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Food combining and why is it essential for health!-chart.

Why is it so important?

Food combining has been increasing in its awareness in the last decade but was brought to our attention by Dr H Shelton in the 50’s and 60’s. It is recognized that our stomach digests foods at different rates and by using different enzymes to digest each food. If we desire to have optimum health and wellness, we must know the importance of maintaining a properly “balanced diet” in relation to the acid/alkaline diet. Without proper food combing principles our diets will eventually lead to indigestion and acidosis. This will rob us of our cellular energy required to attain an overall healthy body.

Instead of looking at food as “Calories” look at it as fuel that if our bodies are able to assimilate them with ease we get energy. If your stomach is unable to digest the foods properly it doesn’t matter how much nutrition is in the food or what the diet is called, because your body isn’t absorbing any and you become malnutritioned, most of the western world is fat but malnutritioned. We are fat and starving!!

The good thing is when you’re combing food properly your body will reduce weight, eliminate bloating, feel good overall, and get the most out of the foods you eat and will keep your gut healthy. And the energy goes to running your brain and healing your cells.

So how do we do this food combining thing?

1. Never Eat Carbohydrates with Acidic Foods in the Same Meal.

Do not eat bread, potatoes, peas, beans, bananas, dates, or other carbohydrates with lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, tomatoes or other sour fruit.

The enzyme, ptyalin, acts only in an alkaline medium; it is destroyed by a mild acid. Fruit acids not only prevent carbohydrate digestion, but they also favor their fermentation. Oxalic acid diluted to one part in 10,000, completely arrests the action of ptyalin. There is enough acetic acid in one or two teaspoons of vinegar to entirely suspend salivary digestion.

Tomatoes should never be combined with any starch food. They may be eaten with leafy vegetables and fat foods. The combination citric, malic and oxalic acids found in tomatoes, (which are released and intensified by cooking which is why I do not suggest cooking tomatoes ever!), is very a detrimental to the alkaline digestion of starches in the mouth and stomach. They should not be used on salads during a starch meal.

In cases of hyperacidity of the stomach, there is great difficulty in digesting starches. Much discomfort is caused by eating them. They ferment and poison the body. Acid-starch combinations are very rare in nature—the sour apple coming nearest to being such a combination to which we natural spit this out . . .

2. Eat Fruits First

Fruit is a food that digests best when eaten alone. While you’ll read in (4.)  not all fruits digest best together, it has the fastest exit rate of the stomach as fruit does not digest in the stomach, therefore fruits should be eaten first or alone. For those concerned about their blood sugar or candida, as long as fruit is eaten without fat and/or with leafy greens, blood sugar will remain stable. So fruity raw deserts are a disaster on the digestion. fruit is abundant in nutrients, anti-oxidants, and water, fruit is an excellent snack that is easily digested by the human body but needs to be eaten first, starting with acid fruits then moving on to sweet fruits and proteins after all fruit has been consumed!

3. Protein and Starches do NOT mix

Is it a common occurrence to consume a heaping serving of mashed potatoes next to a large portion of meat and/or dairy? This is one of the worst food combinations ever, but can easily be improved. Because the human body requires an acid base to digest proteins and an alkaline base to digest starches, this can lengthen the time of digestion and cause fermentation in the gut. This can lead to bloating, indigestion, and stinky bowel movements as the food putrefies in the gut.

To correct his, it is best to eat proteins with non-starchy vegetables and especially leafy greens. Starches can be consumed on their own or with other vegetables, but not with protein. Proteins that are cooked renders the protein particles in it useless for the body, and cooking demonises it making it unable to be digested fully.

4. Eat Melons Alone-ALWAYS!

Have you ever had the mistake of consuming watermelon after a dinner? Most likely you experienced gas, a slight blood sugar drop, and/or nausea. That is because melons are the type of fruit that digest completely different than other sweet treats. For optimal digestion, melons should be consumed alone and on an empty stomach first thing and then not eaten again in the day. Remove them from your mixed fruit salad.

