Health & Happiness - Food

switchel

nospam@example.com (T. Sunshine Love) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:59:24 -0600

I love that the stuff I drink has a name. And that that name is relatively easy to remember and somewhat appropriate because it starts with the word "switch".

Switchel - the big jar is how I mix the honey and vinegar together with just enough water to dilute the honey. I then add a splash into my glass of drinking water, to taste or by color.

What else would I drink?

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-switchel.htm

I use apple cider vinegar, honey and just a tiny bit of molasses - except in the winter, when I make it hot with mostly molasses, lemon, and a little bit of honey. I don't usually use ginger, except when I add ginger kombucha for the probiotic boost. That's really nice, but it needs to stay refrigerated.

I should try making my next batch with fresh ginger; I almost always have some around. For cooking, of course. Failing that, I did just find lovely ginger flavored honey online that might do the trick almost as well, flavor-wise, at least:

floating in a Danube dream

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:57:24 -0500

Wow. Lucked into a lovely boat tour of the Danube and its bridges, accompanied by one of the better buffets I've ever been treated to. Goodness gracious, but it's good to be me.

[cincopa 10487001]

After dark it got a bit difficult to take pictures what with the lack of light, the moving boat, and the rain. Not to mention six glasses of wine. Nothing daunted, I clicked away anyway. These remind me of some of my better acid trips back in the day.

[cincopa 10487004]

Best. Vacation. Ever.

adventures in grocery getting

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:05:43 -0500

Got hungry so started wandering. Stumbled into a grocery store by accident. Score!

The cheese, yogurt & meat aisles were amazing. Dairy and meat in general were super interesting. I'm a total milk junkie and apparently all the milk around here comes in antiseptic packs, which is kind of weird. I had some last night from the gas station and I didn't like it, but that often applies to gas station milk. The produce section was nice and had lots of selection for being as small as it was. Very impressive.

You can tell that wine is important, as there were two full aisles devoted to its sale, as well as another row to beer and soda stuffs. Also impressive was the canned fish selection, as well as the fresh meat deli. Kind of makes me wish I had a kitchen. As is, I managed to pull together a terrific meal on the fly consisting of bread, meat, cheese, and fruit.

Interesting side note on the fruit - they turned me back at the checkout and made me go back to the produce department to get my banana and nectarine weighed and labeled. Not speaking a lick of English or Hungarian between us made this communication particularly challenging, but I figured it out eventually and left the store with a deep feeling of satisfaction for having successfully navigated the Budapest grocery.

[cincopa 10486969]

And the food? All very yummy. Food is good.

bitching in Budapest

nospam@example.com (admin) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:03:06 -0500

Left home at 3:00 o'clock Saturday morning. Don't usually go to bed until 1:00 or 2:00 anyway so stayed up Friday night. Flew out around 6:30 from San Francisco. Got about an hour of sleep on the plane before I woke up to the distinct feeling of blood running down my thighs, and not for the last time. I think I broke records for soiling my undies on this stupid trip. I haven't bled on myself so much in, well, ever. One of the hardest periods I've ever had with very limited abilities to do anything about it. Embarrassing, humiliating, and aggravating all at once. Color me red and completely unthrilled to be a woman.

Time starts getting foggy about the time we hit JFK in New York for a five hour layover. Promptly got separated. He went to look at timetables and I bee-lined for the restroom. Got out and he was nowhere to be found. Our flight to JFK had been going to Istanbul, so I somehow got it in my head that that's where we were heading so off I went to Gate 7 to wait for him. About an hour later I gave up and went back to look for him near the restroom. Sure enough, he was right where I'd been looking for him in the first place. The sleep deprivation was really starting to kick in at this point.

Five hour layover at JFK then an impossibly long ride across the ocean. Got the middle row so was completely impossible to sleep. Completely. Not fucking kidding. I can't sleep sitting up. I have to curl up on my side. Period. Meanwhile, Mr. Happy slept soundly next to me for pretty much the entire trip. But I didn't want to kill him or anything. Smug, well rested sonofabitch; I can't remember the last time I've resented someone so much.

