Food Combining for Health: The bestseller that has changed millions of lives

Misunderstanding regarding this classification has been the main reason why many investigators have dismissed the starch – protein concept as being without foundation. The main argument put forward to refute this concept is that nature herself combines proteins and starches in most foods; that if it is wrong to combine these dissimilar elements at the same meal then nature herself is in error.

On first glance this argument would seem to be unanswerable; it is widely acknowledged that nature does not make mistakes.

On second glance this argument reveals shallow thinking; nature does not combine in one food a high concentration of protein (as in meat) with a high concentration of starch (as in grains). Although meats do contain carbohydrate, this is in the form of glycogen which requires little, if any, digestion, and its presence therefore does not interfere with the conditions necessary for protein digestion. Similarly, although grains contain about 10 per cent protein, this is incomplete in character, and is not in a concentrated form (as in meat); its presence therefore does not interfere with the conditions necessary for starch digestion.

Apart from the single exception of the mature, or dried, legumes – peas, beans, lentils and peanuts – nature combines starches and proteins in the same food in a form and in proportions which digest together perfectly, and in such a way, also, that the food is either predominantly starch or predominantly protein. The dried legumes are ‘the exception which proves the rule’; they contain too high a percentage of both protein and starch to be compatible in themselves (but become compatible and highly beneficial when sprouted – see Part Two). People who are accustomed to their habitual consumption over a long period can build up a tolerance to them just as they can build up a tolerance, for example, to smoking. But people who are not accustomed to them usually experience discomfort – and very audible protests from their digestive organs!

The Why and How of Starch and Protein Digestion

Proteins require an acid medium for digestion. When animal proteins enter the stomach this stimulates the production of hydrochloric acid which activates the enzyme pepsin, whose function is the splitting and digesting of the proteins. This action in the stomach can only take place in a wholly acid medium; the presence of any concentrated starch or sugar with its accompanying alkalis interferes with, or neutralizes, this acid medium, and the proteins are then incompletely digested. The implications of this incomplete protein digestion are more serious than has hitherto been suspected. This is discussed in Chapter Three, in relation to allergy.

Carbohydrates (starches and sugars) require an alkaline medium for digestion. This is initiated in the mouth by the action of the enzyme, ptyalin, which splits the starches into lower forms before entrance into the small intestine where their further reduction and main digestion takes place. As the whole process of starch digestion depends on its proper initiation in the mouth, all starch foods must be thoroughly chewed, otherwise the small intestine, although alkaline in all its secretions, cannot complete what the ptyalin started higher up in the tract.

The stomach acts as a mixing chamber in which the saliva, with its active ptyalin, is thoroughly incorporated into the starches. During this early period in the stomach, lasting about 30 to 45 minutes, the normal acidity of the stomach is insufficient to cancel out, or interfere with, the alkaline medium necessary for preparing the starches for their intestinal digestion. The presence of meat, however, or other acid-compelling foods, or acid fruits, arrests this preparation and fermentation follows; the splitting-down process of starches can only occur in a positive alkalinity.

When asked what was the scientific basis for the theory that starches and sugars should not be eaten with proteins and acid fruits at the same meal, Dr Hay replied:

If starches are taken combined with acid fruits and if 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.

For many years the teaching has been that the highest levels of acidity are in the resting stomach. This belief has been responsible for the advice given year after year, and still given to ulcer sufferers ‘to avoid letting the stomach get empty’. But a number of authorities disagree with this belief (now in disrepute in certain medical quarters), including the physiologist A.H. James. In Physiology of Gastric Digestion (Arnold, London, 1957) he states: ‘The highest acidities of all are reached during the digestion of food, not when the stomach is empty.’

This fact supports Dr Hay’s contention that if no protein accompanies a starch food entering a resting stomach the amount of hydrochloric acid is insufficient at first to fully neutralize or overcome the alkalinity of the saliva present.

In 1936, the work of three Philadelphia investigators provided interesting laboratory confirmation of the starch – protein concept. In Man Alive, You’re Half Dead! (Bartholomew House Inc., 1956), Dr Daniel Munro gives an account of a study on five subjects by these investigators showing the degree of acidity in the stomach after protein meals, after starch meals, and after combined protein and starch meals. This study revealed that, one-and-a-quarter hours after these meals were eaten, the stomach contents were most acid after the high-protein meal, least acid after the high-starch meal, and halfway between both states after the mixed meal. Moreover, when the mixed meal was eaten it was clear that the proteins were being digested under difficulties as the acidity present was far lower than that shown as required by the all-protein meal and had actually been cut to one-third less by the presence of the starches and their accompanying alkalis.

