't combine sweet with acid
> Don't combine sweet with fat
>
> fruit goes well with greens
> fat goes well with acids
>
> greens go well with everything (except melon)
> melons are best eaten alone
>

Hi Bryan -

I am very interested in food combining, read your thorough info, and have a few questions.

1) Can you combine protein with fat?
2) Why no starch with fat?
3) Can you combine sweet with protein? Why not fat with sweet?
4) What category does avocado and nuts go into?

Thanks!

veganman,

1) When fats are eaten, they slow down the secretion of digestive juices in the stomach. Two of these juices, pepsin and hydrochloric acid, are necessary for protein digestion, This means that when fats and proteins are eaten together, that the protein foods might sit around in the stomach an extra 2 hours in the presence of fat because of the lack of pepsin and hydrochloric acid.

2) Starches require an alkaline environment to digest. Fats require an acid environment to digest. When starch and fat are eaten together, the juices needed to create the alkaline environment for the starches and the juices needed to create the acidic environment for the starches cancel each other out.

3) Sweet requires an alkaline environment to digest. Protein and fats require an acid environment. Sweet plus (fat or protein) will have digestive juices that cancel out each other.

4) Avocados and nuts are fats.

I had heard that fats were "neutral", whatever that means???

The main thing that I try to avoid is mixing fruits and fats. Fats are best with greens. I also always eat melon alone. Other than that I seem to be ok. Although I am gravitating more towards mono eating after couple years of being raw now, I find that I feel the best when I eat mono.


Take care,

Audrey
www.rawhealing.com