Proper Food Combining for Better Digestion
Tara Carpenter, NC.
Nutrition Consultant helping people heal with therapeutic nutrition.
The above plate of food is an example of a poorly combined meal due to fruit alongside cooked meat. If the meat was raw then less a problem. The bread roll on the side there will only complicate matters.
Many of you know I am a big fan of food combining; something I learnt about while I was healing a systemic yeast infection that had traveled to my blood and affected me in having poor digestion. I got bloated just to look at food! This had me searching ways to feel better. When I found a book called Body Ecology Diet (B.E.D.) there was a chapter devoted to proper food combining and as I read this my whole body sang in happiness to have found something I intuitively sensed would help me alot.
Years later I can see I was dead on and to this day continue to practice this principle and is one of the reasons I rarely get bloated or have stomach issues. Basically, proper food combining happens when you eat foods compatible with each other (go well with each other).
Eating therapeutically is overwhelming to begin. You’re in good hands with Tara, she helped my family navigate this path too. ~ J.S., Worcester, VT
Tara Carpenter, NC.
In nerdy terms of digestive chemistry, proper food combining means “what foods to eat with what” because different food groups (starches, protein, fruit) require different digestion times and different gastric juices to break the food eaten down. Sound complicated? It’s not! I’ve been food combining for years. My kids too 🙂
You will learn as you go, I promise. For example, to digest properly, starch needs carbohydrate-splitting enzymes and protein needs protein-splitting enzymes. If food isn’t properly combined (i.e., fruit with meat), gastric juice in your stomach neutralize each other and this can lead to inefficient digestion which means food remains in stomach and intestines for long periods of time and left to ferment can putrefy and create toxins.
In time, this can lead to ….
- Bloating
- Gas
- Heartburn
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Stomach Pains
- Weight Gain
- Poor Absorption of Nutrients
$25 + shipping for a laminated chart that measures 11″ x 17″ and fits the side of most refrigerators. Email tara@happybellies.net to order.
I want to memorize your chart. This is so amazing you made this for your clients – Wow! This is going to help me so much. Thank you Tara. ~ BC, Orlando, FL
No matter how healthy the food you eat is, if digestive juice and gut flora levels are not then eating improperly combined meals can make life more uncomfortable because food can putrefy in digestive system and be toxic.
Our body has to work hard to digest poor food combinations – in this way a person can jeopardize themselves and the healing process because if the body is preoccupied with digesting food instead of healing, then we can get caught up in a vicious cycle of endless discomfort and problems.
May all bellies be happy!
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links for products I believe in and use on a regular basis. See more here. All content is for general information only, primarily educational in nature, and should not be treated as a substitute for the medical advice of your primary health-care practitioner that you, the reader, may require for any cause whatsoever, now or in future. Please consult your primary practitioner regarding any health problem(s) you have and keep them informed to the opinions, ideas, and advice on this site that you find useful. Please email me at tara@happybellies.net for any questions or concerns that you have.
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