This investigation clearly shows that when high starches and high proteins are mixed at one meal there is too much acid to permit the continued alkaline reduction of the starch part, and not enough acid to start the digestion of the protein part.

The usual teaching, however, is that when we eat food of any kind (such as proteins and starches) we produce gastric juice which contains hydrochloric acid. The answer, here, is that hydrochloric acid is stimulated in exact ratio to the amount of protein presented by the digestive task. This was shown by Pavlov’s classic observations on dogs in The Work of the Digestive Glands (Charles Griffin & Co. Ltd, 1910).

As already pointed out, the protein in starches such as grains is both very small (about 10 per cent) and incomplete in character, and therefore does not stimulate sufficient hydrochloric acid to interfere, for the first 30 to 45 minutes, with the alkaline medium necessary for the digestion of starches. During this time, the saliva – which has a pH value of 6.6, as compared with the pH 0.9 of pure gastric juice – acts as a natural buffer of the gastric acid.

Some physiologists and physicians disagree with Dr Hay’s explanation of the starch – protein theory and claim that the gastric acid is necessary for the splitting of the starches; the starch is often contained in protein ‘envelopes’ which require the acid for digestion so that the starch can be released. This claim is undoubtedly correct but it does not alter the fact that starches have a preliminary digestion in an alkaline medium which buffers the gastric acid for the first 30 to 40 minutes in the stomach. There is, therefore, still plenty of time for the gastric acid to work on the starches during the remaining three or more hours that they are in the stomach before entering the small intestine. There, of course, the pancreatic juice completes the digestion of carbohydrate (starch, dextrin and the like), and also of protein, in a mainly alkaline medium.

Whether Dr Hay’s explanation of his theory is right or wrong, however, does not really matter; the indisputable fact remains that his theory does most certainly work. As he pointed out, any professor of medicine who claims that it does not has never given it a fair trial, otherwise he could not with honesty make such a claim.

The Importance of the Chemical Balance

For optimum health and heightened resistance to disease the diet should, ideally, consist of alkali-forming foods and acid-forming foods in the ratio, approximately, of four to one, which, when metabolized, will produce a corresponding ratio in the body.

When Dr Hay was asked what was the scientific basis for this ratio, he replied: ‘We have no way of arriving at the relative proportion of alkaline and acid elements needed by the body except through an analysis of its excretions. When we take into account all of the excretions through the four avenues of elimination, we find that the loss in alkali is four times as great as that in acid. This means that if we would replace our losses fully we need four times as much of the alkaline intake as of the acid intake. This is a fact well known to physiologists and can be verified in almost any work on physiology.’

With regard to the chemical balance of the human blood, Dr Hay wrote: ‘It may seem strange that the slight difference between a pH 7.1 and 7.6 spells the wide difference between an acidosis and an alkalosis, yet this is true; and even this slight variation makes all the difference between function of the most chaotic variety and that of high efficiency!’ Judging by the average of those of his patients who had conserved their alkaline reserve for several years through observing the proper ratio of alkali-forming foods to acid-forming ones, the ‘normal’ alkalinity – as distinct from the ‘average’ one – should not be much below pH 7.5. From the standpoint of averages this is considered an alkalosis, yet when the alkalinity of the blood is sufficiently high to show a 7.5 pH, ‘there is extremely high functional activity with comparable feeling of good health, mental activity and physical efficiency’.

An interesting and important sidelight is thrown on this question of alkalinity by Dr Dudley d’Auvergne Wright in Foods for Health and Healing (Health Science Press, Sussex). He points out that ‘the normal alkalinity of the body fluids is the most favourable one for the action of vitamins’. In her book about the growing problem of osteoporosis, Professor Jane Plant confirms the importance of the acid – alkaline balance for the health of our bones and muscles and for our general health. As she remarks, ‘keeping the blood at a slightly alkaline pH is a top priority in the body’. (Understanding, Preventing and Overcoming Osteoporosis by Professor Jane Plant and Gill Tidey, Virgin Books, 2003.)

