Food combining

Just what is food combining? The term “food combining” refers to those combinations of foods which are compatible with each other in digestive chemistry. In other words, our foods are made up of different characteristics such as starch, protein, sugar, etc., and our digestive systems have been organized so that we require different enzymes and stomach conditions for digesting each of the above. For example, nuts and seeds, which are protein foods, require an acid environment for their digestion. The stomach, of course, cannot possibly be acid and alkaline at the same time, and consequently you end up with the food fermenting.

What happens to the foods we eat? One of three things can happen to our food at digestion: 1) they can digest and be assimilated for body use; 2) they can ferment such as in the case of undigested sugars as in fruits and starches; or 3) they can putrefy, or rot, as in the case of undigested proteins.

When number one takes place everything is in good order, the food is digested and assimilated without any problems. But when numbers two and three happen (which is the majority of the time) it is because people have combined foods that are not compatible for proper digestion. (Or, I can add, they have overloaded their stomachs.)

The reason why foods ferment or putrefy in the stomach instead of digesting is because they stay there too long. It is warm and moist in the stomach. Bacteria will do what nature intended them to do – break down unused organic matter. If food stays in the stomach without being digested, it is not being used and will be acted upon by bacteria; hence it will ferment or putrefy.

When it comes right down to the basics of food combining there are several different schools of thought and it can be confusing as we study the different methods. But the simple basics never change. Ideas and theories may abound that come from the world, but God’s principles always remain the same. A right understanding comes from God who is the Source of all wisdom. It’s important that one puts some serious effort into studying food combining – learning to avoid the many complicated mixtures that we are in the habit of eating. The more that is learned about healthful living, the more it will be realized that it is not necessary to cook much and that it is especially important not to have many combinations if we want good health.

“All mixed and complicated foods are injurious to the health of human beings. Dumb animals would never eat such a mixture as is often placed in the human stomach… The amount of cooking done is not at all necessary, neither should there be any poverty stricken diet, either in quality or quantity, but the richness of the food and complicated mixtures are destroying.” Unpublished Testimonies, Nov. 5, 1896, pp. 46, 47

God created the stomach to be the site of constant chemical activity for very good reasons. And if the laws of physiology are applied correctly in the area of digestion, then the digestive processes are kept quiet, harmonious and peaceful. In observing the animals in their own natural habitat it is seen that they eat very simply and combine their food only very minimally. Also, no animal in nature eats, at any one time, the variety of foods that most people are accustomed to eating at a conventional meal. God’s way, through nature, demands simplicity for mankind as well as the animal kingdom.
AMEN

(Next time there will follow a few important food combining rules to remember.)

Sister Kathleen Ross