It's 11:00 AM Sunday morning when we arrive in Budapest. The taxi ride was uneventful and I was struck by how not very different things were here. Everywhere we go, American music is playing. The cars drive on the right side of the road, although there is a white line in the middle of the road instead of a yellow, making it impossible for me to tell which roads were one-ways and which had oncoming traffic. Of course, the oncoming traffic made that pretty clear pretty quickly. The roads are a bit on the narrow side, too. I'm just happy I'm not driving.

So, um, yeah. The last time I remember sleeping is Thursday night. I've bled through my keeper and panties five or six times and I'm so tired I can't see straight and I'm starting to hallucinate. By all means, let's go tour the fucking city. Asshole. Did I mention that I hated his well rested ass for a day or so there? Needless to say, Sunday was not a happy day. Saw some cool shit but really couldn't muster the enthusiasm or energy to care.

[cincopa 10486941]

Moving right along, I got some sleep Sunday night. Thank god. Lots of sleep. Luckily, the forced march through the city the day before had pretty much pushed all remaining blood out of my body and into my poor panties, so that issue more or less resolved itself. Nothing like getting your period over in 2 days flat. Men. I hate them all right now.

Where was I? Oh yes, Monday. Monday was good. Refreshed, energized, and relatively cramp free; I was ready to explore. Good fucking thing, too, cuz I had no choice. There are an awful lot of hills here. Steep ones at that. Lots of stairs. But worth it. At the top of these particular stairs was a park. The first thing I found was the Philosopher's garden. Ah yes, Monday was definitely a reset point. This made me very happy. There were statues for Abraham, Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tze, and some Egyptian looking character who from behind looked like a 1950's housewife complete with bouffant hairdo. Very strange. There were also spots for Ghandi, Saint Francis, and the Bhodi Dharma. There were signs explaining why their statues were gone, but I couldn't read them. Anyone here speak Hungarian to translate? All I can make out is that something happened in April of 2007 and that money is somehow involved (the forint is the local currency).

[cincopa 10486944]

Further up the hill were more statues, these ones in miniature. I've never seen so many statues in my life as I have here. I love it. They are everywhere. This diorama was particularly interesting as it seemed to tell some epic tale of love, longing, and separation; as well as some cataclysmic world changing event which caused a rift in the world and between the man and woman. I wish I knew the story, but I don't mind wondering, either. Food for the imagination, and a wonderful presentation.

[cincopa 10486945]

At the top of the hill above the park was the Citadel, a fortress and hotspot for the last days of World War II. The history is a bit confusing, but it seems like Russia and Germany were basically fighting for the territory. Russia eventually won and promptly put up statues of communist victory everywhere. When Hungary broke away from communism, instead of destroying the statues, they moved them all into a special park as a memorial to communist ambition. I hope to visit later in the week.

[cincopa 10486947]

It was the first time I'd ever been in a World War II museum. It was rough. I never cared much for history, but this was real life, lived by real people. The pictures made me cry. Especially the children. War is so senseless, so insane, and so close. We are not above it, nor far removed. We create war and destruction today because we don't know, we don't care, we don't understand the horror. We've never seen it. We are spoiled, us Americans. Spoiled, blind, and arrogant. Meanwhile,we blithely destroy entire civilizations to better our bottom line. Civilizations with people. People like us. People who die. People who have children. Children that die. And for what, and why?

[cincopa 10486946]

Moving right along, we wandered the ramparts and grounds of the fortress, taking pictures of the ever present statuary and fooling around on the anti aircraft guns on the grounds. Nothing like sitting in a rusty chunk of heavy metal to put you in the place of the desperate soldiers futilely trying to defend their home. Apparently, the Citadel was supposed to be an anti aircraft defense station, but it didn't really work out that way. The few guns they had were ineffective and they never managed to install more.

Back down the hill, we walked across one of the many bridges over the Danube and hopped a trolley to take us a bit downstream. That's one thing I really love about this place. The public transportation system rocks, and is well used. We bought a weekly pass, which gets us on any form of public transportation we want, including the subway, buses, and trolleys/trams Â? all of which run every ten minutes or so. Very nice. You can get anywhere on public transportation here, and quickly, too. I have yet to see an empty bus, train, or trolley. In fact, it's often standing room only.

