Expert: Yulia Chekhonina, Candidate of Medical Sciences,
Researcher at the clinic of the Federal State Budgetary Institution Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences
American nutritionist Herbert Shelton is considered the inventor of the theory of separate nutrition. It was he who first urged his wards to throw away the side dish from the plate of steak and forget about sandwiches forever. The essence of the method comes down to not mixing fats, proteins and carbohydrates, because different digestive enzymes are needed to break them down. For example, to cope with protein, the body produces hydrochloric acid, but carbohydrates already require alkali. If different foods enter the stomach at the same time, they simply interfere with each other’s absorption, cause fermentation in the intestines and overload the digestive system. Like any theory, separate nutrition has its pros and cons.
PROS
Diet control
Products such as sausage and cakes are absolutely prohibited in the Shelton diet. Consequently, fat intake is reduced. But a large number of vegetables and fruits, which are good for health, are welcome. Separate meals also allow you to control the size of portions, because eating too much of one product is much more difficult than eating a complex dish. In addition, by eating meat, bread and potatoes separately, we sit down at the table at least 5 times a day. That is, this system forces you to maintain a fragmented diet, which prevents overeating, which causes much more harm than “incompatible” foods.
Lightness of sensations
Compatible foods are quickly digested. Entering the digestive tract, they do not cause processes of decay and fermentation, that is, the body is not poisoned with toxins. That is why, when switching to separate meals, your health soon improves and there is no heaviness in the stomach. Your weight may also normalize.
Anti-aging effect
In essence, if you close your eyes to the far-fetched difficulties in the relationship between products and the prejudiced attitude towards milk and legumes, separate nutrition can be reduced to that same complete low-calorie diet that scientists recommend for those who want to live to 150 years.
Convenient and simple
Shelton made life easier for the followers of his nutrition theory in advance by developing the basic principles of food combinations and drawing up a diagram. There is no need to count calories or points, just carry a table with you. Everything is very schematic and, accordingly, easy to understand.
MINUSES
The basis of nutrition “according to Shelton”
1. Products containing a lot of starch (potatoes, pasta, bread, peas, cereals) should be consumed separately from protein products (meat, fish, beans, nuts, eggs, cheese). The interval between meals should be at least 2 hours.
2. Starchy foods can be combined with fats (cream, sour cream, butter, lard).
3. There is a group of neutral products - for example, fresh vegetables (except potatoes) and fruits (except bananas and melon). They can eat both proteins and carbohydrates.
Over the years
The doctrine of separate nutrition was developed almost 100 years ago and, to put it mildly, is outdated. There are no reliable scientific facts about the positive impact of this system on health. But evidence has emerged that the digestion process is much more complex than Shelton imagined, and a mixed type of nutrition is the most physiological. Almost all food products contain protein, fats, and carbohydrates - only in different proportions. In other words, any food is initially mixed.
Established by nature
Our body is designed very intelligently: as soon as food enters the mouth, the digestive system immediately receives a signal to release a whole range of necessary enzymes. Man has always had a mixed diet, and the digestive system works in accordance with this feature. Each nutrient is digested by the appropriate enzyme in its own section of the digestive conveyor, so our body does not need to artificially separate foods into protein, carbohydrate and fat.
Lazy stomach
The transition to separate nutrition can weaken the function of the digestive organs, since it does not provide a full load for various enzymatic systems. If suddenly the usual menu changes, uncomfortable sensations in the stomach are guaranteed, because the digestive glands have “forgot” how to digest ordinary mixed food.
Vitamin boost
Not only enzymes, but also vitamins are involved in the complex process of digestion. For example, for the digestion and assimilation of protein, B vitamins supplied with food are needed, including vitamin B 6 , and for the digestion of carbohydrates, vitamin B 1 . It is possible to provide the body with all the necessary nutrients only with a mixed diet.
Green melancholy
According to some researchers, when eating separately, the amount of good mood neurotransmitters in the brain - serotonin and others - decreases. In fact, this nutritional system leads to unmotivated depression. To improve your mood, food should be mixed. It is preferable to combine proteins and carbohydrates.
Reviews about separate meals for weight loss
Alina, 25 years old:
My mother told me about this diet several years ago. Then she simply told me that mixing certain types of food is quite harmful. But then I didn’t have problems with excess weight, and I didn’t really listen. Then, when I gained 10 extra pounds, I began to think about how I could adjust my diet so that I could eat, feel full, and at the same time lose weight. Then I began to search on the Internet for details about separate nutrition, read a book about separate nutrition, and over time became a real specialist in this field. At first it was difficult for me to rebuild my menu, to stop combining foods that I was used to always eating together. By the way, I really loved eating mashed potatoes with a cutlet or meat. Gradually I changed my mind. After eating this way for several months I noticed results. I lost about 5 kg in the first 3 months without doing anything particularly difficult. Now I have been on this system for 8 months and my result is minus 8 kg. I like. I will continue to do so.
