Hello All,
I have been trying food combining with some good results… miss my greens in my smoothie in AM… but feeling like my digestion is working better over all.
I have questions about some foods… for instance, it makes sense to me that if nuts/seeds/legumes are sprouted they would perhaps act more like a vegetable than a nut/seed/legumes in digestive tract. I have not found anyone who comments on this.
There is some written on corn, for example, that if raw acts like a vegetable but when cooked digests like a starch… so I am extrapolating this to sprouts.
Anyone have any hard info on sprouts and digestion speed or food catagory??
Any Info on Raw Food Combining is Well Received! QTwho’s interested in what others are doing and experiencing
Comments
El-bo posted in one of the forums a lot of links to food combining guide lines. I read them, but it made me more confused than before.
I am curious to hear some suggestions too.
Hi ikn
I would love to know how to search this site to find the post by El-bo… is it possible to search this forum? I don’t see anything under forums that says search. [edit: I figured it out… had to go back to the original forum page to get to search.]
Found the links and you are right… very confusing! NOT what I am doing.
I am following the info I found in a book called “Raw Food Detox Diet”... these are the essentials: Fresh Fruit – by itself, best in morning
Non-Starchy Vegetables – with any one of the following types, either starches, animal, or fatty proteins.
Fatty Proteins – with other fatty proteins and/or non-starchy vegetables Starches – with starchy and/or non-starchy vegetables
Animal Proteins – with animal proteins and/or non-starchy vegetables
Obviously the animal foods don’t apply to vegan raw foods.
The author does not do sprouting at all… so does not include info on sprouts.
Thanks for Your Reply! :)
QT
Hi QT,
What do you do for food combining? (here I meant what examples do you have? Like avocados with what? or nuts with…?)
I did read Fit for Life a very long time ago, and I do get the basic idea. But I get confused when certain fruits are acidic, or alcalic, sweet, etc. Do you consider that? Also, I am not quite sure what veggies are starchy?
also, I am not sure what are fatty proteins? Nuts?
where do avocados fit in?
why would you stop the green smoothies? i’ve come across sooo many different kind of food combining charts that all had subtle differences. here’s what worked for me—i kept a food diary for about a month. included everything that i put into my body, what time, what activities i did and how i felt (gassy, cramps, heavy, etc), when i went to the bathroom. wrote it all down. after a week, you start to notice how you feel or how your body acts. based on that information, i have a better idea as to what to combine and when. i also know full well how i am going to feel (98%) of the time after eating certain things.
i think the one thing that we all forget about this stuff is that there is no black and white. everybody is different. literally everybody.
Hi ikn I tried to go back and edit so you would know what the catagories meant… but alas… my PC was not cooperating.
The book I mentioned by Natalia Rose has these as catagories: Fresh Fruit – by itself, best in morning
Non-Starchy Vegetables – with any one of the following types, either starches, animal, or fatty proteins.
Starchy Vegetables (like sweet potatoes, butternut squash, etc…also included in this are avocados and young coconut) – with non-starchy or starchy veggies only.
Fatty Proteins (nuts, seeds, mature coconut and she includes dried fruit with this because they work the same with the other groups) – with other fatty proteins and/or non-starchy vegetables Starches – with starchy and/or non-starchy vegetables
Animal Proteins – with animal proteins and/or non-starchy vegetables
I think this combining idea is pretty easy for me anyway and seems to work for me as well.
Like I said I have noticed my digestion is much better… and times when I have had the “wrong” combo I have had indigestion.
Natalia Rose also includes neutral foods, like nut milk, small amounts of oils, sweeteners, cacao, etc.
Easy to Remember & Follow I Think! QTwho has in the past had difficulty with other food combining
OMG! OTLaya, THANK YOU for doing that outline!!! I just started her book/program and, good GRIEF!!! The way it’s presented in the book was SOOOO confusing and twisted! I was going to sit down over the weekend and organize the info into a better format, like you just did. So, THANKS AGAIN!
Hi CanarsieBK~ I really appreciated your diary suggestion. So much so that I went out and bought a special inspirational journal to keep track of everything. Thanks for that input. :D
Hi CanarsieBK I agree about following whatever works and I highly recommend food diaries as one of the best ways to determine what is going on with food intolerances.
Sounds like you are doing it very carefully… and I often have patients who I wish would do as well as you have done.
Part of the problem with digestion can be food sensitivity/allergy… so that can make things difficult to determine without a food diary.
Good for YOU!
QT
Thank you so much QTLayla! I need to start food combining because I feel so sluggish. I am mostly raw, do not eat any cooked food, but some ingredients are not raw. like agave briggs, etc. Maybe I need to cut these out too.
Hi slcogliano
You are welcome… yes, it took me a while to figure it out. What helps me is to write it down as I am a visual learner… and I also do that to help others figure it out… so glad that it has helped you.