5. Greens, Greens and More Greens

Greens are easily ruled as one of the best foods for mankind. Loaded with amino acids (building blocks of protein), essential minerals and nutrients (B vitamins, magnesium, iron, and more!), along with fiber (great for digestion). They combine well with all foods, and therefore should make a regular appearance on your plate. If you’re not consuming your 3 – 5 cups of vegetables a day then adding a cold pressed Barley Grass powder it to water, juice, or your favourite smoothie can help keep your mineral up!

For example, a salad is a great contribution to every meal and the live enzymes will help your other food digest smoothly. Eat your salad before any other food on your plate for maxima digestion.

6. Fats & Oil

While overt healthy fats combine well with everything (except fruit!), they should be used in limited amounts as they are very calorie dense and slow down digestion and when used with fruits cause bacteria and yeasts breakouts. Oils should not be consumed as they are not a whole food and when cooked become indisputable and poisonous to the body. Therefore, save your meal with fats like avocado or nuts for dinner or allow your body at least 4-5 hours to digest a dense lunch before eating again.

7. Probiotics (Friendly Bacteria)

You should only take probiotics 30 minutes before a meal not during. Mixing probiotics with a meal may decrease some absorption. The reason is that the probiotic ends up spending more time in the stomach. Another reason to take them on an empty stomach is because before the journey to the intestines, the bacteria will have more difficulty surviving the harsh stomach acid during digestion, affecting their potency.

Don’t take them after a meal! Probiotics that are taken after a meal have even more difficulty surviving stomach acid levels as this is when your stomach acid is at its peak. A study from 2013 found that when a probiotic supplement was taken after a meal, extremely low levels of bacteria actually survived.

A recent study in the Journal of Beneficial Microbes showed that probiotics are optimally absorbed when taken prior to a meal and were absorbed almost as well when taken with a meal containing fats. If you are however eating vegan plant based diet, high in complex carbohydrates and fruits and low in fats you should not need Probiotics. 

What is a ‘Health Coach’ and how can they help you achieve your goals?

8. Timing is Everything

Because foods digest at different rates, you can lessen the pressure on your body by waiting until the previous food has left the stomach and is being digested in the intestines. Wait the following amount of time between foods that don’t combine:

  • Two hours after eating fruit
  • Three hours after eating starches
  • Four hours after eating protein
  • If you eat proteins no water for 4 hours after.
  • If you eat starches no water for 2 hours after
  • If you eat fruits no water for 30 minutes after
  • If you eat vegetables no water for 1 hour after.

This is chart for you to put on your fridge and follow to the T!

Food-combining-chart-by-David-Klein.jpg

Check out my gut healing protocol here:Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.

 

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Hannah’s Gut Healing Protocol.

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Remove

Removing is the first step: by removing harmful foods, toxins and stresses on the body you give it the best chance to heal. If you imagine your body as a large cooking pot and each toxin, junk food, chemical, truama or stressful day goes into fill up that pot, eventualy that pot will over flow and you can try to put a lid on it (medication) but you are just supressing the inevitable of it exploding and spilling over (disease and illness). Foods like spices, cooked foods, meats and flesh, alcohol, packaged foods, coffee and chocolate are stimulants to the body and will stop it healing. The body can only heal when it has no pressures on the system and is getting adequate sleep.

Below is what you need to remove without cheating or using as a “treat food”

Things in moderation does not apply to good nutrition and healing the body. A small amount of harmful unnatural foods are still damaging for the body. Large amounts are more damaging!

