The Food Combining Guide

Food combining refers to a diet that restricts eating some foods at the same time as others under the belief that the utilization of protein can be dependent upon which foods it is eaten with. Some foods, such as beans and potatoes, may interfere with the digestion of other foods and should be eaten separately.

Food Combining Guides

Several food combining charts are available to help you decide which foods to eat in combination with other foods. The original guide uses arrows to show you which foods are poor, good or excellent to eat with other foods. Another guide, created by Alder Brooke Healing Arts of Eugene, Oregon, uses symbols with overlapping lines to show you how to combine foods. Both charts offer tips for better digestion.

Food Combining Basics

The guides recommend chewing food thoroughly, a habit that can help your digestion whether you use food combining or not. The main point of food combining prohibits combining starchy carbohydrates, such as potatoes and pasta, with concentrated proteins, such as meat and eggs. You should only eat one kind of protein in any given meal. Avoid eating starches and acids together in the same meal since acids may neutralize the alkaline environment necessary to digest starches. Additionally, because they do not digest in the stomach but rather in the intestines, fruit should not be eaten with other foods and should be avoided between meals when food may still be present in the digestive tract. When fruits are combined with other slower-digesting foods, they can remain in the stomach to decompose and ferment, causing gas and indigestion.

Complex Carbohydrates and Starches

Complex carbs and starches that should not be combined with proteins include potatoes, including potato salad and mashed and baked potatoes; rice, including white, brown, and long grain; pasta including noodles and dumplings; and squash, including pumpkin and butternut.

Non-Starchy Vegetables

Non-starchy vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, green beans, leafy greens, mushrooms and zucchini combine well with proteins and starches. Alternative medicine advocate, Dr. Herbert Shelton, recommends everyone eat a large salad daily.

Fats and Oils

Because of their slowing effect on digestion, oils, such as olive, nut and corn oil, as well as fats, such as cream, butter and avocados should not be combined with proteins but may be combined with starches and non-starchy vegetables. A salad of leafy greens can help increase the digestibility of fats and oils, especially avocados.