Greetings to all,
This is my first time posting in this forum
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I have read up on the basics of food combining and i have a strong intuitive belief that it is sound, though i know some will disagree.
For those who believe in the principles i am trying to figure out a couple of subtleties of the art.
First of all, since it is not good to mix heavy proteins with heavy starches, i am trying to determine if protein powder (100% whey) is considered to be so light of a protein that it can be mixed rather nicely into a starch meal, or if indeed it shouldn't. I am looking to get some light (but complete) protein into my post-am-cardio starch (glycogen refill) meal without it being a bad combo, not wanting to wait 4 hours from awakening to get the first substantial protein into my system.
Secondly, i have read in many places that fruit should be eaten on an empty stomach and always alone since it spends no appreciable time in the stomach and would cause other foods to ferment if combined with them. But i have also seen (in fewer places) that oil would be a good combination for fruit (if i am not mistaken because it causes the fruit to favorably metabolize slower, but perhaps not in the stomach)? What do you think?
And if indeed fruit and oil are mixed, will they then sit together in the stomach longer, or will the oil/fruit combination act as fruit does alone and all but skip through the stomach and primarily digest in the intestines? Bottom line, all things considered is it better to mix fruit with oil (good time for the omega 3 capsules perhaps), or to have the fruit all by itself. And if the oil is a good mix, how much with say a 300 calorie pre AM cardio fruit feast?
Thanks,
Mighty Sun Tzu
Hi Sara :),
Nice to see a familiar face :). Your post further supports the position of "no oil with fruit", but i have seen other sites (again in smaller numbers) that say oil and fruit is a good combo. My strategy has been to keep them apart as this seems the safer bet going by the overall consensus of what i have read... but i was also curious about chrisb1's opinion.
The part that interests me is that fruit is kind of simple (not so complex a carb as are grains) and if there is a healthy way to slow its "break down", (in the way that the more complex carbs are more slowly broken down) without creating other issues (such as bad combining), it seems it could be a winning play.
I tried to google "food combining" and "protein powder"... and my search has thus far been fruitless if you will excuse the pun
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Hi chrisb1,
thank you for your swift reply. I will read each of your links soon.
I understand about heavy proteins and heavy starches making for a bad mix, but i wondered if "protein powder" (again whey) was so very light and easily digested that it might be an exception (ie: there is so little to be done in the stomach to break it down that the stomach would create an environment in which to optimally digest the heavy starch that the protein powder is sitting with in the stomach. Is this absolutely untrue, ie: even a very light protein like the whey powder should be treated as if it were meat or fish in a food combining sense?
as another follow up question, if the stomach started out completely empty, how long would you expect protein powder (say 1.5 scoops which is 45 grams) mixed with say 2 cups (16 oz) of water? i am wondering in particular if the protein in this form is so "light" that it would possibly all but bypass the stomach (as fruit does) and go directly into the intestines to be digested.
how long would you estimate a 300 calorie fruit meal would sit in the stomach before all of it was in the intestines?
finally, if an individual drinks say a vegetable smoothie, say a carrot, a stick of celery and a big leaf of romaine lettuce, mixed with say 6 ounces of water, does the stomach work first to separate out the water and eliminate it from the stomach before focusing it's energies on digesting the vegetables? and if so, how long would you expect it to be before the water was gone? I ask because i wouldn't want to introduce the eggs or fish until i felt the water from the smoothie was gone, so that the digestive juices would be as undiluted as possible to take on these heavy proteins :).
Thanks again,
Mighty
Thank you chrisb1,
also:
"A. The Hygienists view (and my own) is to not mix any excess water with a fruit/vegetable smoothie as this will only serve to further dilute the stomach juices and RETARD digestion further along the line of digestion in the intestine.
Fruit and vegetables contain all the water necessary in the proper amounts for proper digestion. Pre-mixed by Nature.
This is why we do not drink anything immediately BEFORE, WITH or AFTER a meal."
I understand about the importance of keeping water away from meals. My problem, however, is that i seem to have to mix some water in to get the blender to "blend" and i use as little as possible. :) But also i am wondering whether the stomach separates out the water First and sends it into the intestines, while continuing to digest the non-water portion of that vegetable smoothie? and as well, how many minutes might it be good to wait after drinking the smoothie before introducing the fish or meat?... (hoping the water of the smoothie will be out of the stomach first).
And in the same way, wondering if i was to drink a "water/protein shake", if the stomach works first to separate out the water?
Thanks Again,
Mighty Sun
Hi again Chrisb1,
I hope i am not asking too many questions. Your knowledge is quite an invaluable resource to me, so again, thank you so very much :). I like researching and finding a lot of my own answers, but with the questions i ask you, typically i have made my attempt and it seems the digging will take a lot more time than i would prefer to spend :).
re: the possibility of eating too much, i believe i misrepresented myself when i said "3 major meals" when really i meant my 3 "non-fruit" meals which are actually not major where calories are concerned, actually about 600 each and 2700 calories for the entire day. Each of the 5 or so meals is pretty simple and pretty small. Thankfully with the "pace-ish" "hiit" cardio and the bit of resistance training i do, i continue to lose about 2 pounds per week as i attempt to build a little bit of muscle along the way (lest they be forced to remove "mighty" from my name :p). I count calories partly to make sure i am getting enough and 2700 seems to be about right. My weight is about 196 today, about 8 immensely nutritious, food combining weeks after completing a 10 day water fast where i started the fast at 219.5 and ended it at an estimated real weight of 212.5.
On to another triggered question if i may :). As the stomach digests (let's take a glass of carrot juice with pulp as an example)... since it doesn't separate the water out, does it somehow send a portion of the entire "meal" into the intestines little by little, minute by minute, or does it "digest" the entire glass of carrot juice and only then send any of it into the intestines, releasing it all at once?
I would think ideally if i was going to precede a meal with a glass of carrot juice (something i want to embrace as yet another daily habit), i would want the juice to be completely out of my stomach before proceeding with food. How long would you expect that to take with say 4 oz of juice diluted by 4 oz water and just for a means of comparison, what if it was 12 oz of juice diluted by 12 oz of water?
With much thanks,
Mighty Sun Tzu