Strawberry and blueberry parfaits in glasses against a bright white wood background

Food combining

In the New Year instead of focusing on a ‘diet’, learn about the foods that are incompatible that can disrupt your digestive system, leading to toxins and slowing metabolism down. All of these concerns lead to weight gain, stubborn weight loss, low energy and restless sleep.

Our gut was not designed for overly complex varieties of food in one meal, as it can overwork our digestive system. The notion of correct food combining is geared to supporting the reduction of toxins and ensuring your ‘fire’ (metabolism) stays strong. 

When foods are eaten correctly or separately, they can aid digestion. When we combine certain foods that require a conflicting digestive process, the digestive fire gets disturbed, slows down and can start to produce toxins in the system.

Eating bananas with milk, eggs with fish, radishes with milk, lemon with yoghurt, melons with any other foods, raw foods with cooked foods, and fruits with grains are examples of incompatible food combinations.
What happens when we eat lemon and milk? If you squeeze lemon in hot milk, it would instantly curdle and it’s the same in your gut. The digestive enzymes that digest lemons cause the milk to curdle due to the sourness.
This type of constant digestive confusion can be the cause of many diseases, especially respiratory or skin conditions.

 

Ingredient Incompatible with
Eggs Fish, all fruit, cheese, meat, milk, yoghurt
Fruit Any other food, particularly dairy
Honey Toxic if boiled or used in cooking (honey roasting)
Lemon Cucumbers, milk, tomatoes, yoghurt
Melon Dairy, fried foods, grains, starches. Melon is best eaten alone
Milk Banana, fish, meat, melon, salt, sour fruits, yeasted bread, yoghurt
Nightshades Other nightshades (eggplant, peppers, potato, tomato), cucumber, melon, milk, yoghurt, and all fruit
Raddish Banana, milk, raisins
Raw foods Cooked foods
Grains Most fruit
Yoghurt Cheese, eggs, fish, hot drinks, mango, meat, melon, milk, nightshades, sour fruits

Many obvious incompatible food combinations in the western diet include:

fruit and yoghurt, cheese and grapes, melon and parma ham, berry cheesecake, cheese omelette, bacon and sausage with eggs, cheese and tomato (toasties, pizza and pasta), fish pie, banana smoothie, orange juice with milk based cereals, and fruits after meals.

If you are a person that is always about the ‘diet’ and trying to find a new one to follow, maybe this year is about learning more about and supporting your gut health. Small focus points can make a huge difference, it’s worth a try.

Kerrie Fatone