It is not difficult to distinguish between alkali-forming and acid-forming foods:

Alkali-forming foods comprise all vegetables (including potatoes if cooked in their skins and the skins are eaten);

(#ulink_98738905-515a-52ed-ac79-32ffefe822b5) all salads; all fresh fruits (except plums and cranberries); almonds; milk.

Acid-forming foods comprise all animal proteins such as meat, fish, shellfish, eggs, cheese, poultry; nuts (except almonds); all the starch foods such as grains, bread and flour and other foods made from cereal starches; sugars.

Complete lists of both types of foods are given in the Appendix (page 257).

It should be emphasized at this point that there is sometimes confusion for some people regarding the classification of ‘acid’ fruits (grapefruit, oranges, lemons, berries, etc.) as ‘alkali-forming’. It should therefore be understood that this classification does not relate to the ‘acid’ taste of the fruit but to its end-product in the body.

(#ulink_d6a03a26-2c40-5d8a-b26b-a576f7c5e3ee) The acid fruits, moreover, are the foods which deposit the highest alkaline ash of all foods. It is an interesting fact that the acids of these fruits leave the body within an hour or so of being eaten. They do so via the lungs (mainly), and the skin, urinary tract and bowel. The alkalis, when released from their combination with the acids, provide a highly valuable contribution to the body’s alkaline reserve. The only way in which acid fruits can be said to be ‘acid-forming’ is when they are wrongly combined with starches at the same meal, when they can cause an uncomfortable ‘full-up’ feeling, or even pain. Sufferers then conclude that acid fruits don’t suit them!

In order to approximate the ideal four-to-one alkali – acid ratio, the day’s meals should include one protein meal only, one starch meal only, and one wholly alkaline meal, with occasionally two, or even three, wholly alkali-forming meals. An occasional ‘health day’ on nothing but frequent meals of one kind of fruit – a gesundheitstag as it is called in Germany – is highly beneficial. Young children and people doing much manual work can, however, have extra starch meals.

How to plan these meals is described in Part Two.

A word of warning is necessary here. Changing to any new dietary programme requires, at first, a certain amount of self-discipline. For this reason, compatible eating is not recommended for people who are quite content with their state of health, or who can eat incompatible mixtures without discomfort or apparent harm. Dr Hay warned that such people do not have the very necessary ‘burning desire’ to recover from some departure from health, or the willpower, ‘guts’ and determination to see the thing through. He therefore advised that any change in the diet should be made slowly, by degrees. It was quite sufficient, to begin with, he said, just to observe the starch – protein rule. When this change is well established, the natural whole foods – especially those in uncooked, salad form – should be gradually increased, and any refined carbohydrates, and other processed foods, should be proportionately decreased.

The number of alkali-forming meals should then be increased. Especially recommended for beginners are vegetable or salad meals containing delicious potato dishes; they are not only less expensive but also more satisfying in our cold climate than meals composed of only vegetables, salads or fruit.

Compatible eating, it should be pointed out, can be as cheap – or as expensive – as the housekeeping purse dictates. And it is definitely more economical, as small, correctly-combined meals are better digested and thus more satisfying than large orthodox meals; it is not the amount of food that counts, but the amount that is properly digested, absorbed and metabolized by the body. Proof of this fact for followers of the Hay system is the falling-off of any desire for mid-morning snacks and afternoon tea with cakes and biscuits.

It is important to note that observing the rules for compatible eating considerably reduces the amount of fat in the diet, especially those fats arbitrarily occurring in so many processed, supermarket foods today – and this reduction takes place despite the culinary use of cream which raises compatible eating to delicious heights of enjoyment. Cream, in moderation, is almost a necessity for this way of eating. Health wise, there need be no cause for concern on this score as explained in Chapter 4. Cost wise, the extra expense of cream is balanced by the reduction which compatible eating makes in other food costs, such as those of expensive, ready-made, ‘convenience’ foods, and of the weekly meat bill. Apart from the starch – protein rule, the Hay system is in fact totally in line with the World Health Organization’s recent recommendations for a healthy diet (WHO report, 2003).

