THE FOOD COMBINING CHART
for a smooth digestion
Important: Only combine where circles touch directly!
* Click here for a printable version
of this food combining chart
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Asparagus | Kale | Artichokes | Meat | Amaranth |
Bell Pepper | Leek | Beets | Fish | Buckwheat |
Broccoli | Lettuce | Beans | Foul | Quinoa |
Brussels Sprouts | Onions | Carrots | Avocado | Millet |
Cabbage | Parsley | Corn | Beans | Oats |
Celery | Radish | Jicama | Cerals | Rice |
Chard | Rhubarb | Peas | Nuts | Spelt |
Chicory | Spinach | Potatoes | Flax Seeds | Wheat and Flours |
Chives | Summer Squash | Pumpkin | Pumpkin Seeds | |
Collards | Swiss Chard | Hubbard Squash | Unhulled Sesame Seeds | |
Raw Corn | Tomatoes | Winter Squash | ||
Cucumber | Turnip | Banana Squash | ||
Endive | Turnip Greens | Yams | ||
Escarole | Watercress | |||
Garlic | Zucchini | |||
Green beans |
Important: Only combine where circles touch directly!
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Banana | Sweet Cherries | Grapefruit | Cantaloupe |
Dates & Figs | Sweet Apple | Orange | Crenshaw |
All Dried Fruit | Sweet Berries | Lemon | Honeydew |
Persimmon | Apricot | Lime | Muskmelon |
Prunes | Papaya | Pineapple | Watermelon |
Sweet Grapes | Pear | Pomegranate | |
Mango | Sour Grapes | ||
Sweet Peach | Cranberries | ||
Sweet Plum | Sour Peach & Plum | ||
Sour Apple | |||
Sour Cherries | |||
Strawberries |
Water | 0-15 minutes |
Juice | 15-30 minutes |
Fruit | 30-60 minutes |
Melons | 30-60 minutes |
Sprouts | 60 minutes |
Wheatgrass Juice | 60-90 minutes |
Most Vegetables | 1-2 Hours |
Grains and Beans | 1-2 Hours |
Meat and Fish | 3-4 Hours+ |
Shell Fish | 8 Hours+ |
1. Protein and carbohydrate concentrated foods
Breakdown of protein requires an acid medium, and digestion of protein dense animal products requires high levels of hydrochloric acid. Since digestion of carbohydrate dense foods requires an alkaline medium in order to be broken down, high carbohydrate foods that have been mixed with high protein foods will not digest but will sit there fermenting, producing indigestion, bloating and gas. And since this fermentation of carbohydrates will inhibit the digestion of the protein, more gas, bloating and discomfort will be produced. This makes the typical American meal, composed of a large hunk of meat along with potatoes and bread, a recipe for digestive disaster.
Most protein foods are best digested when accompanied by a fresh green salad. Other concentrated protein foods like nuts and seeds combine well with acid fruits such as oranges, pineapples blackberries, or strawberries. They also work fairly well with sub-acid fruits such as apples, cherries, mangos, or peaches. The vitamin C in these fruits aids digestion of the mixture.
2. Eating two concentrated proteins together
Each type of protein requires a specific character, strength and timing of digestive juice secretions. This means that no two types of concentrated protein
should be consumed together at a meal. Nuts, meat, eggs, cheese, or other protein foods should not be eaten together. And no two types of animal protein
should be eaten together, a rule that may be hard to swallow by the surf and turf crowd.
3. Protein and fats
Fats inhibit the secretion of gastric juices needed to digest meat, fish, dairy products, nuts, and eggs by as much as fifty percent. When fat concentrated foods
are eaten with protein concentrated foods, the digestive breakdown of the fats is delayed until gastric juices complete their work on the complex proteins. This
means fats will remain undigested in the stomach for a long period of time. Although some high protein foods also contain high amounts of fat, these fats will be
held in suspension awaiting breakdown without impeding gastric action. However, free fats such as oil, butter and milk fat will coat the gastric mucosa,
inhibiting gastric juice. This is why fried chicken is so hard to digest.
4. Acid fruits with carbohydrates
The enzyme in saliva that begins the breakdown of starch concentrated foods in the mouth does the important job of converting complex starch molecules
into more simple sugars. In order to work, the enzyme requires a neutral or slightly alkaline medium, the natural condition found in the mouth. When acid foods
are eaten, the action of the enzyme needed to break down starch is halted because the medium needed has been altered. Thus acid fruits should not be
eaten at the same meal as sweet fruits or other starches. This combination is what makes spaghetti and other dishes combining tomatoes with starch so
bloating.
