This is an interesting
and potentially compelling conjecture.
Certainly attention to food complexity through plant foods is
increasingly the health therapy most productive of positive outcomes. Study by study, we are leaning that way.
That it may all be
about enzyme intake is not obvious and antioxidant explanations appear far too
simple as well, so this approach is actually a welcome rethinking of the problem.
On the other hand, we
have spent the last million years heating foods and learning to do with a
modest level of their enzymes. So actually
using an all enzyme diet system is likely a little over the top. Yet recall how the Koreans survived on kimchee
and rice to make it through the famine generated by the Korean War..
How To Prevent Enzyme
Deficiency – The Cause Of All Humanity’s Diseases
January
28, 2013
Raluca
Schachter
“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 enzyme
potential.” –The Enzyme Nutrition Axiom formulated by Dr. Edward
Howell
Vitamins,
minerals and all kinds of super-nutrients are in the spotlight on the
nutritional arena. Enzymes are not that much talked about though. But they are
essential and most of the people these days, including small children are very
deficient! Actually, we are the only species on Earth that tries to live without
food enzymes! And we’re doing a poor job at it…What happened and why are
enzymes so necessary for health?
Why
Are Enzymes Essential And Where Did They Go?
Enzymes
are substances which make life possible and which are found in
natural, “live” foods and also in
your body. Enzymes are the “work force” of the
body. Without them, chemical reactions cannot take place, and
hormones, minerals, and vitamins cannot carry out their functions. There
are believed to be hundreds of thousands of enzymes in the body; different
enzymes perform different functions. Without them, life cannot exist.
Some activities of enzymes are:
Rebuild
food into tissue of muscle, bone, organs, glands, etc.
Work
to store food in the liver and muscles for fuel later on
Coagulate
blood
Attach
iron to red blood cells
Eliminate
carbon dioxide from the lungs
Promote
oxidation
Change
protein into sugar or fat
Change
carbohydrate into fat
Change
fat into carbohydrate
You
can have all the raw materials necessary for good health – vitamins, minerals, intrinsic factors,
proteins, carbohydrates, fats, amino acids, etc. – but enzymes are
necessary in order for your body to utilize all the raw materials in its
life-supporting activities of metabolism.
The
critical role of enzymes in the maintenance of health and well-being was
dramatically demonstrated in an experiment now known as “The Pottenger Cat
Studies,” which was performed by Francis
Pottenger,
M.D., in 1946. Pottenger wanted to know if raw meat and raw milk, when
modified by high heat, had an impact on growth and development. During the ten
years of the study, nine hundred cats were studied. The results of this study
were stunning: consuming heated
and cooked meat and milk versus raw meat and raw milk – can
negatively affect cats’ health over four generations!! After just one
generation of cats, cats that were fed cooked food developed degenerative
diseases.
At
birth, we acquire a limited supply of enzymes. Throughout our lifetime, as
enzymes perform their function, they are destroyed and eliminated from the
body. The habit of cooking the food (especially at high temperatures and even
above 118 F), eating it processed with chemicals, the use of drugs, alcohol,
and junk food, all draw out tremendous
quantities of enzymes from our limited supply. Frequent colds and fevers and
exposure to extremes of temperature also deplete the supply.
There
are three classes of enzymes:
metabolic enzymes, which run our bodies
digestive enzymes, which digest the food; most are
manufactured by the pancreas
food enzymes obtained from raw foods, which
start food digestion
Our
bodies are run by metabolic enzymes; every organ and tissue has its own
particular metabolic enzymes to do specialized work. Since good health depends on all of these
metabolic enzymes doing an excellent job, we must be sure that nothing
interferes with the body making enough of them. A shortage could mean trouble,
many times serious. Nature’s plan calls for food enzymes to carry the whole
load. If food enzymes do some of the work, the enzyme potential can have much
more to give to the hundreds of metabolic enzymes that run the body.
Think
about it as you think of your banking account: if it’s not continuously
replenished, it could become dangerously “deficient”…
So,
when ingested, the enzymes in raw food, or supplementary enzymes, result in a
significant degree of digestion, lowering the drain on the organism. The
heat in cooking destroys enzymes and forces the organism to produce more
enzymes, thus enlarging the pancreas. This way, the body is unable to
produce an adequate quantity of metabolic enzymes to repair the body and fight
disease.
Health
Conditions Associated With Enzyme Deficiency
According
to Dr. Edward
Howell,
a noted pioneer in the field of enzyme research, enzyme deficiency leads to
a shortened lifespan, illness, and lowered resistance to illness. On
short, the lower your supply of enzymes, the shorter your life! That’s a
pretty good argument and a very truthful one, as well! The reality is just
this: a body in a weakened, enzyme-deficient state is a prime target
for cancer, obesity, arthritis, allergies,
heart disease, and other degenerative problems. The glands and the major organs,
including the brain, suffer most from the unnatural digestive drain on the
metabolic enzyme potential. The pancreas swells to meet the great
demand for its juices while other glands also abnormally adapt, and the
brain actually shrinks on the all-cooked and over-refined diet.
