Posts Tagged ‘dead food’

Food For Thought – Wild vs. Domestic Animal Diet

January 18th, 2010

A little food for thought for you today. Now, I talk about this topic in my book, Eating for Energy, but I thought I would bring it up here as well.

When explaining to people the benefits of eating more natural raw foods (as opposed to heavily process garbage) I often ask them to think about wild vs. domesticated animals.

I ask them…

“How many wild animals do you know of that suffer from obesity or any other ‘human-like’ disease?”

“Why is that so many of our domesticated cats and dogs are falling prey to the same conditions that plaguing humans (think diabetes, cancer, obesity, etc…)?”

It’s an idea that many people haven’t spent much time thinking about. But there is a very simple reason that animals, that are taken from the wild and domesticated, begin to demonstrate human-like diseases.

Look the crap they’re being fed. Actually, the owners are the ones to blame. I know many dog owners who feed their dogs donuts, pizza, and other horrific foods!

Come on people!

Where on this earth, since the beginning of time, have animals been able to access processed foods?

Try never.

In one of the best nutrition books that I’ve ever read, Enzyme Nutrition, Dr. Howell discusses several experiments in which the transition of wild animals to a domesticated diet has negative consequences.

In one experiment, wild dogs were taken off their primal raw diet and fed a domesticated “dead” food diet. Now, before this happened, wild dogs did not produce salivary enzymes (like amylase) because they did not need to. Their diet was already enzyme-rich because they ate “raw” flesh.

However, once the dogs began feeding on the domesticated food, they begin producing salivary enzymes within less than 24 hours!

It was their body’s way of compensating for a lack of natural living enzymes in the feed.

Now, this may not seem like a big deal but the problem is that each animal/human has a finite number of enzymes that their bodies can produce. Once this limit is reached, it’s good night Charlie.

That’s just one reason why it’s important to eat more raw foods – so you can spare your body’s inherent enzyme stores.

It’s also interesting to note that wild animals don’t cook their food.

We do.

Who seems to be healthier?

Animals also get more fresh air, exercise much more, and probably have a great social network than most humans.

Nonetheless, the fact remains that animals eat what’s right for their bodies. 95% of humans don’t.

We eat what food companies tell us to eat. Not because it’s good but because it’s what makes them the most money.

Just something to think about.

Digestion and Enzymes- Another Reason to Eat Raw Foods

September 13th, 2009

Digestion is one of the most important functions our body is able to perform. Unfortunately, most people don’t digest their food properly.

In my experience, having worked with thousands of personal clients, faulty digestion or an “underactive stomach” is the most common health concern I notice.

So why is digestion a health concern?

Well, consider that improper digestion can lead to nasty conditions like leaky gut syndrome, allergies, and auto-immune disorders – just to name a few.

Think Back to When…

The last time you ate a heavy cooked meal.

Did feel really tired (and full) for several hours?

I know I did.

And it’s not fun.

Think about those big family Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners where you’d stuff yourself with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, bread, wine, and on and on….

Thankfully, those kind of meals are rare.

Cooked Foods Are Dead

Remember that cooked foods are dead. 

They contain no functional enzymes since the heating any living thing above 118 degrees fahrenheit denatures them.

This makes it inherently difficult to digest these foods. After all, there’s a reason that all living foods contain enzymes that will naturally assist in their digestion.

But as soon as their cooked…all bets are off!

What this means to you is that your body now has to secrete more of its own digestive enzymes from the pancreas to breakdown these “dead” foods.

And by the way, these enzymes can run out. When they do, you run out of life!

Think of the Toughest Piece of Steak Ever

To help you understand just how hard it is for your body to digest dead foods – especially cooked proteins – let’s consider a piece of steak for a moment.

To begin with, animal protein (even in its raw state) is very tough for our stomach’s to digest. 

But what happens when we cook meat – or a steak in this example?

All of the steak’s proteins become denatured (just like those enzymes we talked about). They get all bent out of shape, coil together, and make it even tougher for our stomach to breakdown.

Just think of how many times you need to chew each bite of that steak just so you can swallow it! Maybe 100 times? 

Just imagine how much strain is now put on your stomach to further digest it.

So Remember This…

When you cook a protein, you make it tougher and, thus, harder for your body to breakdown.

Here’s another example…

Taking a raw egg, throwing it in a frying pan, and watching it ” coagulate” into a fried egg.

Which do you think is easier for your body to breakdown – the raw “liquidy” egg or the tough, protein-denatured fried version?

If you said the latter, then you’re right.

That’s why if you someone has digestive difficulties and they love their eggs, one of the best things they can do is eat a soft boiled egg instead of a hard boiled egg. 

Less cooking time makes it slightly easier to digest.

Bottom Line – Raw Foods Are Easier to Digest

Based on what we just discussed I’m sure you can appreciate just how much easier it is for us to digest raw foods.

Raw foods are packed full of food enzymes, which assist in their own digestion.

They don’t contain cooked, undigestible proteins.

And they’re actually good for you. They contain tons of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that you simply don’t get in a cooked food.