[cincopa 10486948]

Oh, that brings me to one of the better parts of yesterday. Actually, all of yesterday was just freaking incredible. I loved yesterday, especially in comparison to the day before, which I shall forthwith refer to as Â?mad MondayÂ?, cuz I was. Oh yes, but one of the highlights of my day was being able to help a fellow traveler. He was on the bus and I was kind of staring at him because I thought he was really hot. He came up to the front asking which doors to use for what and where to pay. We got off the bus at the station and I showed him where to go and how to get a ticket. It feels good to help people. Especially cute ones.

Had a lovely lunch on a boat on the banks of the Danube. The food was wonderfully rich and just downright decadent. Food here is kind of a crapshoot, but when it's good, it's amazing. Even when it's something I don't like, it's still amazing, and luckily there's two of us so it's pretty much a guarantee that one of us will enjoy it. Like I discovered that I do not like Roquefort salad dressing, but he does. I have difficulties with certain strong cheeses, while I love others. Like I said, it's a crapshoot. But I like to experiment and try new things, which makes traveling a delightful experience. Like an army, I travel on my stomach. It's all about the food tourism, baby...

[cincopa 10486949]

I kept seeing this awesome castle looking thing built into the side of a mountain and we finally got to go inside. It turned out to be a church, built into a cave. Wow. I wish I'd gotten better pictures, but pictures alone just can't convey the peace and tranquility of that cool, dark place. Curves and hollows and lamps and saints all mixed together to make a truly unique setting to worship. It's hard not to feel loved by god when enveloped in the embrace of the solid, unmoving earth. Fucking fantastic.

[cincopa 10486950]

So, after an amazing day of historical, culinary, and religious stimuli; we were able to wind down and relax in a world famous Turkish bath. Dear god, but that was wonderful. I love to soak, and public baths are like a gift from heaven. These had less jets and cooler pools than the ones I visited in Taiwan, but the pools were bigger and they had several sauna rooms, which were intense. I found that I could tolerate the sauna better after immersing myself in one of the ice water pools first for a few minutes, but I still found it difficult to breathe deeply through my nose because the heat burned the living hell out of my nasal passages. So I settled for short, shallow breaths.

All in all, 'twas a wonderful day. Only problem was, it never really ended. Got back to the hotel last night. He went to bed after checking his email then I tried to upload some photos to FaceBook. The first small batch went well, but then it failed on me three times after that. Then I got into chat conversations with my mom and ex boyfriend and the next thing I know, it's five o'clock in the morning again. Fuck. Thank god he's in a meeting today and I can pretty much just fuck off on my own time. Let's hear it for leisure. I think I'll go back and see if the maid is done making up the room so I can get online and post this bad boy. With pictures. That should use up a couple more hours. I just wish the internet cable reached all the way to the bed. I could use a nap.

Oh shit. Skip that. I forgot that I had a final to do and classes to register for. Yikes. Fuck me running.

fasting

nospam@example.com (T. Sunshine Love) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:41:00 -0500

I finally started fasting again. For the first six months of 2007, I fasted for about 24 hours once per week while also following a fairly strict food combining regimen. I lost fifty pounds in five months (after having gained thirty in three when I quit smoking cigarettes).

This time I'm going for more of a prolonged stint. I've been going for about three or four days now. I've had a few bits of food here and there but overall I'm letting my bones detox and it feels really good. I'm starting to feel lighter and less achy again, which was one of my goals. The other goal is to postpone my period by one week until after Burning Man. Last year, I was able to increase my cycles by up to an additional ten days with controlled caloric deprivation; I'm hoping I've still got the hoodoo.

