Do you have an Opinion on Food Combining?

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Do you have an Opinion on Food Combining?

http://www.bodyfueling.com/Q%20ANSWERS/Q%26A8.html

Dear Robyn,

 

Do you have an opinion on food combining?

---(several writers asked this question

 

Thank you for your questions. Yes, I do have an opinion. Below I

have pasted a segment that got cut from BodyFueling before its

publication. (Why? Because my publisher had also published the key

book in question.) I can tell you generally that I think food

combining is essentially bunk (and the vast majority of

nutritionists and educators are similarly inclined--just start

checking into what other well-known health authors--conventional and

natural alike--have written and said).

 

I see no evidence whatsoever for restricting yourself in this

manner. If people really want to do this, that's their business, but

it is certainly not something I myself am interested in or see value

in, let alone promote.

 

The best thing I can say about diets like these is that they are a

perfect example of the vexing tendency of Americans to buy and

believe the schemes most disconnected from reality and plain sense.

It seems to me that the more outlandish, unlikely and even punishing

the diet, the more fascination our society has with it. Some of the

best-selling diet books of all time have also been the most

ridiculous.

 

---

Fit For Life is, like so many other diets, programs, plans and

books, designed for weight loss. It frankly states this purpose. If

you've read BodyFueling, there's probably not much I need to repeat

about " weight " loss as a pursuit.

 

But Fit for Life gets much worse than the mere distraction

of " weight " as a goal. The core of the philosophy is premised on

assertions about the human body which are not related to anything

you would find in any biology book.

 

The authors claim human digestion happens according to three

separate segments in every 24-hour period. From noon to 8 p.m., food

is eaten; from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m., food is broken down and absorbed;

and from 4 a.m. through noon, the body processes and eliminates

wastes.They believe the elimination phase is the key to " weight "

loss, because " toxic wastes " they say are produced by the body

during digestion " turn to fat " if not excreted. The purpose of their

infamous food-combining moratorium is to avoid these toxic wastes;

they say these toxins are produced when we eat carbohydrates and

proteins together, because the body can only break down one type of

food at a time.

 

Scientists note that that the food-combining theory actually

preaches the opposite of what research shows about digestion. The

fact is, doctors can use fiberoptic gastroscopes to look into the

body and observe digestive processes as they take place in the

stomach and intestines. The " neutralized digestion " food combiners

caution you about does not exist. Digestion occurs when we eat,

period--not during some time-sensitive day shift.

 

Think about this: our bodies can't tell time, and therefore can't

distinguish 8 a.m. from 4 p.m. I mean, if your body starts breaking

down food at 8 p.m., how does it figure out when to begin if you

cross time zones? I idly asked this--long before I even became

seriously interested in the subject--of a co-worker who was

excitedly describing the diet to me. He turned beet red and never

spoke to me again.

 

A college nutrition textbook, Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies,

also points out, " ...what the advocates of food combining don't tell

you is that almost all foods, even when eaten individually, are

combinations of fat, protein and carbohydrates to begin with. " Which

means that if our body really did neutralize carbs and proteins

eaten together, we would not digest most of the food we ate, and we

would die of starvation.

 

Fit For Life espouses eating only fruit from 4 a.m. to noon.,

because, they say, fruit's high water and " glucose " (?) content

allows it to " digest itself. " This reportedly conserves large

amounts of ''vital energy,'' which is automatically channeled into

the cleansing of those ''toxic wastes'' that somehow magically

become fat. And they say dairy products " break down to create a

sticky goo that adheres to the lining of our intestines and hampers

digestion. " While I definitely have real concerns about dairy

products, this absurb notion is not among them--it is not possible

for such " goo " to exist, because the surface on the inside of the

intestines, with its millions of villi (tiny fingerlike

projections), regenerates itself constantly, with cells sloughing

off and new ones being made.

 

There have been other diets that espouse similar types of

fabrications. The Beverly Hills Diet also says that protein and

carbohydrate eaten together neutralize one another, leaving the food

undigested and unabsorbed, so it (no matter what kind of food it

is?!) turns into fat. The book states that as long as you don't eat

these two types of food together, you can eat anything else you

please and be " eternally slim. " This book was especially famous for

informing us that pineapple has special digestive powers, that all

fruits can 'burn'' off " weight-producing " effects, and that " fruit

has much higher protein levels than anyone thinks. " The author

claimed watermelon is 25 percent protein--when in fact, like all

fruits, it is less than one percent protein. All you'd need to do to

is check any food counter that provides fat, protein and

carbohydrate values, and look up the protein content of any fruit.

 

Learn how your body works, and learn to tell sense from nonsense.

That's the best lesson I think these theories have to offer!

 

 

NOTE: For more on fad diets, also see " Exiting The Zone " Myth Bust,

the " Confused About Carbohydrates? " Myth Bust. and the " South Beach

Diet " Myth Bust as well as Experts Talk Carbs.

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjoguest

DietaryTipsForHBP

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest