A diet is considered best when acquired eating habits can remain with a person for life. Most dietary restrictions do not involve such practices and are short-term in nature or even do not bring results. One of the reasons for stagnation in weight loss is the incompatibility of the foods consumed. Interesting? Let's study the topic together!
The principles of separate nutrition have long been successfully used for losing weight and cleansing the body. According to this technique, eating foods that are compatible with each other facilitates digestion and improves absorption.
The author of the method, Herbert Shelton, suggested that nature does not provide for the need for the separation of products in mammals. In wildlife, it is unlikely that there will be a predator that will eat game with carbohydrate products.
The approach seems complicated at first. This article will help you:
- master the principles of separate nutrition for weight loss;
- learn about the compatibility of products when eating separately using tables;
- master suitable recipes for separate meals by adding to the cookbook.
What is separate nutrition?
Separate nutrition is a nutrition concept that is based on the compatibility of different foods with each other. According to this theory, incompatible foods should be consumed at different times during the day. Another option for separate meals is to eat separate food groups on different days.
The founders of this approach to nutrition are Herbert Shelton and William Hay. The theory was described by Shelton in his book Proper Food Combination, published in 1928.
According to the author, the body secretes a large number of enzymes to digest foods of various compositions. However, their productive work requires different conditions: protein foods require an acidic environment, and carbohydrates require an alkaline environment. Therefore, when proteins and carbohydrates are consumed together, enzymes begin to neutralize each other, and the process of food absorption slows down. As a result, the degree of absorption of nutrients is significantly reduced.
Diet for weight loss for 90 days: menu
A 90-day weight loss system is a diet based on separate meals with a special eating order.
Menu by day of the week
Each day is characterized by eating a certain type of food:
- protein;
- starch;
- carbohydrate;
- fruit.
There is also a fasting day, when only plain water is consumed.
- Protein day - eat foods rich in protein: lean meats, poultry fillets, fish and seafood, legumes, dairy products.
- Starchy day - the menu contains only unprocessed cereals, whole grain bread, starchy vegetables (pumpkin, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower). You can drink tea without sugar.
- Carbohydrate day - the diet includes unprocessed cereals, durum pasta, vegetables, baked goods made from durum wheat without added sugar. This day will be remembered for the opportunity to eat 15-20 g of dark chocolate.
- Fruit (vitamin) day - during the day you can eat fruits, drink natural freshly squeezed juices, nuts in small quantities (due to the high calorie content of the product).
- The fasting day is the most difficult physically and psychologically. You need to show perseverance and self-control to achieve your goal. It is recommended to choose a comfortable product as part of your diet.
A prerequisite is compliance with the drinking regime. Do not limit your consumption of pure water. Then, to maintain the diet for 90 days, the cycles of separate meals are repeated in a circle. At the end of the period, the diet changes to normal.
Basic rules for separate meals
1. One meal should contain foods from only one food group. It is necessary to exclude the following combinations of foods from the diet:
- fish and buckwheat;
- potatoes and meat;
- breaded fish;
- sandwich with cheese and sausage;
- meat and pasta;
- scrambled eggs and cheese;
- rice and chicken.
2. One flour product per day is allowed.
3. Fruits and foods containing sugar should not be mixed with animal proteins.
4. You cannot combine sour fruits with flour products.
5. It is advisable to refuse milk. If this fails, then it is better to drink it separately from other foods or combine it with fruit.
6. Watermelon and melon do not go well with any other foods; they should be eaten separately.
7. Protein products do not go well with cream, sour cream and butter.
8. Dried fruits should be excluded from the diet.
Prohibitions
The separate nutrition menu involves the use of a number of restrictions that prevent the formation of unwanted chemical reactions in the digestive system, leading to the creation of deposits of harmful substances.
Thus, nutritional scientists have created a special table regarding product compatibility - it allows you to determine which recipes are undesirable to use in everyday cooking. Using it for at least a month, you can achieve significant weight loss, as well as improve the overall tone of the body and prevent the occurrence of serious diseases.
