There seem to be some inaccuracies in the post I'm responding to, that I'd
like to point out:

>Sheltons writing were written for people following the tradional diet
>and his food combining rules were basically to prevent them from
>overeating "unhealthy" food and overeating period. Check his books
>out and the menus and you will see what i mean. They were not written
>for the raw fooder.

I own and have read his main book on the subject. His general food combining
recommendations are for any type of diet. The menus included in the book
were just for examples of putting the principles into practice.

>Also, he admitted in several of the rules that
>he "knows no physiological reason" supporting his ideas. In other
>word, there was no science behind them,.

All throughout the book, he gives scientific rationale and quotes various
scientific literature in an attempt to substantiate his claims. He also
speaks of his personal experience in working with people (clients), applying
the principles.

>1) food combining is based on the concept that most of the digestion
>takes place in the stomach and different foods need different "ph's"
>to digest properly.

It's my understanding that the concept is based on digestion, period. Not
just in the stomach.

>this is incorrect. First, only about 1-10% of
>digestion takes place in the stomach.

Most of the protein digestion takes place in the pyloric portion of the
stomach, in a strong acid environment.

>90-99% of all digestion takes
>place in the small intestine and it all takes place in an akaline
>environment.

I've read of various studies that have indicated that a substantial amount
of carbohydrate digestion can take place in the cardiac (upper) portion of
the stomach, aided by salivary amylase and amylase from other sources (i.e.
food enzymes). The rest of the digestion and assimilation takes place in the
small intestine.

>Second, the stomach is always acidic (and not
>akaline when we eat a starch meal) and can break down both protein and
>carbs and thier is no "conflicting" phs.

This depends on which portion of the stomach is being referred to here.
There is more than one section to the stomach. The cardiac (upper) portion
of the stomach does not experience acid secretion. That takes place in the
pyloric (lower) section.

>2) the enzymes that are in food are in food for the benefit of the
>food and not us. When they hit the stomach, these enzymes (which are
>small protein molecules) are broken down into their amino acid
>components and do not act as enzymes.

Howell's long-time research (over the course of decades) found that enzymes
from food are active in the cardiac portion of the stomach. He said that on
average, this lasts for about 45-60 minutes, prior to the food moving into
the pyloric portion of the stomach, and later, the small intestine.

>Also, by the time they hit the Small intestine, where most digestion
>takes place, they have been completely inactivated.

Howell also found that many enzymes are only temporarily inactivated by HCl
acid, and that many enzymes become active again in the intestines.

>3) many foods in nature have compostitions of fat, carb and protein
>that would in and of themselves violate food combingin rules, yet we
>digest them just fine. For instance, dark green leafies are about
>20-30% protein (high protein food) and also about 60-70 carbohydrate
>(high carb food).

By mass, leafy greens contain very little protein or carbohydrate. They are
primarily comprised of water and fiber. Kale, for example, is more than 84%
water, and is about 3% protein and 10% carbohydrate. So those figures quoted
above are referring to caloric percentage. Leafy greens are low in calories.

I used kale as an example; many other greens are higher in water content and
lower in protein.

>Food combining says you can digest high carb foods
>with high protein foods.

He meant "cannot", rather than "can". Anyway, more accurately, food
combining literature states that digestion efficiency is hindered when
combining proteins and carbohydrates.

>Yet we digest green leafies just fine.

They're low in protein and carbohydrate. Legumes, on the other hand, are
generally high in both carbohydrate and protein...and most people seem to
find them hard to digest (there might be other factors at play there as well).

Anyway, the best "food combining principles" are those that empirically work
best for one's own digestion and overall health.

Wes