FOOD COMBINING
By Dr. Bernarr, D.C., D.D.
Dr. Virginia Vetrano writes, "When foods are eaten in incompatible mixtures, the efficiency
of digestive enzymes is reduced and the food will decompose in the digestive tract. The
products of fermentation and putrefaction, which result from bacterial decomposition, will
poison the body when absorbed by the small intestine."
"If one were to take tomatoes with potatoes, the potatoes would not be properly digested
because the acid of the tomato destroys the alkaline medium which is necessary for the
action of ptyalin. Ptyalin simply cannot function in a highly acid medium, and the potatoes
must wait until they reach the small intestine for further digestion. Meanwhile fermentation
takes place in the stomach because if digestive enzymes don't hydrolyze the food, the
bacteria will turn it into alcohol and acetic acid. These poisons are absorbed by the villi of
the small intestine and irritate every organ and tissue with which they come in contact. The
whole organism is alerted of the danger by the nervous system and assists in their expulsion.
This causes enervation by making the body work hard to eliminate toxic material. To keep
up gastrointestinal activity when the enzyme necessary for proper digestion is rendered
inactive by acid, also wastes nerve energy. One's health and strength is built by what one can
digest, absorb and assimilate. If poisonous bacterial wastes are absorbed instead of nutrients,
health cannot be maintained or built."
"The products of fermentation irritate all tissues with which they come in contact. Daily
gastrointestinal irritation from the products of fermentation may cause the gastric irritation
to progress to inflammation and then from there to ulceration and finally cancer."
"The Hygienist does not agree with the thought of physiologists that salivary and gastric
digestion are unimportant. The thoroughness with which enzymes do their work depends
upon the amount of time they have in which to work. Obviously, therefore, thorough peptic
digestion of protein will shorten the time required for the completion of protein hydrolysis in
the intestine."
"The several enzymes of the pancreatic and intestinal juices that complete the digestion of
proteins, carbohydrates and fats in the intestine, function only in an alkaline medium. The
chyme from the stomach is acid, but bile from the liver and the pancreatic juice, both of
which are alkaline, quickly provide an alkaline environment for the action of the enzymes in
the intestine. We need not concern ourselves with combinations, as they relate to intestinal
digestion, except to point out that the best preparation for intestinal digestion is good
salivary and gastric digestion. Food combining is, therefore, of greatest important as it
relates to salivary and gastric digestion."
Dr. William Howard Hay wrote, "If starches are taken combined with acid fruits, and the
stomach contents are withdrawn at intervals during digestion, it will be observed that the
action of ptyalin has ceased and that the starches are not being split but will give the intense
blue reaction of iodide of starch when iodine is applied to the chyme removed from the
stomach. The same test may be performed with a combination of starches and proteins-the
extraction of parts of chyme at intervals, as they happen during our digestion, will always
show this arrest of ptyalin digestion, meaning that the starches then unsplit will never be
properly split."
The physiologist A. H. James wrote in "Physiology of Gastric Digestion", "The highest
acidities of all are reached during the digestion of food, not when the stomach is empty."
Dr. Daniel Munro wrote in "Man Alive, You're Half Dead!" about laboratory confirmation
of the starch-protein concept. Three Philadelphia investigators studied five subjects. The
investigation clearly showed that when high starches and high proteins are mixed at one
meal, there is too much acid to permit the continued alkaline reaction of the starch part, and
not enough acid to start the digestion of the protein part.
Ivan Pavlov wrote about his classic observations on dogs in "The Work of the Digestive
Glands," that hydrochloric acid is stimulated in exact ration to the amount of protein
presented to the digestive tract.
Hannah Allen wrote that, "acid inhibits starch digestion, and that the functioning of the
gastric protein-splitting enzymes, such as pepsin, are prevented by an alkali...do not combine
starch with acid and do not combine starch with protein. When foods are eaten in
compatible mixtures, and the efficiency of digestive enzymes is reduced and inhibited, the
food is subject to decomposition in the digestive tract. If the digestive enzymes cannot
perform their intended functions of breaking down and hydrolyzing the food (adding water
from the body's reserve supply), bacterial decomposition may occur, resulting in
fermentation, and the production of alcohol and acetic acid, which are volatile poisons...No
acids (tomatoes) should ever be used with grains because of their high content of starch."
