Since ancient times it has been believed that certain foods go well together while others do not. The practice derived from this is known simply as combining foods , and it is still very popular today.
These types of beliefs are based in part on more or less ancient health knowledge, on some myths and on other true notions, so you have to look at them carefully.
The best thing in these cases is to contrast the most common statements about this practice to decide which ideas are really useful when it comes to combining foods .
What exactly is combining foods?
Combining foods is the simple way of calling the practice of mixing foods according to parameters that are supposed to guarantee that they are “healthier.” The oldest known mention of this practice comes from ancient India, within the so-called Ayurvedic medicine. In the West, however, it became popular years later, in the mid-nineteenth century under the name of trophology or ” science of combining foods .”
The principles in which food is divided in this practice were created, then, almost two centuries ago.
The first fundamental principle of trophology is the division of meals into groups:
- Carbohydrates and starches.
- Fruits of all kinds.
- Vegetables.
- Poteins.
- Fats
Others also add distinctions such as acidic, alkaline, and neutral.
Basic rules of food combining
The followers of these ideas have created rules that are already more or less standardized on what can be combined and what not. These are the most basic:
- Only eat fruits when you have an empty stomach, especially melon.
- Don’t combine starches and protein.
- Do not combine starches with acidic foods.
- Do not combine different types of proteins.
- You should only consume dairy products when you have an empty stomach, especially if it is milk.
Others also include that protein and fat should not be mixed or that sugar should be consumed alone, but they are less common.
Why is food combining believed to work?
The rules of food combining are based on two basic beliefs:
- Food does not digest at the same speed. There are fast-digesting and slow-digesting foods, and mixing them into a single meal slows down the digestive process, or so they assume.
- Different foods require different types of digestive enzymes, with different pH levels, and mixing different products alters those pH levels, making digestion difficult.
Surely everything so far sounds pretty familiar to you. These are ideas that we ourselves have probably heard for a long time, but how much truth is there in them?
What myths surround food combining?
We review what science says about the supposed advantages that followers of the combination of foods point out with respect to this dietary system.
1. Combining foods promotes weight loss
So far there has only been one in-depth study on the effects of food combining. This is a comparison between two groups, one that followed the guidelines of this diet and the other more traditional and free, but in both cases without consuming more than 1,100 calories a day.
After six weeks, both groups had lost an average of 6 to 8 kg, and those who cared about combining their food did not show greater health benefits.
2. Foods with many ingredients are unhealthy to digest
The idea that combining different types of foods in a single meal is harmful is based on the belief that the digestive system does not have the capacity to adequately process fats, carbohydrates and proteins at the same time. However, if this statement were true, we would not even be able to eat multiple foods, even separately.
Take meat, for example: it is considered primarily a protein, but this does not prevent it from being a source of fat as well.
Our body is used to mixed diets and foods of this type, so they will not harm it or hinder its processes under any circumstances.
3. Some foods alter the pH
Another theory of food combining states that consuming the wrong products together can increase the pH by causing enzymes to malfunction during digestion.
First of all, it should be remembered that pH is a scale to measure how acidic or alkaline a solution is. The scale runs from 0 to 14, where 0 is more acidic, 14 is more alkaline, and 7 is considered “neutral”.
While it is true that digestive enzymes need an average level of pH to function, the truth is that eating more alkaline or more acidic food does not produce enough changes to alter the functions of the enzymes.
The stomach normally has a low pH level between 1 and 2.5. When you eat something alkaline, the level rises up to 5, but more gastric acid is released, which helps lower the levels again.
So, regardless of whether you eat “very acidic” or “very alkaline”, your stomach will simply vary the amount of gastric acid it emits to bring those proportions to its ideal level.
4. Food can ferment in the stomach
The idea is that if you mix a slow-digesting food with a fast-digesting one, the latter will have to stay in the stomach for longer than it should, until it ferments and spoils there. However, simply put, this cannot happen either way.
Fermentation and rotting occur when food is attacked by bacteria, but in the stomach it is impossible for this type of bacteria to develop due to the acidic pH levels in the stomach. In fact, in the digestive system there are only bacteria in the large intestine, and these are beneficial.
In what cases does the combination of foods work?
Although the traditional principles of food combining do not have much hold in reality, there are certain cases where science does recommend taking care of how you mix foods :
- Citrus fruits with iron: combining fruits with vitamin C with sources of iron , especially vegetables, improves the absorption of iron.
- Carrots and fat: the carotenoids present in fruits and vegetables such as carrots or tomatoes are better absorbed when accompanied by fat. Given the benefits they offer – prevention of cancer and heart disease, for example – it is best to take care of this.
- Spinach and dairy: Mixing the oxalate from spinach or chocolate with dairy decreases the absorption of calcium , which can help people prone to kidney stones.
Reference
- Taylor Jones. Does Food Combining Work? Fact or Fiction. For Authority Nutrition [Revised October 2016]
