Rawtill4 Stuff: Truth Behind the Tooty-Fruity– My food combining experience

Is it true that vegans fart more so (and a deadlier gas cloud) than meat chompers? Well I don’t think so.

It’s always been that kind of meateater-to-vegetarian joke that “if a vegetarian is around, you’ll smell them” because we’re apparently gassy, but if anything I’ve found that my digestion is actually amazing compared to what it used to be when I was trying to process a piece of dead cow. (Sorry for my cynicism, it’s too easy to get fired up over these things) What I’ve discovered though, is that a lot of people– vegans and meat eaters alike– don’t know how to combine their food properly or eat in the right order across the day. We’re so used to an absent minded pig out lifestyle where every meal is practically buffet-styled, meaning on a typical dinner plate we’d have starches (pasta/potatoes), meats, vegetarian proteins (beans/tofu), greens, dairy, some sort of sauce and even a fruit dessert to round it off. And we wonder why bowel cancer and digestive issues are so prevalent in Australian and American culture.

I used to be completely oblivious to the concept of proper food combining, until I read Fit For Life by the incredible duo of Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, who I believe are my heroes in health and have been practicing the dietary science of eating for Natural Hygiene for decades before it’s newly found re-recognition recently (with the fruitarian, high carb movement trending). It’s almost difficult to comprehend how complicated food combining is when you first discover it, as most people eat purely on instinct when they see a muesli bar or a tin of tuna around lunch time.

It’s apparent to most people nowadays that the human body was not designed for the variety of foods we fill it with in one sitting– biology students already understand the importance of enzymes in our digestive system, and also the specificity of enzymes that break down certain substances. If there are specific enzymes for a specific type of food, it makes sense that combining all kinds of foods and expecting our body to efficiently process them is a pretty tall order. Thus, food combining principles reveal their significance, and today I’m going to share with you MY energy ladder (the order in which I eat things over the day) and the basic food combining principles on a vegan lifestyle.

Water*

Juices/Smoothie (orange, apple, green juice)

Melons (only in the morning before any other fruit)

Juicy Fruits (apple, pineapples, papaya, etc)

Other fruits (stone fruit, bananas)

Dried fruit (on an all fruit day, your day would end here)

Raw vegetables (like a salad) PM

Vegetable soups

Steamed vegetables

Starches (potatoes, grains, pasta)

*Water can be consumed any time throughout the day (not directly after meals, preferably 1 hour before a meal) but it’s always best for digestion to drink around 1 litre of filtered water as soon as you wake up in the morning to flush everything out and kick start your digestive system!

But bottom line? Fruit it. Or starch it. If you’re eating mainly carbohydrates and little fat in each meal, there’s little room for improper food combining, it'll rarely happen! Besides, food combining is really a lot less difficult on a vegan diet than when you’re eating meat, as meat doesn’t really combine well with much at all. If you can’t have your carbs in a meal with meat, that’s enough reason to wanna give it up! #gopotatoes #bananasarebest #vegucateyourself

Lily x