Diets Overview: From Food Combining to Macrobiotics

Man is what he eats, as the saying goes. But which of the many forms of nutrition is the right one? Raw food, macrobiotics or food combining – here you will find an overview of the most important alternative forms of nutrition.

Raw food: Back to nature?

Raw food includes everything that remains unheated: vegetables and fruits, but also meat, fish, eggs and milk. But is that really healthy? Vegetables and fruit actually contain the most vitamins and minerals when raw. Some of these are always lost when heated. Temperatures above 50 degrees also destroy enzymes that make important plant substances available to our body: for example the alliin in garlic or the glucosinolates in cabbage. If the enzymes are missing, we have to crack the food in the large intestine ourselves, with the help of bacteria. This is hard work and can cause flatulence.

Some enzymes are also very healthy, like bromelain from pineapple, which has anti-inflammatory properties. That’s why even non-eaters should eat unheated vegetables every day (fruit anyway), at least a portion of salad.

But sometimes cooking is better. Some nutrients in vegetables are more easily released from the cell walls by heat. For example, the cell protection vitamin beta-carotene in yellow and green vegetables or the anti-cancer substance lycopene in tomatoes. “On the other hand, it has not yet been researched how much of these substances we actually need in order to stay healthy,” says Claus Leitzmann, nutrition expert. If you eat pulses and potatoes, there is no getting around heating, otherwise these foods are poisonous or too difficult to digest.

Meat and fish, on the other hand, can be eaten raw or fried – whatever we like best. We have enzymes in our bodies that do the digestive work. If meat is heated, about 20 percent of the vitamins are usually lost. Minerals survive cooking and frying unscathed.

Doesn’t man need something warm? “Just because we are so used to it,” says Claus Leitzmann. “Hot soup is good, but hot food is not essential.” Basically, there’s nothing wrong with raw food as long as you make sure no nutrients are missing. Scientists advise:

• Eat cereals regularly (contains valuable fibre and trace elements). It is difficult to digest raw. If you still don’t like to cook it, you can eat fresh grain porridge. Soak freshly ground wheat in a little water and let it stand for up to twelve hours. Then add milk.
• Eat enough nuts, seeds, avocados and bananas, all of which are rich in fat and calories; nuts also contain protein. Many raw foods are too thin. Infectious diseases can then be more difficult to treat because the people concerned have no reserves.
• Consume at least small amounts of milk and dairy products (calcium.
• Use iodized table salt if no fish is eaten (about five grams of iodized salt a day is sufficient).
• Those who avoid meat should eat lactic acid-fermented sauerkraut to supply themselves with vitamin B12.
• Drink juices, preferably naturally cloudy. This provides vitamins and readily available plant substances.
• Slowly sneak into the unfamiliar food, otherwise you can easily get stomach aches and flatulence.

Wholefood nutrition

Theory: This is about a holistic, harmonious nutritional concept, which promotes health and protects the environment. It is based on the knowledge and experience of the hygienist Professor Werner Kollath (“The Order of our Food”) from the 1930s and 1940s. It was modernised and formed according to nutritional criteria in the 70s by the Giessen nutritionist Professor Claus Leitzmann.

Nutrition: First and foremost, it is important that natural products are consumed in their original state, since only these foods contain all vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enzymes or aromatic substances, i.e. are fully adequate. Raw foods (at least half of the food should be eaten raw) and wholemeal products, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, legumes, milk and dairy products – it is therefore a predominantly vegetarian diet with small amounts of meat, fish, poultry and egg. Special emphasis is placed on ensuring that food is eaten according to the local season and comes from controlled organic cultivation. Apart from meat, industrial sugar and products made from extract flour (white bread, cake) are avoided, as well as all kinds of chemically treated food – whether pasteurised, preserved or with additives. According to their health, ecological and social value, food is classified into four categories, from highly recommended to not recommended.

Comment: According to the German Nutrition Society (DGE), this form of nutrition is suitable for meeting the demand for all important nutrients and is easy to put into daily practice.

Vegetarian diet

BSE, swine fever, poison in poultry – especially with meat there are scandals without end. But the conscious renunciation of it – whether for health, ethical or religious reasons – is only one aspect of a vegetarian diet.

Theory: The first great vegetarian today is considered to be the Greek scholar Pythargoras (600 BC), for whom eating meat was taboo and who believed that as long as humans killed animals, they would also kill humans. Until the 19th century the followers of the meatless diet were called Pythagoreans, the word “vegetarian” was only adopted in 1847 with the first English vegetarian society. It is derived from the Latin term “vegetare = to revive”. Common to all vegetarians is that they do not eat food from killed animals, neither meat nor fish. The strictest followers (vegans) also abstain from products from living animals (milk, eggs, honey).