It is worth noting that such separate meals must be used every day - even small violations in the menu can completely destroy the result of your efforts, returning everything to the original point.
The main limitation concerns foods containing large amounts of protein. The recipes that you have chosen for the day should not contain fish, meat or soy at the same time.
If we talk about eggs and cottage cheese, which are a less concentrated source of protein, then they can be included in separate meals along with the dishes listed above. It is very important to prohibit the simultaneous consumption of proteins, fats and carbohydrates - meat and fish recipes cannot be combined with bread, bananas, nuts, cereals, as well as such a group as sour cream, vegetable oil, cheeses.
The compatibility table, developed for proper separate nutrition, indicates the need to be careful when eating sour fruits and berries. Apples, cherries, cranberries, and lingonberries should be eaten between main meals, making sure that at least an hour passes after them. Milk and melons, represented by watermelons and melons, should be separated from everything else.
If you want such foods to be included in your menu, you should plan more than three meals a day, evenly distributed over time.
The rule regarding the impossibility of using two identical products also applies to carbohydrates. If you want to quickly achieve weight loss using separate meals, then you need to avoid combining porridge with bread, bananas, and other sweet fruits. In addition, it is better not to consume sugar in its pure form, and if necessary, avoid combining it with potato, corn or other starch on the same day.
A standard compatibility chart can help you achieve not only accelerated weight loss, but also improved well-being, increased activity and performance.
Name | Compatible Products | Incompatible products | Eligible Products |
Legumes | Greens, vegetable oil, vegetables, sour cream | Fruits, meat, fish, eggs, sugar, milk, cheese, cottage cheese | Butter, nuts, cereals, bread |
Nuts | Vegetable oil, herbs, sour fruits, cottage cheese, vegetables | Sugar, fish, milk, meat, butter, eggs, sour cream | Cheese, bread, legumes, cereals, sweet fruits |
Potatoes, cereals, bread products | Greens, butter and vegetable oil, vegetables, sour cream | Fruits, fish, eggs, sugar, cottage cheese, meat, milk | Nuts, cheese, legumes |
Vegetable oil | Greens, cereals, vegetables, bread, nuts, sour fruits, legumes | Cottage cheese, sugar, butter, cheese, meat, eggs, milk, fish | Sweet fruits, sour cream |
Dried and sweet fruits | Greens, vegetables, cottage cheese | Fish, meat, cheese, legumes, bread, eggs, butter, cereals, sugar | Milk, vegetable oil, vegetables, sour fruits, sour cream, vegetables, nuts |
Recommendations for separate meals
In order to get the maximum benefit from separate nutrition, you should follow some rules:
- Drink enough water, but do not drink during meals and do not drink earlier than an hour and a half after eating;
- Reduce your usual portions by half;
- Lead an active lifestyle, play sports, burn off the calories accumulated during the day;
- Consume only natural products;
- Eat slowly to feel full;
- Include more fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet;
- Limit salt intake into the body;
- Take at least a two-hour break between consuming proteins and carbohydrates;
- Don't eat fruit for dessert. It is advisable to consume them separately from other products;
- Eliminate fatty, sweet and fried foods from your diet;
- The last meal should be no later than 3 hours before bedtime.
You need to switch to a new nutrition system gradually to give your body the opportunity to adapt.
The essence of the system
The essence of this system is based on the statement that when one type of food enters the body, enzymes break it down more efficiently. As a result, the digestion process and further metabolism are facilitated. Followers of this system believe that with a traditional diet and mixed food entering the body, enzymes “work” less actively, and digestion is impaired. This leads to fermentation and rotting processes, metabolic disorders, increased formation of gases and other disorders.
The separate nutrition scheme is based on the fact that all foods are divided into “acidic” and “alkaline”, carbohydrate and protein. There is also a special group of so-called neutral products, which includes cheeses, fermented milk foods, nuts, fats, fruits, herbs, vegetables, etc.
Protein foods include meat, fish, eggs, legumes, and nuts.
Carbohydrate foods are pasta, bread, sugar, potatoes.
