The idea that proper food combinations can aid weight loss became very popular with a diet book that was called Fit For Life. The concept behind this theory is that improper combinations of food can cause gastric distress, weight gain, and even weight gain. This is because our body is not able to digest some different types of food at the same time.
How Does Food Combining For Weight Loss Work?
The most common example of this is protein and starches. If you eat your steak with a baked potato, you will not be able to digest either type of food properly. This slows down your digestive system, makes you more tired, and even makes you fatter.
However, if you eat your steak with a salad and vegetables, your body can handle the task of digesting these types of food easily together. Alternatively, if you want a baked potato, go ahead and pile on the sour cream and butter. Since fat is neutral, you can eat it with either protein or starch.
If you like sandwiches, make them vegetarian. Eggplant, for example, makes a very filling sandwich stuffer. If you want meat or dairy protein, consider wrapping it in a large lettuce leaf instead of bread.
Fruit is in its own category on this diet. According to Fit For Life, fruit should only be eaten in the morning by itself. Go ahead and enjoy any type of fruit or juice, but that is all you should eat for breakfast. Since morning is the time when most people have their "elimination" phase, eating fruit helps with digestion. However, it should not be typically combined with either protein or meat.
After you have been on this diet for several weeks and begun to shed weight and feel more energetic, you might try cheating a little. You can add some berries to your vegetarian lunch or protein-heavy meal. This way you can test how far you can break the limits and still lose weight and feel good.
The last part of the diet is making half to three-quarters of your diet contain high water content food. In other words, you should eat more produce than either protein or starch. You would already be eating fruit in the morning. Lunch and supper should come with a salad and generous portion of vegetables.
Does Food Combining For Weight Loss Work?
Lots of people have been able to lose weight effectively on this diet when they have failed on other diets. One of the good things about food combining for weight loss is that you do not need to count fat grams, calories, or carbohydrates. If you balance your diet out between your different meals, there is no reason this diet should be unhealthy.
Many nutritionists are skeptical of the whole idea though. They think that the reason it works is because it emphasizes natural types of food, and it requires the consumption of a lot of fruit and vegetables.