5. Acid fruits with protein
Oranges, tomatoes, lemons, pineapples and other acid fruits can be easily digested and produce no distress when eaten away from starchy and protein
foods. However, when included in a meal that contains a protein concentrated food, the acid fruits seriously hamper protein digestion. This is in part what
makes the typical American breakfast of orange juice, bacon, eggs and toast such a digestive nightmare
6. Starch and sugar
Eating starches that have been disguised as sweets is not a good way to eat starch. Although the “treat” produces an abundance of saliva, the saliva contains
none of the enzyme needed to digest the starch because the sugar has turned the environment acidic. This is why such items as fruit filled Danish settle on the
digestive tract like a sack of bricks. The carbohydrates are fermenting in the body, producing noxious gases.
7. Consuming melons
Melons should not be consumed with any other foods. Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, and the more exotic melons should always be eaten away from
mealtime and alone. Melons are meant to decompose quickly in the digestive system, which is what they will do if there is no interfering with the process.
8. Consuming milk
Milk is best left to babies who traditionally consume it alone, away from other foods. Milk does not digest in the stomach, but in the duodenum, so the presence
of milk in the stomach does not promote secretion of gastric juice. The use of acid fruits with milk does not cause any digestive difficulty, although the benefits of
the antioxidant potential of the fruits may be lost due to the affinity they have for the protein in milk.
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Comments
Thanks for the valuable information.
- arianaWhere do dairy products fall into this chart? Personally, I discovered that eating whipped cream or ice cream after dinner will invariably trigger gastric reflux.
- Lyn Falkowski
Thank you for your consideration.This is so, so great, thank you very much. Much needed. Will share with many.
- Tendai FudailI like the idea of your charts, but you have me confused. The charts have protein and starchy vegetables overlapping, yet meat and potatoes are a bad combination. It would seem that the protein should only overlap low and non-starchy vegetables.
- Barbara EvansIn you chart, how do you differentiate cereals from grains? Eggs are not in the chart.
- Gregthanks so much for all teh awesome graphics and info!
why is Quinoa in the grains category? I was under the impression it was more high protein and more like a legume..???
- MarcelleYou do great charts but you don’t provide a printer friendly version. It would be easier for me to compile info if you did. Hopefully this condition is not intentional. The information is so necessary for people to see not being able to print the body of the information is inhibiting.
- Woody
Thank you for your time
Woody@Woody – See near the beginning of the page for a printable version of the chart.
- adminvery useful infromation-very interesting.
- Claudia BarteltThank you for the chart. I have a high level of acidity and so appreciate this help.
- nuala mulleady
NualaThank you for making the food combining and acid/alkaline food chart so clear to understand. This is invaluable and should be brought into our schools and well as advertized in the produce department of stores.
- KimThank you for preparing easy to understand information on food combining. It is most helpful in that it answers many questions about reasons for bloating,gas and indigestion.
You have done a great service in preparing this valuable information. Thanks again.
- ViThanks for the great food combing tips
- jeffThank you so much for all this valuable information,Maybe now I will be able to get rid of my bloating,and pain.
- Sonny
Kindest reguards Sonny.This is just great.
- MAUREENThis has been a wonderful help. thank you thank you. Ingenious!
- MG HENRYIt is a wonderful help for everybody !It is a very valuable information .Thank You
- Niazii find your information a great help in my quest for alkline body. please keep up the great work
- WILLIEThank you very much for such great knowledge on the combination of foods it will help me to correct my eating habits , again many thanks .
- zelina
blessings to youSo, it appears one should never eat fruit with anything. Melons I knew needed to be separate – learned that in a Mediterranean cooking class.
- KarenI can’t thank you enough for this food combining chart. I have the hardest time choosing what I should eat, sometimes I just don’t eat anything.
I need to eat though because I lose weight easily.
Again, thank you this is very helpful.
Student for life
- Shelly
ShellyI’ve just recently discovered this site and I’m very interested in learning much more.
- Sonia
Thank you.ThankQ very much for your kind help to save the human beings health…
- saikishoreYOU JUST MADE MY LIFE SO MUCH MORE SIMPLE….THANK YOU…..
- TRICIAits amazing and really beneficial thank you so much
- Aliya ShahidI believe this could be the reason i have not been able to lose weight even with the help of a personal trainer and nutritionist each week!!!
- joanne clarkThanks so much for your valuable info.
- phyllis cherault
Very helpful!!I can’t wait to get started in transforming my body into a whole new me using all that I have learnt here. So thankful. So naive before I visited this site.
