Let's start with fruits. In general, it's best to eat fruits alone and on an empty stomach. The reason for this is fruits in the sweet, sub-acid, and melon groups digest very quickly moving rapidly through the stomach and into the intestines where the simple sugars are broken down for an immediate burst of energy. Acid fruits, on the other hand, suspend the enzymatic secretions in the stomach required for digestion and prevent their activity for a period of at least 3-4 hours.

Proteins in general are shown to pair best with non-starchy vegetables and fairly well with mildly-starchy vegetables. Similarly, carbohydrates are also shown to pair best with non-starchy vegetables and fairly well with mildly-starchy vegetables. But the pairing of proteins with carbohydrates is strongly discouraged. Fat and oils are also shown to pair well with non-starchy and mildly-starchy vegetables, while also providing a great mix with carbohydrates (starches). Combining fats and oils with proteins is strongly discouraged.

These food combinations designate the right mixes of foods that allow the body to work efficiently to provide itself with nutrition. Because these combinations do not interrupt or interfere with the body's ability to break down the food it is provided, the body is able to receive from its food all of the nutrients the foods are capable of delivering. A digestive tract unburdened from unnecessary interferences from bad combinations or junk foods, is a digestive system that facilitates superior nutrition.

Now before I illustrate some properly combined meals in the "Sample Menus" part of this article, I want to discuss some of the almost evil concoctions chefs and what passes for cuisine the world over have provided to mankind. The school of Natural Hygiene, from which the system of food combining was derived, discourages the consumption of the following "foods"