You can't mix fruits and veggies???

[Flowtron]

I have a Vitamix to help me with my vegetable intake. I just toss in a bunch of fruits to mask the veggies.

Anyway, I was searching for some smoothie recipes, and I stumbled upon something that blew my mind - you're not supposed to mix fruits and veggies. Purportedly, it creates a chemical imbalance because your body breaks down fruits and veggies differently. Worst case scenario, you don't absorb the nutrients and toxic builds up in your body.

Anybody else heard about this?

Seems these days, science is getting way too advanced for my peace of mind. I also read you're not supposed to mix meat and potatoes.

[Holto]

Ridiculous.

[Mercuryblade]

Well first off, our perjorative definition of a "fruit" versus a "vegetable" isn't usually correct...

If you read something online that sounds ridiculous or stupid, it probably is.

I would also hazard a guess that if you google "toxins" about 99% of what turns up complete bunk.

[Flowtron]

So I did some research, and this is what turned up.

To fully understand why you should not combine fruits and vegetables while juicing, you may want to get a book from the library about food combining.

When you learn about food combining, you will realize that certain foods work well together and other foods do not.

Vegetables require different enzymes for digestion than fruits. When you combine the two, you create bad digestion. Since the whole purpose of juicing is to improve your nutritional intake, mixing fruits and vegetables together is not a good idea because you sabotage your digestion which in turn hampers your ability to absorb the nutrition.

The only exception is apples which have a neutral effect and can be blended with vegetables.

Saying that, when you juice, you want to focus more on juicing vegetables than fruits anyway. It's better to eat fruits since fruits are easily digested and most of the health benefits, such as fruits ability to cleanse the body, are only obtained when eaten whole. Drinking fruit juice is more a treat. Fruits are just too high in sugar to be juiced all the time.

One possible reason why others say that you can juice vegetables and fruits is because they are in the business of selling juice machines. As a result, they need to make juicing glamorous and delicious in order to sell their juicers. But if you are serious about juicing, you will quickly realize that the sugar content of fruit makes them unsuitable for frequent juicing. Why? Because a sugar is a sugar is a sugar, no matter its form or origin. All sugars, in excess, lead to sugar related health problems — hypoglycemia and diabetes are the two most common sugar related health problems.

Here's the first paragraph of another article, that gets way technical.

http://askville.amazon.com/mix-fruit...questId=145152

The principle behind food combining is that different food classes require different enzymes, different rates of digestion, and different digestive pHs for proper digestion. If the foods of the different food classes are combined incorrectly, the specific requirements for their proper digestion tend to cancel each other. For example, flesh foods require an acid media for digestion, whereas milk is highly alkaline, so it can neutralize the acid required for digesting the flesh foods. Fruit digestion results in the release of an alkaline secretion, which neutralizes the acid secretions, needed for protein digestion. Because of this, it is not a good idea to eat fruits and proteins at the same meals. Some foods are digested faster than others. If fast-digesting foods like fruits are held up in the digestive system for a longer time than necessary through being combined with foods that digest more slowly, fermentation takes place. For this reason, it is good for digestion to eat fruit and starches, which are digested slowly at different meals. Fruits and vegetables require different digestive enzymes, which tend to neutralize each other, so these too are best taken at separate meals. The simplest rule of food combining is to eat foods or combinations of foods that in our direct experience are easiest to digest. It is usually easy to digest foods from the same food group or from two compatible food groups. Vegetables should be eaten with protein meals and carbo meals. However, too much of even a single food is taxing on the digestive system. Easy to digest combinations include predigested proteins with vegetables or sweet or sub acid fruits.

[Flowtron]

Okay, so I did a search on "food combining." I guess that's the term for it. Here's the chart you should stick to, for healthy absorbtion and digestion of nutritional intake. Bummer indeed.

http://www.alderbrooke.com/chart.php

[Behemoth]

This is actually really true. I did it once and and had to start all over. 8 years of lifting down the tube.

[Mercuryblade]

So I did some research, and this is what turned up.




Here's the first paragraph of another article, that gets way technical.

http://askville.amazon.com/mix-fruit...questId=145152

Just do yourself a favor and stop googling stuff. Sifting through articles may seem daunting, but there is just a lot of crap out there, "eat proteins and carbohydrates at a seperate meals" is one of the dumbest things I have ever read in regards to nutrition.

If you are really curious about digestion/foods pick up a textbook about biochemistry, or ask Holto some questions as he knows a lot more about the nutritional side of things than I do.

[Nicky]

I also read you're not supposed to mix meat and potatoes.

WHOA!! Well I've wasted 34 years.

[Off Road]

Meat and potatos?
Say it isn't so...
Nnnoooooooo...

[dynamo]

all i ever eat is banana creme pie so it looks like im good to go. I can not to wait to get heyyooooge off banana creme pie and start a new fatkins diet based on it.

[Skalami]

i could see maybe acidic fruits and alkaline veggies not being good... dont know why

[dirty-c]

For those who respond ridiculous, it does seem that some of the "food combining theory" is ridiculous - such as the notion that protein and carbohydrate cannot be combined. That is fundamentally ridiculous because many foods found naturally in nature (such as legumes and nearly all leafy greens) contain both starch and protein.

However, I do think there is some merit to the the "no fruits and veggies" thing. I recently started trying to get more veggies in my diet. I was already at 3-5 servings a day, but I wanted to get more like to 8-12. So I tried shoving spinach, kale, collard greens and carrots into a blender. Not a juicer...a blender. That way I still get the fiber.

