These days, the market is flooded with digestive aids and
antacids. This points to the fact that digestive problems are more common than
we think. Digestion problems are a subject of much debate among Ayurvedic
experts who attribute the widespread nature of digestive problems to bad food
combinations.
You’ll be surprised to know that even the healthy foods that
you have been eating may be causing you gastric trouble. Understand that
Ayurveda’s view of determining the correct diet for you is based on your unique
body-mind constitution. You can learn more about your own constitution by
taking this quiz. This approach is radically different from the modern
understanding of a balanced diet.
Understanding Food Combinations
Ayurveda states that every food has its specific taste, a
heating or cooling energy and an effect on the body after digestion.
While your individual digestive fire largely
determines your ability of digestion, eating the right food combinations is an important factor as well. This is where we need to understand that when we
consume two or more foods with different tastes, energies or post-digestive
effects, our digestive fire can become burdened.
Poorly digested food then causes us indigestion and other
gastric issues. Here is a list of incompatible food combinations to avoid that
will ensure you stay healthy.
Food Combination Rules
While this is by no means a comprehensive list, these are
some bad food combinations that make you sick:
Don’t combine | With |
Beans | Fruit, cheese, eggs, milk, meat, and yogurt |
Eggs | Fruit (especially melons), beans, cheese, fish, milk, meat and yogurt |
Fruit | With any other foods unless they are cooked combinations prescribed by your Ayurvedic practitioner or with foods that have the same taste, energy and post-digestive effect |
Grains | Fruit |
Honey | Boiled or cooked honey, when mixed with an equal amount of clarified butter |
Hot drinks | Mangoes, cheese, fish, meat, starches, yogurt |
Lemon | Cucumbers, milk, yogurt, tomatoes |
Melons | ANYTHING! |
Nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, etc.) | Dairy products, melons, cucumbers |
Radishes | Bananas, raisins, milk |
Starches | Eggs, tea, dairy, bananas, dates, most fruits |
Yogurt | Fruit, cheese, hot drinks, meat, milk, nightshades |
Reducing the Effect of Bad Food Combinations
While a digestive fire that is all ablaze is the best way to
deal with digestive issues arising from bad food combinations, here are some
hacks:
- When
we consume certain food combinations for a long period of time (say, the cheese and meat as classic breakfast) our bodies adapt to it. Of course,
this is not to encourage the practice but someone consuming a wrong combination for the first time is sure to feel its negative after-effects. - Ayurvedic
cooking hacks to balance foods such as adding a cooling herb to very spicy food can bring down some of the heat. - Apart
from using the right spices and herbs, cooking the opposing foodstuffs in the same vessel (like different vegetables) can get them to learn to be harmonious. - Other
antidotes like adding a stimulating spice such as cardamom to coffee can help alleviate its negative effects. This is because coffee is a
stimulant, but ultimately it causes dehydration in our bodies.