How
To Ensure A Proper Amount Of Enzymes In Your Diet?
ENZYME
RICH RAW FOODS
It
is vital for health and longevity that the enzymes be replenished in the
body from foods with sufficient quantities of these essential substances.
Most whole foods contain some enzymes, but the highest quantities are contained
in the following: olives from the tree, raw
honey,
sprouts, grapes, fresh dates and figs, bananas, avocados, papaya, pineapple,
kiwi, mangos, germinated and inhibitor-free raw grains, and nuts.
Raw
dairy (especially cultured) and fermented foods are also a great way to
add more enzymes to your diet. Raw apple
cider vinegar contains
enzymes as well, so choosing this with high quality olive oil and herbs for dressings can
be one of your healthiest choice.
Eating raw
fats with their full complement of lipase, a fat digesting food enzyme
found abundantly in all raw foods containing large amounts of animal or
vegetable fat, is also a great way to replenish supplies, as is eating raw
meat and fish. Of course, due to the modern lifestyles, and the weakened human
condition, including poor digestion, it may be difficult and potentially
harmful to adopt a totally raw diet for long periods.
ENZYME
RICH FOOD PREPARATION
All
enzymes are deactivated at a wet-heat temperature of 118 F and a dry-heat
temperature of 150 F. We actually have a mechanism for determining whether or
not the food we are eating still contains the necessary enzyme content: above
117 F, foods and liquids will burn!
The
healthiest and easiest way of cooking is actually using a slow cooker (crock pot), the modern version of cooking on
hot charcoals in a hole in the ground, a method used by our ancestors! This way
the food will not be burnt and totally depleted of nutrients; plus, it’s so
much tastier and moist! Use only low temperatures for stove top cooking and
always try to add some of the healthy, not-so-heat-stable raw fats at the end
(like unrefined extra
virgin olive oil) to
preserve nutrients.
“PRE-DIGESTING”
The
Eskimos consume raw fish that has been allowed to “autolate” or
“pre-digest” – that is becoming putrefied or semirancid. To this
pre-digested food, they actually ascribe their stamina.
Culturing
of dairy, used widely by pre-industrialized people, enhances the enzyme content
of milk, cream, butter and cheese. Fermented vegetables like sauerkraut, pickled
carrots, beets, cucumbers, etc. also contain a good source of
enzymes. Cultured soy, like natto and miso, is another good sources
of enzymes. Cooked
meats that have been well aged or marinated present less strain on the
digestive system because of this “pre-digestion”.
Sprouting
and soaking in warm acidic water and genuine sourdough leavening
“pre-digests” grains, nuts and legumes allowing the nutrients to
be more easily assimilated and metabolized.
This is an age-old approach practiced in most traditional cultures.
Soaking and sprouting begins germination, which increases the enzymatic
activity in foods and inactivates substances called enzyme
inhibitors. Unless deactivated, they will put a great strain on the digestive
system.
Soaking
also neutralizes phytic acid, a component of plant fiber found in the
bran and hulls of grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds that reduces mineral
absorption.
Sprouting
is actually a very easy and fun thing to do! Try first with easy to sprout
legumes like lentils and mung beans and grains like quinoa and amaranth. You
can find out a lot of details online on websites like Sprout
People.
How
About Supplementation?
In
order to be active, enzymes will only function within a certain pH range. For
example, animal-based enzymes like pancreatin are only active in a pH
range of about 7.5 – 9.0. But certain plant based formulas are active
between 3.0 – 9.0. This means they are extremely effective digestive aids,
even for those individuals who have very altered pH in their digestive tracts.
Under laboratory conditions, certain of these supplemental enzymes are capable
of digesting over a million times their weight in cooked food.
As
a general rule, it makes sense, and it’s very beneficial for anyone’s health,
to aim for a steady quantity of raw foods in the diet, which work for your metabolism, not against it, while
supplementing with enzymes when only cooked foods are served on a meal or not
enough enzyme quantity is provided through raw foods. Also, make a list of all
enzyme-rich foods listed in this article and find ways to add some of them with
each meal.
About
the Author
Raluca Schachter is a passionate Nutritionist
and Metabolic Typing Advisor®, with a background in both nutrition and
communication/PR. She believes in traditional, unaltered food, ancestral
wisdom, sustainable farming and living. Raluca was able to naturally reverse
chronic health conditions she was struggling with most of her life, and now
uses her knowledge to help as many people as possible do the same. Her health
programs and diet plans offer a very unique and comprehensive approach to
health, where individual nutritional and biochemical requirements are firstly
met using specific nutrients and foods that each metabolism thrives on. This
approach reveals why and how ‘one diet/herb doesn’t fit all’ and why ‘one man’s
food is another one’s poison.’ Raluca currently resides in Garden Grove, CA and
offers her services for local and distance clientele. For more information
visit her website and blog guide2health.net or join Raluca on Facebook
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