Combing food is more than a culinary art, it’s what we all do on a daily basis. There are many traditional foods that we have always combined, but in reality, without realizing it, this can have adverse health effects. Much of what we eat comes from habit, like what our parents fed us and those favorite dishes that we just cling to as something we have to have again and again. Very few people really pay much attention to the health effects of what they eat. When we eat, we’re not so much interested in taking care of our bodies as we are simply getting rid of those hunger pangs and titillating the taste buds.
Eating should always be an enjoyable and even social event, but it should actually energize us, keep us strong, and move us forward, rather than slow us down or make us feel bad. Many unpleasant feelings that come to us after eating that good food have to do with the types of foods that we are combining.
It is not a bad recommendation that we all look for one or two nutritionists and help us make a really balanced diet. Eating healthy isn’t just about eating a little lettuce, it’s about understanding how various combinations of foods really don’t make sense from the point of view of the body’s needs.
1. Save that favorite dressing for the diet version of your favorite salad.
You just can’t win by losing. Switching to that diet salad dressing because you think you’re being health conscious isn’t really a very wise choice. Vegetables have many good things for our bodies and are an important part of a healthy diet. Unfortunately, it’s the fat, in that great-tasting salad dressing, that actually helps the body absorb and reap all of those precious benefits of a salad green. Diet versions of anything have never really been a good weight loss solution. Eat a balanced and healthy diet and maintain an active lifestyle that includes exercise and sports.
is what really helps you lose weight and stay fit. Don’t buy everything that has the word diet at the local supermarket.
2. Mix eggs with steak, you know those famous steaks and eggs that can satisfy a lumberjack!
It is never a good idea to mix different types of protein. It’s best to mix eggs with vegetables and then eat that heavy steak for dinner. Also, eating heavy protein too early in the day can leave you feeling groggy at work. Start light and work your way up to heavier meals later in the day or at night. We do most of the heavy digestion when we are lying down and resting or sleeping. If we force our body to work too hard to digest food while we are active, we won’t have enough blood to handle all that activity, hence the feeling of dizziness and lack of energy we may have.
3. Bananas and milk or that banana smoothie
This has been heralded by nutritionists as the absolute worst combination one can force on their body, no matter how delicious it may seem. It actually creates toxins that harm the body, creating horrible gas, upset stomach, and bloating. A nice glass of chocolate milk aids digestion, so why invite bananas to the photo? Leave those for the Minions. You know those little yellow creatures that eat 50 pounds of bananas a day…
4. That famous spaghetti marinara sauce with Parmesan and American cheese.
Who would turn down a meal as good as spaghetti, especially with a little garlic bread on the side and maybe a glass of red wine? Have you ever noticed that after eating those 3 servings of spaghetti you find it hard to even get up from the table and walk to the living room? This is because the tomatoes that make the famous spaghetti sauce are high in acid, and acid-based foods mixed with starchy foods like pasta just don’t mix. It’s a nightmare for digestion, no matter how delicious it is, if you don’t want to feel weighed down by what you eat, better avoid spaghetti and lasagna with tomato sauce. How about a fresh olive oil sauce with garlic and basil?
5. Bread and jelly, or that peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Oh how we love that peanut butter sandwich with fries and a glass of cold milk. Many of us grew up with it! The problem is that such simple carbohydrates in such a delicious mix cause blood sugar to skyrocket, and then the body has to release large amounts of insulin to bring it back down. This expands more energy than we gain from eating that sandwich in the first place. After the words it is like a bad hangover, we lose energy, will and our ability to concentrate. Let’s leave pbj to our childhood, but now it’s time to start eating with the aim of helping us in our day to day life, not stopping us.
6. The habit of eating fruit after a meal rich in protein such as meat, potatoes, pasta dishes, etc., or after a heavy lunch or dinner.
Fruit plates have always been served as a sweet dessert after a good meal or to cleanse the palate. The fruit should be consumed without combining with other foods. It is best eaten for breakfast, perhaps on top of a nice bowl of oatmeal, or dipped in yogurt. Fruit has natural sugars and meats and starches have complicated sugars. By mixing the 2, the sugar from the fruits will get stuck in your stomach, as it tries to break down the heavier sugars, and started a fermentation process, which we all know leads to unpleasant gas and stomach pain.
There are many more food combinations that really aren’t the best when we’re trying to eat healthy. Much of this has to do with breaking our old eating habits and then spending a little time researching what kind of diet would actually work for us. After all, we are talking about our health, our energy and our lifestyle. It certainly would not be a negative activity to try to improve our eating habits to give us a better quality of life. Talking to nutritionists, doing some research on the internet, asking questions and experimenting with different health-oriented recipes could become a very pleasant pastime for us, with the result that we feel like we are 20 years old again!
So enjoy your food, but make it something your body enjoys too!