Thanks for the comments! :) QT
Hi again ikn
You are welcome, glad to help!
I have not been able able to find nama shoyu… and I assume it has wheat that I do NOT tolerate at all. So what other option is there in place of Bragg’s I ask??
Do you or anyone here know if nama shoyu is wheat free?? and where it can be purchased?
Thanks in Advance,
QT
I never use nama shoyu so I don’t know if it’s wheat free. In one of the forums Chris said that if you marinate mushrooms in olive oil, lemon, and different spices, than the liquid remaining after you remove the mushrooms will resemble braggs. It does, somewhat…
Thank you ikn,
This sounds like an awesome alternative! Is there more specific instructions for this??
Waiting with Baited Breath! :D
QT
that’s what these forums are for…sharing. the food diary thing is something that i procrastinated on for a while, but eventually did after having a night of stank gas. it was funny for about 2 hours (c’mon i am a guy), then it just got to be nasty. that was the epiphany for me. so i got some food combining charts and had an ideas as to what combined, how long to allow for digestion, etc and became my own guinea pig. plus i like to experience and learn things on my own. reading others thoughts and ideas are a great guide. even within the raw community there are disagreements about what’s good and bad—apple cider vinegar, cashews, agave, cacao, etc. eat it and see how you feel. that’s how i roll.
‘fit for life’ by harvey and marilyn diamond is a great food combining read , though not specifically raw
the following 2 chapters both contain great articles
http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/digestive-physi…
http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/application-of-...
also here
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLif…
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLif…
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLif…
http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLif…
hope this helps :o)
elliot
ikn….ask any q’s, and i’ll see if i can clear up any confusion
this is another food combining chart. have this one on my have on my fridge. it’s simple and easy to follow with pics. no confusing diagrams to go through
CanarsieBK, I could just kiss your face. I am so visual, and, as educated and intelligent as I am, pictures work sooo much better for me! Especially when we’re talking about so many different foods. It just helps my mind sort everything out, so, THANKS! schmooch! Of course, hearing about the gas makes me grateful that we have the computer separating us! :P
Thanks el-bo! I went back to rawfoodexplained.com and I made a visual chart for myself. When I first browsed that site, all the rules seemed so overwhelming. Now, that I took the time and really read into it, it is more understandable.
CanarsieBK: I wish I had clicked on the link you posted earlier. would’ve saved an hour for myself to do the chart. =)
CanarsieBK – thanks for all the good ideas!
Hi CanarsieBK
Oh, no problem, my family loves bathroom humor… LOL
Yes, I agree there are disagreements about what is raw… a bit frustrating for me because my goal is to be 100% raw… and just when I think I am I see a post about something I am including that one will say is NOT!! :(
I liked one thing that Victoria Boutenko wrote, about if you think you are 100% and have cooked food inadvertently its the same as being raw (I assume she means psychologically). She writes that cooked food causes craving for more and I don’t have the slightest craving for raw food… hmmmm
You have a good attitude! :)
Joy on the Journey!
QT
Hi ikn
I am in the same dilemma… but I have not as yet eliminated the agave, cacao or the Bragg’s Liquid Aminos… and am not noticing that they lead to craving cooked food.
Whether or not those foods will lead to decreased absorption… I can’t answer this.
I had not noticed the link for the combining chart until you thanked CanarsieBK… I will go and look at that now.
All of You Have Given Great Ideas!
QT
Hi eliot
Thanks for the links… I will investigate!
Are you finding this type of food combining to be easy to follow??
Namaste
QT
my pleasure. we’re all here to learn and share info and all of the info is soo overwhelming that much like all other info i just start to tune it out. seems like everyone is trying to trump the other. personally i decided to go raw b/c the benefits make sense to me. not b/c of the studies and reports. you can get #s to show anything you want (or don’t want). when i first started to read about the food combining there was conflicting info and tons of rules…who to trust? is it worth it? the one line that put it into perspective to me was along the lines of ‘you aren’t going to find a banana tree next to where watermelons grow’ or ‘nuts growing next to apples’. therefore before travel, etc people didn’t eat that way. that was the aha moment for me. then decided to keep the food journal and begin my self experiment. though staying about from nut/seed butter and apples or carrots is challenging. ‘
hmm great, I like the chart. Where do the avocados go though? Fatty fruits mix well with green salad?
in other charts i’ve seen avocados in the fats category or something like that.
I like the way you put it CanarsieBK: No banana trees next to apple trees…. it does make sense.
where do mushrooms fit in? are they non starchy veggies?
QT: I started to follow these principles and I do feel a little ‘deprived’. I guess I just have to get the hang of it, so I don’t feel too restricted.
not sure where mushrooms fit in. eat them with proteins and see how you feel, then eat them with a starch vegetable and see how you feel.
i def broke the rules and ate too much raw oreo ice cream (from Pure Food and Wine) tonight and feelin a bit of a stomach ache. was damned good though.