Hello! It’s the 13th Day of the Give-Back Diet. Congratulations for showing up here today. That means you’re making a conscious effort to make some positive changes in your life: to lose weight, form new, healthier habits, and be the best person you can be. Today, we’re going to talk about a hot-topic, food combining for weight loss. You might think of it as a diet, and that’s OK, but as long as you redefine what the word diet means: what you CAN eat.
It’s a hot-button topic, and there are a lot of folks, “experts,” and even an infomercial about it. Food combining is not new: it’s been around a long time, and it is based on ancient methods, some from ayruveda, some from macrobiotics, and recently in the past couple of decades, vegetarianism and various health regimes.
Here are the basics, as I’ve gleaned them:
1 – Keep proteins separate. Eat them only one at a time, or only with non-starch vegetables (such as greens, asparagus, cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, zuccini, etc.). This is because proteins require acids to digest. Starch items require alkaline. Mixing the two supposedly neutralizes the digestive system, causing food to sit in the stomach and intestines, decay, gas form, etc.
2 – Eat fruits separately, or not at all. Only eat fruit 4 hours after another meal, or 1 hour before a meal.
3 – Starches and non-starches can be eaten together with no problem. Starches are, for example, all grains, pasta, rices, peas, potatoes, corn, beets, carrots, eggplant, avocado, and parsnips.
4 – Keep melons separate.
5 – Keep citrus fruits separate from other fruits.
This means that our standard American meat and potatoes, with bread and vegetable dinners are not good for us. It means that fruit on cereal for breakfast is also not a good idea.
Also, I do know that drinking cold water, or cold liquids with a meal is also a digestion stopper. Best to drink room temperature water. Avoid soda, for sure.
ACTION PLAN for today:
— Try these food combination rules for yourself. See if they make you feel better.
You might want to try a dinner of only protein and non-starchy vegetables, “giving back” the bread and crackers before or during the meal.
— Stay off the sugars and added sugars, give them back too. Eat more vegetables instead.
— Keep the journal and logging going. I’m sure you’re becoming highly conscious and already making changes in your eating habits.
— Be sure to go for a 20 minute walk today, or move inside. I recommend first thing in the morning, or certainly by lunch. Don’t wait until the end of the day, or you might be too tired.
Do YOU have experience with food combining? Please POST A COMMENT. Also, let us know how you’re doing on the “Give Back Diet.”
If you are reading The Give-Back Diet for the first time today, welcome. Take a look at some of the previous postings, and start here, today. Please post a comment and introduce yourself to our online program group.
Read Previous Post