Healthy is Tasty

Table Of Contents

Preface

Principles of Food Combining

Why Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts and Seeds

2-Month Eating Plan

Start Your Day with fruits

Fruit Salads

Nutty Fruit Salads

Fruit Plates

Fruit Sauces

Smoothies

Fruit and Vegetable Juices

Fruit Milks and Shakes

Fruit Ices

Sandwiches For Lunch

Main Course Meals

Main Course Salads

Vegetable Side Dishes

Side Salads

Soups

Dips

Spreads

Salad Dressings

Sauces

Snacks

Pizza

How to make Tofu

Egg Replacers

Dairy-Free Milks

Dairy-Free Creams and Cheeses

Meat Substitutes From Tofu

Marinades for Tofu

For The Sweet Tooth

List of Recipes

Books by The Same Author

Connect With The Author

About The Author

Sample Chapters: The Kingdom Is Within

Preface

"So what do you eat? …is a question that I have been asked often by friends and colleagues. For most people a meal with no meat is unthinkable. Whenever I tell people that I follow a vegetarian lifestyle and no longer eat any animal products, they always ask me, So what do you eat? Most people imagine vegetables to be soggy, overcooked and boring. And yet, the possibilities of the meals you can create using vegetables are endless. Vegetarian meals can be as simple, complicated or as interesting as you want them to be. And, definitely tasty and colorful!

Starting from 2008, I gradually reduced animal products in my diet. In 2012 I ate meat at Easter and on my 50th birthday only. In 2013 I had fish once in May, and really I did not appreciate it the way I used to when I was a meat-eater. I guess that is the end of meat for me.

Having applied the principle of food combining since 2008, and gradually eliminating meat and dairy over the years, my skin and my digestive system have improved and I have lost quite a bit of weight. Meat and ill-combined meals make my skin break out, and I get constipated. So I have decided that eating incorrectly is not worth it at all. A basic medical check up in 2013 showed that at 51 years young, I have normal blood pressure, normal blood sugar in the morning before breakfast, normal heart beat at rest, and normal weight. Unlike most people my age, I do not take any medicine for any condition.

I recommend this lifestyle to all those people who are struggling with their weight, have any number of digestive problems, suffer from any lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure, have skin problems, and are always tired. Actually I recommend it to everyone because it is true that you are what you eat. The end result is more energy, less pain in your digestive system, and less illnesses. One day you will find that you have not been to the doctor in a long time because you are healthier and less prone to ailments. You can kiss pills goodbye!

This book was inspired by those people who have asked the question, So what do you eat? It is also a natural follow up to my book Top Secrets For Perfect Health, Weight Loss, Rejuvenation and Increased Energy Levels The Natural Way. I hope that you too will enjoy the meals that my family has grown to enjoy. Take this as an adventure to find out what the world of vegetables and fruit has to offer. Those who love meat, I recommend that you heed the food combining principles.

To Your Health, Naturally,

Sipiwe

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Chapter 1

The Principle of Food Combining

A lot of scientific research has been done on food combining, by scientists and natural hygienists, to substantiate its value.

The Food Combination Diet was created by Dr. William Howard Hay, who was the director of a world famous Natural Health sanatorium in Pocono Haven, Pennsylvania, USA., in the early 1900s. Hay contended that foods should be combined according to their respective enzymatic secretion. Hay wrote that he helped heal thousands of patients with various hopeless diseases by employing his Food Combination principles.

The Nature of Each Food Group

Fruits need very little time to break down. They don't even stay long in the stomach. The sugars in sweet fruit are apt to ferment if digestion is delayed.

Vegetables are digested by acids in the stomach and small intestines

Carbohydrates are digested by saliva which is alkaline. This continues in the stomach, which is why we must chew our food properly.

Meats and dairy products are digested by acids in the stomach and small intestines. But, they are heavy proteins so they are difficult to digest. They need a lot of acid and a long time.

If you combine carbohydrates and meat/dairy, the alkaline saliva and the stomach acids neutralize each other. Digestion is delayed or may stop altogether. Then you get this full or heavy feeling all night and the following day. Eventually the body produces more acid to try and digest this food, which results in heartburn, acid reflux and lots of other problems in your digestive tract.

Food Combining in Action

Fruits. Ideally always eat fruits on their own, for breakfast and all morning till one hour before lunch. They are light and travel faster in the alimentary canal. Eat raw fruits, either as fresh juice, smoothies or in fruit salad. Do not combine sweet fruits with foods that require a long digestion time (such as protein, starch, acid fruit).

