Interesting food combinations

TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) has come up with some principles of food combining which can help us achieve better health by promoting better digestion, assimilation and elimination. Here are some of them which I find it very interesting:-

1. Fruit should never be eaten with protein It is best not to combine fruits with vegetables (especially cooked vegetables), proteins or starches
2. You can combine acid fruits with nuts or cheese. Acid fruits are: blackberries, grapefruit, lemons, limes, oranges, pineapples, plums, pomegranates, raspberries and strawberries
3. Fruit should never be eaten with or immediately following any other food. It is essential that we eat fruit on an empty stomach
4. Melons are best eaten alone
5. Dried sweet fruits should be used sparingly and use only one kind at a time. They should be combined only with sweet fruit and/or lettuce and/or celery
6. Citrus fruits are best eaten at mono-meals or at bi-meals of oranges with grapefruit, pineapple, strawberries, etcetera
7. Citrus fruits should never be combined with starches such as breads, pastas, grains, potatoes, carrots, beets, squash, peanuts etcetera
8. Do not combined citrus fruits with proteins except with nuts or seeds.
9. It is OK to combine protein (but only one type at a time) with non starchy vegetables. Examples of non starchy vegetables are: asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, celery, chard, collards, corn, cucumber, eggplant, endive, escarole, green beans, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, okra, parsley, spinach, sprouts, summer squashes, sweet pepper, tomatoes, watercress and zucchini
10. Concentrated foods such as nuts and seeds should be eaten with or as part of a vegetable salad. The water content of the salad vegetables offsets the lack of water in nuts and seeds.
11. Nuts and seeds are protein-fat foods. Fats are slow to digest and their presence with protein makes nuts particularly slow-digesting. Delayed digestion encourages fermentation and putrefaction.
12. After eating nuts three hours should elapse before eating fruit
13. Tomatoes should not be combined with starchy vegetables or proteins except nuts, seeds and avocados
14. Avocado combines well with starches, such as bread or chips, with all cooked or raw vegetables, and with fruit such as papaya, mango, banana, and orange.
15. Do not combine avocado with protein.
16. Lettuce or celery may be combined with fruits (except melons)
17. Lettuce is an excellent combination with more concentrated foods of lower water content such as pecans, sunflower seeds, walnuts, sesame seeds, filberts and pine nuts
18. All legumes should be soaked at least three hours or overnight to activate the enzymes in them. Otherwise they are indigestible
19. Never drink liquids with or immediately following a meal. It dilutes the digestive juices preventing the meal from being properly digested.
20. Milk should be taken absolutely alone. It does not go well with anything.
21. You can combine cheese by chopping them some up and sprinkle it over a salad or melt some over vegetables
22. Do not eat two different proteins simultaneously
23. Eat only one concentrated food at a meal and have it with non-starchy (high water content) vegetables such as broccoli and zucchini
24. Carrots, cauliflower and zucchini can be eaten with nuts and seeds
25. Butter is a fat and is therefore neutral. Since fat retards the digestion of protein it is best not to eat butter with any protein. Butter can be eaten with carbohydrates.
26. Avoid Combining Concentrated Proteins and Concentrated Starches:

• Examples of concentrated proteins are: Bean sprouts, dairy products, dried beans, dried peas, garbanzo sprouts, lentil sprouts, meat, fish, poultry, raw nuts, nut butters, seeds, seed butters, soy beans and sunflower sprouts.
• Examples of concentrated starches are: Artichokes, beets, bread, carrots, chestnuts, grains, lentils, limas, mature corn, parsnips, pasta, mature peas, potatoes, pumpkins, rice, rutabagas, split peas, turnips, winter squash and yams.