Published - The Valley Times - Nov. 19, 2013
Food combination dos and don’ts for the holidays
For the VT
By Lisa Rohde
Thanks Giving memories... too often we recall feeling overly stuffed, and bloated -- not to mention gassy -- at the festive occasion and gathering?
What if you were equipped with the right knowledge of how to enjoy this special time with friends and family, giving thanks to food abundance in our lives, without feeling uncomfortable, or embarrassed in your body?
When you understand what foods combine well together for optimal digestion, and which foods do not, you will be able to make far better choices day in and day out. Not to mention you will feel better in your body at your Thanks Giving feast, and you will still have the opportunity to enjoy desert.
Please do not misunderstand me, I am not proposing that you eliminate any certain type of food. Rather I am suggesting that the way one chooses to combine or not combine certain foods can optimize your digestion and comfort. Good digestion, of course, maximizes your energy, and health as well.
First of all, it is important to know that proteins - including dairy, eggs, meat, nuts and seeds -- and high-starch carbohydrates -- such as beans, breads, legumes, cereals, grains, pastas, peas, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, wheat and rice, do not combine well. This is because protein foods require an acid medium produced in the belly to properly be digested. Digestion of grains and carbohydrates begin in the mouth when you chew your food and create alkaline saliva medium and mix this into the food.
Acids and alkaline digestion mediums, when combined, cancel each other out, therefore causing indigestion and fermentation in the stomach. Fermentation in the belly can result in tummy upset, bloating, gas, and food for pathogenic organisms; therefore supporting opportunist microflora that rob you of your otherwise needed nutrients from your food.
Combining healthy fats with grains and carbohydrates slows down digestion and the conversion of carbs into glucose keeping blood sugar levels more stable. Healthy fats include, extra virgin olive oil, raw coconut oil, flax and hemp seed oil (you do not want to cook with flax or hemp oil but rather add it to your plate as a condiment). Healthy fats also includes cultured butter, if you tolerate dairy, and seed or nut oils.
Dark, leafy, greens, and non-starchy, vegetables, including kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, chard, celery, cucumber, lettuce, radishes, turnips, summer squash, and tomatoes combine excellently with either proteins or carbohydrates. In other words, ones well combined plate may look like a combination of either green, non-starchy, vegetables with protein, or green, non-starchy, vegetables with carbohydrates. Ratios should be around 70-80% green and non-starchy vegetables combined with 20-30% your choice either protein, or carbohydrate.
Mildly-starchy vegetables including artichokes, beets, carrots, cauliflower, corn, and peas, combine nicely with green, leafy, and non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and oils. Though not quite as excellent a combination, mildly-starchy vegetables also generally combine okay with either protein or carbohydrate.
This leaves us with fruit. In general fruit should be eaten alone and is best first thing in the morning (after hydrating of course) when your belly is truly empty. Fruit combines well with very little. Normally fruit stays in the belly for the least amount of time, often no more than 30-minutes before entering the gut. When fruit is combined incorrectly with other foods it is left to linger longer in the belly, which causes fermentation in the belly and of course feeds those not so friendly opportunistic organisms. Because fruit rapidly leaves the belly this can make fruit a good choice if you must have a late night snack because no one wants food to linger in their belly all night long.
That said, fruit may sometimes be eaten with dairy, seeds, nuts, and green leafy vegetables, a perfect combination for a smoothie or desert. In general, deserts and sugar based indulgences are best eaten alone.
My recommendations on the big Thanks Giving Day, celebrating the abundance of family, friends, and food, enjoy your soul food, don’t necessarily give anything up, rather space out the feast based on food combining rules.
Begin early with your main turkey, fish, or protein dish combined with a savory vegetable dish, the veggies being the bulk of your plate. I suggest beginning with meat early, because, animal protein takes longest to digest sometimes a few hours. Digestion also slows as the evening progresses. Animal protein is also packed full of energy sometimes too much energy for the end of the day. Following your protein dish pause, and allow digestion to occur. Go for a walk and get some fresh air and breath into you.
Next enjoy your main carbohydrate or starchy additions with more green, leafy and non-starchy vegetables, perhaps a steamed greens medley. When making mashed potatoes try combining starchy potatoes with less starchy cauliflower, and coconut oil and veggie broth as needed. In the case of starchy pumpkin soup combine this with less starchy carrots and cauliflower and veggie broth. And of course let the bulk of your plate be green, leafy, and non-starchy vegetables.
Finally, last but not least, after you have digested your super and perhaps enjoyed another walk, have some desert. Delight yourself with a seasonal pumpkin pie, or maybe ice cream or yogurt with cranberries and fruit... Being “bad” and enjoying special deserts and comfort foods now and then is important for your emotional well being.
With luck you will complete eating by 7pm to allow your digestive system ample time to turn down for the night. Digestion complete, your natural cleansing cycle will run every 24 hour cycle through the long dark nights of winter. Conclude your festive night with a good digestive cup of tea peppermint, ginger or cinnamon spiced flavor, perhaps.
Remember to chew your food well. For so many foods, including carbohydrates, digestion begins in the mouth with saliva. Consider adding some probiotics or cultured foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir to your diet to further optimize, digestion and energy. Keep hydration to between meal times as you don’t want to overly dilute your digestive juices. Certainly sipping a cup of tea is fine at meal time. I wish you a happy, healthy, and nurturing, holiday season.
Lisa Rohde Certified Holistic Health Coach CHC, AADP, is an expert in the field of preventative medicine, nutrition and life coaching, with a professional certificate from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Rohde offers individual counseling, workshops, and group classes. Connect with Rogue Living Well on Facebook and to learn more visit www.RogueLivingWell.com.
