Celebrity Diet Secrets: Suzanne Sommers

Suzanne Sommers -- and a handful of other Hollywood starlets -- proclaims that the secret to weight loss and overall well-being is found in "food combining".

In other words, they do not eat protein, carbs, and fat during the same meal. Otherwise, they claim, stomach acid is neutralized and unable to absorb nutrients. In turn, food sits in the stomach, rots, and builds up as toxic material in our colons, resulting in weight gain.

Followers also believe that about three fourths of calories should come from fruits and vegetables, and the rest from carbs and protein. Dairy is not allowed. Oh yeah, and you can eat nothing but fruit until noon. Furthermore, if you want protein, you have to wait a few hours following your "starch only" meal.

I'm all for Hollywood stars entertaining us, but why do some feel the need to become "experts" in subjects they just don't have a clue about?

First of all, every bite of food we eat goes through our digestive system and ends up getting excreted at some point. If, by chance, someone is constipated and waste IS temporarily stuck, the easy solution lies in consuming more insoluble fiber (the type found in whole wheat products as well as the skins of fruits and vegetables) and water, not by eating a steak at 2 PM and potatoes at 4 PM.

Secondly, apart from fruit (which is 100% carbohydrate), oils (which is 100% fat) and animal meat (which is 100% protein), most foods are made up of a mixture of nutrients. For instance, 2% milk has fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Whole grain breads have a little fat, some protein, and mostly carbs. Even lettuce has traces of protein!
Let's analyze some claims made by Spice Williams, a proponent of food combining:

"Fruits (especially tropical fruits) have God-given digestive enzymes that will help to clean out the residue left over from the food you've eaten the night before. "

What helps to clean out residue from our digestive systems is fiber, not digestive enzymes. Besides, digestive enzymes are already in our bodies; we don't need to get them from food. While fruit is one way to add fiber to your diet, so is sprinkling flaxseed in a smoothie, or topping a whole grain English muffin with natural peanut butter. And those are just as God-given, in case anyone of faith is wondering.

"Fruits seem to have magical healing and cleansing powers. They travel through the digestive tract very quickly (within an hour) which is why it's so important not to eat them with any other food group. When you combine a fruit with, say for instance, cereal or waffles, it ends up getting held up in the stomach, unable to move through the "pylorus" (the exit opening of the stomach) and into the small intestine where it undergoes the little digestion it requires. When this happens, bacterial decomposition follows, and the fruit begins to ferment and turn into wine!"

If I were a betting man, I'd bet my life savings that Ms. Williams has never taken a biochemistry class. First of all, there is nothing magical about fruit's "powers". They have a variety of antioxidants and phytochemicals along with a high fiber and vitamin content, so of course they are going to help our bodies' systems be healthy. And yes, because fruits are simple carbohydrates, they travel quickly. All that means is they are a great snack to have about an hour before exercising, because their fuel is pretty much instantly up for grabs. Lastly, our bodies are not wine-making factories. Our cells don't go around stomping on fruit in little barrels with spigots.

I also wonder if Ms. Williams even took a basic nutrition course, seeing as how she lists "milk" under proteins. Anyone with two eyes can read a nutrition label and see that all milk contains protein as well as carbohydrates (and fat, unless it's skim).

"When you mis-combine your meals by mixing animal protein with, say, carbohydrates high in starch, your stomach begins pouring in both alkaline and acid, and unfortunately they neutralize each other. It's a stalemate, and since the stomach maintains a 104 degree temperature, what you end up with is sort of an "oven" where the undigested meat and starch begins to ferment, rot and putrefy, causing the undesirable symptoms of gas, flatulence, headaches, bloat, sleepiness, diarrhea, constipation, etc. We're talking about a real mess, and if it continues over the years, undigested food will begin to pile up and ultimately clog your colon and intestinal tract (your life lines to health)."

Our stomach is the same temperature as the rest of our bodies -- approximately 98.6 degrees (not 104 as Spice claims, or 115 as other food combining advocates point out). Even if it were, since when does heat make food rot?

Additionally, flatulence is a normal human process. Passing gas (regardless at which end of the body it happens) several times a day is not a symptom of illness or food rotting in your stomach.

And one more thing -- if, according to these food combining followers, food that is incorrectly combined piles up in our colon, then wouldn't many of supposedly have decades' worth of food stuck in our colons? That's physically impossible!

I'd also like to let Williams know that sometimes combining foods helps with nutrient absorption. For instance, vitamin C (found in many fruits) helps us absorb iron (found in meats and a few vegetables).

Our bodies are smart. They can tell the difference between proteins, fats, and carbs, and activate the necessary enzymes to absorb the required nutrients. We have evolved to the point where we can eat different kinds of foods in one sitting without worrying that we are giving our bodies just too much to do. What isn't smart is to follow a fad diet that is very low in vitamins D and B12 as well as iron and zinc, and is based in fiction.

The only reason why anyone would lose weight on this diet is because they are being severely restricted with their food choices.

When it comes to weight loss, the main concept to always remember is: a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. 200 calories are 200 calories, whether they come from peaches or pizza, whether you eat them standing up or sitting down, or at 7 AM or 1 AM.

As for Suzanne Somers -- nutrition expert is one role I would never hire her for.