13 replies to this topic

[Jeepster]

I'm new to this board and celiac disease, having just tested positive for the Iga and Igg antibodies, with my small intestine biopsy scheduled for Monday 12/6. I've suffered with GI system embarrassment and pain for years, along with some rather bad experiences with Doctors who made me think how my body reacts to food is all about stress, not an actual physical problem. I was prescribed Elivil for my headaches, and told to stay on Metamucil for the rest of my life. I went to one GI doctor who scoped my stomach then a week later my colon and said I was perfectly fit. I reminded him of my constant diarrhea and he looked at me as if it wasn't even a symptom I had ever mentioned - it was my MAIN symptom!! But he never did any blood tests.

I'm frightened to think about my intestines being damaged but at the same time I'm hopeful that by finally getting a correct diagnosis my life will improve from the knowledge of how to treat this.

My question is, based on the fact that we have damaged or otherwise compromised digestive systems, wouldn't the techniques of proper food combining help? I've searched the archives here and couldn't find any discussions about it. I've also noticed that what most people are striving for are safe substitutions for food like pizza and cakes, etc., not real or healthful food. From what I've read proteins like meat and starches like potatoes should not be eaten at the same time because the body can not break them both down efficiently at the same time, also, fluids should be limited during meals so as not to dilute the digestive juices in their work.

Has anyone applied food combining techniques to their diet, and did it help?

[OhNoes!]

I also am new to Celiac, Jeep, and have found proper food combining to be very helpful. I feel like I've done a lot of experimenting lately to find out what is most comfortable on my gut. Elain Gottschall's book "Breaking the Viscous Cycle" has been helpful. Right now (having just found out about Celiac Disease about 6 weeks ago) my GI tract is so torn up it has every right to be hypersensitive. Mostly I eat meats and veggies right now. It helps to cook them together in a pot for a few hours. Herb tea with honey is fine, as well as some fruits (no more than three a day, and cooked). This has helped with all the cramping. In a few months I hope to add some almonds, lentils and split peas. Just this week I found I can tolerate eggs as long as they're baked in something for at least an hour (like a veggie quiche, sans cheese).

Milk products are out simply because the enzyme production it takes to break down lactase is found on the tips of the villi, which thanks to celiac disease, are flattened right now. Carbohydrates may not be tolerated well (with the exception of monosaccharides found in honey and fruit) because most are made of either disaccharides or starches, both of which require digestive attention to break apart into absorbable monosaccharides.

Not sure that I answered your question, but see what you can find out and let me know if you learn anything new.

Good luck

[aaascr]

Prior to my celiac disease diagnosis I ate a "food combining" diet because I had less pain
and bloating. Since I no longer eat meat (except gluten-free turkey 1x a year), I don't think of it as much (I'm allergic to most proteins as it is). But I did find it very
beneficial in maintaining my "ibs symptoms" as well as my weight.

[Jeepster]

aaascr -

Do you mind describing your diet to me a little more? If you don't eat meat, what are your primary source of proteins?

[tom]

No offense, but i think 'food combining techniques' are about as scientific as phrenology.
Not that it never helped anyone to eat very carefully, but the food combining theories i've seen make no sense. Nature just doesn't work that way. Survival of any species would be greatly impaired by such specific requirements.

[Jeepster]

No offense taken at all Tom, I asked because it was a theory I thought might be helpful (and as a newly diagnosed celiac disease'er I'm looking at all the possibilities to get healthy again).

[cdford]

The food combining concerns can be personal or religious, but they have worked for several folks I have talked with. Once diagnosed with celiac disease/DH, I had to spend several months on simple vegetables and grilled meats. For the first time in decades I had to eat white rice instead of brown or wild. As I gradually added things back into my diet, I found that several had to be held off again for a while. It was like teaching a baby to get onto solid foods!

The good news is that I can now eat a lot of stuff as long as I don't let it get too spicy or mix meat and dairy together. For some reason that tears my system apart. I learned a long time ago about combining proteins to get the full effect. While the concept is vegetarian, we can all benefit.

