ORIENT YOUR EATING

Ah, my readers – you’ve come back again have you? If you could see my face, it’s super excited (and flawlessly made up thanks to a new foundation discovery as of late, but that’s a topic for another post). How can I ever thank you for reading all my ramblings? I’ve got it! How’s about I take you with me on a journey. A journey of discovery and wonder. Yes, a journey to the Orient (No, not to Panda Express! Although all this healthy eating does have me craving some orange flavored chicken….mmmm). The Orient, as in the Eastern World. But before you pack your bags, let me specify that we’ll be visiting the Eastern World of MEDICINE and not the actual physical location. Sorry if I fooled you. For lack of a better phrase, I guess you could say I’m full of crap. Which leads me to the topic of today’s post.

DIGESTION

For the past few months I’ve been having minor tummy troubles. Details omitted (your welcome) these symptoms have only intensified with my new dietary inclusions discussed in my last post. An already irritable stomach combined with new and different foods, does not make for a comfortable combo. So after limiting my processed and packaged food intake, as Pollan prescribed, I thought my stomach woes would wane. Not the case. And this led me to wonder, what the heck is going on? (Apparently when I wonder I slip into a hick/valley girl voice).

So as I continue to research healthy eating, my mission is twofold. 1. I want to learn more about WHAT foods are best for consumption and really do the most good for my body. (ie: the topic of my last post) And then there’s point number 2 that I happened upon while Google-ing away an afternoon (don’t judge me – you do it too). There, in an article somewhere in cyberspace, I came across a word that I’d never seen before: Trophology. (Note – this is not the study of trophies, as one might think. Not you, cause you’re super smart, but you know…some people might think that. Some people named Kim, what?)

Trophology as defined at dictionary.com is “a branch of science dealing with nutrition.” Oh great, you say to yourself, as the tree of health advice continues to grow with yet another branch. But wait wonderful reader! I bring up this aspect of health not to confuse, but to reveal some truth that society has been hiding from us! Think of me as Julia Roberts in that Erin Brockovich movie. Ok fine, with less (much less) of a chest and less important an issue, but you get the point.

Why do I say society has been hiding something from us? That’s easy – because they have. I feel like a little kid who’s been told one thing her whole life and then suddenly I find out it’s all been a big fat lie. Comparative to when I was told via classmates that the jolly man in a red suit doesn’t actually deliver gifts come mid December. Or how about the time my brother revealed that the one hiding candy-filled eggs in Spring looks less like a fluffy bunny and more like Bruce Dalton. The truth hurts – but I don’t want my food habits to, and so I welcome this new ideology.

Specifically, Trophology is the study of food combining. WHAT?! You mean I not only need to eat the right foods, but now you’re telling me I have to care about the order and combination of said foods? Bogus! I know, right? That’s what I thought at first too. But hear me out. I want you to know the truth about the American diet. And for the record, I don’t present this information as some preachy call to action for you. Instead, I hope you’ll think of this more as a shared realization. I’m simply hoping this will help with my digestion dilemmas. And if you think any of this info will help you too, well then, you just eat it up baby!

So point number 2 on my healthy eating mission = WHEN to eat certain foods and in what combinations to induce my best health and a happy tummy.

Blah blah blah – get to the big fat lie society has been telling us Kim! Ok people. Brace yourselves – this could rock your dietary world. That is if you’ve made it this far into the post without falling asleep. Don’t you wish some blogs could have snooze buttons that wake you up just in time for the important part? Wish granted.

WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!

Let’s think of the most popular and prevalent American food combos:

• Joey Tribbiani’s favorite (THE SANDWICH)
• The ultimate source of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Power (THE PIZZA)
• The leading players of the All American BBQ (THE HOT DOG and THE HAMBURGER)
• Garfield's saucey siren (THE MEAT AND CHEESE LASAGNE)
• A Texas staple (THE STEAK AND A BAKED POTATO)
• The New Orleans quintessential lunch (THE PO BOY)
• A McDonald’s trademark (THE BURGER AND FRIES)
• The All American breakfast (THE EGGS AND TOAST)

So let’s take a closer look at this menu. The common thread between all of these entrées? Protein and Starch. It’s that mouth watering wonderful combo most all of us grew up on and still salivate over today. That said, here’s what I’ve learned about the protein starch combo via my research on Trophology.
It all comes down to the enzymes our bodies release when we eat certain foods. One website I found (http://chetday.com/fcprins.html) describes this concept pretty well:

“The principles of food combining are dictated by digestive chemistry. Different foods are digested differently...

• Starchy foods require an alkaline digestive medium which is supplied initially in the mouth by the enzyme ptyalin;
• Protein foods require an acid medium for digestion- hydrochloric acid.

As any student of chemistry will assure you, acids and bases (alkalis) neutralize each other. If you eat a starch with a protein, digestion is impaired or completely arrested!

The undigested food mass [that just sits in your stomach] can cause various kinds of digestive disorders. Undigested food becomes soil for bacteria which ferment and decompose it. Its by products are poisonous…”

WHAT?! Wait a minute, the very basis of the Western Diet halts digestion, sits in our stomachs and becomes poisonous as it slowly makes its way through our bodies? Can I get a capital Nasty? That very well may be the hardest nutrition info I’ve ever had to digest.

While that sinks in (or sits in our stomachs in this case), let’s take our journey to the world of Eastern Medicine as promised many paragraphs ago. I did promise you, didn’t I? And let’s be clear on this: Society might lie to you – but I said we’d venture East, and so we shall. So let’s go as far East as the Borders Bookstore east of my apartment. There in the health and nutrition section I walked past Susanne Somers, Billy Blanks and that butter-lovin’ lady from the Food Network and found what I was looking for, “The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity.” Behold the power of Eastern medicine. The premise of the book revolves around that familiar black and white circle – Yin and Yang. You know, equilibrium, moderation, any balanced word will work. Within the pages, Trophology is described at length but in a very reader friendly format. The basic premise is to combine only those foods that digest similarly at the same meal. At first this sounds somewhat difficult, but it really only means a few minor changes in comparison to other Western diets we all know and love to despise: Atkins, South Beach, Liquid Diets, The Kellogs Cereal Diet, etc. Most all of these call for a RADICAL change to your diet through the exclusion of whole food groups or types of food. The ‘food combining lifestyle’ is simply a means of helping you eat healthy foods in a way that allows your body to soak up all the nutrients Mother Nature has to offer. Other areas of health and life are discussed in this book as well, but let’s just say that some of them are a little too east for this west coast girl.

And with that, I’ll conclude my post for today by saying that I’m making this digestive chemistry a matter of personal experiment. I could explain Trophology in more detail, but my goal is not to force feed you info if you’re not hungry for it. I’m one day strong in my application of what I’ve learned, and so far so good. Now it’s time to wait for the results!

If you’d like to know more about Trophology – I’ve broken the concept down into an outline that is super easy to understand. Comment on this post, and I’ll share with you more of my west coast translated wisdom from the east. Or if you’d rather set out on a Trophologic Google adventure of your own, here are a few websites I found helpful. Let me know what you think. I found all this fascinating!

http://www.alderbrooke.com/images/food-combining-chart-front.jpg

http://www.alderbrooke.com/images/food-combining-chart-back.jpg