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How does the principle of “ikkar” and “tofel” work with the after-blessing?

Let us say that I make the blessing “borei minei mezonos” on my breakfast cereal eaten with milk. After I have eaten the cereal with the milk, my body benefits from the cereal and the milk in the same way as if I had eaten them one at a time.

If I had eaten them one at a time, I would have been liable to say two after-blessings.

Why is it different if I ate the two together?

related - What if the tafel comes to hand first?

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    I'm a little confused by this question. What exactly are you asking? Why do you think the rule for the after-blessing should be different from the before-blessing?
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 13:12
  • There are two ways to eat the cereal and milk (separately and together). The bodily benefit is the same in both ways. I assume the after-blessing is to thank for the benefit to the body. Why then should the after blessing depend on how I eat the cereal and milk?
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 14:26
  • AFAIK, after eating cereal w/ milk, you make two post-blessings, both al hamichya and borei nefashot. For other combos, it seems that the concept is that the first bracha which is on the ikar exempts making the bracha on the tafel. Shouldn't that same rule work for the post bracha?
    – DanF
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 14:29
  • Why do you claim the after-blessing is for the benefit to the body but the before-blessing is not?
    – Daniel
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 14:33
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    @DanF “The Halachos of Brochos” by Rabbi Bodner page 254 says “Just as the initial brocha on the ikar covers the tofel, so too does the brocha achrona of ikar cover the tofel”. And in the “Handbook” about for example “Wheat Chex” it says the after-brocha is “al hamichya”.
    – Avrohom Yitzchok
    Commented Jun 12, 2015 at 14:42

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I would guess that the benefit for the body is different and it has to do with chemistry of how we digest. S. Gundry "The Plant Paradox" describes in a friendly language a complex pattern matching procedure that the body undergoes during food digestion. Discovery of this mechanism received Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2012. When one eats two foods separately, the body runs two pattern matching programs, which fully digest each food giving a person a double benefit. Hence two brachos. A combination of different foods requires twice as complex pattern identification. As a result the body chooses to work for the ikar and may partially neglect the tofel, even though the mixture is tastier. Hence one bracha.

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