  • alcohol, coffee, cacao, chocolate
  • soda and canned drinks, fruit juices and cartoon drinks, UHT milks and juices and nut milks
  • cooked foods
  • sweets, lollies, candies, pop corn and packaged treats and biscuits
  • chocolate (even raw if you have Adreanal or Chronic Fatigue)
  • spices and spicy foods
  • sugars and natural sugars like agave, maple, honey, coconut sugar
  • trans fat, crisps, chips, fried foods and packaged and canned foods
  • jared, tinned and pre-made foods
  • wheat, gluten and grains (some grains and seeds like quinoa, buckwheat and millet can be added back in once the healing has been done)
  • canned beans, legumes, meats, broths and dairy
  • stress and toxic relationships
  • work pressures
  • the need to be right
  • the need to be perfect
  • badly combined foods
  • eating late meals
  • reducing nightshades like tomatoes, eggplants, capsicum and starchy vegetables like parsnips, carrots, beets and white potatoes some may need to remove completely but can be returned after the skin has healed
  • remove all parastite and yeast over growths by doing cleanses or probiotic protocols
  • tap water and bottled water and drinking when you are not thirsty
  • chemicals, toxins from your skin care and home cleaning products-supermarket supplements
  • moulds from your home
  • stresses and environmental stresses including work and relationships
  • antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medication – ibuprofen, Oral contraceptive pill and thrush medication-all mediation safely.
  • chiropractic adjustments, saunas, vigorous rough massage, excessive exercise that exhausts you and anything else that stimulates the nervous system
  • salt and pepper

This list may seem overwhelming and too much to remove but you will not achive healing if you are still using chemicals on your skin or toxins in your home or having weekend treats of raw deserts, chips, cakes and chocolate or eating foods that are cooked to often in your diet. You must go through a strict removing stage to allow your body to expel the inflammation and re-program itself to start the healing process. It’s not to say if you do slip up (we are all human and life happens) that you have undone all you have worked hard on so far. It’s about getting back on the horse and trying again. Each time you do this your body will recover faster and eventualy it will signal you don’t need those foods anymore and it will show you how to get what you need from natural healthy foods and your environment.

HOW SERIOUS ARE YOU TO GET BETTER? 

For example I used to suffer from migrains and as soon as I felt one coming on I would reach for my migraine tablets and have a chocolate craving. Well what my body was telling me is that I needed magnesium and it was trying to detoxify my system. So now when I feel a mild headache come on I have some almonds or a banana and take double dose of my magnesium powder, or I fast to allow my body to remove the toxins efficiently, I listen to my body instead of supressing the signals it’s telling me.

Your body is very clever, it’s equipt with everything it needs and signals to you what it wants or needs to function. We have become so far removed from our bodies and we are used to suppressing or stimulating it with junk foods or medication we have lost the abilty to read it and understand what it needs. ‘You don’t eat for hunger but to fuel your cells’.

Repair

Repairing is the second but most important step: once you have removed these foods and environmental toxins, it allows the pressure to come off the sympathetic nervous systems which primary process is to stimulate the body’s fight-or-flight response and return to the Parasympathetic nervous system which primary process is to calm and relax the body and allow healing to happen. Healing will not be able to happen if you are in the fight-or-flight response your body does not digest from this state and it can not heal from this state. Eating mindfully is important and eating mono (one food meals) at first will help your digestion repair faster. Having a meal of just one fruit can really help kick the digestion back in.

 How do you repair you body?

These foods below you should be eating daily if possible and be incorporated into your weekly nutrition where possible, try to eat a large amount of organic or low spray greens and vegetables daily and get most of your nutrients and calories from ripe in season fruits. which is our primary source of energy. Nuts and seeds can be added in the right food combinations and depending on your level of leaky gut. Nuts and seeds and the truth about digesting them . . .

“Coffee to a healthy strong body can be productive in small doses sparingly, coffee to a person with leaky gut, stress, hormone unbalances and adrenal fatigue can be a killer and is not a health food.”

Healing healthy foods are essential as is the right environment for healing and repairing cells.

  • bio-individual probiotics if needed until the gut is healed
  • prebiotics rich foods like sweet potato, papaya and lemon
  • bio-individual natural supplements like zinc, magnesium, iodine, glutamine, B vitamins, D vitamins and trace minerals, adaptogens.
  • organic essential oils
  • large amounts of green leafy vegetables daily
  • aloe vera and beetroot juice – for constipation
  • barley grass powder for minerals
  • liquid chlorophyll
  • ripe fruits in abundance
  • sunshine daily on bare skin
  • grounding into the earth bare footed
  • ocean, forest or mountain air regularly
  • silica (diatomaceous earth) -for diarrhoea
  •  activated charcoal – for food allergies or reactions
  

 

