For the love of enzymes...

"The human race is at least half sick. In a biological sense, there are no completely healthy people living on the conventional diet. Even those young adults who feel fit have health defects. Some have dental caries, thinning hair, approaching baldness, acne or allergies, headaches, impaired vision, constipation, and so on..."
Edward Howell, PhD, Enzyme Nutrition

Dr. Howell is commenting on this strictly looking at the enzyme deficiency contribution to this problem. When we eat as close to nature as possible, it is very likely we will consume raw foods. You know, when you get on your "healthy kick", you start to incorporate more fruits, more salads and so on. Now, thing of Morgan Spurlock in Supersize Me. Here, he consumes nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days. Did he ever try the salad...? If not, he consumed 100% cooked foods for that entire time. It's too bad that a naturopathic doctor was not consulted during the making of the movie. We could have checked for the enzyme point, located just below and to the right of the very lowest part of the sternum.

Imagine the amount of enzymes it would take to digest 1 McDonald's meal...The food is cooked, it is highly processed and so it is looks very complex to the body. In the 100-Year Lie: How food and medicine are destroying our health by Randall Fitzgerald, he mentions that the body is unable to recognize many of the synthetic chemicals that are currently being added into our food system, including pesticides, antibiotics, hormones, food preservatives and more. He explains that these foods actually get "locked" in the liver because the liver simply does not know how to process them. Because of this, it is very likely that the body secretes even more of the precious pancreatic enzymes in order to digest this type of a meal. Imagine people who eat McD's or this type of food every day! What enzymes will they have remaining by the time they are in their 40's or 50's. Imagine that just by supplementing enzymes and eating more live food that you can make a profound difference in your state of health in a very short time!

Dr. Howell continues:

"Nature's plan calls for food enzymes to help with digestion instead of forcing the body's digestive enzymes to carry the whole load...If food enzymes did some of the work, the enzyme potential would not be facing impending bankruptcy, as it is now in the bodies of millions of people on the minus diet - food minus its enzymes. Our enzyme potential has a problem somewhat similar to a checking account which could become dangerously deficient if not continually replenished."

"The heat used in cooking destroys all food enzymes and forces the organism to produce more enzymes, thus enlarging digestive organs, especially the pancreas...Although the body makes less than two dozen digestive enzymes, it uses up more of its enzyme potential supplying these than it uses to make the hundreds of metabolic enzymes needed to keep all of the organs and tissues functioning with their diversified activities."

Live Food 101:Enzymes

I am going to be doing a few posts on the basics of live foods. I lecture often on the amazing benefits of live foods, and do many live food preparation classes. Let's go back to the basics and explore some of the reasons that foods prepared without cooking make you feel so good! There is also a way to test yourself for enzyme deficiency that I mention at the end of the post.

"The length of life is inversely proportional to the rate of exhaustion of the enzyme potential of an organism. The increased use of food enzymes promotes a decreased rate of exhaustion of the use of enzyme potential."
The Enzyme Nutrition Axiom by Edward Howell

Dr. Edward Howell, who wrote the book Enzyme Nutrition, realized that the body has a limited ability to produce digestive enzymes from the pancreas. If you do not supplement your own enzymes over the course of a lifetime, it is very likely that you will rapidly deplete your own enzymes. As a result, the aging process will be accelerated, and it will be much easier for chronic illness to develop. He said:

"Enzymes represent the life element which is biologically recognized and can be measured in terms of enzyme activity. Our easiest measurement is a lack, for various chemical reactions fail to occur without enzymes: a radiated or cooked potato will fail to sprout."

We absolutely MUST supplement our diet with live foods or go completely live! Please remember that in addition to live foods, fermented foods are also rich in enzymes. So, your kombucha tea, miso soup, sauerkraut and rejuvelac are all good sources of enzymes as well. If you do not, you will begin to show signs of enzyme depletion. These can include fatigue, poor digestion, constipation, a feeling that food sits in your stomach, graying hair, waking in the morning and not feeling refreshed and so much more. You are constantly making withdrawals from your enzyme bank when you consume cooked foods. Like a good savings account that you continue to withdraw from, your enzyme bank account, as abundant as it may start out in life, will begin to go toward bankruptcy. Please don't let this happen!

You can do a test on yourself to find out if your body needs enzymes. Find your sternum, then find the xiphoid process, which is the lowest part, the part where the sternum ends. You can also work your way up from the abdomen and find the xiphoid process. Now, move about 1 inch to the down and 1 inch to the right, by your rib cage. Press with a medium-firm pressure. If you feel some tenderness in the spot, you need enzymes. You need to supplement with digestive enzymes AND you need to eat more live foods or begin to transition to live foods.

Also, ask yourself this: Why do people eating a 100% raw diet look SO GREAT? It's the enzymes to a great extent! If you supplement your enzymes with live foods, which contain their own enzymes, you will allow much more energy for your body to use on repair and rejuvenation of cells! You will look beautful, you will feel beautiful.
For the sake of your health more than anything else, take care of your savings account of enzymes. Either consume a diet of primarily live foods, or be sure to supplement enzymes, or do BOTH!!!