Nutrition: Depending on the choice of food, three basic forms of vegetarian nutrition can be distinguished. – Vegans, often referred to as “strict” vegetarians, feed exclusively on plant foods (vegan diet). – Lacto-vegetarians are also allowed milk and dairy products in addition to plant-based foods. – If eggs are also eaten, one speaks of an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet, on which most of the approximately 5.5 million vegetarians in Germany feed.

Comment: According to the DGE, the vegetarian diet with dairy products and eggs (ovo-lacto-vegetable diet) has many positive effects – for example better cholesterol levels, less overweight and a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus or gout. If food was chosen wisely, there would be no risk of malnutrition, with special nutritional needs for pregnant women, nursing mothers, infants and the elderly. Iron deficiency has not been found more frequently in vegetarians than in meat-eaters. Incidentally, the absorption of iron via leafy vegetables or whole grains is favoured by vitamin C. Vegan food, on the other hand, requires a lot of nutritional knowledge and is only suitable as a permanent diet if the diet is put together very consciously.

Ayurveda Cooking

Theory: Ayurveda (the science of long and healthy life) is an approximately 5000 year old healing and health science with a holistic approach. Massages, meditation, body and aromatherapy and an appropriate diet are intended to restore the balance of body, mind and soul.

Nutrition: Nutrition is regarded as an important pillar for well-being. With certain foods and spices, health problems can be balanced out. The type and preparation make the food easily digestible, all necessary building blocks (protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, trace elements) are included. The food, preferably organically grown and ideally without meat, is prepared fresh and without chemical additives, preservatives or colorants.

Ayurveda divides people into three doshas, physically and characterually defined types: “Vata”, “Pitta” and “Kapha”. However, most of them are mixed types. Each type has specific preferences and needs when eating. Those who eat according to their type stay healthy, slim and in harmony with their body and mind. From the Ayurvedic point of view, spices and herbs are foods with special properties that stimulate digestion, regulate the intestinal flora and strengthen the immune system.

Comment: Ayurvedic dietetics does not know any fixed rules, but only gives suggestions and guidance to develop one’s own needs. The DGE evaluates the fresh, low-fat and wholemeal based balanced diet positively, if enough fresh fruits and vegetables are consumed daily.

Macrobiotics

Theory: The term comes from the Greek and means long (macros) life (bios). Macrobiotics is based on ancient Chinese nutritional traditions and is part of a holistic concept of life, influenced by Zen Buddhism. Whoever eats macrobiotic food should reap health and a long life, prevent and cure diseases. The teaching is based on the thesis that the universe consists of two opposing forces that complement each other to form a dynamic equilibrium: Yin – the expanding force and Yang – the contracting force. Harmony and balance between the two are central. Macrobiotic nutrition aims to reduce the strain on the body and to restore the inner balance by selecting foods according to their energetic effect. The Japanese Georges Ohsawa (1862-1966), developed the originally most radical nutritional concept, later it was liberalized.

Nutrition: First and foremost, whole grains, especially rice, supplemented by fresh vegetables, legumes, partly fruit, nuts, seeds and seaweed. People should prefer yin-emphasized plant foods, but avoid meat (yang) as well as milk and dairy products. Fermented soy products (e.g. miso) serve as a source of protein. In general, preference should be given to products from the region.

Comment: The DGE rejects the original diet as too one-sided and thus leading to deficiency symptoms. It concludes, however, that a healthy adult can meet his or her nutritional needs with the newer, more moderate variant (according to Acuff) if food is carefully selected. This form of nutrition is not recommended for children.

Food Combining

Theory: Food Combining was developed at the beginning of the 20th century by the American physician Dr. Howard Hay (1866-1940). According to his dietetics, carbohydrates and proteins should be consumed separately because they could not be digested at the same time. The advocates of the separation diet assume that the mixing of protein and carbohydrates in the diet leads to hyperacidity of the body and is responsible for many diseases of civilisation.

Nutrition: The basic principle of food combining is the division into carbohydrate-rich, protein-rich and neutral foods. According to this principle, the food selection should consist of 80 percent base-forming foods (fruit, salads, vegetables) and 20 – 25 percent acid-forming foods (meat, fish, cheese, fats and unrefined oils) as well as carbohydrates (e.g. whole grain products). The protein-containing foods should be eaten at lunchtime and the carbohydrate-rich foods in the evening and only in combination with the so-called neutral foods (nuts, many vegetables and spices.

Comment: According to Professor Heinrich Kasper of the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), food combining is not recommended as a long-term form of nutrition. The theory of the incompatibility of protein and carbohydrates is not tenable – both can easily be digested at the same time. In addition, almost all foods contain both protein and carbohydrates, which makes it difficult to adhere to the rules of food combining. In addition, too few cereal products are eaten.