Do not Combine!
Nature is a precise thing in some ways. The way we have evolved to throw caution to the wind and live to values almost against the laws of nature both astounds and confuses. But where specifically can we improve to abide by the laws that many would find impossible to follow?
Discipline is something that is learnt, conditioned and developed - it is not a trait I believe we were born with in this age, yet we require much of it to follow an optimal lifestyle. Due to some complex and other simple theories of evolution, from the left/right brain theory - that the left side is dominant and the right side has shrunk in the last 100,000 years to natural selection and survival of the fittest, we have taken for granted the path that humans have taken to develop from forest dwelling tribes to a sudden exponential growth to cover the globe!
In doing so, nature has been thwarted, and man has set work to vying for control over it. From intensive farming for the masses with pesticides, insecticides and herbicides, to farming crops for cattle fattening for the sake of McDonalds and the overweight consumers that frequent these culture destroying outlets, we have simply lost our way.
Compare this to picking a ripe mango from a tree in a tropical environment. The nutrient content and quality of taste will blow the senses to a point where we could eat this way everyday, in the right conditions.
How we eat, what time of day we eat, what we eat and under what condition we eat (ie. under hunger) decides how well we digest and how much energy we can take from our food, and how well it is assimilated.
Eating under stress, over-eating, under-eating, and playing with our food i.e. with fire, additives and chemicals or even eating late at night can directly affect our energy levels and life performance. Exercise is also a high priority that nature has gifted us to have the ability to undertake, and without it food is meaningless.
So bad food combining, poor digestion and lack of exercise will more than likely lead to toxemia, which means illness - anything from the common cold, bronchitis to cancer.
Yet eating as naturally as possible still has its precision difficulties. Nuts and seeds can be good for the winter but eating them with fruit will cause indigestion alone. Different fruits mixed together will cause intestinal imbalances. Eating anything BUT whole foods - which means foods we can eat a plate of i.e. not garlic will cause difficulties and it is with deep understanding that one will realize this through trial and error.
This is where superfoods can help as they can allow for a super boost to the immune system and help with any detox. These were likely dispersed more widely in our evolutionary past and were far more widely available for us to enjoy for maximum survival strategy and nutrition.
Even so, if and when the bigger picture of how to eat optimally is realized, how will it affect our other priorities i.e. how we make money, how we keep our friends and/or make new ones, how we function with our families and work colleagues and what goals to aspire to! Everything changes and sacrificing some things for a natural law abiding life can sometimes cause more difficulties than benefits.
So how do we respond accordingly? I would say compromise is the best strategy in a situation where always following nature's laws may cause alienation as much as a hard detox, and no one needs both of these at the same time!
When I come across a food combining dilemma, I generally can go either way, and even though the memory of a food combining rule bookmark screams at me to take caution, I will ignore it on occasion to enjoy a social event and take my gourmet meal and 'combo-abombos', knowing that as long as I exercise and as long as I remain mindful and 'disciplined' most of the time, I can enjoy something different.
If my right brain remained equally powerful, I would have the 'innate' discipline (that would be called something else in this case) to enjoy a consistently simple way of eating and harmonize with my food, without having to consider whether nature will let me off the hook with what I eat!