To graze or not to graze

143tobe

I just started transitioning into this 80/10/10 diet/lifestyle this past week, and I noticed that I tend to graze. I also saw that chart posted here on food combining, and I was wondering how long after you eat something before it runs into the food or foods you last ate. For example, if I had peanuts an noon, and a banana at 1pm, would that work? I really tend to eat something every hour or two. Also, grazing. Is it acceptable in this diet, or is a set amount of meals per day preferable? And while I'm here, the calories. I have been sticking to the mfp recommended 1200 (plus exercise) calories. The past few days I've felt a little weak, hungry, and I'be been doing things like putting crackers in the fridge and my kid's milk in the cupboard. I've been forgetting what I went into a room for all week. Not typical behaviors for me. Are more calories required to get by on this diet? I feel like my body is missing something.

danikanoodles

Grazing is normal. It may not be optimal but is perfectly fine when starting out. It is difficult in the beginning to consume the volume of food required to be succesful on this lifestyle in one sitting. So in order to do such one would have to graze for a while. For optimum digestion it would be better to have plenty of space between meals. The body takes up a lot of energy in digesting and is a good idea to give it a break when possible. Not something I would expect you to do in the beginning.

The times it takes in between meals in regards to combining can differ from person to person to an extent. A melon usually takes about 15 minutes to digest and it's one of the fastest digesting foods. But lets say you have watermelon for lunch after having a banana smoothie for breakfast you can end up in a lot of tummy pain. Melons are best eaten as a mono meal(eating one type of fruit by itself) you can however eat different kinds of melons in one meal. These are best eaten at breakfast when the stomach is completely empty to avoid digestion, fermentation and absorption issues.

Overt fats are best to be eaten after you have already had all your fruit for the day. Fats should never be eaten along with fruits because it causes a multitude of issues. A treat of lets say coconut date rolls is okay once in a while but is an example of something that shouldn't become a daily thing.

When following this lifestyle I would highly reccomend you increase your calories. Low calories on this lifestyle will result in bingeing on not so great foods, weight gain/weight loss issues down the road, nutritional deficiencies and absorption issues and so much more.

If you want to be succesful I would reccomend at least 2,000 calories and more if exercising.