When I "fast", I actually drink a tonic comprised of more or less equal parts each raw apple cider vinegar and raw honey in enough water to make it palatable. I also like to throw in a touch of molasses for flavor and coloring and occasionally some pumpkin pie seasoning or allspice if I'm feeling spiffy. Ingrid can get hers to taste like apple juice but I find that I prefer mine more like really thin weak lemonade. Whatever is in this crazy witches brew, it has just what I need to keep me going, and going good. I missed it, actually.

The Benefits of Raw Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
http://www.ghchealth.com/apple-cider-vinegar.html

a bunch of holistic crap and home remedies which I'm not sure I buy, but whatever
http://www.earthclinic.com/Remedies/acvinegar.html http://www.anyvitamins.com/apple-cider-vinegar-info.htm

and the other side of the story, the skeptic's view
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0GCU/is_n6_v14/ai_20152545

changing perceptions of fat

nospam@example.com (admin) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 22:05:19 -0500

I have been noticing fat on other people lately. It looks like it has been placed there as an afterthought, almost as if there wasn't room for it in the original design. Like clutter hurriedly shoved into a closet before company arrives, it threatens the integrity of the bulging door seams before spilling out and encroaching upon the rest of the room. It makes me think of alien invaders, taking over a host body and distorting it beyond recognition. Only this attack of the body snatchers isn't sudden and external, rather it comes slowly and with its delicious friends: fat, sugar and processed foods.

When I see fellow losers of the battle of the bulge, I feel shock and pity for how much extra fat is hanging off their misshapen bodies. Simultaneously I find myself wondering if that is how I used to look while vowing to never look like that again. I shush the nagging voice that relentlessly reminds me that I still have more than my fair share of bloat remaining.

Part of changing bad habits is changing the way you see things. While I've never been one to judge or care about people based upon appearances, I am starting to see fat as its own entity, an unwelcome stowaway on hips, thighs and stomachs that must be rousted out and tossed over the side. It is ugly. It is invasive. It doesn't belong. It saps away health, vitality and life far better than any mythical device dreamed up some diabolic mastermind. Or is there a diabolic mastermind behind it all? Is there some evil genius behind the scenes, forcing unnatural and unholy foodstuffs down our gullets and onto our hips?

Certainly there is no lack of fingers to point and evil corporate monsters aplenty to blame for the sheer volume of white processed crud available on shelves today. Food production today is a science, a multi billion dollar government subsidized industry propping up our drooping national spirit and economy. Let us not forget the media for its role. How would we ever know what to think or eat or do without the benevolent guidance of advertising?

Mother Nature's products pale in comparison to the splendor and variety of food options available today. How can nature compete with science? It would be ridiculous to expect Mother Nature to step up to the needs of modern consumers by mass producing her bounty, systematically stripping it of all flavor and nutrients, then "enriching" it by adding the chemical equivalents of said flavor and nutrients before further mutilating it in a veritable torture chamber of preparation methods used in the industrial kitchen. She was thoughtful enough, however, to provide us with expandable waistlines to accommodate the greater abundance with which this progress has afforded us. Thank goodness for that because otherwise we would probably explode.

Is being fat a disease or a choice? In this modern age of product placement and media saturation, it may be more a lack of true informed choices about health and eating. When we depend upon the industry who makes the "food" that makes us fat to "educate" us about healthy eating, we sacrifice true choice and therefore offer ourselves up blindly and unknowingly to any disease that comes with these unsafe and unwholesome products. There is another choice, a profitless, and therefore invisible choice. We can just stop eating processed foods. It is much more fun and rewarding to find and consume organic or locally grown whole foods then eat them as close to their natural state as possible. Fresh food is amazing.

The "food" and drug companies are lying to us so they can make money. Food and medicine come from living things: plants and animals. Never forget that. No one can sell health. True health requires us to look for the truth behind the lies and start feeding our minds and bodies a new program. Turn off your TV. Eat something from a tree. Read a book.* Information empowers us to make better choices. Where is your information coming from?

Complete nutrient information on 130 healthy and wholesome foods may be found at:
http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php
-The World's Healthiest Foods

*Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser

food combining for a happy digestive system

nospam@example.com (admin) — Sat, 12 May 2007 22:27:15 -0500

A blind man, a man with one leg, and a soccer mom walk into a bar. They bet the bartender a drink if he can correctly guess which of them is diabetic. The punch line is that they all are and what sounds like a bad joke is actually my family. We are fat and we are sick. This is my future and that of millions of Americans unless we completely change the way we think about food.