- Sue HealI have tried food-combining before (another company) with pretty good results. Lost 10 lbs but can’t seem to lose another pound. I do admit to eating too many sweets. However, I have read that lemons are alkaline not acidic. Can you clarify on that?
- Carol BrightI find it hard to put foods together to lose weight..When you are young, they work, when you are older, what works…breakfast and dinner foods are what we need to know to create energy and not put on weight…Exercise is different than when you are young and have to move to complete a day…when you are older, exercise is getting up and ready for breakfast and then for dinner…only exercise is moving from chair to chair to bed. Thanks for your help
- TootTHANK YOU! I’ve been aware of this knowledge for many years. I’ve gotten away from it and was excited to come across your website to assist my journey to get back on track. I sure did feel clear headed and energetic when I did!
You have presented this concept in a VERY SIMPLE and clear way to process and follow.
- Jeanette
I really appreciate your link to download the PDF also!! Great to post on the frig ;o)Thanks, The recommended combination charts simplify a lot a healthy menu selection.
- Thomas HartingThank you so much for availing this information. Will definitely trial it and see how it will assist my health.
- Frances Moorethank you for this information. hope it will improve my life its worth the try
- richard wiscombSeriously! an excellent amount of info. Thank you.
- WendyThanks very much for all these information.It could help me a lot in my work as a Nutritionist/Dietitian.
- LEONE SORIANOThis is so interesting and I hope that I can learn to follow it. I have had problems with my digestion since a teen ager and so am anxious to try and combine the items correctly and hope it will help me. I take vitamins that help me but not enought, Thank you for your generosity in sharing the charts with those of us who have severe problems with eating. I am 91 and find it very difficult to eat properly. So good luck to me. Thanks.
- cecilia jerniganhi thank you for posting this its has really been helpful , I am have been struggling with being over weight all my life so I am hoping with with your help I will be able to reach my goal I loosing 120lbs, I am present weight is 250lbs
- AriaWhen my daughter was 5 she developed cancer [which I couldn’t understand since we eat holistically] but the Drs said it was environmental. At 7 she had a heart attack and 8 a stroke. Now she has cardiopulmonary from the chemo used to treat the cancer [against my wishes, as I had suggested holistic alternatives]. I personally believe food can heal us. Thank you and many blessings Ruth
- RuthI also wish to express my gratitude to “The Alkaline Diet Guy” for such wonderful and user-friendly information. I have only been applying these dietary principles for two weeks and I am more energetic already. I am sure that I will soon be more productive again. You have made me so happy! THANK YOU, Michael!
- MykelHi, fantastic chart thank you do much!!
I don’t see kiwi fruit anywhere, which category would they be and also turkey and seafoods? I’m quite happy to eat loads if salads but do you have any dressing suggestions?
- Sophie
Thank you so much:)
Cheers
SophieKiwis are one of the most alkalizing fruits.
Turkey and seafood are acidic but can be eaten in balance with the diet.
Lemon juice and certain oils are fine for dressings.
- adminI am impressed on how much my mood has improved by doing this diet for only 15 days.
I also noticed that if I keep gluten away I do not have any cravings at all.
The site is very informative and easy to use.Congratulations!
- FernandaThank you for the wonderful chart. I have been getting lower left back pain for few months.None of the doctors are able to find the problem. One, however said, it could be due to gastritis. I do regurgitate a lot and there is heartburn at times.
I am fed up of that constant nagging feeling in my mind about the pain. My body gets heated up suddenly as if I have fever. Few days i would be free without any pain but again for the next few days i would get pain. My lower back would be very stiff.
Looking forward to getting started.
- ShwethaVeggie Smoothie: Passed
Fruit Smoothie: Uh ohI got my fruit smoothie idea from the book “Fit For Life”…my first introduction to proper food combining. Perhaps not so unfortunately, the almonds in the recipe are on the protein side and the bananas and strawberries conflict, too. (I included blueberries, also.) Perhaps the mild gas I typically experienced consuming the fruit smoothies was a result of the combination? I ignored it as I believed it was a sign my body was still too toxic.
I subsisted mostly on these two smoothies daily for 6 months and felt physically and mentally very strong…and calm. Now, I want to get back to this nutritional way of life, but could do without the gas from the fruit smoothie, though. Will definitely remove the almonds from the recipe, first. If this kills the gas, I’m gonna need some strong will power to kill the strawberries, too.
- 2LouGit2Kwit
Share the knowledge:
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- Food Combination Diet Benefits
- Proper Food Combining for Maximum Results
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- Food Combining Diet for Vibrant Health
- Healthy Food Combining
- Combining Foods So You Never Worry About Health Again
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