Strategic food combining can significantly enhance the quality of digestion, supporting the body while receiving a sufficient nourishment, to ultimately get a positive impact on overall health.
Some people think that the idea of food combination is a new western culture, however, ayurveda has been suggesting the same for thousands of years. The concept of food combination is a critical part of understanding how, what, and when to eat. There is no one-size-fits for all, it's highly personalized as one's constitution is totally different from others. So, why do need to understand food combination? At least 3 billion people suffer from digestive issues globally. Are you facing the same frequently? Let's understand how you can achieve sustainable and healthy food combinations for overall nourishment.
According to Ayurveda, each food possesses distinct combination of tastes and energies, providing consequent effect on the digestive system as well as whole body. If you mistakenly combine two radically different energetics, it might lead to digestive fire (or agni), causing indigestion, fermentation, gas, bloating, and generating lot of toxins inside the body. Thus, you should understand proper food combination for healing and improved health.
Solo Fruits, Superior Health: Fruits get digested easily inside the body. If you try to consume fruits with other foods, it might cause some instability. In general, honey is a good choice to combine with fruits.
Grains & Greens: Grains usually make a great combination with vegetables and beans. So, it can be a good starting point for many meals. Combining rice and dal (kitchari or Khichuri or Khichdi) is an easily digestible meal option. It can also be paired with ghee and digestive spices.
Spice it Right: Ayurveda is a huge fan of herbs and spices. Based on your dosha or the state of digestive fire, there are numerous varieties of spices for effective digestion. To strengthen your digestive fire, consume yogurt with cinnamon regularly. On a pizza night, add some basil with pizza for easier digestion.
Similarly, cheese, ghee and butter should only be combined with grains and vegetables.
Some combinations are definitely meant to be together. These dangerous combinations are following.
Milk & Banana: Many times in our childhood, we were forced to combine these two foods, which are essentially not good at all. Bananas are meant for heating while milk is a cooling food. Due to opposing qualities, they create digestive fire causing more toxins inside the body.
Nightshades & Cheese: This is another dangerous combination. The ‘nightshade’ is a common name for potatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and so on under solanaceae family. As these foods contain a complex array of phytocompounds, they are not suitable for consuming with cheese which is heavy and oily.
Beans & Cheese: Both are heavy and are difficult to digest. While beans are mostly astringent and sweet, cheese are predominantly sour, promoting a lot of post-digestive effects.
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You should also avoid hot drinks with cheese, meat, starches, and yogurt. Remember, proteins should be eaten alone. While taking heavier foods, be sure of your health first.
Above all, you must focus on basic things like mindful eating and sufficient hydration. The most important step is to become conscious about your needs and habits. The only, you can take an approach to sustainable food combination for yourself.
