Food Combining?

Question
Evelyn
Do you know much about this?
The basic concept is not to mix carbohydrates with proteins or fats as they interfere with each other during digestion.
I have always had digestive issues in spite of the fact I am a light eater and stay clear of big fatty meals, desserts, etc.
Even as a kid, a burger or plate of meat and potatoes left my belly bloated for hours.
I tried all kinds of digestive supplements,restricting foods to see if I was intolerant,celiac, etc but nothing helped.
Then it dawned on me that maybe it wasn't the food it was the mixture of foods I was eating. I for example I can eat a bagel no problem but ad bacon and egg and I bloat. Chicken ceasar salads are no problem but add croutons-you get it.
I googled this and its called food combining.
I mentioned this to my doctor and he thinks its quackery. It also doesnt seem to be as mainstream as the other food fads.
Its only been a few days now and I can still eat enough to be satisfied and my belly feels a lot better. Eating my meat and potatoes/bread separately is a small price to pay.
Also, I am wondering if my issue is ant way related to colorectal cancer. My Dad and uncle both died early from this. They too were not big eaters just regular meat and potato guys like everybody else. They both sported big distended bellies like me. Maybe I have a hereditary lack of digestive function that can contribute to cancer?
One more observation to make is we are friends with a Chinese couple. They eat a lot but most of the meals are spiced up rice or noodles and veggies. Meat is used sparingly. They say this is just the way they were brought up. Is it a coincidence that Oriental people are slim on tradional diets but are now going obese thanks to burgers and fried chicken and fries?
Thanks for your thoughts!

Answer
Dear Van,

There is definitely a general awareness within alternative nutrition about the importance of keeping one's diet alkaline. This will mean watching out for acidic combinations. You could very well have self-diagnosed yourself accurately and discovered just the right diet for you. Keeping carbs and proteins separate is one such aspect. Check out alkaline diet websites for more info. Make sure your carbs are wholesome, though (proper wholewheat bread; go easy on potatoes, which can bog you down; brown rice, muesli, etc).

In a complex (holistic) theory meat and potatoes do not so much outrightly contribute to cancer but they are not fantastically inspiring on the digestive system. These two products, specifically, fail to challenge your processing system, and self-forming principles. Cancer is in reaction to weaknesses on that front. So, while a diet does not cause or promote cancer per se, it can trigger a disposition and weaken organs, making them more susceptible. So you are wise to go towards a more natural diet (salads, fresh fruit, grains, yoghurt for lacto bacteria; and steer away from more sluggish foods like meat, too much cheese, no more than a few eggs a week, and all processed foods containing refined flour, sugar, and hydrogenated fats).

Less meat, more fibre are generally good places to start with your symptoms. In order to obtain complete proteins (all nine amino acids) however, it is necessary to keep the combinations of carbs and more protein rich vegetarian alternatives to animal products (pulses, i.e. beans, lentils, soy derivatives etc) fairly close together (within a day). Often it is therefor suggested to combine rice with beans etc, to make sure you package all the amino acids in a single daily intake.

Chinese cuisine (the principles of which are set out in detail in Taoist nutritional philosophy, or the five element theory) is naturally very well balanced, taking subtle metabolic processes and dynamic energy systems into consideration. The combination of the five elements is what determines a meal, not chemical building blocks. By thinking in terms of earth, metal, wood, water, air, and the five properties within each group: hot, warm, neutral, cooling, cold all foods can be categorised and combined into a balanced meal - or a curative one. You may find you do better on a neutral or more warming type of diet with Earth and Metal elements emphasised. It will then not only be a case of separating carbs from proteins, but some grains, meat, veg etc. will then agree better with you than others.

In the Chinese Five Element theory, your complaint would be described as weak spleen qi (ki, or energy). This in turn affects the Triple Warmer. The meridians (lines used in acupuncture, for example) connect organs in an energetic system which works in a cyclical diurnal/nocturnal pattern. If you have trouble sleeping, for example around 3 am you can tell you have a liver-energy problem, often affected by digestive problems.

The Chinese consider the belly as a cooking pot, which should be kept at the right temperature for the best results. The steam of this digestive process must be combined with the energy obtained from breathing(lungs). This dynamic gets translated into western science in terms of a healthy, alkaline diet and plenty of fresh air and regular exercise.