It is time to face the facts. We the people of the world's most prosperous nation are quickly becoming the unhealthiest. Our very prosperity has led to our downfall. Today there are endless options in food selection, more than at any point in human history. Manufacturers churn out pre-processed foods in the name of liberty, variety and convenience but in truth they are peddlers of poison, giving us each day our daily white bread. The body has no use for substances such as refined white sugar and bleached white flour yet these two substances are endemic to our food supply.

The problem is almost too big to believe. How can our entire food supply be wrong? Everyone knows that the way to health is proper diet and exercise. Yet what exactly is proper diet? The only thing the experts can all agree on is to eat more whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables and less processed foods. This advice sometimes feeds the belief that increasing the amount of good stuff one eats can somehow make up for all the junk consumed. This is the holy grail of the food and pharmaceutical industries: to find a pill that provides perfect nutrition so we may gorge ourselves on all the swill modern science is capable of creating under the guise of foodstuffs.

Society is preoccupied with cures, pills, and surgery. Prevention and nutrition are low on its list of priorities. Conversely, what if it were possible to avoid all the potions, pills, and poking by simply feeding the body just what it needs to heal itself and nothing else? We forget that the body is a self-healing mechanism. Our duty is to give it the proper fuel it needs to perform the job. All necessary vitamins and nutrients for health and vitality come from living foods: plants and animals. In theory, most items in supermarkets and restaurants originated from a living food. In reality, often the heavily processed gunk most of us think of as "food" today is a far remove both chemically and nutritionally from once living and nutritious whole foods.

Months of research for specific answers on how and when to eat produced a discovery: trophology. Trophology, a branch of science dealing with nutrition, is a big word for a simple idea: food combining. Food combining takes into account how digestion works and seeks to maximize digestive ability. Good health starts with good digestion. The body is designed to digest foods slowly and one type at a time. Eating food in improper combinations causes the entire concoction to ferment and/or putrefy in the stomach.

The theory is that certain digestive processes are alkaline (starch/pytalin) and others are acid (protein/pepsid), and to combine foods using opposing digestive processes will neutralize digestion, causing starches to ferment and proteins to putrefy. Oddly, I first ran across this concept when I was researching colon cleansing. It turns out that some of the long-term effects of overloading one's digestive system show up as nasty surprises later in the colon. "When the impacting of toxic mucus in the colon reaches critical pressure, it causes a pocket to balloon outward through the colon lining, causing a condition called diverticulosis. Colitis, IBS, and colon cancer are the next stages of colon deterioration caused by these conditions." (Reid)

According to the food combining "bible", Herbert Shelton's The Hygienic System, Vol. II, Orthotrophy; here are the basic rules:

ACID-STARCH
Never eat carbohydrate foods and acid foods at the same meal. Acids neutralize the alkaline medium needed for starch digestion, resulting in indigestion and fermentation.

PROTEIN-CARBOHYDRATE
Never eat a concentrated protein and a concentrated carbohydrate at the same meal. Proteins need an acid environment for digestion.

PROTEIN-PROTEIN
Never consume two concentrated proteins at the same meal.

PROTEIN-FAT
Do not consume fats with proteins.

ACID-PROTEIN
Do not eat acid fruits with proteins. "The acids of acid foods inhibit the secretion of the digestive acids required for protein digestion." (Healing)

SUGAR-STARCH
Do not consume starches and sugars together. Fruits (sugars) digest quickly and will ferment on top of slower digesting food.

STARCH-STARCH
Eat but one concentrated starch food at a meal. This rule is to prevent overeating and does not indicate digestive incompatibility.

MELONS
Do not consume melons with any other foods.

MILK
Milk is best taken alone or let alone.

