A good friend of mine (who shall remain nameless for her own safety) was chatting to me recently about her day of healthy eating including her favourite snack of cottage cheese and blueberries. It was heartbreaking to have to tell her that this is actually a less than optimal manner in which to consume these two wonderful foods. Dairy products (especially ones containing high amounts of casein protein seem to make many polyphenols (found in berries) much less available for absorption into the blood stream from the gut. I wasn’t too popular after pointing this out. I cried a little. We both did.
However that conversation inspired me to write this blog, detailing some other good and bad food combinations to help our readers make some small adjustments to their meal plans.
It must be said that the way you combine your food will not make a huge amount of difference overnight. You’re certainly not going to add an inch to your arms or suddenly have killer glutes just by changing your morning milk for greek yogurt (see item number one). The most important thing is to be eating a healthy, balanced diet full of nutrients.
That being said, if you are looking for a few ways to take your nutrition to the next level of perfection, this should help.
Bad Combinations:
1) Cereals with Milk
I probably won’t win any friends with this one because let’s face it us Brits love our morning cereal with ice cold milk (semi skimmed of course). It’s been a tradition in this country since the days when the white stuff got delivered to our front doors in glass bottles with different coloured foil lids. Which we then collected and sent to Blue Peter. No? Just me then.
The truth is that cereals and milk both contain high GI (read rapidly absorbed) carbohydrates, which cause blood sugar levels to spike and then drop dramatically as a surge of insulin is released to repair the damage. This leads to the all too familiar mid morning energy crash (you know that feeling when your head feels like it weighs 100lbs and your neck seems to be made of rubber bands?)
To aid digestion and slow down the energy surge, add fat and protein to your morning meal by pouring your cereal over some zero fat greek yoghurt and adding a handful of almonds or walnuts. Tasty!
2) Wine with Dessert
Again this is a popular choice around the world. Nothing finishes off a nice meal at a restaurant or in your friend house like a generous helping of pudding and the last few mouthfuls of that delightful red wine your host has just spent a painful twenty minutes describing to you as if you really care where it came from. Just pour the damn stuff!!
Or don’t. At least not with dessert. Alcohol interferes with blood sugar by increasing levels of insulin, which then converts the dessert’s extra sugar into fat. And that causes weight gain. No big shock there.
If you must have a glass of wine with dinner (let’s face it we all do it from time to time) try to drink it during the main course and if possible combine it with low GI foods such as vegetables, which reduce the alcohol’s sugar surge. Just don’t try making a veggie and wine smoothie. Trust me it doesn’t work and your partner will get upset with you for staining the blender with wine. Again.
3) Salad with Low-fat or Non-fat Dressing
‘But it’s OK I had a salad!’ said the obese person as they waddled out of McDonalds feeling super proud of themselves and clutching the toy they stole from the defenceless kids ‘Happy Meal’. Incidentally I think McDonalds should be sued for false advertising. There is NOTHING happy about that meal. Nothing at all! But I digress…
Contrary to popular belief, low-fat dressings are not the best choice for flavouring your salad. The vitamins in your salad such as A and K need some fat to be absorbed. Hence their catchy name ‘fat soluble vitamins’. Come on guys the clue is in the name! So avoiding fat entirely prevents maximum nutrient absorption. And let’s not forget that many ‘low-fat’ or ‘non-fat’ dressings are full of sugar, which is rapidly converted inside the body and stored as fat. So how exactly are they low-fat? The mind boggles!!
Dress your salads with olive oil and your choice of vinegar. This will aid nutrient absorption and give your salad that bit of ‘zing’ they need to stop you thinking about the fact that you’re eating rabbit food.
Good Combinations:
1) Oatmeal and Orange Juice
OK so fruit juice can be high in sugar so many people avoid it but when used in moderation, especially in this combination, the classic OJ (not Simpson - no one would want him round for breakfast) can actually save lives. Ironically enough.
Consuming a glass of vitamin C-rich orange juice whilst eating a bowl of real oatmeal cleans your arteries and prevents heart attacks with two times as much efficacy than if you were to ingest either on their own. The organic compounds in both foods (phenols) stabilise your LDL cholesterol (so-called ‘bad cholesterol’) when consumed together.
2) Apples and Chocolate
No I haven’t gone mad… Well no more than usual.
Apples, especially ‘Red Delicious’ (incidentally my stage name) are known to be high in an anti-inflammatory flavonoid called quercetin. By itself, quercetin has been shown to reduce the risk of allergies, heart attack, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and prostate and lung cancer. Go quercetin!!
Chocolate, especially ‘Dark Chocolate’ (incidentally my friend Sonia’s stage name) contains the flavonoid catechin, an antioxidant that reduces the risks of atherosclerosis and cancer.
When ‘Dark Chocolate’ and ‘Red Delicious’ are teamed up (tickets available online) quercetin and catechin loosen lumpy blood platelets, improving cardiovascular health and providing anticoagulant activity.
We also do kids birthday parties.
3) Peanuts and Wholewheat
This one is genius because it means a peanut butter sandwich is not necessarily junk food! When it’s done in the right way. I’m still waiting for the report that says the same about a full tub of Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. At this stage the results are still inconclusive.
The specific amino acids absent in wheat are actually present in peanuts. You need (and very rarely receive in one meal) the complete chain of amino acids in order to build and maintain muscle mass. Especially as you get older.
So enjoy a peanut butter sandwich made with organic peanut butter and wholewheat bread. An ideal time to consume this is immediately after you exercise. Someone even told me once that it was a better post workout fix than ‘That chemically enhanced gym-rat protein shake you’re gulping down that’s aimed at meat heads and steroid abusers!’
So I stole his sandwich and kicked him in the shin.
Well that just about does it… I hope this has given you a few ideas and inspired some small changes.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter and Instagram and ‘like’ my page on Facebook. I’ll be providing more tricks, tips and humour in the near future.
I’m also available for PT sessions… Visit my website to see what it’s all about and book a free consultation.
Yours in Health and Fitness,
Jonny Spurling
London Personal Trainer and Blogger
Twitter: @JonnySpurling
Instagram: Jonny_Healthy_Happy
