In 1984, 52 year-old Ralph Marsden, the husband of British nutrition consultant and writer Kathryn Marsden, was diagnosed as having cancer. After surgeons removed his stomach and spleen, they gave him only a two percent chance of long-term survival. They expected him to live six weeks. Realizing that unless her "extremely emaciated husband" began to show interest in eating, the doctors' prediction would be fulfilled, Kathryn sought diets that might help.
During her research, she came upon an age-old system of eating called food combining that was advocated in the 20th century by American doctors Herbert M. Shelton and William Howard Hay. By not mixing protein and starches at the same meal, He overcame his own kidney and heart condition and lost fifty pounds of excess weight. "Mixed meals - eating lots of different categories of food on the same plate at the same meal - is relatively modern habit and not necessarily a healthy one," says Kathryn Marsden. "For large numbers of the population, mixing proteins and starches together reduces the body's ability to digest properly, thereby cutting down the number of health-supporting nutrients which are available for repair." Eating proteins and starches at separate meals puts less stress on the digestive system, allowing better absorption of nutrients.
In preparing meals for her husband and herself, Kathryn followed six simple guidelines. First, she did not mix proteins and starches - which cuts out pizzas and hamburgers. Instead of meat and potatoes, she made a variety of vegetables to take the place of the potato and served potatoes at another meal with, again, plenty of vegetables. Eating fresh vegetables and salad foods (which combine well with proteins and with starches) every day is another guideline. Kathryn also increased their fresh fruit intake, eating the fruit before or between meals. Cow's milk, on the other hand, was kept to a minimum and not mixed with other foods. They also avoided processed, packaged foods as much as possible. Finally they drank plenty of water between meals. At the same time of this article, 10 years after his surgery, Ralph Marsden was "celebrating a full recovery." Kathryn does not claim that diet cures cancer, but she does say that "the right kind of eating, together with other vitamins, lifestyle changes have the collective power to make ill people well, or to reduce the chances people becoming unwell in the first place!"
Food Combining Made Easy....by Herbert M. Shelton 4.95
The Food Combining Handbook & Cookbook.. by Elaine Fogel
Additional Books
The Food Combining
Diet and The Food Combiner's Meal Planner are available through Thorsons, an
imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 7785 Fulham Place Rd., Hammersmith, London
W6 8JB or 1160 Battery St., San Francisco, CA 94111-1213.
There are sound physiological reasons for eating foods in compatible combinations. In other words, some foods, if mixed in the digestive system, will cause distress! The principles of food combining are dictated by digestive chemistry. Different foods are digested differently. Starchy foods require an alkaline digestive medium which is supplied initially in the mouth by the enzyme ptyalin. Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion- hydrochloric acid. As any student of chemistry will assure you, acids and bases (alkalis) neutralize each other. If you eat a starch with a protein, digestion is impaired or completely arrested! The undigested food mass can cause various kinds of digestive disorders. Undigested food becomes soil for bacteria which ferment and decompose it. Its by products are poisonous, one of which, alcohol, is a narcotic that destroys or inhibits nerve function. It plays havoc with nerves of the digestive tract, suspending their vital action such that constipation may well be a result! As set forth in Dr. Herbert Shelton's FOOD COMBINING MADE EASY, these are the salient rules for proper food combining.
* Lemons and Tomatoes combine well with Low and Non-Starchy vegetables, avocados, nuts and seeds *
* Soaked or Sprouted nuts and seeds can be combined with Acid & Sub-Acid Fruits *
1. In preparing your foods, do not combine more than two boxes that states "Good" between the two boxes.
2. Drink no liquids during meals, as it will dilute digestive juices and impairs digestion.
3. In order for your food to digest properly, you should masticate (chew) your food into a paste form.
4. Eat only when hungry and stop before you are full. Over eating can slow down or even stop digestion of some foods.
5. At least two meals per day should be raw. Cooked food is dead food.
6. Your breakfast should consist of three to four fruits, allow three hours digestion time.
7. Your lunch should consist of three to four raw vegetables and one starch, allow five hours digestion time.
8. Your supper should consist of three to four stir-fry, steamed or raw vegetables and one protein, allow 12 hours digestion time.
9. Eat only one starch and one protein per day.
10. Eat your food according to proper food combining. You'll not only feel better and have more energy, you may even lose weight.
11. Never add salt, black pepper, or sugar to your foods.
12. You should drink at least a half gallon of pure fluids everyday: water, fruit, and vegetable juices.
13. Water, reverse osmosis or distilled only.
14. Do not eat roasted nuts, as the body is unable to digest them.
15. Its not a good idea to eat when emotionally upset or before vigorous exercise.