You must not eat fruit for dessert. It sits on top of the heavy food, fails to digest in time, then it ferments and putrefies. That is not good for your health surely. For me having fruits for dessert after a heavy meal of starch and meat meant a lot of gas and very slow digestion.

Eating vegetables alone is ideal. There is no digestive problem and no acid problems. For example, have a nice salad or roast vegetables, etc. or both for lunch.

Eating vegetables, meats and dairy together is alright for digestion, but not ideal. They all use acid. You can have a chicken salad for lunch, for example, without too much digestive trouble. But remember meat and dairy are acid producing in the body, and they take too long to digest.

Eating vegetables and carbohydrates together is alright but not ideal. The level of acid and alkalis neutralizing is lower. So, your supper can consist of a vegetable stew, or a vegetable curry, with brown rice.

Eating carbohydrates, meats and dairy at the same time is a digestive disaster. This combination is the major cause of digestive disorders. Do not mix them. So, avoid combinations like steak and potatoes, or burgers, or fried fish and French fries (chips), or macaroni & cheese.

Why Food Combining?

Harvey Diamond, Natural Hygiene best selling author, wrote in Fit For Life, The principle of proper food combining suggests only this: We don't want to waste energy. We don't want food to sit around rotting in the stomach for eight hours and fouling up the intestines for twenty hours more. What we really want is food going into the stomach and being there approximately three hours with no putrefaction, no fermentation, no gas, no flatulence, no heartburn, and no indigestion requiring medication. We want food to pass quickly and efficiently through the intestines. The way to ensure that is to have one concentrated food at a time, not two. Eating two concentrated foods simultaneously will cause the food to rot, and rotten food cannot be assimilated! Improper food combining drastically thwarts the assimilation and the elimination cycles.

What are the effects of improper food combining?

Poor food combining causes:

Poor or no digestion.

Toxic wastes in the body.

Poor absorption of nutrients.

Acid reflux, heartburn, bloating, flatulence, bad breath, etc.

Constipation, hemorrhoids, IBS, diverticulosis, Chrohn’s disease, acid reflux, heartburn, etc.

Self poisoning of the body because food ferments inside.

Obesity.

Acidosis leading to a long list of chronic diseases.

Remember your health is in your hands so take control! If you begin to combine your food properly, you will feel relief within a few hours when there is no pain in the stomach. Within a few days your constipation will go. Within a few weeks other symptoms will begin to go away if you continue to eat the right foods. The next chapter deals with the right foods.

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Chapter 2

Why Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, and Grains?

As Robert Urich said, A healthy outside starts on the inside. More than anything else, it's what you put in your mouth that determines your level of health. By far, food is number one. A pure diet can create greater health, more positive emotional states, clearer mental functioning, and increased spiritual attunement. We should return to eating natural, raw, high-nutrient and high-water-content, organic foods.

Health Authorities Recommend Fruit, Vegetables, Nuts, Seeds

Here are excerpts about what is considered a healthy diet from various authorities.

Center for Science in the Public Interest: A diet based more on plant-based foods than meats and dairy can lead to extra years of healthy living.

American Heart Association: Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Choose foods like vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products most often.

World Health Organization: Specific recommendations for a healthy diet include: cutting down on salt, sugar and fat; eating more fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains; and substituting unsaturated vegetable oils for saturated animal fats.

American Cancer Society: In the majority of population studies, greater consumption of vegetables and fruits has been linked to a lower risk of lung, oral, esophageal, stomach and colon cancer.

National Institute of Health: Compared with the many people who consume a dietary pattern with only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who eat more generous amounts as part of a healthful diet are likely to have reduced risk of chronic diseases, including stroke and perhaps other cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and cancers in certain sites (oral cavity and pharynx, larynx, lung, esophagus, stomach, and colon-rectum)…. may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.

Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention: Eat a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The more plant-based foods you get, the better. Minimize red meat.

Genesis 1:29. See, I have given thee every herb that yields seed which is on the face of the earth. And every tree whose fruit yields seeds, to you it shall be for food!

They Good For Prevention of Disease

Studies that compare disease states and have already reinforced the value of a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Such studies have been done in Africa, China, the Mediterranean, Russia, and elsewhere. They have shown that in cultures where the diet consists of fruits and vegetables, making it high in both carbohydrates and fiber, a number of diseases that afflict North Americans simply don't exist. During more than 30 years of study, British researchers working in Africa didn't find a single case of such common ailments as diverticulitis, hernia, cancer of the colon, or cancer of the prostate. The only reason that they could attribute to the lack of these diseases was differences in diet.

