Dissociated Diet: All You Need to Know About

Dissociated diet is a type of diet that contradicts what we already know. You might have always heard and read about specialists discussing the importance of various diets. Mostly everybody suggests that we keep a variety of food items on the table before sitting for the meal. This gives your body a large range of nutrients and benefits. Although, this is not true for the dissociated diet.

According to the dissociated diet, it is important to eat only a specific food in one meal. It is suggested that acidic food should not be consumed along with alkaline food items. It will cause disturbance in the digestion process. It has a major focus on one food item at a time. Eating a variety of food items in one meal causes disturbance in the digestive system. As the body produces different kinds of enzymes for digesting an acidic food product than for an alkaline food product.

What is Dissociated Diet

Dissociated diet was designed by Dr. William Howard Hay, in 1911. It is based on one of the simplest and most solid principles. The first is to separate the various food items during the day.

All food products are fundamentally divided into two main groups, based on their characteristics, carbohydrates, and proteins. Dissociated diets prohibit the eating of these two groups at the same meal, for example, lunch and dinner, to promote weight loss. You can also understand this in the study by NCBI.

The first group contains products like rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, cereals, sweets, cooked fruit, dried fruit, figs, dates, honey, jam, cornmeal, and all simple and complex carbohydrates. On the other hand in the second group, we have meat, fish, vegetables, milk, and yogurt. All protein-containing food products like citrus fruits, melon, boiled tomatoes, stone fruits, and blueberries are also considered in this second type. 

According to the dissociated diet, it is advised to eat only one group of food products in one meal. It is considered ideal to consume only one kind of product in a single day. The other group of products can be consumed the next day, and so on. If not, then at least a gap of 4 hours is mandatory before switching to the other group. Say you had bread with honey for breakfast. Now for eating meat, or vegetables for lunch, you should wait for a minimum of 4 hours. Only then you can switch to the protein section. But again, you need to take care that you do not mix any carbohydrate food in your lunch. This diet also emphasizes increasing vegetable and fruit intake and avoiding meat or processed food consumption.

If you want to follow the dissociated diet, do not waste your time listing the food options for different meals. It will become both hectic and complicated. For following this diet, just fix the days. Keep alternate days for carbohydrates and protein. In this way, you will not miss out on any nutrients. Because the main goal of this diet is not to fix on a particular nutrient, but instead to keep the consumption of different nutrients separate. This gives the digestive system the ease to process the food because it is only a single type.

Dissociated Diet Pros and Cons

There is no perfect or best diet to follow. The diet you follow should be your choice. Choose the best diet for you according to your body, requirements, and product availability. Dissociated diet has its pros and cons. We have discussed this below.

Pros

1. Eases the digestive system

The major rule of this diet is to keep the carbohydrates and protein-rich food items separate. This keeps the acidic and alkaline food products different. When we have only carbohydrates in our stomach, it becomes easier for our digestive system to produce juices and break down the food. Similarly, if we have different kinds of nutrients in our stomach, the breakdown becomes difficult and often causes indigestion.

2. Promotes weight loss

One of the main reasons why people opt for a dissociated diet is weight loss. There is a significant amount of weight loss observed in the body. You can understand more about weight loss through the study done by NCBI to check the weight loss for the dissociated diet. 

Although it must be noted that there is no claim to having the best weight loss in the dissociated diet. In one of the experiments by NCBI, it is concluded that the weight loss by a dissociated diet was the same as that of a balanced diet.

3. Emphasis on fruits and vegetables

One of the rules in the dissociated diet is to avoid processed food and eat more fruits and vegetables. Consumption of plant-based products has already been remarkable in weight loss and overall healthifying the body.

This rule makes it a very effective diet and makes you consume more vegetables than you normally do. This will help you incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet.

4. Reduces the habit of snacking

Another important rule of the diet is there should be a minimum gap of 4 hours before eating the next meal. Within these four hours, you are not allowed to consume anything. This completely reduces your habit of snacking between meals. And once you stop the habit, the urge of snacking will automatically go away.

According to the research by NCBI, snacking is energy-dense but nutrient-poor. It is one of the major contributors to weight gain.

Cons

1. Difficult to organize 

If you are hearing about this diet for the first time, it already might seem very confusing. Practically organizing your meals might become a problem for you. This would require time to plan out the whole week according to the rules. 

If it is becoming very difficult to organize, you can take help from online sources or consult your nutritionist to provide a perfect dissociated diet. That will help you save a lot of time that would have been required in organizing.

2. Might feel overly restrictive

There are a lot of rules in this diet. This might seem too restrictive. Some people might be okay with the rules and restrictions because it is only to improve your eating habits. But if you are feeling that you are not able to enjoy your meals because of this restriction, it is okay to switch to a different diet. Not all diets are for everyone. You should select the diet where you feel comfortable.

Is the Dissociated Diet a Healthy Choice for You?

If you are looking for something new to try for your weight loss journey, you can try this diet. It will help you understand how your body functions and if this diet is helpful for you. To understand if the dissociated diet is a healthy choice or not, let us look at a few points that are considered in this diet.

According to the study by the USDA, the core elements that make up a healthy dietary pattern include all types of vegetables, fruits, especially whole fruit, Grains, and Dairy, including fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese. Other important protein foods include lean meats, poultry, and eggs; seafood; beans, peas, and lentils; and nuts, seeds, and soy products. These food products are also supported in the dissociated diet. Hence making it a healthy diet.

Apart from that, it is advised to avoid foods and beverages having high sugar components. These limits are imposed for the amount of added sugar, saturated fat, sodium, or any alcoholic beverages. These limitations are also applied to the dissociated diet.

The rule of not eating for a minimum of four hours also makes it healthy as it reduces snacking. Although there is not much evidence about what benefits apart from digestion is there to separate the two types of nutrients. But apart from that, following this diet is a very healthy choice.

Summary

Now we completely understand the dissociated diet. In this article, we discussed what a dissociated diet is. We discussed the rules that must be followed, and how it is healthy. Also, we talked about the pros and cons of the diet.

Having a complete understanding we can summarize it by saying that a dissociated diet is a type of diet that prohibits the eating of two different groups at the same meal. These groups are carbohydrates and protein. It is suggested that eating a variety of food items in one meal causes disturbance in the digestive system. As the body produces different kinds of enzymes for digesting acidic food products and alkaline food products. There are a few rules that need to be kept in mind while following this diet.

The rules are

1. Eat only one type of food in one meal. Do not mix carbohydrate-rich products with protein-rich food.

2. There should be a minimum of a four-hour gap between two meals.

3. Processed food items need to be avoided. Whole foods are to be consumed at all times.

4. Focus on eating more vegetables and fruits is required.