It’s okay for eggs to be at the top of your breakfast table, and for hot coffee to be one of your best morning habits. Millions of people around the world do the same. But the problem is in combining them and eating them together at the same time, because in this way you may lose the benefits of eggs, which are rich in iron, when you combine them with coffee, which is known for its properties that hinder the body’s absorption of iron, just like tea.
This is just an example of groups of foods and drinks that we eat together in our daily lives, and nutrition experts tell HuffPost that combining them may not achieve the desired benefit because there is a conflict between their properties, which is not without harm.
This was confirmed by Ashley Tosh, a health and nutrition expert at Prepared Boots, a company specializing in healthy meals, to the British newspaper “Mirror”, saying: “The general rule is that different foods digest at different times, so it is best to combine those that have a similar timing.” To avoid discomfort and overload on your digestive system,” she recommends sticking to foods with similar digestion times and acidity levels to give the stomach the best chance to digest meals efficiently and effectively.
Experts also confirm that combining the wrong foods not only leads to uncomfortable bloating, but also prevents your body from getting the most out of your meals. The Healthline website stated that a team of food experts believes that “improper combination of foods may lead to the accumulation of toxins, and then to health consequences such as digestive disorders and disease.”
5 foods that it is preferable not to combine as much as possible
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Eggs with coffee or tea
If you are a fan of eating eggs and drinking coffee in the morning, all you need to do is separate them with a period of time that allows the body to get its share of iron, and follow expert advice to postpone your coffee for at least an hour after eating eggs. To avoid the effect of chlorogenic acid found in coffee (or polyphenols and tannins found in tea), which are substances that interact with iron and reduce its absorption in the body during the digestion process, causing anemia in case of excess, according to certified nutritionist Claire Martin.
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Pizza with soft drinks
Although the image of pizza is associated in our minds with the presence of a soft drink next to it, as if one complements the other, the truth is that our digestive system is harmed by the mixture of the fatty contents of the pizza with the soft drinks, and it groans from the uncomfortable feeling of fullness and bloating.
In addition, blood sugar levels rise due to the combination of refined carbohydrates in pizza and added sugar in soft drinks, which is “one of the worst ingredients in the modern diet,” says Healthline. If we add the processed meat that is sometimes included in the contents of pizza, we will be facing negative effects, the least of which is the lack of satiety or a feeling of satisfaction due to the empty or imaginary calories that such foods contain, according to the Medical News Today website.
“Soda, pizza, or anything with high fructose corn syrup eaten with refined carbohydrates increases the false sense of hunger and reduces the feeling of fullness,” California-based physician, author, and nutritionist Dr. Colleen Chu explained.
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Fruits with cereals
Because foods are digested at different speeds, combining a fast-digesting food with a slow-digesting food causes a “traffic jam” in the digestive system, leading to negative effects on health and digestion, Healthline says. Therefore, a sensitive stomach is harmed by combining fruits and grains, even if it is a natural mixture, because there is a difference between them in digestion time, as fruits are digested easily, while grains take a longer time, which makes the two together a “cause of discomfort.”
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Meat with eggs
Pairing eggs with meats like sausages, for example, is combining foods that contain high levels of protein, and combining them together can lead to excess protein, and then stomach discomfort.
Certified nutritionist Nadia Andreeva advises avoiding eating protein over protein. She says, “A lot of protein may not be able to be digested by our bodies at once. The best thing is to focus on one protein in each meal, so that it is easier to digest and does not require more energy.”
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Yogurt with citrus fruits
Although yogurt with fruit such as berries, for example, may seem like a healthy breakfast, it may actually interfere with the digestive process by affecting healthy bacteria in the intestines, which in turn affects the immune system, which may lead to symptoms. Respiratory symptoms such as colds or allergies.
Therefore, what is important is the type of fruit that benefits. Yogurt is alkaline and popular fruits such as apples and strawberries are acidic, so you must be sure to choose alkaline fruits such as bananas and cherries.