From: Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson <lakinroe@silcom.com>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [permaculture] Food digestion stuff that might help you
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 07:06:13 -0700
Lawrence----I've been studying macrobiotics and chinese medecine since the
70'sand am a macro counselor. We've used different rules for what to eat,
what order to eat
in a meal, and how often one eats a particular food. In regular
macrobiotic education the food combining that you mention is rarely
mentioned but i am aware of the theory and find that macrobiotic eating is
in alignment with much of it. Digestion is complex and can be different for
a variety of people because there are a lot of imbalances.
Macrobiotic theory suggests eating miso soup at the beginning of a
meal[at least once a day] to provide those beneficial digestive enzymes
especially for grains and beans and eating slightly salty pickles at the
end of the meal for more enzymes for vegetable digestion.Non salted
cultured vegetables would also work as would an occassional fermented
dairy.The order of eating goes from eating contracting foods first then
more expansive foods until dessert which is most expansive.This allows the
stomach to expand naturally after not eating for awhile. This could go
either soup-grain-bean dish[or fish]---grain-well cooked root
veggies--grain--litely cooked leafy greens--grain---dessert......or it
could go soup--grain--beans--grain--roots---grain -
leaves--grain-beans-grain--roots--grain--leaves etc until finished then
dessert....This isnt a hard and fast rule but seems to work for most
people.When you really go off your body lets you know.
If you eat a variety of vegetables it is rarely a concern about eating too
many starches in one meal but its a good thing to be aware of.. Generally
combining concentrated proteins doesnt happen. I generally teach to eat one
bean at a meal but occassionally a three bean salad works and its ok...nuts
and seeds are not emphasized so sprinkling a few into the dishes doesnt
seem to affect digestion. When fish is eaten it is usually not a lot but
the grain portion is usually reduced and nonstarchy vegetables are
increased...also eating sweets with grain is a bit difficult on the
digestion because the sugar inhibits the enzyme ptyalin in the mouth and
the grain may not get broken down properly unless you chew alot.Baked
flour/grain,sugar,fruit desserts dont make up a big part of the way
of eating so eating it once in a while doesnt cause too much of a problem.
Its interesting to note that if you see how the stomach digests food you
could come up with a different way of eating. The stomach primarily
digests protein which can take some time. It allows carbs to go thru fairly
quickly. When we eat oils and fats they are hardest to digest by the bile
in the small intestine. If we eat oils first that can keep the carbs and
protein held in the stomach longer than they need to be and we would feel
bloated. So one way to eat would be to eat all your carbs and veggies
first ,then proteins, then oils and fats ..or at least come close to that
like eating sauteed or fried dishes at the end.Just another thing to play
around with and see what works.
Now if someone has parasites,candida, leaky gut syndrome, or other
digestive imbalances you would have to get very specific as to what foods
to eat and when. i use muscle testing a lot determine that.
In oriental medecine raw foods are considered to have cold energy
and not beneficial for digestion at least in the long term despite the fact
that they have added enzymes.You dont usually see salads in a chinese
restaurant and in macrobiotic cooking we emphasize pressed salads[pressure
and salts contract and start the breakdown process]. Warming herbs like
ginger and cumin are used to activate the pancreatic enzymes and ensure
proper breakdown.
Anyway i've used these principles for many years with lots of
people and have been pretty successful with them. ------steve hoog
"Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net> wrote:
Lawrence F. London, Jr. wrote:
> Food combining for maximum digestion, maximum nutrition and maximum
> health involves creating meals wherein certain foods and food groups are
matched according to how well they can be
> digested when combined.
> Foods that are acid, starchy, neutral (maybe alkaline?) foods such as
non-starchy vegetables,
> subacid, sweet, oily and protein may be eaten together when combined
according to certain rules. There are charts and a
> few books that define acceptable combinations. A meal must be completely
digested before another can be eaten.
A few corrections and additions.
> Certain foods must be eaten alone, melons for example. Sweet foods
(fruits) alone may be combined and eaten alone. Any single
> element in the protein group may be consumed but not combined with any
other protein, i.e. one bean type, one seed
> type, one nut type. Oily protein may be combined with acid foods and non
starchy vegetables. Starchy foods may be
> combined with non acid vegetables but not with oily protein, i.e. no
starch with oily protein or acid foods.
> Sub-acid foods like tomatoes and peaches may be combined with neutral
vegetables and not with oily protein or starch or acid foods.
Anyone familiar with this method of food combining and raw foods diets in
general?
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[permaculture] Food digestion stuff that might help you,
Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson, 08/22/2006