Food Combinations
Whenever we stress our digestive system with a modern diet that indiscriminately combines foods, some of the following symptoms will most likely occur:
• feeling bloated after a meal
• constant grumbling and groaning of your stomach
• fighting lethargy, chronic fatigue, and various digestive disorders
The digestive system requires a proper environment to function. Foods should agree rather than conflict. Meat and potatoes, fish and chips or macaroni and cheese combine two groups of food — protein and carbohydrate — which require different environments for digestion.
Proteins need hydrochloric acid. Our stomach produces it when the relevant food passes through the digestive tract. Carbohydrates, on the other hand, require an alkaline environment.
When eating these food types together, the alkaline digestion is delayed because the hydrochloric acid works first in the stomach to digest the protein. The carbohydrates are set aside awaiting their turn and will only begin to be digested after the hydrochloric acid has finished processing the protein. Usually, the next meal arrives before the carbohydrates have had a chance to be broken down, and if you eat protein again, it will be bumped to the front of the line, forcing the carbohydrates be stored.
Both of these digestive functions are concluded in their fullness only when allowed to process individually. Therefore, the wrong combination of foods, when consumed sequentially, can actually hinder the complete digestion of other foods rather than aid.
Here are some food combinations that should be eaten together:
• Beans and lentils should be eaten with grains in order to produce the amino acid chain and make a complete protein
• Good fat can be added to either proteins or carbohydrates
• The same goes for vegetables and green leaves, which are considered neutral; together with sprouted legumes they can be combined with either proteins or carbohydrates
• Herbs and seeds are also neutral
• Fruits are in a category of their own and should not be consumed with other food groups. Sadly, fruit pies may force the digestive system to struggle. The best time to have fruit is first thing in the morning, producing no stress in the digestive system while other functions, such as elimination, are being processed.
As a suggestion for lunch, have protein with salads or vegetables and for dinner, carbohydrates with vegetables and salad. Due to the processing of the carbohydrates in an alkaline environment it is easier on the digestive system.
DINNER RECIPE:
Tagine Yams and Sweet Potato with Vegetarian Stuffed Green Peppers
Ingredients:
1 large yam
1 large sweet potato
4 green peppers
1 cup of walnuts
1 tsp. of grapeseed oil
4 medium tomatoes
Spices:
Dry rosemary, paprika, chili powder, dry thyme, dry oregano, fresh basil and Celtic salt
Directions:
Tangin Yams and Sweet Potato:
Peel and cut the yam and the sweet potato in cubes. Sauté inside the tangin with the grape seed oil and following spices: dry rosemary, paprika, chili powder, dry thyme and Celtic salt, in high heat. Once the potatoes are browned, cover the tangin and set to simmer for 30 minutes.
Persian Green Pepper:
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut longitudinally in half and deseed the green peppers. Put the walnuts in the food processor, pulse it until it has a ground beef consistency while adding the same spices as the tangin recipe. Fill the halved green peppers with the ground walnuts. Remove the top of the tomatoes and put them in the blender with fresh basil, Celtic salt, dry rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Place the walnut-stuffed green peppers in a glass oven pan and cover the walnuts inside the green peppers with the tomato sauce. Place the dish in the 375-degree oven for 30 minutes.
Originally published at www.livinghealth.tv.
