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Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  Not all foods agree with each other
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Not all foods agree with each other

Too many different types of foods can confuse your system, leading to indigestion. For better gut health, avoid consuming certain food groups together

Skip desserts like ‘kheer’, and instead have a piece of dark chocolate (below) rich in antioxidants. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
Skip desserts like ‘kheer’, and instead have a piece of dark chocolate (below) rich in antioxidants. Photo: Hindustan Times

OTHERS :

It’s not enough to say you had just one serving of everything at a 10-course buffet at your favourite brunch place—your overburdened system will still find it difficult to digest the milkshake, pancakes, bratwurst, hash brown, muffin, dosa with sambhar that you had before ending with a “healthy" fruit salad.

As a rule, meals should be kept simple so that they are digested properly by enzymatic action. Too many different foods at one meal on a regular basis can confuse the system and overload its enzymes, making them inefficient. Heartburn, bloating and indigestion, along with fatigue, weight gain and inertia ensue. “Combining suitable food items in every meal helps to not only fight the feeling of bloating but regulates vital bodily processes, relieves mood swings and anxiety, and helps us feel energized,"says dietitian Ranjini Dutta, head, clinical dietetics and community nutrition, KPC Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata.

While many nutritionists still dismiss the idea that you shouldn’t combine two incompatible food groups, the fact remains that different foods and food groups like fats, proteins, sugars and starch have different digestion times. While sweet, fresh fruits are digested most easily, seafood like lobster or calamari takes the longest, and it’s done by different sets of enzymes. For instance, the enzyme amylase breaks down carbs, starches and sugars in conjunction with other elements, and protease plays a key role in converting proteins. Now think what would happen if there is a combination of fruit and prawn (prawns with tomatoes and pineapple, anyone?). The juices of the digested fruit would ferment along with the prawns that are still being broken down in the stomach. Not great news, especially if you have a sensitive system.

Mumbai-based nutritionist Pooja Makhija says “different foods have varying digestion times and require different enzymes to aid in the process", but a balanced and healthy diet is better than worrying too much about food combinations.

In 2011, US-based naturopathic physician Wayne Pickering wrote a seminal book on the subject, Food Combining For Health And Longevity, in which he talked about giving the gut some serious TLC. If the food you eat is not digested properly, heartburn and acid reflux apart, the body will be deprived of nutrients. “And by combining foods in a certain way, you can help your body digest and eliminate all the foods you eat with ease," he says in the book.

Here are some regulars or favourites on the Indian menu that you need to be careful about:

High glycaemic index (GI) fruits or citric fruits with proteins and/or fats

Fruits have a different transit time than proteins and fats. However, “fruits mechanically break down in the stomach, but chemically they don’t do so till they reach the third and fourth stage of the digestive system, which are in the small intestine. This means it stagnates in the stomach with other foods and you will be more susceptible to intestinal upsets", says Makhija. If taken with proteins, fruits with high GI (that have more sugar content; like mango and litchi) will fester midstage of digestion, while citrus fruits will be digested faster.

The culprit: Think a chicken gravy dish made with mango pulp in summer, or with a fruit compote; a fruit milkshake; custard apple and cream, or even a fruit barfi.

The way out: “Always eat fruits as a stand-alone snack and preferably first thing in the morning. They are fortified with vitamins, minerals and natural sugars to take care of your sweet cravings," says Makhija.

A combination of refined carbs with dense fats and/or proteins

“Carbs require alkaline pH for digestion, whereas fats require a slightly higher alkaline pH and proteins need an acidic pH. So with different requirements, all three groups remain partially digested in the stomach for a long while and can cause reflux," explains Dutta. Refined carbs also have a high GI and your sugar levels might fall with your body indicating that it’s hungry though the proteins and fats may not have been absorbed.

The culprit: A deep-fried keema paratha or keema samosa or mutton biryani.

The way out: Portion control. Also, ensure you have more protein and less refined carbs, or vice versa. In a gravy and cereal dish, stick to wholegrains like wheat roti and reduce the gravy in the meat to cut down on the fat.

Sour drinks and appetizers with mains/proteins

Starting with a juice made of sour food items and then heading to the main meal might not be an appetizing idea. “Sour food items often inhibit gastric-acid secretions and prevent optimum protein digestion," says Dutta.

The culprit: A tamarind or a tomato rasam before a meal of rich dals or meats; or a margarita with lime cordial before a main meal.

The way out: Dilute your drink as much as possible or better still, keep a gap of 30-60 minutes before the main course. This will help you avail the nutrients in the fruit/vegetable and curb your appetite during the main meal.

Having dessert at the end of a meal

“It’s fairly important to not to eat dessert after a meal because the preparation gets trapped in your stomach with all the other food, where it starts to rot as it’s not being chemically digested. This happens in the third or fourth stage of digestion in the small intestine," says Dutta. A rich milk-based sweet is the worst offender because the milk curdles in the stomach.

The culprit:Kheer, fruit cheesecake, even a light fruit salad.

View Full Image
Dark chocolate

Combining two dense proteins

Desist from having multiple sources of protein together and make a beeline for the vegetables to pair with one protein instead. This is because your body has to work harder at digesting different proteins together and the added fat makes matters worse.

The culprit: A Caesar salad combining chicken, bacon and egg, for instance. Or a paneer (cottage cheese) dish followed by a spicy mutton preparation.

The way out: Try sticking to one type of protein serving and balance it with light vegetables and a small serving of carbs. “One protein serving is going to make you feel full and satiated. Keep the other protein source for the next meal," says Makhija.

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Published: 22 Sep 2014, 07:29 PM IST
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