Proponents of this system claim that it normalizes metabolism, allows you to reduce body weight and overcome a number of diseases. Those who seek to practice such a scheme are advised to follow the rules described by Dr. Hay:
- Do not combine carbohydrates with proteins and acidic foods. Products, the consumption of which leads to an increase in acidity in the blood (salads, dairy products, vegetables and fruits) in the general diet should be 4 times higher than the amount of food that increases the acidity of gastric juice (animal proteins, carbohydrates, citrus fruits, nuts).
- The basis of nutrition is vegetables, salads, fruits. But fats, proteins and carbohydrates should be present in small quantities.
- You should completely avoid refined foods - sausages, sausages, etc.
- In order for the benefits of such nutrition to be maximum and the food to be well digested, the intervals between meals should be 4-5 hours. You can eat vegetables or fruits between meals.
- The separate meals menu should be designed in such a way that a person has three meals every day. An approximate menu should be planned so that at the first meal you consume only alkaline foods, at the second - protein foods, vegetable or fruit salads, and at the third - starchy foods, sweet fruits and vegetables. Despite such restrictions, there are many options for such nutrition. Therefore, creating a varied menu for a month or longer will be easy.
- So-called “neutral” products are combined with both protein and carbohydrate foods. Therefore, when creating a menu, you should definitely take this into account and try to include a maximum of vegetables and fruits in your diet.
Sample menu for the day
Breakfast
It can consist of both protein and separately carbohydrate products. Any fruit or fruit salad, vegetables, cottage cheese, omelet are perfect.
Dinner
This is the main meal. We leave soups and broths for the first place. For the second, you need to use neutral foods (vegetables, herbs) along with protein or carbohydrate dishes.
Protein example: a salad of non-starchy vegetables with baked fish or boiled meat or poultry.
Carbohydrate example: any vegetables in combination with any porridge, pasta, baked potatoes.
Dinner
It should be the opposite of lunch, that is, if you had protein for lunch, then you should eat carbohydrates for dinner, and vice versa. In the evening, it is advisable to eat lighter and less calorie foods.
It is recommended to drink juices between main meals. Non-acidic juices can be combined with bread.
How to combine foods in a separate diet menu for weight loss
The incredible effect of this weight loss system is based on the consumption of compatible products. The main rules of combination look like this:
- Protein and carbohydrate foods should not be consumed together.
- Meat and fish can be perfectly combined with a vegetable component. However, compatibility with bread, cheese, dairy products, eggs and various oils is completely lacking.
- Vegetables are the only universal product that can be eaten with any food except milk.
- Milk is not combined with any products. It is only allowed to be used separately.
- Beans and cereals go well with vegetables and sour cream.
- We eat eggs with a vegetable side dish.
- Cheese goes well with vegetable oils.
Pros of separate power supply
Separate meals are often used as a diet for losing excess weight. The advantage of this technique is that compatible products quickly pass through the digestive tract. Separate meals virtually eliminate overeating. The load on the pancreas is reduced. Weight loss occurs gradually, and overall health improves. The menu is enriched with a large variety of products. This is a good basis for leading a healthy lifestyle.
Of course, first of all, separate nutrition is effective when cutting, because it helps get rid of excess fat. Athletes who eat according to this system achieve results faster during the drying process than those who practice mixed nutrition.
THEORY
The separate nutrition system was first voiced by the American doctor Dr. William Hay (Dr. William Hay). In Russian, this system is known as “separate nutrition”, in English its variations can be found under the names: “food combining”, “dissociated diet”, “Hay diet” and even the alkaline diet (“alkaline diet”) can be attributed to this list. Dr. Hay published the principles of his self-developed system of separate nutrition in 1929 in his book Health via Diet.
It is interesting to note that his initial interest in nutrition arose when he became ill with Bright's disease, a severe inflammation of the kidneys that, if not treated correctly, can develop into a chronic disease. This incident caused Dr. Haya reconsider his lifestyle and his attitude towards health. He developed his own nutrition system, began to play sports and run long distances. Later, he began to ardently promote healthy eating and a sports lifestyle, pointing out that they helped him recover.
