No, You Shouldn't Order that Taco Salad: A Lesson in Food Combining

Allow me to introduce the Taco Salad:

Yes, Taco Salad may look darn tasty but did you know that it may actually be wreaking havoc on your digestive system and contributing to that lower abdominal bulge?  Yes, sorry to say, Taco Salad is a food combination nightmare!

Proper food combining is the technique of placing together certain food groups for maximum digestion that allows the foods to be broken up as quickly as possible so that they can make a speedy exit through your system and not sit in your bowels, fermenting for days.  Fermentation of lingering food not only causes you to be uncomfortable (think bloating, flatulence and constipation) but it also feeds that annoying Candida and contributes to its overgrowth in the body.

I know this all seems very bleak, but there is some good news here! Food combining is actually incredibly, astronomically, magnificently EASY!  It all boils down to this simple rule: flesh with vegetables or starch with vegetables.  Since Taco Salad combines ground beef (flesh) with refried beans (starch) and rice (starch) and vegetables it is not proper food combining (see previous paragraph).


So, if you want a chicken breast (flesh) you can enjoy it with steamed broccoli and a mixed greens salad (vegetables).  Or, if you happen to feel like a pizza (starch), you can enjoy it with all the vegetable toppings you'd like, you just have to hold the meat.  You see, when meat and starch are present at the same meal they will bind to each other and slow both of their passage through your GI tract, contributing to your feeling of abdominal discomfort.  But when they are kept well away from each other, things will continue along swimmingly.  Please note though, that cow dairy is bad no matter which way you combine it so you're best giving it up in favor of a non-dairy alternative (click here to see my almond mylk recipe).  Fruit should always be eaten on its own, far away from meals (first thing in the morning is best).

Here is a handy chart to give you a basic understanding:

Flesh	Starches	Neutral
Organic Chicken breast	Baked Sweet potato	All raw vegetables
Organic Fish/seafood	Baked squashes (butternut, acorn, spaghetti)	All cooked vegetables (that are not starches)
Organic, cage-free eggs	Baked Yams	Lemons
Grass-fed, hormone-free, organic meat	Millet, Quinoa or Buckwheat (all GF)	Himalayan Rock Salt
	Avocados	Almond Milk
	Beans	Raw Chocolate

So, you can choose either a flesh or a starch and combine them with any neutral ingredients to make up a meal that leaves both your stomach and your waist-line happy!

Happy combining!