Sunday, March 27, 2011

Food Combining. An Explanation

Our family has recently changed what we eat and when.

It's all about food combining.  It's about digestion, absorption, and better nutrition.

Here it is.

Breakfast: (Fruit and Carb)
Fruit

Ezekiel Bread, pancakes, muffins, quick bread, oatmeal (all made with organic sprouted spelt flour and organic grains)

Lunch: (Vegetables and whole grain Carb)
Raw vegetables or salad
Organic brown rice pasta, organic brown rice stir fry (no meat), homemade fries, baked potato, Vegetable sandwich/panini, brown rice sushi, Vegetable and pasta soup etc...with steamed/roasted veggies.

Snack: (Carb or protein depending on how to close to dinner)
chips (limited)
Mary's Crackers
raw veggies and hummus or cheese dip
cheese

Dinner: (Vegetables and Protein)
Vegetable/Meat Soup (no carbs)
Raw vegetables
Salad
Steamed, sauteed, or roasted vegetables. (lots of colors and varieties)
Meat or eggs (try as free-range, hormone and antibiotic free as possible)

Snack:
Almonds
Endangered Species chocolate

I've lost 18 pounds since the beginning of January. That's about 12 weeks ago. I'm not fat, per se. I'm 5'11' and can hide extra weight pretty easily (You really want to know my weight don't ya.)  I'm only 4 1/2 pounds heavier than when I got married.  The last time I weighed this little, I hadn't eaten for 5 days having almost died from Meningitis 3 years ago. But that's a story for another day.

I feel SO much better now.  I'm still losing weight and expect to level off when I get to my healthy me.

I'd like to add that I haven't exercised regularly. I stay pretty active running up and down the stairs doing housework but I'm not strong heart healthy.  I'd like to add regular daily exercise into my regime.  I know that I need to.  I say this because I know it's easy to say you can't lose weight if you have a bad back or you have injuries that prevent exercising. This is a fantastic way to get your weight down.  I'm never hungry.  I eat when I am hungry.  Over time, I notice that I don't need to snack as much because my meals are more nutritious and filling.

I've upped the amount of vegetables that I eat by at least 40-50%.  I used to eat maybe a salad and some cooked vegetable at dinner along with meat and some kind of carb.  Now I eat at least 4 different kinds of vegetables at dinner besides a salad.  It definitely requires more prep, but there are so many ways to cut corners. Use fresh frozen veggies, pre-cut veggies, teach your kids how to wash and cut veggies, prep them on the weekends when you have time. I like to buy the sliced and washed mushrooms because I really don't like to clean them.  One of my local stores often pre-cuts and packages zucchini and yellow squash, peppers and onions, and they are the same price per pound as the whole vegetables.  I guess they haven't figured out that they could charge more!  I make a lot of veggie stir fries for dinner.  Tonight I made one with large round sliced organic carrots, red onion, left over green beans, and beet greens (the top of the beets).  I sauteed them in a little butter and sprinkled on some sage, coriander, garlic powder, and salt and pepper.  I covered the pan to let the beet greens wilt down.  There is nothing left.  It was delicious!  Mix it up!

The money you save not buying boxed and pre-made foods can be put towards vegetables.  I can't wait till my local farm stands and markets open up.  I always save a bundle buying locally grown produce and it feels really great to support my local farmers and their families!

This really feels drastic at the outset when you are used to combining your carbs and proteins.  It's kind of like re-starting your "way of cooking" at first. It shook me up a bit and I felt a lot culinary helplessness!

I prayed.  I read. I looked for inspiration.  I found it on different recipe sites and other blogs. I wrote down all the vegetables I like to eat and which vegetables that I wanted to learn to eat.  Then I started writing a food log of everything I ate every day and my morning weight.  It was fun to watch the pounds drop off!

Now I'm happy.  I'm very comfortable with the eating plan now.  I don't have plans to eat differently.  The benefits outweigh the need for bacon and pasta.  I can cheat here and there but when I do, I feel it.  My body is happy with food combining.

There is so much more information out there about food combining. That's not my focus.  I just wanted to share what and how and why I do it. 

I'm happy to share my food log if you're curious or what answers to questions.  I'm not an expert. I'm not a doctor. I'm just sharing what works for me.

All the food that I feature (except for the cookies :) ) are things that I eat regularly or daily.

Happily,
The Lunch Lady

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Hannah- Where did you get this inspiration/direction? Did you read it in a book or was it recommended to you from someone? Would love to read more on the subject.

The Lunch Lady said...

Eliza - Hubby and I had our blood analyzed by a friend that's a Chiropractor/Nutritionist. He recommended the food combining "diet." (He's actually hubby's cousin's hubby and will be guest blogging sometime soon about Blood Analysis)
Several family members have had great success with this. I'll ask Dr. Drew if he has any reading on it. He studied this in school.

Unknown said...

Thanks Hannah- Look forward to his posts. One more question. Any chance you will add a "search this blog" option to your blog. So many times I see something you post come up but can't get to it right away. Would love to be able to search key words within your blog. I really am not usually so demanding :0) I really do love your blog and return to it often! Also love sharing it with my friends and fam.

The Lunch Lady said...

I did have that feature but it was at the bottom of my blog in a completely useless spot! I've moved it up to under the twitter updates...Hope that helps! Thanks. I'm always looking to make this more user friendly. Let me know your thoughts!!

Unknown said...

Hi there, a very good read and it sometimes just takes someone to post something like this to make me realise where I’ve been going wrong! Just added the site to my bookmarks so will check back now and then. Cheers. list of acid and alkaline foods