The separate nutrition system was based on the idea of an unbalanced accumulation of toxic metabolic products that are not eliminated from the body in a timely manner, which, accordingly, leads to illness and death. This is due to the fact that different acid-base conditions are required for the digestion of proteins and carbohydrates, and, accordingly, when they enter the body at the same time, the efficiency of digestive processes is greatly reduced.
Criticism
The effect of a diet based on separate nutrition has been studied in randomized clinical trials. Overweight subjects were divided into two groups. For six weeks, participants in one group followed the rules of separate meals, while members of the other ate a regular balanced diet. The diets contained the same products. After six weeks, participants in both groups showed almost identical weight loss results. Even the concentrations of glucose, cholesterol and insulin in the blood were identical. Measurements of waist and hip volumes in participants of both groups also showed approximately the same result. Scientists have suggested that when losing excess weight, additional division of products into categories is not particularly important. Subjects in both groups lost excess weight only by reducing their caloric intake.1
How reliable is this theory?
The facts about digestion that underlie the theory of separate nutrition are immutable. However, there is one “but” in this logic - it is no coincidence that our body has a digestive tract , and not a “digestive sac”. Digestion is a process that begins in the mouth, continues in the stomach, moves to the small intestine and ends in the large intestine.
Over thousands of years of evolution, the body has learned to efficiently extract, digest, and assimilate various macronutrients at different stages of the digestive process. |
Moreover, the theory that carbohydrates are not fully digested does not stand up to criticism when examined in more detail. The release of stomach acid during a meal stimulates the pancreas to begin producing and secreting digestive enzymes, including amylase. These signals may not be as effective when gastric acidity is low.
Another interesting fact about the pancreas is that in a healthy person it copes well with many tasks at the same time: it produces lipases, amylases, and proteases. She can easily cope with a dish containing carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. When food passes from the stomach into the small intestine, it is already processed chyme (liquid contents (food gruel) of the small intestine), in which it is difficult to distinguish carbohydrates from proteins.
Opponents of separate nutrition consider the division of foods into proteins and carbohydrates to be overly exaggerated, since all the food we consume is not pure protein or carbohydrates, it is usually a mixture of both. As a counterargument, legumes are often cited as examples, which are almost half starch and protein, and many people have difficulty digesting them.
However, the reason for the discomfort from legumes is not at all the combination of proteins and carbohydrates, but because some of them contain trisaccharides that are not digested by our body, since we do not have the appropriate enzyme, but they are actively fermented by bacteria in the intestines.
But if this food system has so many fans, maybe it still has a rational grain? |
The main question to ask is: “Why are you interested in this way of building a diet?” . If your goal is to lose weight, then you will be disappointed.
The only documented and cited research shows that this nutritional system has no advantage over others when it comes to losing excess weight [2]. |
However, if you remember the history of this nutrition system, then perhaps it may be suitable for someone if you set your goals correctly. Despite the lack of medically proven research, many doctors suggest their patients try separate feeding if they suffer from digestive problems such as belching, heartburn, bloating, abdominal pain and swelling.
A quick look back into human history indicates that for thousands of years, humans ate a primarily plant-based diet with occasional access to fish or meat. Most likely, the fruits were seasonal, which means they were eaten separately and only when they were available. If it was possible to catch a fish or kill an animal, then it was eaten immediately and with all its giblets and it was unlikely that they would go looking for lettuce leaves to complement the dish. Exaggerated? Without a doubt. For several millennia, people have had access to fire and prepared complex dishes that include vegetables and grains.
Reviews from those who have lost weight
You can get an idea of the effectiveness of separate nutrition if you study the reviews of people who have lost weight using this technique.
Alice (35 years old). I like the absence of strict restrictions in separate meals. You just need to combine products wisely. It’s hard to call me a fan of this technique, but I try not to mix those products that are marked with a minus in the table (and it hangs in my kitchen). I stopped frying fish, I steam it, just like meat. Two months later, I was suddenly surprised to discover that I was able to put on my favorite jeans, which had been too small for me for several years before.