It tasted like licking the lawn mower....
So I tried adding fruit to mask the horrible earthy taste of the veggies.
I added an orange one day...incredible rancid horrible gas ensued about 30 minutes later and continued for hours.
The next day I tried blueberries...same rancid gas.
Next day I tried strawberries...same rancid gas.

Got rid of the fruit and went back to pure veggie shake - fine again.
In both instances, I was also eating protein and fat with this meal.
The only variable that changed was whether or not I ate fruit.
Pure veggies in shake = no gas.
Veggies + any type of fruit = horrible, frequent, uncomfortable gas.

And just to cover all angles, fruit doesn't bother me any by itself or when combined with anything else. Been eating it for years. It wasn't until I came up with this "super shake" idea and had to deal with the "peel paint off the walls" gas that it caused that I came across food combining.

something to consider...

[Flowtron]

Thanks guys, I'll continue to mix fruits and veggies... for now.

[Flowtron]

For those who respond ridiculous, it does seem that some of the "food combining theory" is ridiculous - such as the notion that protein and carbohydrate cannot be combined. That is fundamentally ridiculous because many foods found naturally in nature (such as legumes and nearly all leafy greens) contain both starch and protein.

However, I do think there is some merit to the the "no fruits and veggies" thing. I recently started trying to get more veggies in my diet. I was already at 3-5 servings a day, but I wanted to get more like to 8-12. So I tried shoving spinach, kale, collard greens and carrots into a blender. Not a juicer...a blender. That way I still get the fiber.

It tasted like licking the lawn mower....
So I tried adding fruit to mask the horrible earthy taste of the veggies.
I added an orange one day...incredible rancid horrible gas ensued about 30 minutes later and continued for hours.
The next day I tried blueberries...same rancid gas.
Next day I tried strawberries...same rancid gas.

Got rid of the fruit and went back to pure veggie shake - fine again.
In both instances, I was also eating protein and fat with this meal.
The only variable that changed was whether or not I ate fruit.
Pure veggies in shake = no gas.
Veggies + any type of fruit = horrible, frequent, uncomfortable gas.

And just to cover all angles, fruit doesn't bother me any by itself or when combined with anything else. Been eating it for years. It wasn't until I came up with this "super shake" idea and had to deal with the "peel paint off the walls" gas that it caused that I came across food combining.

something to consider...

Very interesting.

If it's true that you shouldn't combine fruits and veggies, then you were probably experience the digestive complications that are supported by the theory. Different chemicals are employed by your system to break down the food you consume, and sometimes they can counteract and cause problems.

I've also read that blending fruits and/or vegetables pulverizes all the cell walls of the food, and hence all the nutrients are readily available when you consume the liquified result. This could be too much, too soon for your body to absorb, and thus resulting in complications.

I have the same thing with apples. I don't know what it is. I can eat apples with no problem. Once I juice it or blend it, I'm running to the bathroom two or three times over the span of a couple hours. This happens once every two times I drink natural apple juice out of my kitchen.

Funny thing is, it doesn't happen when I blend the apples with other fruits, like grapes, kale, spinach, berries, etc. I don't get it, but I try not to delve into it too much, 'cause it seems like the more I do, the more I find out how scary science can be. I'm having trouble getting my veggie intake, as is. I don't need more deterrents to throw me off course.

[billigg]

Thank's fir share

[Steve Colescott]

This was big in the seventies (the dark ages of nutrition). I believe is grew out of the concept of vegetarians needing to mix sources for a complete protein. The next stage was considering what did not mix well. Different types of foods are digested at various stages of the digestive process, based on the enzymes and co-factors required for their breakdown.

If two foods upset your stomach, then obviously don't eat them together. ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING TO NEVER MIX THOUGH is do not brush your teeth right after drinking grapefruit juice. Tastes nasty!

[Holto]

It's so easy to think the "basic" nature of something like milk would neutralize the acid of HCL and yes, the overall PH of chyme would indeed be lowered but not nearly as enough to impact it's effectiveness in breaking things down. This is a clear case of just having a surface understanding. It's like thinking that foods that increase insulin are fat promoting. The reality is much deeper.

[mike mcgee]

I have a vitamix as well. When I first got it, I went nuts mixing everything I could think of. I didn't have a problem with digestion as far as stomach pain, but I had the worst gas imaginable. I don't know if it was from the blends I was making, or maybe I was getting "too-much" fiber, etc... Anyways, I stopped blending fruit vegetable smoothies and have been just using it for my PWO shake and other fruit blends. Again, I don't know the exact cause, maybe I had a bug or something. As mentioned in this thread, I too came across food combining as I was researching "why" on the Web. It may be BS, but I feel there is some validity to it.

[nejar462]

Hmm, I have to add this to my list of rules.

1.) Don't ever get your Gremlin wet.
2.) No matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs . . . never, never feed your Gremlin after midnight.
3.) Keep Gremlin away from Bright Light.
4.) Don't mix fruits and vegetables ever. V8 FUSION IS THE DEVIL!!!

[xyzleech]

Hint: Gorilla's wrap banana's into leaves.

[Alex.V]

Hint: Gorilla's wrap banana's into leaves.

You resurrected this thread for THAT?

[Whoopipally]

Hint: Gorilla's wrap banana's into leaves.

hahahaha holy fuck.

I'll take it.

[r2473]

You don't tug on superman's cape / You don't spit into the wind / You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger / And you don't mess around with Jim

....and you don't mix fruits and veggies.

[Alex.V]

/thread

[r2473]

Hint: Gorilla's wrap banana's into leaves.

That's just when they can't find a female gorilla.