Food Combinations & Weight Loss

The theory of proper food combining or trophology maintains that eating foods in proper combinations will improve your digestion, your overall health and regulate your weight. Advocates of this style of eating claim you need not count calories, just follow some simple principles to experience new found energy and vitality.

Theory

• Dr. William Howard Hay first introduced the idea of food combining in the 1920s. He theorized that the body cannot properly digest starches and proteins when they are consumed together. Because the digestion of protein is primarily acidic and starch alkaline, digestion of the two together essentially neutralizes the process. This slows digestion and putrefies the proteins and ferments the starches--creating digestive issues such as gas, bloating, heartburn, cramps, constipation, foul stools and perceived food intolerances.

Benefits

• In addition to clearing up digestive woes, food combining supposedly helps you manage your body weight. According to proponents, if food is properly combined your digestion improves and nutrients better absorbed. This enhances your metabolism and increases your energy. All this occurs without calorie counting or extreme hunger.

Expert Insight

• No research supports the theories behind trophology. A few books on the topic are available, including "Fit for Life: Not Fat for Life" by Harvey Diamond and "The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity" by Daniel P. Reid. The diet calls for you to eat foods close to nature, to eat raw vegetables every day and to avoid processed white foods. These recommendations are congruous with nutritionists and other proponents of clean and healthy eating.

Considerations

• The concept of proper food combining is not unhealthy and its emphasis on fresh vegetables is laudable. Some of the features of trophology actually appear in the Atkins diet (starches are minimized and protein is consumed alone) and in raw food diets that minimize dense protein sources. Trying the diet might help you lose weight by increasing your intake of vegetables and minimizing high-calorie processed foods. If you decide food combining is for you, go slowly and be patient as your body adapts to a new way of eating.

Challenges

• More complex versions of food combining exist. These not only call for you not to consume protein and starch simultaneously (no meat and potatoes), but to avoid combining multiple starches (rice and beans) or proteins (chicken and fish) at the same meal. In addition, you should avoid a mix of acid and starch (vinegar and rice), sugar and starch (bread and jelly), and acid and protein (lemon and chicken). Melons ought to be eaten alone as should milk. Learning and adhering to these rules might be daunting as they are incongruous with a Western way of eating.