Food combination dos and don’ts for the holidays
For the VT
By Lisa Rohde
Thanks Giving memories... too often we recall feeling overly stuffed, and bloated -- not to mention gassy -- at the festive occasion and gathering?
What if you were equipped with the right knowledge of how to enjoy this special time with friends and family, giving thanks to food abundance in our lives, without feeling uncomfortable, or embarrassed in your body?
When you understand what foods combine well together for optimal digestion, and which foods do not, you will be able to make far better choices day in and day out. Not to mention you will feel better in your body at your Thanks Giving feast, and you will still have the opportunity to enjoy desert.
Please do not misunderstand me, I am not proposing that you eliminate any certain type of food. Rather I am suggesting that the way one chooses to combine or not combine certain foods can optimize your digestion and comfort. Good digestion, of course, maximizes your energy, and health as well.
First of all, it is important to know that proteins - including dairy, eggs, meat, nuts and seeds -- and high-starch carbohydrates -- such as beans, breads, legumes, cereals, grains, pastas, peas, potatoes, pumpkins, squash, wheat and rice, do not combine well. This is because protein foods require an acid medium produced in the belly to properly be digested. Digestion of grains and carbohydrates begin in the mouth when you chew your food and create alkaline saliva medium and mix this into the food.
Acids and alkaline digestion mediums, when combined, cancel each other out, therefore causing indigestion and fermentation in the stomach. Fermentation in the belly can result in tummy upset, bloating, gas, and food for pathogenic organisms; therefore supporting opportunist microflora that rob you of your otherwise needed nutrients from your food.
Combining healthy fats with grains and carbohydrates slows down digestion and the conversion of carbs into glucose keeping blood sugar levels more stable. Healthy fats include, extra virgin olive oil, raw coconut oil, flax and hemp seed oil (you do not want to cook with flax or hemp oil but rather add it to your plate as a condiment). Healthy fats also includes cultured butter, if you tolerate dairy, and seed or nut oils.
Dark, leafy, greens, and non-starchy, vegetables, including kale, collards, broccoli, cabbage, chard, celery, cucumber, lettuce, radishes, turnips, summer squash, and tomatoes combine excellently with either proteins or carbohydrates. In other words, ones well combined plate may look like a combination of either green, non-starchy, vegetables with protein, or green, non-starchy, vegetables with carbohydrates. Ratios should be around 70-80% green and non-starchy vegetables combined with 20-30% your choice either protein, or carbohydrate.
Mildly-starchy vegetables including artichokes, beets, carrots, cauliflower, corn, and peas, combine nicely with green, leafy, and non-starchy vegetables, healthy fats, and oils. Though not quite as excellent a combination, mildly-starchy vegetables also generally combine okay with either protein or carbohydrate.
This leaves us with fruit. In general fruit should be eaten alone and is best first thing in the morning (after hydrating of course) when your belly is truly empty. Fruit combines well with very little. Normally fruit stays in the belly for the least amount of time, often no more than 30-minutes before entering the gut. When fruit is combined incorrectly with other foods it is left to linger longer in the belly, which causes fermentation in the belly and of course feeds those not so friendly opportunistic organisms. Because fruit rapidly leaves the belly this can make fruit a good choice if you must have a late night snack because no one wants food to linger in their belly all night long.
That said, fruit may sometimes be eaten with dairy, seeds, nuts, and green leafy vegetables, a perfect combination for a smoothie or desert. In general, deserts and sugar based indulgences are best eaten alone.
My recommendations on the big Thanks Giving Day, celebrating the abundance of family, friends, and food, enjoy your soul food, don’t necessarily give anything up, rather space out the feast based on food combining rules.
Begin early with your main turkey, fish, or protein dish combined with a savory vegetable dish, the veggies being the bulk of your plate. I suggest beginning with meat early, because, animal protein takes longest to digest sometimes a few hours. Digestion also slows as the evening progresses. Animal protein is also packed full of energy sometimes too much energy for the end of the day. Following your protein dish pause, and allow digestion to occur. Go for a walk and get some fresh air and breath into you.
Next enjoy your main carbohydrate or starchy additions with more green, leafy and non-starchy vegetables, perhaps a steamed greens medley. When making mashed potatoes try combining starchy potatoes with less starchy cauliflower, and coconut oil and veggie broth as needed. In the case of starchy pumpkin soup combine this with less starchy carrots and cauliflower and veggie broth. And of course let the bulk of your plate be green, leafy, and non-starchy vegetables.
Finally, last but not least, after you have digested your super and perhaps enjoyed another walk, have some desert. Delight yourself with a seasonal pumpkin pie, or maybe ice cream or yogurt with cranberries and fruit... Being “bad” and enjoying special deserts and comfort foods now and then is important for your emotional well being.
With luck you will complete eating by 7pm to allow your digestive system ample time to turn down for the night. Digestion complete, your natural cleansing cycle will run every 24 hour cycle through the long dark nights of winter. Conclude your festive night with a good digestive cup of tea peppermint, ginger or cinnamon spiced flavor, perhaps.
Remember to chew your food well. For so many foods, including carbohydrates, digestion begins in the mouth with saliva. Consider adding some probiotics or cultured foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir to your diet to further optimize, digestion and energy. Keep hydration to between meal times as you don’t want to overly dilute your digestive juices. Certainly sipping a cup of tea is fine at meal time. I wish you a happy, healthy, and nurturing, holiday season.
Lisa Rohde Certified Holistic Health Coach CHC, AADP, is an expert in the field of preventative medicine, nutrition and life coaching, with a professional certificate from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. Rohde offers individual counseling, workshops, and group classes. Connect with Rogue Living Well on Facebook and to learn more visit www.RogueLivingWell.com.