The most common criticism of trophology is that it would require too much discipline to follow because it is so different from our normal eating habits. Given the current state of affairs, perhaps it is not too extreme to consider this historically viable and more natural way of eating. I have been unable to find any research disagreeing with trophology specifically as a digestive science, although there is widespread confusion over the use of its alternate name of food combining. Food combining also refers to the old vegetarian notion that beans and rice needed to be served together to make a complete protein. This "complete protein" concept is widely considered to have been debunked, and is not to be mistaken with trophology.

It is difficult to find current research on trophology, as it, and nutrition topics in general, are unlikely to attract new research money. Since research funding is so closely linked to future profit, corporate funding is unlikely to be forthcoming for studies on holistic nutrition so long as vegetables and fruits remain patent and profit free. There have been several books and diets based upon trophology, most notably "Fit For Life" by Harvey Diamond and "The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity" by Daniel P. Reid.

It appears to me that many popular diets I have seen can fit into this method of eating. For example, the Atkins diet merely eliminates the starch category instead of segregating it from protein meals. I suspect many of the benefits of vegan and vegetarian diets derive from accidental trophology practices, since these diets are often high in raw foods and low in dense protein sources.

The only known recent study, done at Tennessee State in 2005, indicated that trophology might not be effective for weight loss; however, I do not believe that is its primary benefit. Rather, the benefits are more subtle and systemic. From what I have read about the relation of food to the body, it appears that digestion takes an enormous amount of bodily energy and resources away from healing and regeneration. Ignoring and abusing the vital function of digestion will most likely lead to ill health somewhere down the line from excessive build up of improperly digested materials in the GI tract.

An internet search on trophology will render detailed charts of food combinations that at first may seem daunting. Instead of being intimidated, consider the following guidelines: Eat a meal of just fruit each day. Eat one or two big salads of fresh vegetables every day accompanied by either a protein or a starch, with some cooked veggies on the side. It helps me to think of it as a low-carb diet at one meal and a pure vegetarian diet at the other, with fruit meals in between. The important thing is to serve opposing foods far apart in the day and to avoid continuous eating. If you absolutely must have dessert, eat it as a separate meal. Otherwise, it will just sit on top of the rest of your meal and ferment.

My Sample Menu:

Early Meal
1 Banana
Several fresh dates

Snack
1/2 basket of cherry tomatoes

Afternoon Meal (consider making this the biggest meal of the day)
Large green salad or cooked greens
Steamed cauliflower
Salmon steak

Early Evening Meal
Large green salad (a simple "salad" can consist of a stalk of celery, a red bell pepper, and some broccoli spears)
Baked potato (olive oil combines better than butter or sour cream)

Snack
Entire basket of strawberries

As you can see, these are very simple meals to prepare. In fact, the only hard part is figuring out what not to eat together. To make that part easy, print and hang some charts (see links at bottom) up in the kitchen. This is a diet of simplicity and is easily adapted for the single person. Instead of chopping vegetables for a salad, why not consider the radical approach of eating that carrot or radish whole? Each time you slice a vegetable, it loses nutrients to the air through oxidation. You can save time and nutrients simply by preparing food less. Cooking also leads to nutrient loss. Many things taste just as good raw or lightly steamed.

Other simple digestive guidelines include never drinking water with meals. You can "drink all the water desired ten to fifteen minutes before meals, thirty minutes after fruit meals, two hours after starch meals and four hours after protein meals" (Shelton). Chew food until it is as close to a liquid state as you can get it because digestion starts in the mouth. Eat as close to nature as possible. Try to eat raw vegetables every day. Avoid processed white anything. Living foods are superior foods, including animals and grains but especially vegetables and fruits. In proper combination, eating a wide variety (over time, not daily) of wholesome foods, in appropriate amounts, will abundantly nourish the body and prevent much dis-ease. Complete nutrient information on 130 healthy and wholesome foods may be found at: http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php.

The human body does not need anywhere near the amount or variety of food we now insist upon giving it. Throughout most of our history, our bodies have evolved to maximize upon the meager amount of food we have been able to procure for ourselves through hunting, gathering or small plot cultivation. Traditionally, most of humanity did not have the option of feasting upon multiple varieties of food at every meal. Starvation was much more of an issue than gluttony.