*****The big thing for you right now is to keep it really simple for a while and add one thing at a time back into your diet so that you can tell which things are not going to work with your system at any given time.*****

Do your research on this disease and listen to your body -- you will be amazed at how much better you get as time goes on.

Donna
almost 2 yrs gluten-free and counting

[snipe12]

No offense, but i think 'food combining techniques' are about as scientific as phrenology.
Not that it never helped anyone to eat very carefully, but the food combining theories i've seen make no sense. Nature just doesn't work that way. Survival of any species would be greatly impaired by such specific requirements.

I think it is pretty much based on science. Modern diet bares little resemblance to years and years ago. Have you ever noticed when you eat certain foods you feel full for ages or can taste the food when you burp.

Your body can digest certain foods much more quickly than others. If you eat say meat and veg it will be dealt with quickly, if you eat meat and potatoes it will take much longer to digest which is why after meals like that you tend to feel tired.

Below is what is the believed rules but to follow it would require the willpower of a monk so it would be best to loosely follow:

Avoid eating carbohydrates with acid fruits:
This combination may neutralize your enzymes causing your food to putrefy.

Avoid eating concentrated proteins with concentrated carbohydrates
Remember the pizza? How it made you feel? Especially when you were tired?

Do not consume two concentrated proteins at the same meal
Two concentrated proteins of different character and composition (such as nuts and cheese) should not be combined. Gastric acidity, type, strength, and timing of secretions for various proteins is not uniform. Since concentrated protein is more difficult to digest than other food elements, incompatible combinations of two different concentrated proteins should be avoided.

Do not consume fats with proteins
Our need for concentrated fat is small and most protein foods already contain a good deal of fat. Fat has an inhibiting effect on digestive secretions and lessens the amount and activity of pepsin and hydrochloric acid necessary for the digestion of protein. Fat may lower the entire digestive tone more than 50%.

Use fats sparingly
Fats inhibit the secretion of gastric juice. Except with avocado, fats used with starch delay the passage of the starch from the stomach into the intestine. When fats such as avocados or nuts are eaten with raw green vegetables, their inhibiting effect on gastric secretion is counteracted and digestion proceeds normally.

Do not eat acid fruits with proteins
Citrus, tomatoes, pineapple, strawberries, and other acid fruits should not be eaten with nuts, cheese, eggs or meat. If you are ill, avoid acid fruits especially in juice form - but lemons and limes are always a great addition due to their enzyme content.

Do not combine sweet fruits with proteins, starches, or acid fruits
The sugars in sweet fruit should be free to leave the stomach within twenty minutes, and are apt to ferment if digestion is delayed by mixing with other foods. Sugar-starch combinations cause additional problems. When sugar is taken the mouth quickly fills with saliva, but no ptyalin is present. Ptyalin is essential for starch digestion. If starch is disguised by sugar, honey, molasses, or sweet fruit, digestion is impaired. Fermentation is inevitable if sugars of any kind are delayed in the stomach by the digestion of starch, protein, or acid fruit. Sugar also has a marked inhibiting effect on the flow of gastric juices.

Eat only one concentrated starch at a meal
This rule is more important as a means of avoiding overeating starches than avoiding a bad combination. Slightly starchy vegetables may be combined with more starchy vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, but not with combination foods such as grains and legumes.

Acid fruits may be used with subacid fruits
This combination is best made with less sweet subacid fruits. Never use acid fruits with sweet fruits. Tomatoes should not be combined with subacid fruit nor with any other kind of fruit. They are best combined with a salad meal at which no starches are served.

Subacid fruits may be used with sweet fruits
It is best to use the sweeter varieties of subacid fruits when making this combination. For people with poor digestion, bananas are best eaten alone. For others, bananas combine fairly well with dates, raisins, grapes, and other sweet fruit, and with green leafy vegetables such as lettuce and celery. Dried sweet fruits should be used sparingly, because the sugar concentration is naturally greater. It is best to have these fruits at a fruit meal combined with a salad of lettuce and celery.

Combine fruit only with lettuce and celery
These uncooked vegetables with a fruit meal may even enhance digestion of the fruit.

