I think we all know that certain foods shouldn’t be mixed together- But how strict should we be? Can we eat protein and starch in the same meal? Can meat and milk be mixed together? Will heating honey turn it toxic? Should fruit be eaten alone?
Auyrveda gets dragged out to support many ideas. Food combining is one of them. Reading the ancient sutras is like reading a 2,000 year old medical textbook. It actually has plenty to say about food combinations- it just isn’t what the internet is promoting.
Here are a few combinations that ayurveda advises against.
- Milk/cheese and meat
- Fish and milk
- Ghee and honey
- Milk and citrus/Sour
- Excess curd (yogurt/cheese- especially at night!)
- Salt and milk
- Legumes and meat (will block nutrients)
- baking with honey
To be honest, most of the rules are about not mixing dairy with other things.
It also says that crane fried in lard causes instantaneous death?
Instant. Death!
Uhhh.. Yeah! I Don’t know about that one. Speaking of which, It has a few little gems in the code of conduct. Here are a few of the dumbest ones. One Should not:
- have too much faith in women.
- disclose secrets to women, nor endow her with authority.
- Climb on a tree.
- Laugh loudly
- Release flatus (fart) with sound
- produce any abnormally loud sound at the sight of corpse.
(Chakara Samhita, page 221-222.)
Ah… It’s sooo. Civilised. Truly, every word contained therin is is gospel.
Which is why I’d be hesitant to blindly obey anything it says. Still, Ayurveda makes no mention of not mixing starch and protein. Nor does it suggest we eat fruit alone. Why do you think we have such a complicated digestive system in the first place?
We send things off to different parts of the body for precicely that reason! Protein is digested in the stomach, while starch is sent elsewhere. And besides! If that was true we couldn’t use eggs or milk in baking or make bread. To be honest, it sounds really depressing. We should mindful of what we are mixing together, but perhaps some we needn’t be quite that paranoid?
Let’s enjoy food for once, shall we?
The Snacking Sage 