Food Combination: is there any food combinations that are a no-no?

Some of you probably heard things like: don't drink water during mealtimes, don't combine protein with starches on the same meal, raw and cooked foods shouldn't be eaten on the same meal, don't eat more than one type of fruit at the same time.

All these allegations are coming from the theory that combining certain groups of foods might make the digestion difficult, because it might require different times of digestion and different enzymes. Foods that are slower digested sit longer in the digestive system, fermenting and causing bloating, flatulence or diarrhea.

The true is, the digestive system it's very complex. The digestion starts in the mouth, includes the stomach and the small and large intestines. During the whole process different kind of enzymes acts at different stages to make sure that all the nutrients are absorbed.

There isn't any sufficient evidence to show that food combining diets improve digestion.

​The best diet we can eat combines a wide variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups, and there's no reason why we shouldn't enjoy foods together in the same meal.

A healthy balance diet consist on meals with foods from different groups: carbohydrates, good fats and proteins and a variety of vegetables.

​The best diet we can eat combines a wide variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups, and there's no reason why we shouldn't enjoy foods together in the same meal.

The more variety of foods you include in your diet, more complete your diet will be. Different foods contains different nutrients and vitamins in different proportions, and all of them are essential for a good body function. Restrictive diets sometimes caused by the misbelifs of food combinations can have a huge impact in your health. It's always important to seek professional advice when you are in doubt.

However there is scientific evidence that some food combinations can enhance digestion and absorption of some vitamins and minerals, by making nutrients more bioavailable.
On my next post, I will talk about bioavailability of nutrients (what it means) and how to make food choices to enhance absorption of certain nutrients.