Dear Jim,
Food combining -- not eating carbohydrate and protein at the same meal -- is a controversial practice. Many people swear by it, and others find it frustrating and ineffective. Our digestive tract is made to handle a variety of nutrients (including carbohydrate and protein) at the same time. There is no proof that food is digested better when carbohydrate and protein are presented separately. Sometimes, not drinking water during meals is recommended in the food combining diet. Physiologically it is fine to drink beverages at meals, in fact the body naturally secretes water into the digestive tract after food is consumed to help break down both carbohydrate and protein. Many people believe that food combining is effective for health maintenance and/or weight loss. This is often not because of the effect of eating protein and carbohydrate separately, but because their food choices improve when they begin the diet. If someone changes from eating a diet of highly refined food that is high in fat to eating the variety of whole, minimally processed, basic foods that are recommended in a food combining diet, they may feel better and lose weight by virtue of the change in the quality of food. This is coincidental to the food combining precepts, rather than directly attributable to it.

There is no detriment to the food combining diet --if it works for you, use it. The only way one could get into nutritional trouble is by restricting your eating to only carbohydrates (grains, breads, pasta, cereal, etc.) or only proteins (beans, nuts, seeds, meat, fish and poultry). It is important to eat both, as well as plenty of vegetables and fruit, in order to have a healthy diet.

Alice

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