Back in the days when I was researching Natural
Hygiene, I read a lot about food combining theory. It
was my major stumbling block for accepting the tenets
of NH.

It seems there has been a lot written both pro and con
food combining (or the latest trend, more aptly called
'food separation'). Some of the books I read did
reference studies that showed digestion of meat
(protein) being slowed by adding starches or fruit to
the meal. Whether or not this phenomenon is as 'bad'
as the food combiners think is another story.

My take on it is that - yes, the different food
categories require different mediums (digestive
juices, enzyme combinations, etc.) for digestion.
However, it also seems that food can still be digested
properly even if there is a mixture of more than one
of these mediums. So, does that mean food combining is
crap? Don't know. Perhaps some people can violate the
food combining rules with no ill effects, whereas
others suffer terrible indigestion. I know that I
sometimes have problems with certain cominations (like
meat + fruit), other times this combination has no ill
effect whatsoever.

The currently popular 'food separation' theory
simplifies food combining into 4 basics: (protein +
fat) is good, (protein + starch) is bad, (starch +
fat) is bad, and fruit should ideally be eaten alone.
I find this approach a little more acceptable and much
easier to implement.

>   Also, I doubt
> >Paleo man knew about the rules of
> >combining.  Additionally,  what about using fruit
> to neutralize acid release
> >from meat digestion.
> >
> >Even more confused!!!
> >
>
> I don't know if Paleo man often had much choice
> between fruit or meat.
> I use leafy greens & celery to neutralize
> acid-forming foods, and don't feel stuffed
> afterwards.

Here's where it gets interesting. According to the
original Food Combining advocates, primitive man would
have instinctively known which food combinations were
OK. I seriously doubted this, especially when
(according to their charts) the same food could fit
into different categories depending on its current
state. However, it did seem plausible to me that when
gathering and eating foods (remember NH originally was
animal protein free - no hunting), only one or two
foods would be taken in at once. Hence food combining.

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