Oranges and Bananas Don't Mix

Well, our kitchen is completely gutted and we had to move our culinary operations down into our cold and foreboding basement. But now that things have settled down, I think I can start blogging again.

Here is what I just ate for lunch:

What you see there are red seedless grapes, mango, and banana resting quietly on a bed of Cost-Co's Spring Lettuce Mix. That's it. All raw. All vitally alive. And please note there is no salad dressing. With all of these fruits, you don't need any salad dressing. Not only that but the greens cut the sweetness of the fruit and the sweetness of the fruit cuts the bitterness of the greens. It's a perfect harmony--no fats or oils. Completely Fiberific. 

By the way, I only just learned how to properly cut a mango. I was making it way too difficult on myself and actually kept trying to peel the whole thing. How stupid of me! Here's how to cut a mango to learn for yourself. See how simple it is?

Lately I have been very interested in learning about food combining, which foods go best with what. This is especially important when you're eating more raw foods together in a meal. I have known about the concept of food combining for a long time because my grandparents use to have food combination place-mats, but I never took any of it to heart--until now. 

What happened was I juiced an orange, pineapple and mango, then blended it all with a banana. Big mistake. It didn't go down well at all. What's up with that, I thought? It's all fruit, nice and alive, why doesn't my stomach like it? Well, after quickly doing a little research I learned one of the first rules about food combining:

Acid fruits should not be eaten with Sweet fruits. In other words, oranges and bananas don't go together like a horse and carriage. Acid fruits should be eaten with other acid or sub-acid fruits and sweet should be eaten with other sweet. Sub-acid can be eaten with either acid or sweet. 

Let's think of them as three families. Two of the families are like the Montagues and the Capulets, always at war with each other. Then there's a third family in the middle that plays with both sides, but never allies with them; they stay neutral. This neutral family is comprised of the sub-acid fruits. But the Acids and Sweets are at war--when eaten together, they can make your stomach do loop-d-loops. Who knew food could be so violent! 

The concept of food combining might seem pretty strange to someone who's never heard of the idea before, but most of us don't eat too many raw foods together, so why would we need to pay attention? Well, if you're starting to introduce more raw food into your diet like I am, you'll quickly see why you might need to start learning some of the basic rules. You can get all crazy with it, like anything, but this main rule is a great one to follow if you're just starting out. I am just starting out myself, too!

So let's quickly analyze my lunch up there and see why I combined those particular foods.

Most grapes are sub-acid, and mango is considered sub-acid to sweet. Banana is sweet, so we have a fair food combination between the neutral Sub-acids and the Sweets. Then I ate them all together on a bed of lettuce because lettuce (and celery) go nicely with fruits as I mentioned above. But don't eat Fruits with Vegetables; they're enemies, too, apparently. (Tomatoes and cucumbers don't count.)

Finally, this meal is completely fiberific, the importance of which seems to be way understated in our Western culture. The importance of eating whole foods lies in the fact that you are eating the fiber that comes in a whole food. Fiber acts like Dran-o does for a clogged sink: it de-clogs all the crap inside of us, literally and figuratively. From the research I've done, we could avoid many diseases if we just increased our dietary fiber intake. And no, fiber supplements don't count! And processed food? Fugghedabouddit.

Eat B(right),

Veggie Daddy