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While the majority of people combine healthy nutrients together in their meals, there is a minority group of diners who are totally isolating their food groups. The three macronutrients in our diets—carbohydrates, fat, and protein—need to be eaten individually for optimal digestion, according to a recent trend known as food combining. When microbiota health and digestive health are on so many people's minds, it's simple to get drawn into a routine that promises a healthy, happy gut. But is food combining more than just a passing fad diet?
Contrary to many other diet fads, combining foods has a long record. One of the world's oldest holistic treatment philosophies, Ayurvedic medicine, originated in ancient India and serves as its foundation. Food pairings based on these principles are crucial for healthy digestion since according to Ayurveda, each food is classified according to its flavour, energy (heating or cooling), and post-digestive effect. Ayurveda includes food as one of its many pillars, although it places a greater emphasis on spirituality than later approaches to food pairing. The idea of combining foods was next used historically by a doctor by the name of William Howard Hay, who evaluated and modified the idea from a medical standpoint. The Hay Diet, which gained popularity in the 1920s, was based on Hay's own personal experience with food and healing and contained a number of stringent rules to assist a person in achieving optimal health.
The Hay Diet's essential elements include:
Never mix proteins or acidic fruits with carbohydrates or sugars.
Eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables.
Consume fats, proteins, and carbohydrates in moderation.
Eat only unprocessed, whole grains (e.g., no white flour or refined sugar).
Between meals, you should wait at least four to four and a half hours.
In order to construct appealing food combining charts, modern food combining proponents have borrowed concepts from both Hay and Ayurveda with the hope that this eating pattern will heal the gut. New guidelines for food pairing maintain the five Hay principles and add a few more, such as the requirement that meats and fats never be consumed together unless a green salad is also present. Many people also believe that meals should be either acidic or alkaline for the best digestion; this belief is based in part on the alkaline diet's guiding principles. Meat, chicken, and eggs are examples of acidic foods that should be avoided, whereas fruits, vegetables, and nuts are examples of alkaline foods that should be consumed more frequently, according to both food combining and the alkaline diet.
Science Support
We could all use eating more fruits and vegetables, after all. However, the majority of these concepts are not supported by scientific research. In actuality, it's difficult to define meals in the crude terms that proponents of food combining attempt to use. The majority of foods are typically a mixture of two or three of these and not just one of starch (carbohydrate), protein, or fat. In actuality, the concepts of food combining run directly opposed to the inherent character of our food supply. Consider the foods legumes and beans. They're an excellent source of vitamins, minerals, fibre, carbohydrates, and protein. They don't belong in just one category on the meal pairing charts, and our gut has no trouble breaking them down. Additionally, there is a dearth of study on food pairing. To evaluate how this type of eating may affect health, just one human study has been conducted. In order to give participants a low-calorie "balanced" or low-calorie "dissociated" (food combining) diet, the researchers divided the individuals into two groups. Overall, they discovered significant reductions in both groups' weight, fasting blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure. This indicates that food combining had neither positive or negative effects; rather, the findings were probably due to calorie restriction experienced by all subjects rather than a change in diet composition. There is no other research that backs up the use of food combining diet concepts than this one.
Advocates of food combining assert that it enhances gut health. The human gastrointestinal tract is designed to absorb all macronutrients when consumed in combination, hence food combining is not as effective as it claims to be. Carbohydrate-rich foods are mostly processed in the stomach after getting a start from enzymes in our saliva. However, the small intestine is where most of the work is done after the stomach partially breaks down proteins. Additionally, bile produced by the liver aids in the primary digestion of fats in the small intestine. The stomach and small intestine are equipped and prepared to digest various combinations of food at any time, whether it is a food that is mostly composed of carbohydrates, like fruit, or a natural combination of macronutrients, like legumes.
Conclusion
Overall, the food combining diet is a fad diet. Its severe regulations are not compatible with the majority of lifestyles, and the evidence proving its health advantages is, at best, scant. It's preferable to consume a well-balanced variety of nutrient-dense foods at each meal. Fortunately, this means that you don't have to give up your favourite foods like tacos, spaghetti and meatballs, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Your gut will be content as long as your plate is generally healthy.
