The Complete Book of Food Combining” by Jan Dries and Inge Dries reminded me of Michel Montignac’s books which were hugely popular in the late 1980s. “Dine out and Lose Weight” published in 1986 was followed a year later by “Eat Yourself Slim” which also became an instant bestseller. Michel Montignac’s main leitmotiv is that you must never eat carbohydrates with lipids if you want to be slim.
However, Jan Dries, a nutritional therapist, has since the 1970s, at least in Holland, been actively involved in highlighting the importance of combining specific foods for optimal digestive results. The main theme of this book is that good food combinations aid digestion and has a beneficial influence on total health and the healing process.
Many people suffer from acid indigestion, a distended stomach, flatulence, allergies to certain foods, obesity, constipation and do not realize that one of the most likely causes of these problems is simply what they are eating and especially what kinds of foods they are combining together.
Food combining means eating only foods that are suited to each other during any one meal. Some may object that this considerably restricts the choice of food but in fact all that is required is to make a choice guided by how our digestive system works. Many still believe that digestive discomfort is due to some form of deficiency in the digestive system, and no account at all is taken of possible deficiencies in the diet.
Foods are classified in five groups: proteins, fats, sugars, starch and acids. Other substances like dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, water may also be conducive to good digestion.
“The point of food combining is to ensure normal and easy digestion after eating several foods during one meal… The process of digestion is one of decomposition: the breaking down of many substances into their basic constituents” says the author.
Digestion takes place thanks to the combined action of enzymes, catalysts that promote biochemical processes and the acidity present in the environment in which they are active. If the degree of acidity changes the enzymes are no longer effective. To ensure that the natural processes of digestion can go ahead in the optimal fashion one should combine foods that are harmonious with each other.
It is also important to know that the digestive system is affected by our emotions. If a person eats when she is not hungry, she will digest badly. Similarly, if a person eats in a mood of anger, fear and exasperation she will not benefit even from well-chosen combination of foods. One of the reasons is that emotions strongly influence the stimulation or the inhibition of gastric juice secretion. Moreover, tension and aggression can cause the release of more gastric juices which over time causes the formation of a stomach ulcer. Fear on the other hand slows down the secretion of gastric juice which makes the digestion very difficult.
Incidentally, there is one golden rule in relation to drinking during meals. One should remember that drinking when the stomach is full can lead to an unpleasant sensation as the liquid cannot follow its usual rapid course through the stomach, remaining like a bubble at the bottom of the esophagus or at the top of the stomach. However, soft drinks and cola which has a very high degree of acidity disrupts the digestion of starches by making the saliva more acid and it also interferes with the digestion of the protein foods by inhibiting the gastric juice.
The combination of protein and starch is one of the most common bad combinations. This is the case with bread and cheese, meat and potatoes, chicken and rice, peanut-butter sandwich to name a few examples. The protein-starch combination distorts the acid-base balance and makes digestion difficult.
The combination of starch and sugar is also a common but not a good food combination. It includes tarts, pies, pastries, biscuits, waffles …The presence of starch slows down the digestive process and the sugar often ends up in the fermentation zone of the stomach.
These are two of a long list of bad food combinations given by the author but there are however good food combinations. These good combinations consist of: protein and fat, fat and starch, fat and sugar and sugar and acid.
Starch-fat combinations include bread and butter, spaghetti with butter or cream, potatoes in oil dressing, rice cooked in oil. Fat and acid is also a good combination because acid can virtually dissolve the fat and makes it easy to digest. Common fat-acid combinations include avocado with lemon juice, fatty fish with lemon juice, cheese and tomato.
Finally sugar and acid combinations are mainly milk-based products such as buttermilk with sugar and yoghurt with honey.
Fruit should be eaten as a separate dish or meal, and not be combined with other foods. The amount of fruit per meal should not exceed 500-600 grams. This quantity will exert no pressure on the stomach. Unlike fruit, the actual structure of raw vegetables is more solid than that of fruit and this explains why they are more difficult to digest. The problem may be solved by the addition of an oil-based dressing.
“Good food combining renders digestion easy and comfortable both after and during the actual eating. When the stomach is full, it expands slightly, but there is no heavy feeling. On the contrary, with good food combining the stomach empties faster and uses less energy.
In fact, the better the digestive function, the less is the actual need for food. Those who have broken through this vicious circle are able to derive a great deal of energy from only a small quantity of food. And the use of a smaller quantity of food in turn means less waste, less poisoning, less acidity, less energy used in dealing with food, and the relief and pleasure of smooth digestion and good overall health.
The second part of the book contains recipes for more than two hundred tasty dishes prepared by Inge Dries, the author’s daughter who shows us how to put the theory into practice. These recipes help us become familiar with the types of food and also teach us how to cook food that is delicious by paying attention to food combinations.
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