LITMIR.BIZ

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starchy foods (with their alkalis) the acid medium is partly neutralized and the proteins incompletely digested.

      Sir John Mills recounts in his foreword to Food Combining for Health how the application of this rule cured the ‘man-sized’ duodenal ulcer that had invalided him out of the army. Within six weeks he was able to start work on a film.

      Rules 2 and 3

      Rules two and three concern the balance of the diet. Doris Grant once wrote ‘cultivate the salad habit as if your life depended on it – it does!’ It is the protective power of raw salads and vegetables with their rich store of vitamins, minerals and alkali-forming properties which helps to give the correct balance for top level health. By the same token we need only small quantities of the acid-forming proteins and starches, and the neutral fats. The ratio to aim for is 4 to 1, alkaline to acid.

      Rule 4

      Rule four is most important. Every effort should be made to cut out sugar, white flour and all foods containing them, and all processed and artificially coloured foods. It is these highly refined foods, robbed of their naturally occurring fibre, that lead to the over-consumption that is now thought to be responsible for so many of our Western degenerative diseases: coronary heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer of the colon and dental caries.

      The concept of a single saccharine disease, i.e. related to the consumption of sugar and white flour, was brilliantly described by Surgeon Captain T. L. Cleave in his book of the same title. The risks to children under 18 from widely advertised and heavily sugared products and drinks have been examined by Elbie Lebrecht in her books Sugar-free Desserts, Drinks and Ices and Sugar-free Cooking. We urge every parent to read her devastatingly clear account of the dangers to our children of a high consumption of sugar.

      Excess sugar can also affect mood and behaviour, particularly in children and adolescents. It can be a contributory cause of hyperactivity and, with white flour, can cause hypoglycaemia and the production of too much insulin, leading to faintness, hunger, irritability and sudden changes of mood.

      We now consume on average about 1 kg/2lb of sugar per week. Two hundred years ago it used to take us a whole year to get through the amount of sugar we now eat in two weeks. We are simply not adapted to this flood of sugar and it is causing an appalling amount of damage to our health. (However, giving up sugar entirely is not easy, and we have included a little honey in a few of our recipes.)

      Putting the Rules into Practice

      The easiest way to put these rules into practice and achieve the ideal ratio of four to one between the essential alkali-forming foods and the acid-forming foods is to arrange the day’s meals so that animal protein is eaten only once a day, cereal starches once a day, and the third meal consists of raw fruit only or raw fruit with milk or yoghurt. Most people eat too much protein and starch, particularly the latter which is found in so many convenience foods.

      All meals should rely heavily on vegetables and fruits; even the protein or starch meals should contain only modest amounts of these latter ingredients, the main emphasis of the meal being on raw salads, vegetable soups or lightly steamed or stir-fried green or root vegetables. In fact, contrary to the usual arrangement of meat flanked by small portions of cooked vegetables, the meal should be a feast of vegetables garnished with the meat, fish or cheese, or the rice or pasta. Ideally it is better to eat meat no more than three times a week and to eat concentrated protein once every other day, alternating with a concentrated starch meal. For top level health one day a week on alkali-forming foods only helps to give maximum protection from the many pollutants in our environment.

      The Recipes

      All the recipes in this book are classified according to these principles and grouped together for ease of reference. Thus in Section One – the Alkaline Meal – the recipes are composed only of alkaline-forming ingredients and each recipe is compatible with every other recipe in that section so that a complete alkaline meal can be assembled without having to consult lists or charts. The same arrangement holds good for the protein and starch sections.

      A well-combined meal plan should look something like this:

      Breakfast

       The best time for the important alkaline meal of the day.

      Fresh fruit in season, or fruit with a pot of plain yoghurt and a tablespoon of fresh or stabilized wheatgerm.

      A hot drink such as weak tea, herb tea, dandelion coffee or real (not instant) coffee, if you must. Make coffee by the filter method and serve with hot milk (half and half).

      Light Meal

       Usually at midday chosen from the starch section.

      A salad of your choice, potatoes cooked in their skins served with butter and a steamed vegetable; a sweet fruit such as banana to follow.

      For a packed lunch a salad sandwich made with wholemeal (wholewheat) bread and butter, a thermos of vegetable soup and a sweet fruit to follow would make a satisfying meal.

      Main Meal

       Chosen from the protein section.

      This meal can include a salad of fresh raw vegetables and/or a vegetable soup, a moderate portion of fish, meat, chicken, game, eggs or cheese, and lightly steamed green or root vegetables, but not potatoes. This can be followed by any of the fresh acid fruits such as apples, pears or oranges, served without sugar.

      Only one protein dish should be served per meal – that is, you would not serve a meat dish followed by cheese or another concentrated protein. If you prefer to eat your main meal at midday, the light meal can be taken in the evening and can either be starch or protein.

      As far as preparation time for these meals is concerned the maxim must be fresh, fast and flavoursome. Meals containing such a high proportion of raw fruits and vegetable should use the freshest ingredients possible, and in our recipes we have tried to keep preparation and cooking times to a minimum. Simple meals consisting of one main dish with a salad or lightly steamed vegetables, followed by a compatible fruit, are far less taxing on the digestive system; the conventional three-course dinner of first course, main course and pudding should be regarded as an occasional treat or for entertaining.

Notes on Foods and Equipment for the Hay Kitchen

      The Importance of Fruit in Food Combining

      Dr Hay listed foods in the following order of importance:

       Fruits

       Raw salad foods and leafy greens

       Root vegetables

       Grains

       Proteins

      He maintained that all the elements for top-level health can be supplied by fruits, greens, roots and milk, and that large quantities of protein and cereal foods can overburden the metabolism.

      He recommended that as far as possible fruit should be eaten raw, provided it is fully ripe. In this way it is both cleansing and alkaline-forming, yielding its full complement of vitamins and minerals. Cooked fruit is not recommended; heat destroys vitamin C and the sugar with which it is so often prepared makes it very acid-forming.

      Some versions of food combining recommend that fruit should be eaten alone and not following a starch or protein meal. Their argument is that the digestion of fruit, which is fast when eaten on its own, is retarded by the slower digesting proteins or starches, resulting in fermentation.

      Dr Hay always said that provided the fruit was properly combined with the meal, i.e. acid fruit with proteins and sweet fruit with starches, there would be no such fermentation. Furthermore such a prohibition greatly lessens the enjoyment of a meal for most people and does nothing to encourage a lifelong adherence to this way of eating.

      Dr Max Bircher-Benner, of Muesli fame, also advocated eating raw food, including fruit, at the beginning of a meal to improve digestion.

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