When referring to synergy in general, Aristotle just about summed up food synergy in the following quote, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Food synergy applies this idea to the nutritional value of food. Like the concept of synergy, combining one food with another food not only produces a two-fold nutritional benefit but a third nutritional benefit that can only result from combining the two foods together.
Not surprisingly, the nutritional benefits of food synergy are only as good as the foods being combined. This bodes especially well for people already benefiting from what the Hallelujah Diet offers, nutrition-wise. With a basic understanding of food synergy, you can enhance the health-promoting benefits of the foods you eat even further by incorporating a few practices along the way.
The Impact of Food Synergy on Your Health
Increased Bioavailability
Bioavailability has to do with how well the body absorbs the nutrients contained in any one food. Bioavailability also has to do with how easily our digestive tracts can access the nutrients contained in food. The body’s ability to access and absorb nutrients varies from person to person, depending on the health of your digestive tract, your overall health, and your physiological makeup. Factors such as aging, diet, and medical problems involving the digestive tract also affect bioavailability.
When certain foods are combined, their food synergy effect makes it easier for the body to access and absorb the nutrients in the foods. This is something to keep in mind if you regularly experience digestive problems. Eating the right food combinations may well help relieve digestive discomfort while also providing more nutritional value from your diet.
Makes the Most of the Food Matrix
The food matrix is a composite of all the nutrient components contained in whole foods and the effects each component has on the human body. Whole foods include all natural foods, including fruits, vegetables, and grains. The food matrix also deals with interactions between different foods and how they impact our health.
Much of the theory behind the food matrix is based on the effects of food synergy. In essence, when nutrients complement one another, the benefit to the body’s health increases considerably. In this respect, the food we eat fulfills a two-fold purpose: as nourishment and as medicine. While a plant-based, whole food diet offers the very best source of nourishment, the benefit to your health increases exponentially when using food synergy as a guideline.
Food Combos That “Synergize”
How different foods interact with one another has a lot to do with their chemical makeup. For example, lycopene is an antioxidant found in different vegetables, such as tomatoes. Lycopene is also a fat-soluble molecule. By combining lycopene with a healthy fat, such as avocados, the body can better absorb lycopene. This is food synergy at work. Tomatoes and avocados make for a good match. Here are a few more examples of food synergy at work:
- Vitamin C and spinach – Improve iron absorption.
- Veggies and good fats in general – Improve absorption of carotenoids, which help reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases.
- Any combination of cruciferous vegetables – Combines different activating enzymes that help the body get rid of free radical materials and carcinogen agents.
- Apple and its skin – Apple flesh and apple skin contain two different types of phytochemicals that work much better together in eliminating free radical materials from the body.
The Hallelujah Diet – Putting Food Synergy into Practice
If you’re going to put food synergy into practice, you might as well work with a diet made up of nutrient-dense foods. The Hallelujah Diet is plant-based because plants contain almost everything the body needs to maintain good health, including high levels of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytochemicals. These vital nutrients support the body’s ability to fight off sickness and disease, both now and for years to come.
Eating a wide variety of colorful foods is the best way to practice food synergy with the Hallelujah Diet. Doing this helps ensure you’re eating foods that complement one another. Also, it never hurts to do a little research on your own to see which food combinations work best together, especially if you want to address a specific health concern or increase the amount of a certain nutrient in your diet.
Using food synergy when meal planning can be a powerful way to boost the nutritional value of the food you eat. The older the body gets, the more important nutrition becomes for maintaining continued health. Ultimately, food synergy is about enhancing the most nutritional benefits of the foods we eat.
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