The phyto-chemicals that researchers have uncovered are changing the way we think about food, especially fruits and vegetables. For example, broccoli contains a substance that may prevent - even cure - breast cancer. Citrus fruits have substances that make it easier for your body to remove carcinogens, thus decreasing the chance of contracting cancer. Grapes contain a phyto-chemical that appears to protect each cell’s DNA from damage. Similarly, bok choy, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, rutabaga, turnip greens, red beets, peppers, garlic, onions, leeks, and other vegetables, appear to have cancer-preventing phyto-chemicals.

Most people don't eat enough fruits and vegetables to reap the benefits they offer. The average American eats very few boring and overcooked vegetables, and, on average, no fruit on any given day.

Recently, the National Cancer Institute in the USA began a campaign to get people to do one simple thing - eat more fruits and vegetables. Their reasoning was simple: a diet high in fruits and vegetables will prevent or cure a wide range of ailments.

High water content

Fruit and vegetables have high water content, giving the body the water it needs to help keep all your tissues moist and hydrated.

As the old saying goes, You are what you eat. The human body is comprised of 75% water. It follows that the body needs plenty of water to help keep it healthy and functioning properly. The water ensures that all the nutrients and vitamins inherent in these foods are carried to the intestines where they are absorbed and used by the body. Then it ensures that wastes are carried out of the body. Besides drinking lots of water, you must eat foods that are naturally high in water content.

Easy to digest

Being mostly water, fruit and most vegetables do not take much effort to digest. With the exception of more dense fruits (bananas, avocados and dried fruits), fresh fruit passes right through the stomach (within 30 minutes) and into the intestines where it is digested. A vegetarian meal is out of the stomach within 3 hours. For meat, it’s at least 8 hours!

Fruits and Vegetables are alkaline

Fruits and vegetables are alkaline foods which are essential to neutralize the acid that is produced by the body. They help the body to reach an alkaline pH. This helps prevent or reduce inflammation (in the stomach and everywhere else) and help prevent disease. It has been established that most diseases, like infections, cancer, high blood pressure, arthritis and heart diseases, are a direct result of high acid levels in the body.

High Fiber

Because of high fiber content, fruits, grains and vegetables pass easily through the rest of the digestive system, avoiding constipation and other difficulties of the digestive system further down the road.

High mineral content

Plants send roots deep into the soil to get minerals. In their intelligence, they absorb the minerals in the form that is usable for their own growth. They convert it to vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients and medicinal compounds that our bodies need. By eating fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains, we benefit from all those nutrients and minerals.

Longevity

Dr. Alexander Leaf found that the three most consistently disease-free and long-lived people on Earth are the Abkhazians of Russia, the Vilacabambans of Ecuador and the Hunzukuts of Pakistan. None of them suffer from Western diseases like obesity, cancer, heart disease! On average, they live to be over 100 years old. Their diet consists of 70%-80% high-water-content foods such as raw, uncooked fruits and vegetables.

Fruits are the Best of the Four Groups

I have fruits daily for breakfast, and the combination of fruits differs from season to season. I am blessed to live in a tropical country where fruits grow all year round. Here are the qualities of fruits that make them the best food ever.

Highest water content of any food.

Fruits do not leave toxic waste in the system.

Easy and fast to digest. They break down and release their nutrients in the intestines, within a short time after consumption.

The life force inherent in fruit is unsurpassed by any other food. They have all the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, amino acids, and fatty acids that the human body requires for its existence.

The nutrients in fruits are in their most simple form, ready to be absorbed and assimilated, e.g.:

Fructose is a monosaccharide

Fats are in the form of fatty acids,

Proteins are in the form of amino acids

Weight loss

Fruit has high quality calories, which do not add to your weight problem. They furnish the energy to do away with it.

Dr. Alan Walker’s research findings indicate that human beings were frugivores (fruit eaters) for millions of years.

Nuts

Walnuts, Brazil nuts and almonds are all tremendous immune system enhancers. Generally, nuts should be eaten raw, not roasted, as roasting makes them very acidic and difficult to digest. For easy digestion, eat them raw with some raw vegetables or sprinkle them on a tossed salad. Alternatively, you can make raw nut milk. You can drink it (quite tasty) or use it for cooking and baking, instead of dairy milk. This milk is easier to digest.

Creativity is required in preparing food

As has been said in my book Top Secrets For Perfect Health, Weight Loss, Rejuvenation, And Increased Energy Levels The Natural Way, ensure that at least 70% of your