"Simplification of the diet-fewer foods at a meal, elimination of some of the worst food
combinations (for example, acid with starch, sugar with protein)-will result in better
digestion. Do not combine sweet fruits with foods that require a long digestion time (such as
protein, starch, acid fruit). The sugars in sweet fruit are apt to ferment if digestion is
delayed. Chemical analysis of fecal residues indicate that starch and protein are better
utilized when eaten separately than when eaten together. It seems indisputable that foods
required an alkaline condition for their digestion should not be eaten with foods
necessitating an acid condition for their digestion."
Dr. Arthur Cason in London, England, wrote about two groups of experiments made by him
and his aides which showed that the eating of protein and carbohydrate at the same meal
does not retard and even prevent digestion. Cason made control tests in which were
recorded digestive rates for each, and a finally analysis of the feces was made. Cason wrote,
"such tests always reveal that the digestion of proteins when mixed with starches is retarded
in the stomach; the degrees varying in different individuals, and also in the particular protein
of starch ingested. An examination of the fecal matter reveals both undigested starch
granules and protein shreds and fibers, whereas, when ingested separately, each goes to a conclusion."
Harvey Diamond in Fit For Life writes, "The principle of proper food combining suggests
only this: We don't want to waste energy. We don't want food to sit around rotting in the
stomach for eight hours and fouling up the intestines for twenty hours more. What we really
want is food going into the stomach and being there approximately three hours with no
putrefaction, no fermentation, no gas, no flatulence, no heartburn, and no indigestion
requiring medication. We want food to pass quickly and efficiently through the intestines.
The way to insure that is to have one concentrated food at a time, not two. Eating two
concentrated foods simultaneously will cause the food to rot, and rotten food CANNOT BE
ASSIMILATED! Improper food combining drastically thwarts the assimilation and the
elimination cycles."
Dr. Herbert Shelton wrote, "The changes through which foods go in the process of digestion
are effected by a group of agencies known as enzymes or unorganized ferments...Each
enzyme is specific in its action. This is to say, it acts only upon one class of food substance.
The enzymes that act upon carbohydrates do not and cannot act upon proteins nor upon
salts nor fats. They are even more specific than this would indicate. For example, in the
digestion of closely related substances, such as the disaccharides (complex sugars), the
enzyme that acts upon maltose is not capable of acting upon lactose. Each sugar seems to
require its own specific enzyme. The physiologist, Howell, tells us that there is no clear
proof that any single enzyme can produce more than one kind of ferment action. This
specific action of enzymes is of importance, as there are various stages in the digestion of
foodstuffs, each stage requiring the action of a different enzyme, and the various enzymes
being capable of performing their work only in the preceding work has been properly
performed by the enzymes that also precede. If pepsin, for example, has not converted
proteins into peptones, the enzymes that convert peptones into amino acids will not be able
to act upon the proteins."
T. C. Fry wrote, "What causes indigestion, acid stomach and gas emissions? There are a
multitude of factors that can contribute to upset stomach, sour stomach, heartburn, belching,
foul gas emissions and other intestinal problems. The foremost causes are: Eating foods
together that are incompatible in digestive chemistry. Eating foods with differing digestive
times, thus causing the fast-digestive foods to be held up such that it ferments or sours."
In the Old Testament (Exodus) of the Bible, it is written, "And Moses said...Jehovah shall
give you in the evening, flesh to eat, and in the morning, bread to the full...and Jehovah
spake unto Moses saying at evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled
with bread."
Orthodox Jews contend that they follow a physiologically excellent practice, when they
refrain from eating milk and flesh together.I have helped thousands of people and animals, world-wide, heal themselves of all kinds of
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Dr. Bernarr, D.C. D.D.
God Healing, Inc. Natural Hygiene Society, Inc.
P.O. Box 1523 Santa Monica CA 90406 USA
Telephone: (310) 396-2914; (310) 352-0458
Web Site: http://www.healself.org
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