A food combining chart can help anyone who wishes to learn more about how to combine foods properly for weight loss or good health. People who believe in food combining think that eating certain foods with other foods makes them harder for the body to digest and assimilate. After many years eating this way, obesity and chronic illness may result.
Food Combining Chart
Food combining has been around for decades but the concept really took off with Harvey and Marilyn Diamond's best-selling book, Fit for Life. The Diamonds expounded simple rules of food combining and believed that following this guidelines helped them maintain their fit, trim forms.
For those seeking to adhere to the rules of food combining, navigating the various rules of what to eat with what and what to eat when can be like fumbling around a complicated maze. That's where a food combining chart comes in handy.
Visual Guidelines
Such a chart shows at a glance what one can eat and when to eat it. It takes the mystery out of combining foods properly. Combining charts can be kept in a handy spot like on the refrigerator or hung on the wall of the pantry or inside a kitchen cabinet so that any time you eat, you can compare your choices to the chart and make sure you're eating properly.
Sample Chart
The following chart may prove helpful. Print this page, cut out the chart, and hang it up where you can see it easily.
| Food | Eat With This Food | Do Not Eat With This Food |
| Protein-rich food such as meat, fish | Leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, spinach | Sugar or starch filled food such as bread, pasta, crackers, etc. |
| Starches and Grains | Green salad, vegetables | Protein rich foods and fruit |
| Melon | Do not eat with any other foods; always eat alone | Eat melon by itself |
| Vegetables (all types | Protein, starches/grains | Melons |
| Fruit | Okay to eat with most other fruits | Do not combine with other foods |
Other sources of food combining charts include:
- Alder Brooke Healing Arts, an online source of alternative health information.
- Health Authority provides a detailed chart.
Key Points to Remember
Food combining charts include a number of elements along with details on foods that combine well and combinations to avoid. Many people who adhere to strict food combining rules believe in fruit-only meals and never snacking on fruit, claiming that eating fruit too close to meals interferes with proper digestion. Another factor is that food combining limits what can be eaten when based on natural body cycles.
Does Food Combining Work?
Any eating plan based on fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains is bound to work, and people interested in food combining diets are usually interested in whole foods. Because most food combining diets focus on fruit-only meals or eating only fruit until noon, this already reduces calories, followed by meals based around salads and leafy greens paired with healthy protein. That's a good recipe for weight loss, whether the combination creates the stage for shedding pounds or simply good food choices.
There's little scientific evidence that food combining works, either as an aid to digestion or a weight loss effort. It may work, however, if it helps you focus on healthy eating, eliminating processed and junk foods, and increasing your intake of high fiber foods such as fruits and vegetables.