We can build up spleen energy by using salt and hot spice extremely moderately, avoiding cold drinks, icecream, cold fruits: tomato, cucumber, citrus; all sugar, white flour, deepfried food, deepfrozen food (loses all life-force energy from freezing process, which cannot be revitalised by cooking), microwaved food (zaps all life/solar energy, adds electro-magnetic forces). Combine yoghurt with warming grains (muesli). Millet, oats, amaranth, rice, corn are warming and neutral grains. So called Earth element food is good too: cabbage, sweet potato, leek, fennel, pumpkin, green beans, spring onions, peas. More cooling but good too, spinach, broccoli, collards. Pulses and dried fruit are excellent; stewed fruit is more warming (add cinnamon and ginger or cardamon). Meat in soups (broth, bouillion) can be fine and strengthening too, and should not fight with greens in one meal. Especially beef broth. Otherwise chicken. Pork and lamb in small portions only, preferably in soup. Use herbs to help warm this food: rosemary, thyme, sage,oregano. Parsley is an excellent herb (also for the liver, which can be weak in the case of digestive problems). Fish like carp is neutral, cod, tuna, other oily fish, and seafood are more warming.Nuts, and pinenuts (not peanuts!). Use grain sweetner instead of sugar: barleymalt or maple syrup and small amounts of honey.  Red grape juice with hot water, herb teas with cinnamon or ginger, fennel, aniseed or licorice. Chamomile, limeblossom and lemonbalm tea help with digestion after dinner. No coffee in the evening.

If the spleen-energy is weak it will cause bloating and poor decomposition of food. This in turn leads to wind in the lower- and apathy in the higher pole. It is this general malaise and lack of internal dynamic which creates an environment for cancerous growth, where further carcinogenics can penetrate (through food, but also other environmental factors such as pollution, radiation, electro-magnetic waves possibly, or from bio-aggressive or lifeless (petro) chemicals in beauty products or medication etc).

In the case of colon cancer we can note the colon is a metal-organ, as is the lung. The term "anally retentive" and this type of cancer can sometimes convene, and a kind of cramped breathing often accompanies the profile of a patient prone to this type of cancer. Letting go and taking up new things may be part of the whole picture too. Their lesson in life may have much to do with seeing something through to the end, accepting imperfections and starting afresh with renewed zest. They could learn a lot from Buddhistic monks who draw sand mandalas only to rub them out once their intricate work has been completed.

This is why holistic medicine will ask a patient of this type to concentrate on breathing exercises (meditation, tai chi, yoga, or other integral exercise, like dance, nordic walking, cycling trips etc). Also biographic work which asks you to let go of the old, accept what cannot be changed, discard useless and negative emotions (anger and grief specifically) and try new things just because you can. These people sometimes need to learn that a sense of freedom may lie in a very different place than what they believed or were told.  Having a good laugh and doing "fun" stuff can also be a curative exercise in itself.

The human colon is not such a boring sewer-system as you might think.It is a very developed organ compared to other higher animals, and its loops carries a lot of counterweight to the tangle of our brains. From verbal diahoerrea to "being full of ...it" many expressions reveal this mirror function. Irritable bowel syndrome (of which you describe some symptoms) need not always have to do with specific food intolerances, but be part of a much larger picture.

In response to your keen observation of your Chinese friends the following. From an Anthroposophic perspective, the Asian build is less a result of their diet but, inversely, their diet is related to a natural, spiritual matrix belonging to this race. The Asian race is less grounded in earth matter therefore less heavily built, with other features pointing to a more nerve-sense predominance and less so a metabolic one. They ruminate less and are more quick of mind, with a bird like element, compared to the more plodding bovine nature of the Kaukasian.  Also their predeliction for rice can be linked to a less firmly earth-rooted path. Note how the southern, watery, warm green rice differs from the very long root, and golden grain of the northern oat, wheat or rye. A specific (protein poor) diet convenes with less earthy needs. Flavour matters more than the body of a meal - explaining why Chinese cuisine is one of the very best in the world according to top chefs.

One may argue that a lack of dairy farms in the Gobi desert has made their diet an obvious no-choice! but, modern Chinese people can access Mac Donalds, now, too, and the consequences do not lie, as you point out so astutely: obesity can be a serious problem in Asian body types too. Different body types will always need varying diets, in line with varying (karmic) missions ultimately. Nobody needs fast food, and our ruined environment (from farming sad meat) is helping to scream this out to us, besides.


I hope this information helps underpin your own very sound gut-intution (pun intended!). Keep experimenting with your food-intake, making sure you choose fresh and dynamic products which will help you catabolise foreign materials in the least oppositional manner. Life is about learning who you are, and your diet seems to be providing you with invaluable lessons. Keep up the excellent work!
My best wishes,
Evelyn

1. Prev:beginner
2. Next:diet plan