Food Combining

The other cool thing I learned about digestion goes along with the Appropriation Cycle. It’s about food combining. I had heard about food combining before, but it wasn’t explained very well to me; I didn’t understand the reasons behind it. But Traci explained it in a way that finally made sense to my little brain.

Because fruit contains all the enzymes needed to digest itself, it doesn’t stay in the stomach very long. Most of the digestion of fruit happens in the small intestine and should be eaten by itself and on an empty stomach. If you eat fruit with something else, it takes longer to get out of the stomach and begins to rot and ferment the rest of the food in your stomach. It is even possible to become addicted to the feelings of fermentation (a cheap brewery). Fruit is not a good dessert!! It will ferment your whole meal and could give you gas or bloating.

In order to break down complex proteins, the stomach needs a very acidic environment. Starches, on the other hand need a very alkaline environment to digest properly. But Acid and Alkaline combined neutralize each other. Finally I understood. When you eat proteins and starches together they cannot properly be digested. If digestion doesn’t stop, it will at least be greatly hindered. In the mean time the food that is just sitting there begins to putrefy, the starches will ferment, and we get gas, flatulence, heartburn, indigestion, etc.

So put visually in a venn diagram it made sense to me.

At the center of the diagram is the Neutrals:

High water content vegetables- lettuce, broccoli, carrots, beets, etc.

Sweeteners

Fats- olive oil, nuts, seeds, etc.

Then 3 separate circles overlapping the neutrals:

Fruit: by itself, on an empty stomach.

Proteins:

legumes- beans, peas and lentils

animal products- meat, eggs and dairy

Starches:

Grains, potatoes, hard squashes, dried corn

I don’t know that I am ready to totally separate my meat and cheese from my bread, but I can definitely separate my fruit. I can at least make better choices and understand what I am doing to my system.

Speak Slower

In one of my recent classes this article was shared by the instructor.

An adult speaks at about 170 words per minute, but a toddler only hears at about 120 words per minute. Even Teens only hear at about 145 words per minute.

Conclusion: They may not be ignoring you or being defiant. They may not be comprehending what you are saying.

Fred Rogers practiced speaking at 124 words per minute. (Maybe that is why he was so popular. "Finally an adult I understand!!!")

I shared this recently with a friend. She consciously started speaking slower and was just amazed at how her little girls began following her instructions. "It was like magic."

Appropriation Cycle

You know I love to learn new things, and when I learn, I love to share. I am not proselyting, so don't get the wrong idea, I am just getting excited about this stuff. --end of disclaimer.

The coolest thing I have learned is about the Appropriation Cycle. Traci talks about this on pages 27 and 28 of her free e-book.

"As our bodies go through the day, they tend to place emphasis on different functions of digestion. The first part of the cycle is Appropriation, or the taking in of foods from the digestive tract into the blood (food goes in the mouth and through the stomach and small intestine, A.K.A digestion). The second is that of Assimilation, or using the nutrients for cellular building, fuel and repair (bulk of food is in the large intestine, nutrients are in the cells), and the last is the cycle of Elimination, or ridding the body of wastes (bulk leaves the large intestine and metabolic wastes from cellular repair and refueling are excreted through liver and bowel or kidneys). Each of these 3 cycles lasts for about 8 hours, accounting for the 24 hours in a day. Each of these cycles has natural evidence of our presence. Our appetites are at their peak during the appropriation cycle in the middle of the day... "

"It is the American Way to be Appropriating (taking in food) all the time!... Whenever food is taken in during either of the other 2 cycles, it diverts the energy from that cycle back to digesting the newly appropriated food and thwarts the cycle the body would normally be in. So, if we eat food during the Assimilation Cycle, then the energy used to assimilate our nutrients in our cells is diverted to the stomach. This can rob us of using the value in the good foods we had consumed earlier. IT can also rob us of energy, much needed repair, and seriously contribute to an overweight condition."

"Even more devastating is when we consume foods during the Elimination portion of the cycle, and rob our bodies of its focus on system-wide eliminations. Knowing how vital good elimination is to health makes it imperative that we do everything we can to support the Elimination Cycle."



Generally, the appropriation cycle begins between 10a.m.-12p.m. and lasts until 6-8p.m. Assimilation begins between 6-8p.m. and last until 2-4a.m and Elimination from 2-4 am and last until 10-12p.m. (This is for teens and adults. Infants go through their cycle every 3 hours. This becomes longer as the child ages until they reach puberty.)

The good news is that fruit contains all of the enzymes needed to break itself down. You can eat fruit in the morning, on an empty stomach, and it doesn't divert energy away from the other cycles in order digest it. Fruit can digest itself. Cool aye?

When I read this it made so much sense to me. When we would get up for early morning seminary, Dad began making us a big breakfast. I could do it for a while, but then my body rebelled. I began to have diarrhea an hour or 2 after I ate. I ended up spending seminary in the bathroom. So I quit eating breakfast. I felt much better after that. I have also noticed that I do not feel good the next day if I eat much after 6:30 at night. There have been phases in my life when I would skip breakfast and not eat until 10-11a.m. I felt fine, but then would feel guilty because "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." I have started to observe the appropriations cycle, eating only fruit in the mornings, and I have not been hungry and my energy is up.