DSCF2773 edited smallerI am often asked about combining foods and food groups.  This trendy way of eating certainly supports digestive health, however today I wish to focus on one of my favourite concepts, that of combining flavours.

For me, flavours bring excitement to your cooking and great joy to the eating.

You can nourish yourself in a deep way by knowing how to assemble flavours together.  

Combining flavours:

  • Allows for perfect nourishment, here you stop eating before you feel too full.
    Tasting rich flavours enables you to experience feeling satisfied from a meal.  I term this perfect nourishment, since it’s a feeling of having eaten well, without feeling over full or of under eaten.  Students describe this as “feeling nourished and satisfied and in a very contented mood both physically and mentally.” 
  • Curbs post meal grazing
    “Yesterday’s meal was amazing! It satisfied me on every level. I didn’t have any cravings in the afternoon and it also made me feel happier and definitely more energetic!” one student reported.  Cravings are mitigated by eating with the flavours in mind.

First you need to be aware of the five key flavours:

  1. sweet
  2. sour
  3. salty
  4. bitter
  5. pungent

Then when you prepare a snack or meal, combine at least 2 different flavours together.

For example, combine nuts and dry fruits together for a balanced snack, in preference to over doing nuts solo.

Or, make your main meal sing with the flavours of the salty stir fry and dressing sour from the tang of lemon juice.

Go sweet and sour for your bean or tofu stew using shoyu (salty), rice syrup (sweet) and rice vinegar (sour).

Pungent
Go wild for a pungent flavour garnish using ginger, spring onion, mustard and raw onion.

Bitter
Vary your taste buds with a bitter combination of rocket teamed with a sweet miso dressing.

Salty
Generate saltiness from other means than ordinary salt, try rice or barley miso, bouillon, herb salt, shoyu, tamari, pink rock salt, sea salt.

Savoury Sweetness
Including sweetness in your main meal is very key.  I call this savoury sweetness and this flavour acts to both initiate digestion and support the avoidance of simple sugar indulgence.  Incorporating savoury sweetness is a critical step in coming away from sugar and sugary goods.

Achieving full, rich flavours using natural ingredients transforms health.

Which flavours do you like?  Which flavours are missing from your diet?  I would love to hear from you.

 

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