Food Combos More Nutritious Together Than Separate

Cheddar cheese and a Kit-Kat chocolate bar. Seriously. And wash it all down with a coke.

@darya: Regarding Men's Fitness, I realize the best thing to do with it is go straight to the back of the magazine where all the exercises are. Read them over, and then use them at the gym. The rest of the magazine is just fluff.

Odiase

Bacon + anything. 'Nuff said.

"The reason? The organic compounds in both foods, called phenols, stabilize your LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, or so-called "bad" cholesterol) when consumed together."

I think you're confused: that's not actually a reason, it's merely a restatement of the headline.

I eat black beans and rice all the time. Cheap, easy to make, and good for you. I also add in other things from time to time like tomatoes, or corn, or spinage, or whatever extra crap I have in the fridge.

cyriene

Must agree with previous posters that the science of this is suspicious, especially with such advice as "sauteeing dark greens with a squeeze of citrus." Even if Vitamin C does bolster the body's absorption of iron, it seems doubtful that a "squeeze" is a sufficient amount to do the trick.

HTB

@darya:
Unless you're referring to specific chemicals making other chemicals more bioavailable (such as piperine and curcumin or ethanol and resveratrol), I have to disagree. There is no scientific evidence that combining foods makes any of them any more nutritive.

@AmphetamineCrown: The organic compounds in both foods, called phenols, stabilize your LDL cholesterol (low-density lipoprotein, or so-called "bad" cholesterol) when consumed together.

It talks about the same organic compounds in both of them. The rest of the article obviusly talks about some kind of synergy, but it does NOT provide with any data about it. So, if there is something that is not "running 2 miles burns twice as many calories as running 1 mile" in the article, this entry doesn't address it.

rafasan

@[health.howstuffworks.com]
Interesting read.

I find Men's Health so frustrating. Sometimes they publish great stuff, but at least half the time it sounds like they are completely making things up. Unfortunately, this is one of those times.

Yes, foods have been shown to be more powerful when consumed together, but there is not much data on specific food combos. Moreover, the impact of these specific recommendations could only be small at best.

Generally a good message but tainted by their usual lack of scientific rigor. (Turns out they are journalists and not scientists)

So eating the fries and large soda with my burger is more nutritious than simply eating my burger? I knew it!

@DisposableInterloper: If you drink snake oil with the steaming heap of crap, does that make it more nutritious than if eaten separately?

your body will store a lot of those compounds to be used at a later time, so it's not necessarily true that you have to eat them in the same meal - goes back to our caveman days when you ate whatever you found on that day

dragynphyre

@HFC: It does but it doesn't seem as bad for some reason. I love the orange flavored Crest.

@TheFu: True, that.

I wonder if using the orange flavored Crest still has that nastiness effect when drinking OJ afterward.

What about chocolate and peanut butter? Or, better yet, coffee and doughnuts???

@edosan: Yes, I believe both of them together creates a "complete protein."

@TheFu: That was basically the core of my meals in Nicaragua. I actually liked it (we stayed for 10 days).

lilyHaze

It doesn't matter whether you eat them seperate or together, as long as you eat them. The whole concept of food combining is nothing but a big steaming heap of crap.

@edosan: After spending 2 weeks in Costa Rica living with locals who served "rice and beans" or "beans and rice" at almost **every meal**, I'd had enough. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was a treat with French toast at breakfast 1 day, but beans were still served with it.

It has been over a year since my visit and I still haven't gotten back to our Sunday evening red beans and rice tradition [en.wikipedia.org]

TheFu

Orange juice and toothpaste! Now that's a flavor almost nobody can love.

TheFu

@mgpcoe: I know zippo about organic chem or biology, but the quote does end with "...when consumed together," which does imply some synergy beyond 2x the phenols.

AmphetamineCrown

@edosan:
...Is nice.

+ Watch video

Rice and beans.

I suspect the snippet from the article could have been worded better (and no, it isn't any better worded when you RTFA.. it's in no more detail than a bunch of sound bites):

"Hey, guess what! Combining two known sources of phenols is twice a good for you as eating one known source of phenols!" Gasp! Really? And what about running two miles instead of one? Does it burn twice as many calories?

Bad science reporting to the rescue!

Cool note about peanut butter sandwiches though, how the peanut butter and whole wheat bread complement each other to make a complete protein chain. Also, there's nothing like a good excuse to use rosemary; I'm kind of a sucker for using lots and lots of herbs and spices in my cooking, and I've been on a bit of a rosemary/thyme kick lately. I've got rubbed sage and frozen parsley too; every once in a while I go into Scarborough Fair mode.

mgpcoe

Bacon + Peanut butter.

You can thank me later.

Vulphaestus

Since tomorrow is national donut day (Free Krispy Kreme!) I was hoping the nutritional combo of brownies and donuts would be on here, but alas...

SDBryan

Pineapple and milk: So UNHAPPY together.

ribex

I wonder if the same health benefits can derived from the classic combination of coke & hookers?

"real oatmeal (read: not processed)"

What does this even mean? I guess instant oats are right out, but what about rolled oats? Those are definitely "processed". Steel-cut oats? Well, those are cut up, and that's definitely "processing". Does the cooking process count as a "process"? Do we have to eat raw whole oats to get this benefit?

HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.

@OMG! psycheese!: Haha

John Holaday

beans and rice when togather... create a whole protien.

There are also some combinations that when consumed togather can lead to health problems like gastritus and obesity but when consumed sepperately at an hours differance are healthy. For example fruit is often treated as a desert... you should actually eat that first if you are going to be eating say a steak. The sugars will help break down the complex protiens giving you more energy. So say for breakfast you eat nothing but fruit be it fresh or canned and then for lunch a plate of sushi. You will notice in the south alot of people eat complex carbohydrates with very sugary deserts or breakfast could be a pancake with strawberry syrup. This is a health nightmare. You will find the southern people who are thin are usually gator eaters who also consume massive amounts of sugars. These people are often asked how they stay so thin and the truth is... its not the sugars they eat its what they eat along side of it.

Peanuts and Chewing Gum are a great combo.

rockhopper

@HeartBurnKid: Agent of R.O.A.C.H.: Really it means not rolled oats. Steel-cut is good, oat groats would be better (and harder to find and more expensive).

Major-General

@lilyHaze: Actually no, you really need a squash to get a complete protien with that combination. It's actually split peas and rice, and wheat and garbanzos, and another I can't remember.

Funny thing, these combinations for whole proteins were domesticated from the same regions of the world.

Major-General

@outre:
"The sugars will help break down the complex protiens giving you more energy."

Oh, really? Care to elucidate the process by which that happens, or are you just going keep throwing anecdotes and ipse-dixitisms at us?