  • mesquite powder -zinc, magnesium
  • zinc rich foods like – brazil nuts figs and pumpkin seeds.
  • vitamin A/beta carotene rich foods like- orange root vegetables
  • good natural saturated fats like avocado, walnuts and whole coconuts in small amounts
  • balancing hormones with diet and supplements like maca powder
  • iodine rich foods like seaweed
  • magnesium baths with sea salt and bi-carb to pull out toxins
  • correct food combining is essential to gut health
  • love and friendship
  • mediation daily
  • green juice on a empty stomach
  • only drink when you are thirsty
  • try to stay as raw as possible and only have cooked foods for dinner

The truth about fruit . . . and Carbs carbs carbs . . . good, bad and how many is right for you? may help you too . . .

Renew

This step is the third step: but one of the most important as it seals your new healthy life change and keeps your body able to protect itself and keep growing and healing the cells promoting anti-ageing and high energy levels.

You have done the hard part by removing the foods and making the lifestyle changes. By now you should be used to eating a healthy diet and learning to listen to your body’s signals.

These practices below will help you stick to this lifestyle and allow your body to cope with the everyday stresses that arise:

  • a healthy diet balanced in small amounts of good omega 3 fats, high amounts of natural complex carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables) iodine rich foods like green leafy vegetables and seaweed, nuts, seeds and an abundance of colour from natures foods, and clean filtered distilled water eaten away from food.
  • a daily practice of 10 minutes meditation twice a day will keep your anxiety down and help you think clearly and make decisions in every day life.
  • essential oils to help bring your into your body and relax you.
  • regular soft massage will help remove toxins and help relax your body.
  • Qi-gong or Ti chi or Yoga daily or at least 3 times a week will balance hormones, remove toxins, help with weight loss and distress your mind.
  • walking in nature as often as possible helps ground you (bare foot if you can).
  • practicing mindful-living will help keep you in the present moment and not living in the future or past thus keeping anxiety and worry down
  • setting values up around you and making sure you lifestyle choices are always in keep with these values will allow you to stay on your path.
  • boundaries and communication is vital to your health, if your body feels hard done by or stressed because of others it will show up in physical symptoms. By having open communication to those close to you and always putting yourself first and not over stepping your boundaries you will keep your body feeling safe.
  • chew chew chew your food slowly and spend time appreciating your food. It is fueling your body -do not just throw I down your throat. What does “Mindful Eating” really mean and how can it help your food intolerance?
  • breathing this is the most important thing we can learn as humans and the one thing we all do so badly at because of course we breath or we would be dead right? Well most of us don’t breath deeply enough and shallow breath can cause stress on the body. Take the time to deep breath in for 3 seconds hold for 5 seconds and out for 5 seconds at least 5 minutes of each hour every day. I do this every time I stop at a red light or sit on the toilet. Find a place and time that suits you and make it a daily practice. Mediation and Breathing techniques for beginners!

Regrow

The final step to healing your body:

Once you are at this stage you would have changed as a person, your body will be thanking you with clear skin, sleeping well, no aches and pains and no inflamation, an alert mind and clear thinking – sounds blissfull right!

The final step is to address any of lifes hurts. This stage is the most difficult to overcome and most of us are still on this journey even the most enlightened guru’s have their past hurts or backage to overcome.

Through Coaching or Mickel Therpay or CBT or Theta Healing or your chosen way, I suggest dealing with any pain you have been caused or any pain you cuurently have in your life. This can unblock years of trauma you have pushed down causing your body physical symptoms. This is something I can help you with at a one to one coaching session. What is ‘Theta Healing’ and how can it help you?

Each persons story will be different and at first you might not want to open up about painfull past issues, but if you can make the connection beween you constant neck pain and your issue with your mother then you start to see the importance of doing so.

Have you ever returned from a family lunch with a headche or shoulder pain that you didn’t have before? Or met a friend for lunch and not felt listen to or he/she didn’t ask about your life or how you are and you come away feeling down and then go to the shops or eat something to make yourself feel better and just push that emotion down?

Do you see the connection between supressing emotions and physical pain and do you see that suppressing your body with food will cause more symptoms. Even if you have overcome this as an adult and you no longer let others effect. And you and you don’t absorb their pain or issues as your own (well done you) dealing with your past hurts can be prodcutive for your physical body. A simple guide to understanding Nutrition and the part it plays on your body, and how to heal your own body!

