Proper Food-Combining Diet

Food-combining diets are based on the idea that eating certain types of foods together, while never pairing others, can aid digestion and nutrient absorption. Food combining focuses on putting together items that have similar digestion processes. According to the diet's theory, this allows all foods to leave the stomach at about the same time, mainstreaming the body's digestive functions.

Proteins

• High-protein foods, such as dairy products, eggs, meat, fish and nuts, are one of the most strictly governed components of a food-combining diet. Proteins should never be eaten with carbohydrates, oily and fatty items or acidic foods because the digestion times of those types of foods directly clash the with digestion time and needs of proteins. High-protein foods should be served with non-starchy and semi-starchy vegetables. Examples of semi-starchy vegetables include carrots, corn, peas and beats.

Carbohydrates

• Carbohydrates are allowed more flexibility than proteins in a food-combining diet. As previously stated, carbohydrates and proteins should never be consumed simultaneously. Carbohydrate-laden foods, which include potatoes, beans and grains, can be eaten with oily and fatty items, such as butter, cream, avocados and oils that contain unsaturated fats. They can also be combined with non-starchy and semi-starchy vegetables.

Fatty and Oily Foods

• Fatty and oily foods have a lot of leeway in a food-combining diet; in fact, the only type of food that they should never be combined with is protein. This is because foods that contain a high percentage of fat can take many hours to digest, much longer than the average protein-rich item. Fatty and oily foods do especially well when combined with non-starchy vegetables and carbohydrates.

  Besides fatty avocados, butter, cream and lard, this category also contains non-hydrogenated oils such as olive oil, nut oils and sesame oil.

Fruits

• Fruits are a separate entity within a food-combining diet. This is because the sugars and acids contained in fruits directly clash with the digestive tendencies of other types of food. For this reason, fruits are consumed on their own as a fruit-only meal.

  There are several different categories of fruits within the food-combining system. This first is acidic fruits, such as citrus fruits, pineapples, strawberries and sour apples. The second category is sub-acidic fruits, which includes mangoes, papayas, peaches, pears and blueberries. The third group is sweet fruits, such as bananas, grapes and dried fruits. The final category is melons. Because of their particular digestive properties, melons should be eaten alone, as should sweet fruits. Acidic and sub-acidic fruits can be combined with each other, but should not intermingle with any other type of food or fruit.