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

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!

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.

Comments

• Thanks for the valuable information.

  - ariana

• Where do dairy products fall into this chart? Personally, I discovered that eating whipped cream or ice cream after dinner will invariably trigger gastric reflux.
  Thank you for your consideration.

  - Lyn Falkowski

• This is so, so great, thank you very much. Much needed. Will share with many.

  - Tendai Fudail

• I 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 Evans

• In you chart, how do you differentiate cereals from grains? Eggs are not in the chart.

  - Greg

• thanks 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..???

  - Marcelle

• You 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.
  Thank you for your time
  Woody

  - Woody

• @Woody – See near the beginning of the page for a printable version of the chart.

  - admin

• very useful infromation-very interesting.

  - Claudia Bartelt

• Thank you for the chart. I have a high level of acidity and so appreciate this help.
  Nuala

  - nuala mulleady

• Thank 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.

  - Kim

• Thank 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.

  - Vi

• Thanks for the great food combing tips

  - jeff

• Thank you so much for all this valuable information,Maybe now I will be able to get rid of my bloating,and pain.
  Kindest reguards Sonny.

  - Sonny

• This is just great.

  - MAUREEN

• This has been a wonderful help. thank you thank you. Ingenious!

  - MG HENRY

• It is a wonderful help for everybody !It is a very valuable information .Thank You

  - Niazi

• i find your information a great help in my quest for alkline body. please keep up the great work

  - WILLIE

• Thank you very much for such great knowledge on the combination of foods it will help me to correct my eating habits , again many thanks .
  blessings to you

  - zelina

• So, it appears one should never eat fruit with anything. Melons I knew needed to be separate – learned that in a Mediterranean cooking class.

  - Karen

• I 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

  - Shelly

• I’ve just recently discovered this site and I’m very interested in learning much more.
  Thank you.

  - Sonia

• ThankQ very much for your kind help to save the human beings health…

  - saikishore

• YOU JUST MADE MY LIFE SO MUCH MORE SIMPLE….THANK YOU…..

  - TRICIA

• its amazing and really beneficial thank you so much

  - Aliya Shahid

• I 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 clark

• Thanks so much for your valuable info.
  Very helpful!!

  - phyllis cherault

• 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 Heal

• I 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 Bright

• I 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

  - Toot

• THANK 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.
  I really appreciate your link to download the PDF also!! Great to post on the frig ;o)

  - Jeanette

• Thanks, The recommended combination charts simplify a lot a healthy menu selection.

  - Thomas Harting

• Thank you so much for availing this information. Will definitely trial it and see how it will assist my health.

  - Frances Moore

• thank you for this information. hope it will improve my life its worth the try

  - richard wiscomb

• Seriously! an excellent amount of info. Thank you.

  - Wendy

• Thanks very much for all these information.It could help me a lot in my work as a Nutritionist/Dietitian.

  - LEONE SORIANO

• This 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 jernigan

• hi 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

  - Aria

• When 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

  - Ruth

• I 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!

  - Mykel

• Hi, 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?
  Thank you so much:)
  Cheers
  Sophie

  - Sophie

• Kiwis 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.

  - admin

• I 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!

  - Fernanda

• Thank 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.

  - Shwetha

• Veggie Smoothie: Passed
  Fruit Smoothie: Uh oh

  I 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