Q: I know you said what started you on the road to fitness was food combining. But, it seems you recommend , like Tom Venuto, a protein and carb at each meal, except at night where you slash the carbs.

Do you still food combine?

I am a petite 5 foot one 120 pounds, which I have finally come down to but have maintained that weight for two years. I want to get down to 115, yeah just a stupid 5 pounds, but the scale does not like to budge, so I am wondering if the food combining thing would be good?

Lauren,
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A: Thanks for the question Lauren. To fully understand my answer to this question, I feel that I must describe the events that led me from food combining all the way to Tom Venuto and his Burn The Fat program. In other words, from vegetarian to meat eater.

When I first began my weight loss journey back in 1990, I learned about Food Combining. I was about 450 at this point and what food combining did for me was to reset my digestion. Digestion of foods is the most energy consuming thing the body does. By using food combining, I was able to release an enormous amount of energy. This energy went into the cleansing process of my body and I was able to improve my sleep, feel more energized and improve the quality of my skin (after the initial cleansing process).

What I found to be most interesting was the principal of proper fruit consumption.

Harvey Diamond mentions in his book Fit For Life that fruit is a completely separate entity, and within the fruit category, fruits digest at different rates.

What was proposed to me was that fruit is pre-digested and should not be eaten with a meal, or after a meal, but rather it must be eaten by itself on an empty stomach. What I learned was that fruit slides right through the stomach in 20 minutes or less with the exception of Banana’s which take about 45 minutes.

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