Salads combine very well with proteins or starches
Non starchy vegetables may be combined with proteins or starch. The green leafy vegetables combine very well with most other foods, and should form the major part of one's daily diet. Through the week, use as wide a variety of vegetables as possible. Lettuce and other green and non-starchy vegetables leave the stomach with little change. They pass through the stomach rapidly unless delayed by oily dressing or foods that require a more thorough gastric digestion.

Do not consume melons with any other foods
Many people who have complained that melons did not agree with them have no trouble when eating only melons at a meal. Melons are more than 90% liquid and leave the stomach quickly if not delayed and fermented by combining with other foods.

Avoid over ripe fruit, this may cause digestive disturbances.

Hope this helps

[tom]

Where's the science ?
A list of rules w/ some technical terms isn't science.

Pizza made me feel good before celiac disease came along.

Don't these rules claim that such popular and longstanding dishes like strawberries & cream or a cheese omelet would be harmful ?

I really don't even think such pseudo-science deserves a thread in this forum. I'm sure there are plenty of forums where ppl enjoy talking about it, tho.

[FreyaUSA]

Combining, imo, can possibly have it's benefits. If one is diabetic, for example, slowing the digestion of more easily digested foods by eating them with those that take longer to digest so that you're not spiking your system is a good thing. I would suppose doing the opposite for people who have trouble digesting would also be good, combine the longer to digest with the quicker? I've often read how utilizing the glycemic load of a meal for controlling blood sugar has been extremely useful, but I've never heard about it being used to aid those with problems digesting because of celiac disease or other digestion issues. Interesting thought, though.

Also, I had my mother read through Snipe's list (she's a nutritionist/researcher) and she said not one of them is based on fact and that some are fad ideas that have been around for the last 200 years. It's kind of funny how ideas have a way of reappearing again and again... (Snipe, I really do not mean to offend you and hope I haven't. Since my mother is visiting, I thought to take advantage of what she does for a living and this is how she responded.)

[snipe12]

That is weird FreyaUSA, my mother is also a nutritionist and don't worry, I am not offended as I didn't write them. The only one I truly follow is the fruit on an empty stomach. The rest of the time I take digestive enzymes to help boost my own bodies digestion.

Tom some of the rules make common sense, I didn't provide any scientific proof, merely some guidelines. I don't agree with them all, some are going a little too far but were added for reference. What you have to understand is that modern diet bares little resemblance to years ago. Our bodies have adapted quite well but things we do in modern society hinder digestion. Even something as simple as drinking whilst eating dilutes the stomach acid so of course slows digestion.

The reason food combining is a good idea for someone with celiac is it helps you gain maximum amount of benefit from your food. The better your food is digested the more benefit you gain from it. People have clearly stated on this thread that forms of food combining helped them.

If you believe it is pseudo-science then that is fine but I was merely trying to be helpful and provide information. I am not quite sure why you believe what I posted does not deserve to be on this forum, clearly people were talking about it so why shouldn't I post something which may satisfy the curiosity of the people who read this who don't know about food combining.

[aaascr]

answer to protein question, it's been tough to find something that I'm not allergic to - but I did find Nutiva's shelled hemp seed, which I eat daily. There is a rice protein product too but I haven't had time yet to see if it's gluten-free. Besides the hemp seed tastes better.
With regard to the food combining - it worked for me and I think if one chooses to do it, they should see what works for them personally. I got my initial info from Marilu Henner's books ( 30day Makeover was one of them).
just my 2 cents...
aa

[calico jo]

Just wanted to add my own 2c as well.

My best friend has been battling cancer and been to nutritionists regarding modifying her diet, etc. and a lot of the food combinations posted here are what she was instructed to do as well. Between her ailment and my ailment we've done a lot of research and find so many conflicting theories and you'll find other sources that contradict what you've just read previously. It can be very confusing.

Much of it is common sense if you take the time to think about it, but some of it leaves me scratching my head. Personally I'm not about to give up more than I have already and quality of my life outweighs other factors. Who wants to live forever anyway!