Nadezhda (28 years old). I remember that for the first two weeks it was difficult for me to constantly monitor how to properly prepare food for separate meals. And now I’ve learned everything, felt the drowsiness and fatigue recede, my waist became thinner, and I enjoy the fact that I don’t feel hungry. The main thing is to drink water between meals.
Natalya (33 years old). I met a friend three months ago and didn’t recognize her – her figure was slender, her face was fresh, her eyes were sparkling. It turns out that she has been using separate meals for six months now. I also caught fire. First of all, I hung a sign on the refrigerator, which clearly indicated what goes with what. I immediately understood everything, developed a menu for the whole week and strictly adhered to it. Everything is very simple. In two months, 4 kg have quietly disappeared and this is not the limit.
Tatyana (45 years old). Gradually, separate meals became a common and easy way of life. After two years, I already know perfectly well what I can eat in any situation so as not to overload my stomach. I quietly lost 10 kg out of 30 extra, so I’m not going to return to the traditional diet just yet.
Pavel (50 years old). I must say that it was not easy to give up kebabs, salted nuts, loaves of bread with butter, and meat in fatty gravy. But the desire to not only remove a sagging fat belly, but also to solve some problems with the intestines (in particular, constipation tormented me) overpowered me. After a year, I can say that for the first month I didn’t eat enough, but then I carefully read the recommendations again and realized that I didn’t have enough regular water. When the daily volume reached 2.2 liters, the feeling of hunger ceased to be so intrusive. What makes me happy is the normalization of intestinal functioning. Weight also drops. Within a year I lost 8 kg.
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Product Compatibility Chart
In order to correctly comply with all the rules and principles of separate nutrition, a compatibility table for different types of products is being developed. It clearly demonstrates which combinations are preferable and which are completely excluded from the diet.
This table of separate meals serves as a convenient navigator when drawing up a daily menu, since the main types of products recommended for consumption are listed and the degree of their compatibility with each other is reflected - bad, acceptable or good.
Since in most tables products are combined into groups, you need to know their contents.
- Sour varieties of fruits include citruses, plums, kiwis, pomegranates, and sour apples.
- Semi-acidic fruits are apricots, peaches, cherries, and sweet plums.
- The group of sweet fruits includes green grapes, bananas, and dried fruits.
- Starchy vegetables include carrots, rutabaga, dry peas and beans, and beets. This also includes squash, zucchini, celery, and potatoes. Contains starch: radish, pumpkin, Jerusalem artichoke, radish.
- Other vegetables are considered low starchy or non-starchy. This is cabbage - broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Peking cabbage, kohlrabi, cabbage. Also included in this category of vegetables are eggplant, green peas, asparagus, lettuce, cucumber, sweet pepper, and radish.
Having such a table in the kitchen constantly before your eyes, it is impossible to make a mistake, understanding, for example, that meat is best served with non-starchy green vegetables, sauerkraut or herbs. Pumpkin and zucchini are well digested in the company of potatoes, sour cream, and vegetable oil. You can create many combinations in accordance with the reflected data, diversifying your menu.
Several popular recipes
Having understood the basic rule about prohibiting the use of incompatible products in one dish, you can prepare tasty, easily digestible dishes.
- Chicken salad with grapefruit
You will need: 200 g of chicken breast - fillet, one grapefruit, a head of red onion, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a teaspoon of French mustard seeds. Salt, ground black pepper, basil to taste.
The fillet cut into pieces is marinated for 10 minutes in olive oil with the addition of pepper and salt. Fry until done and cool. Peeled and freed from partitions, the grapefruit is cut into pieces, the onion into half rings. Mix the ingredients and add mustard and basil.
- Vegetables with chicken breast in a slow cooker
You will need: one chicken breast fillet, cauliflower, broccoli, herbs - parsley, dill, cilantro. Pepper, salt to taste.
Rub the skinned chicken breast with salt and pepper and put it in the refrigerator for two hours. Wash the vegetables. Fill the multicooker 1/3 full with water. Place chicken with vegetables in the basket and turn on the “steam” mode for 40 minutes. A healthy dish for lunch is ready.
- Tuna salad with vegetables