The past year I’ve been obsessed with gut health. After trying different gut cleanses and doing a lot of research on my own, I can say that I truly believe that so much ties to our gut. I’m talking weight, energy, clarity, mood, skin, and digestion all stem from how healthy our gut is. I am not a nutritionist, but I do know my body well and I pay attention to how it reacts to the foods I eat. And like when I eat ice cream, I look more pregnant than Maria. 😉
My weight tends to fluctuate. I can feel skinny one month and then the next month my face is swollen and I’m super bloated. How do I have a health food blog and I’m still trying to figure out how to lose 5 pounds and keep it off? I used to be one of those people who could just eat whatever they wanted, not work out, and somehow always be the same weight. But I was also like 18 and never thought twice about it. Now I feel like I need to live on celery sticks to maybe lose a pound. So what is happening to my body, and like hi metabolism can you help a girl out? I’ve done all the cleanses, the colonics, the exercise, the clean dieting, and while it does work for a short period of time, I still continue to yoyo with my weight.
Before I continue, I want to preface that I do not think I am overweight, nor do I think I need to go to any extreme measure to lose weight. However, I know my own body and I know when I look and feel my best. I strive to feel fit and healthy consistently. 🙂
I came across this video yesterday on food combining by Dr. Mona Vand and I was like wait, have I been doing it all wrong? I’ve heard of food combining, but always thought it would be too complicated. How am I supposed to remember what to combine with what? But Dr. Mona Vand breaks it down so easily in this video and it finally made so much sense to me!
So, I am going to try it. Maybe I can eat all the healthy foods that I love, but just pair them the right way for my digestion! That doesn’t seem so hard. I’m going to see if it will relieve some of the bloat and extra weight that I am holding onto for dear life. It’s not a “diet.” I’m not eating less or cutting out food groups. I am just being more mindful about the foods that I choose to eat together and when I choose to eat them throughout the day. So I am going to try this food combining approach for a month and see how I feel. I’ll let you guys know!
Here is a little breakdown of how it works:
always eat alone on an empty stomach in the morning since it is the fastest to digest.
eat in the middle of the day for lunch. It is the next fastest food group to digest which takes about 2 hours. This can be combined with fats (avocados, olive oil!) and veggies because veggies are a free be and can always be eaten!
eat towards the end of the day for dinner. It is the longest to digest and best paired with veggies.
veggies can be combined with everything and eaten at any time of the day
do not combine starches (grains, potatoes, bread) with proteins (meat, fish).
WHY? This is because when you eat certain foods they produce different enzymes in your stomach for digestion. Starches need an alkaline environment to be broken down and digested. Proteins need an acidic environment to be broken down and digested. When you eat these two together (starches and proteins), they produce both alkaline and acidic enzymes which will neutralize (think positive and negative ends of a magnet) and will not have the right environment needed to be digested properly. This then leaves with you bloat, gas, and more bad bacteria than needed. Makes sense, yes?
Here is an example of how I will food combine for my trial! Think you want to eat light to heavy foods throughout your day. Light being fruit, heavy being proteins.
Breakfast: Fruit on an empty stomach.
Lunch: Green salad with wild rice, sweet potato, avocado, veggies and olive oil dressing.
Snack: Chia seed pudding, small handful of nuts, hard boiled egg, green juice (veggie only), or veggies and hummus.
Dinner: Green salad with chicken/or fish, veggies and lemon juice for dressing.
thanks, Alyssa! I’ve long believed that fruit should always be eaten alone and at least 3 hours before or after another meal. In fact, it grosses me out to think of eating fruit and cheese together, or grapes or apples in chicken salad. So I’m with you on that. But what are you thinking about the lack of protein in the morning?? Curious how this works for you. thanks for posting. XO
Omg! I came across the same video and I’m going to start trying it TOMORROW. How’s it working for you?