Only of late has humanity had access to the vast array of foods now available. Globalization and cheap transportation now brings the food of the world to our swollen tables. The era of the idyllic family farm has evolved to that of the laboratory. Corporate chemists in pristine lab coats constantly strive to design new concoctions to tempt our spoiled palettes. Meanwhile, the advertising department provides public education and nutrition information about their "new and improved food" while we are left to wonder what was wrong with the food we had. Television advertising creates cravings where none previously existed. Like the Romans and their vomitoriums, in modern day America, we often eat not to fuel our body but instead to pleasure our jaded taste buds. Endless new combinations and super sized portions fuel our looming shared future of chronic disease and illness.

If nothing else, we must relearn how to eat simply and only when hungry. Wait to let food digest before eating again. Different foods take different times to digest but a good rule of thumb is to wait 30-60 minutes for fruit, 1-2 hours for vegetables, 1-3 hours for vegetable proteins & starches, and 3-4 hours for animal proteins. (OHI)

In my personal experience, these principles seem to work. My primary evidence is the absence of that "too full" feeling after eating. I feel lighter and sharper when I eat in proper combination. I do not get heartburn when I move quickly. If I eat poorly for a few days, my energy level drops significantly and I feel lethargic. When my digestion is unencumbered, I literally feel lighter on my feet.

An unanticipated benefit to strictly following this regimen was that I suddenly became quite acutely aware of what I was putting in my mouth. Regardless of how one feels about the act of focusing upon food decisions, making them with absolute health and digestibility in mind leads to the beginning of a completely new relationship with food. The discipline of eating simpler foods, less of them, and never more often than 3 hours apart made me immediately much fussier about what I put in my mouth. It is the waiting that really requires discipline waiting at least 2 hours to drink and 3 to eat, generally.

How do we institute these changes into a "normal" eating pattern? We do not. Normal is a lie advertised and sold to us by Kraft and McDonald's. We must instead completely change the way we think about food and commit to consistently eating just what the body needs to fulfill its biological and cellular functions, and in a way that is easy to digest. The catch phrase of the day in health advice is lifestyle changes. In order to change a life, the mind must first change. Think about it. Print some charts for your kitchen. Experiment. Eat. Enjoy. Discover real food again, and keep the future from becoming a bad joke.

Sources

Diamond, Harvey and Marilyn. Fit for life. New York, NY : Warner Books, c1985.

Hawkins, Melanie. THE SCIENCE OF TROPHOLOGY. Advisor: Terry Silver. Tennessee State University. Department of Human Performance And Sport Sciences. http://www.tnstate.edu/research/researchsymp2005/F10 .pdf

Healing Daily.com. Food Combining. 2002 by Marc Leduc. http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/food -combining.htm

Internet health library 2000: Diet and Lifestyle: Food combining http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/DietandLifestyl e/Food_combining.htm

Marine Corp Fitness Training. Food Profiles - TROPHOLOGY - THE SCIENCE OF FOOD COMBINING. http://marinecorpfitness.tripod.com/id12.html

Optimum Health Institute. http://wiliweld.com/food/food.jpg

Reid, Daniel. TROPHOLOGY - THE SCIENCE OF FOOD COMBINING. HPS-Online Guided Cleansing: Food Combining. http://www.hps-online.com/food/index.htm#science

Shelton, Herbert M. The Hygienic System, Vol. II, Orthotrophy. San Antonio, Texas: Dr. Shelton's Health School, Sixth Edition, 1975. First published 1935. http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/020126 shelton.orthotrophy/020126.toc.html

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Food combining. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_combination

Charts

http://wiliweld.com/food/food.jpg

http://www.happycow.net/images/food-combination-char t.gif

http://www.mydr2.com/figures_used/trophology_chart/t rophology_chart.jpg

http://www.thewolfeclinic.com/images/foodcombining.j pg

http://www.hsu.com/images/food_combining/food_combin ing_charts_small.jpg

http://www.alderbrooke.com/images/chart.jpg