It is even more important to note that observing the rules for compatible eating automatically reduces the acid-forming foods in the diet and automatically increases the alkali-forming foods rich in accessory food factors, thereby contributing to the alkaline reserve and a well-balanced body chemistry. In this correct chemical balance lies the secret of health and resistance to disease.

An interesting analogy here is provided by the fact that the correct alkali – acid balance is also of importance in the soil. In the Soil Association Journal of December 1973, Michael Blake draws attention to this fact and stresses that the effect of an imbalance is not restricted to the soil, but is of ‘universal importance to all living organisms’.

Finally, it cannot be repeated too often that the Hay system is not a joyless, wearisome ‘diet’ but a ‘philosophy of living’. Joan Hodgson, a convert to the Hay system, enthusiastically agrees. In A White Eagle Lodge Book of Health and Healing (The White Eagle Publishing Trust, 1983) she writes: ‘Harmonious food-combining is a way of life. Once the rules have become familiar, imaginative cooks can have fun thinking up the most delicious meals. This is not a régime of constant self-denial, but of rethinking the meals so that each one is based on family favourites with food combined in such a way that more nourishment can be extracted with less tax on the digestion, and consequently more energy for enjoying life.’

Fifty years of ‘enjoying life’ on the Hay system, and the experience gained in helping countless people to regain health by its means, have convinced me that health is our normal state, that we were designed, created, born to be healthy. This experience has also provided proof in plenty that correct eating can not only greatly improve the quality of life but can also prevent many of the degenerative diseases.

(#ulink_039f02e6-9fad-5827-91bb-f335263ee66b)In view of sprays that are used on potatoes today it is best to buy organically grown.

(#ulink_c1e07774-8980-5fdd-a6c8-5909d31eb333)It should also be emphasized with regard to the classification of concentrated starches and concentrated proteins as ‘acid-forming’, that this refers only to their end-products in the body, and not to the mediums necessary for their digestion, i.e. an alkaline medium for starches, and an acid medium for proteins.

CHAPTER THREE The Hay System and the Degenerative Diseases (#ulink_fe7cda31-b686-5625-a190-7b5fb1d3fc9d)

The hope of humanity lies in the prevention of degenerative and mental diseases, not in the care of their symptoms.

DR ALEXIS CARREL

There is a generally held belief today that people are living longer than formerly. Although more children survive to reach adult life, middle-aged people have scarcely improved upon the life-expectancy of their great-grandparents. The unpleasant truth is that, instead of living longer to a healthy and enjoyable old age, we are merely taking longer to die.

Moreover, with each generation there is an increase in the ordinary diseases of degeneration, and these are appearing at ever earlier ages than formerly. All the ‘tremendous new discoveries’ in the drug field have been unable to stem this increase. Belief in the curative power of drugs has contributed to this increase by diverting attention from the positive promotion of health.

As a result, the disillusioned drug-givers and drug-takers are now showing a healthy interest in the doctrine of ‘holism’ – treating the whole person rather than just the disease symptoms. There is a much greater emphasis among health professionals on disease prevention, educating their patients to eat healthily, drink sensibly and give up smoking. Complementary therapies such as homoeopathy, acupuncture and aromatherapy are now so widely used that they are no longer seen as ‘alternative’. This is completely in line with Dr Hay’s commonsense principles, which more than ever before are shown to be valid. He advocated the treatment of the patients themselves – not the symptoms – and argued that it was childish in the extreme to suppose we can restore a person to full health without first rooting out the cause of the disease; to do otherwise was just as stupid as bailing out a leaky boat without first finding and stopping the leak.

Dr Hay also argued that this cause, in every case, is one and the same thing – food (over-consumption of refined carbohydrate, and incompatible combinations) – and pointed out that the degenerative diseases are just different manifestations of this one cause. The cure, he pointed out, ‘therefore lies in food always and only’.

This unitary conception of disease bears a close resemblance to that advocated by Surgeon Captain Cleave in The Saccharine Disease (except regarding incompatible combinations with which he was not in accord). He, too, indicts food (over-consumption of refined carbohydrate) as the cause of disease and he, too, points out that the degenerative diseases are just different manifestations of this one cause. This concept, known as ‘the saccharine disease’ (i.e., relating to sugar), is now grudgingly conceded by the medical establishment, and enthusiastically accepted by a growing number of doctors both here and abroad.