Maria, 38 years old:
An excellent nutrition system, the body receives all the necessary substances and at the same time works in a gentle manner. I was no longer tormented by heartburn, heaviness after eating, the digestion process improved and accelerated, and the extra pounds began to melt away. I’ve been eating according to this system for a year and a half now, I’ve completely rebuilt myself and weaned my body off bad excesses. Periodically I arrange fasting days or fasting for myself, as Shelton advised. My result is 18 kg!
Valentina, 49 years old:
I am against hunger strikes, so I switched to separate meals, but I do not use hunger strikes. My stomach starts to hurt from hunger strikes. But I learned to get real pleasure from separate meals. I feel lightness throughout my body, I began to feel a surge of strength and energy more often, but before I wanted to lie down and sleep more and more. I even signed up for sports because I had the strength to do it. I eat foods separately, sometimes I deviate from the recommendations, but only on very big holidays, or if there is absolutely no opportunity to eat something healthy. Losing weight is not going quickly, but that suits me. The main thing is that I am losing weight gradually and correctly, healing my body. I lost 12 kg in a year.
Video debate. Separate nutrition according to Shelton. Pros and cons:
“HEALTH” CONCLUSIONS
1. Separate meals can get rid of extra pounds, allow you to change your eating habits and stop overeating. Weight loss in this case is associated with reducing fat intake and limiting eating to one main type of food.
2. Following Shelton's teaching creates a stressful situation for the body. After all, not everyone can withstand this way of eating. And the psychological damage can ultimately outweigh the physiological benefits.
3. If you adhere to separate meals, then at least once every three days you should eat as usual, that is, mix foods. This way, the enzymatic systems of the digestive tract will not lose their ability to digest any food if necessary.
Published: March 26, 2021
Pros and cons
Benefit
The only advantage here is that the need to eat proteins, fats and carbohydrates separately leads to less abundant nutrition, which has a positive effect on gradual weight loss, because from now on you eat meat with greens, and not with potatoes and pasta.
Besides this, the benefit of separate power supply is... mmm, nothing.
Harm
The biggest disadvantage of this way of eating is the mistake of thinking that our body is not able to cope with fats, proteins and carbohydrates at the same time . Do you seriously believe that over the millennia of human existence, our body has not become accustomed to mixed food?
Do you believe that he is not able to produce enough digestive juices and enzymes for their normal absorption? On the contrary, according to many doctors, such a strict separation is an artificial disruption of normal nutrition and digestion.
Our digestive system is universal and has enormous reserve capabilities; nature has ensured human survival by the fact that he can eat any food, both protein and carbohydrate in any combination, and G. Shelton’s statements about the need for different digestion environments for protein and carbohydrate foods scientifically untenable.
As for the so-called “unfavorable combinations,” their harmful effects are sharply exaggerated by some authors. Much more harm is caused by overeating, which is so common now , that is, taking in too much food at one time (both liquid and solid).
A large food load can cause disturbances in the functioning of the digestive organs, and the condition of the body in general, and this is accompanied by painful manifestations. They are especially noticeable in those who suffer from diseases of the digestive system; however, the above also applies to practically healthy people.
It is overeating that often causes painful phenomena, which some may refer to as “evidence of incompatibility.”
It all depends not on the combinations as such, but on the amount eaten and the tolerance of a particular product by a particular person . There are, say, people who absolutely cannot tolerate milk , either due to enzyme (lactase) deficiency, or due to food allergies. Naturally, the combination of any product with milk is harmful for them.
The “theory of separate nutrition” does not have a serious scientific basis and, in any case, it cannot be extended to the majority of healthy people.
Yes, separate meals are nonsense, and even dangerous ! When systematically following the rules of separate nutrition, a person develops a conditioned reflex. If for a long time a person has accustomed his body to eat protein food at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and carbohydrate food at 4 o’clock, then the enzymes corresponding to this nutrition begin to be released reflexively.
And as soon as you break the established sequence, there is immediate retribution for such a gross violation of the regime . The example of academician A. Mikulin is widely known, who for two years accustomed his body to separate nutrition, and then one day violated it during one of the holidays and was hospitalized in serious condition. Violation of the regime led to poisoning. The wrong enzymes were released, not corresponding to the type of food.
It’s the same story with vegans, vegetarians and raw foodists: shove chicken into them, and their intestines will become tied in a sea knot, because the body has long ceased to produce the enzymes necessary for digesting animal proteins.
Nature and evolution are not fools, they understood that it was difficult for ancient man to find food and had to eat “what they gave.” A person is ready for any menu at every meal . This is the law of evolution and it is he who ensured human survival in any conditions.
And in general, there are almost no products consisting of only protein (fat or carbohydrates) . Pure protein can only be found in eggs, fat in sunflower oil, and carbohydrates in sugar. There are no other monoproducts - everything else is a harmonious mixture of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
By the way, the greens and fruits Shelton praises are carbohydrates and proteins combined together. And from this perspective, it would be very interesting to know into which category G. Shelton would classify, for example, cucumbers, spinach, nuts, mushrooms and other products that contain approximately equal amounts of protein and carbohydrates.
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