Food combining in Ayurveda

This is a perfect topic for this time of year - many faith traditions are celebrating a variety of holidays and gathering with food is a central theme of coming together. While this is wonderful, we can be glad it's not every day these large meals happen. While fun and festive, they may have left you feeling bloated, heavy, maybe with a headache, constipated or diarrhea or other GI symptoms.  

While the amount of food matters greatly (Ayurveda says eat about 1/2 your stomach size in food, 1/4 in liquid and probably most importantly is 1/4 space. Your stomach needs space in order to properly digest!), so does the type of food and in the way you eat it. Yes there are so many food rules in Ayurveda! This is the important concept of food combining. 
  
While some food combinations seem rather obvious (ever had an orange with milk? yuck!), some are not obvious at all. So why and what are there rules in the first place? Dr. Lad explains it well (see link below for more info): 

"According to Ayurveda, every food has its own taste (rasa), a heating or cooling energy (virya) and a post-digestive effect (vipaka). Some also possess prabhava, an unexplained effect. So while it is true that an individual’s agni largely determines how well or poorly food is digested, food combinations are also of great importance. When two or more foods having different taste, energy and post-digestive effect are combined, agni can become overloaded, inhibiting the enzyme system and resulting in the production of toxins. Yet these same foods, if eaten separately, might well stimulate agni, be digested more quickly and even help to burn ama. Poor combining can produce indigestion, fermentation, putrefaction and gas formation and, if prolonged, can lead to toxemia and disease."

Another example is fruit with anything. Fruit should be eaten by itself ideally, unless cooked (such as berries cooked in with oatmeal). Cheese and dairy is very finicky with other foods as well. Find a nice list in the link below of foods that don't belong together.