I recommend these books to help with this and to find a counselor or therpist you feel comfortable with:

‘You Were Not Born To Suffer’ -by Blake D Bauer

‘Your Can Heal Your Life’ -Louise Hay

‘Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway’ – Susan Jeffers

 

I leave you with this point that healing the body isn’t just about food or supplements, but about a whole body-mind approach and that the balance of life has to be right to achieve total happiness.

Please contact me if you need more support and guidance through your Gut-healing Protocol as doing it alone can be hard.

What is a ‘Health Coach’ and how can they help you achieve your goals?

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Trusting your Instincts and how it can help you find your path to health.

As a new parent you’re bombarded with information and advice about the ‘best’ way or the ‘right’ way of looking after your child.

But what do you do if that advice conflicts with your instincts? What do you do, if you know in your gut, that following all the ‘good’ advice is not what’s best for your family?

Society seems to want to condition us to conform to a ‘normal’ way of parenting, a ‘normal’ way of eating and a ‘normal’ way of thinking. But how can we be normal when everyone has their own brand of ‘normal’.

You need to feel confident in trusting your instincts, even if your instincts lead you beyond what you already know.

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For me, I learned the value of trusting my instincts in finding the path to better health, nutrition and wellbeing when I began to look for answers to ease physical, behavioral and digestive symptoms being experienced by our then-toddler son William, who was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at aged two years old.

In those early days I had applied my own brand of ‘normal’ to transitioning William to solid food, and I was quite certain I had it right. After all, I had worked in the organic food industry, food was my passion and being healthy was a conscious goal.

But, as I applied my knowledge to feeding my child, my gut, my instinct as a mother, told me that something was not right.

I had always fed William organic home-cooked foods that I thought to be healthy but the more I read and saw others’ journeys, the more I realised that was far from what I was doing. At one point he was eating three or four safe foods and a carrot or tomato was causing him skin reactions, tummy pain, behavioral issues and sleepless night. How could this be!

Instinctively I knew that there were more answers to be found.

So we followed our instincts and started working with a Biomedical Doctor who guided us thorough the midfield that is food sensitivity, intolerances and food allergies. We used supplements to build up what his body was lacking. And the results were clear, our gut instincts had taken us on the right path and we were beginning to see results.

That’s when we moved from working instinctively to purposefully seeking answers.

Soon we came across the GAPS Diet and, after the initial hard Intro stage and changing our mindset about grains and dairy and lots of detox, we started seeing massive improvements cognitively and behaviorally with William, and our younger son Edward.

Our instincts were right. Our instincts have taken us down the right path for now and have led to happier, healthier life for my family, and a way of eating that has seen William’s stress levels within his body ease, giving him the space to make the most of early childhood intervention therapies. But then my instincts kicked in again and I could see this Gaps Diet was masking and suppressing not healing and very against my ethical view asa vegan and wanting my family to be vegan to. So we started searching and I went on as many Nutrition courses studying over 100 diets and cultures,  and we found the RAW Vegan- high carb, low fat way of eating based upon the 80 10 10 philosophy from Dr Dough Graham. This lifestyle took us to further healing and to a lifestyle we adore and that fills us with joy and is easy and fun. I have then studied Natural Hygienics which is based upon the work from Dr Herbert Shelton this is a true understanding of what the body needs from a physical, mental and energetic level and be cohesive to the planet. My instincts also showed me the path away from mainstream schooling to our blessed Steiner School where the boys can be held and celebrated for all there quirks differences and needs.

But best of all, easing the stress within William has given him the opportunity to see beyond the anxiety that autism brings, and has made him calmer so he can now embrace emotionally family, friends and is thriving at school. All of this from a boy, who we were told would never feel empathy, be social or be able to love. We are blessed and my instincts led us there . . .

Thank goodness I trusted my instincts!

If you need help to start this path to health for your children please contact me for a consultation in your mindset and how to get your family started on this natural lifestyle.

hannah@nourishtohealth.com.au

0414967763

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