Nutrition Fridays

FOOD COMBINING

Last Friday I began the discussion on food combining. I used the Mayan diet as one example. Another example would be the diet found in the Middle East.  They combine bulgur wheat and chickpeas (or garbanzo beans), or humus and pita bread (humus is the combination of chickpeas / garbanzo beans with sesame seed…which is creamed like peanut butter). (Lappe, 161)

In India you find chapaties with dal (lentils).  You find in Asia the food combination would be soy foods with rice (China, Japan, and Indonesia), or soy with barley (Korea and Southern China). (Lappe, Ibid.)

In all of the examples the combination is 70-80% whole grains and 20-30% legumes (beans).  Ironically, this ratio has been proven by nutritionists to contain complete Amino Acids and allows for “maximum protein useability (Lappe,Ibid.)

Yes, you do have to learn how to cook each of these types of food.  It is not really difficult to learn how to cook them.  No, they are not as simple as microwaving a meal for 5 minutes that is purchased pre-made / pre-packaged.  But, definitely more healthy!

Lappe states “with three important exceptions, there is little danger of protein deficiency in a plant food diet (162)” These exceptions are: diets that depend upon fruits as the main source, or diets that use mostly sweet potatoes or cassava, and lastly Lappe points to junk food.  I would include with “junk food” any diet that mostly uses refined sugar and refined flour.

Continued on next Friday…

 

REFERENCE:

Lappe, Frances Moore.  Diet for a Small Planet, 20^th anniversary edition. Ballantine Books, 1991