Posts Tagged ‘food enzymes’

Eating Raw Foods for Health

May 14th, 2010

People will try almost anything to stay healthy, and it’s not a new phenomenon. Throughout the ages, people have eaten a wide and varied array of foods that they believed helped to keep them younger, healthier and more vigorous. From the highly localized and recently re-popularized diet of the Palaeolithic times that focused on low amounts of carbohydrates and eating what was readily available; to the more modern but still outdated ideas presented to schoolchildren in the health food “pyramid”, people have always been looking for proven guidelines to eat healthier.

For many people starting a raw food diet, maintaining or improving their overall health is a primary reason for the switch from cooked foods. Recent studies have shown that a diet high or completely comprised of raw, uncooked and under-processed foods can have a dramatic impact on the way that your body operates. That includes providing increased energy and mental alertness, and improving the ability to stay healthy and ward off illness. But what about a raw food diet is so beneficial to your health?

When you first learn how to eat a raw diet, you are going to notice that your intake of fruits and vegetables will probably skyrocket, as compared to your old eating habits. Fruits and vegetables are staples of the raw diet, due in no small part to their versatility, their great taste, and of course, their benefits for your body. Raw fruits and vegetables contain tons of vitamins and minerals that, for many non-raw eaters, are in desperately short supply in their regular daily meals. Vitamin A, found in abundance in tomatoes, has been shown to help build a healthy immune system. Vitamin B1 (avocados), B3 (bananas) and B9 (strawberries) can help support a healthy cardiovascular system, grow new muscle, and create antibodies in the blood. Vitamin C, found all over the raw spectrum, provides your body with antioxidants that help to preserve your good health and strong body. These vitamins can be found in cooked foods, but never as abundantly as in their raw hosts.

How else can raw food help you to stay healthy? Raw foods give you energy that you can use to keep your body in tip-top shape. A healthy and fit body is one that is more prepared to fight off illness. Good fitness helps to push back some of the issues and health problems that we might face as we age, especially heart and circulatory concerns. A raw food diet can help to propel you through more frequent workouts, which will in turn lead to an overall healthier body, and fewer required trips to see the local physician.

Raw foods can also keep your digestive tract healthier. The living food enzymes that you consume as part of a raw diet are used to aid the body in digestion of foods, absorption of vitamins, minerals and energy, and the elimination of waste products. The less of your body’s natural stores of energy that need to be used for these processes, the more raw power is available to your body for other purposes – like keeping you in the peak of healthiness.

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Why it’s Good to Eat More Raw Foods

February 24th, 2010

If you’ve been on the fence wondering whether eating more raw foods is a good thing or not, then let me help you over – to the good side. Obviously I have a very biased opinion about eating raw foods, after all I’ve written a book on the subject (ie. Eating for Energy).

But you just can’t refute the numerous benefits of eating raw. One of the reasons I started eating more raw foods several years ago was that I wanted more energy. I was sick and tired of needing lots of sleep (ie. 8-10 hours) to feel rested and somewhat energetic.

After all, most sleep experts have told us that our bodies need a “specific” amount of sleep for our body to regenerate and feel rested. I used to believe that…now I’m not so sure. What I’ve found is that when most of my food intake comes from raw foods, I don’t need as much sleep. In fact, when I’m about 80% raw, I can thrive on just 5-6 hours of sleep.

Part of the reason this happens is the body is getting “life energy” from the foods you’re feeding it. When we eat dead, cooked foods, there is little to no energy (other than calories) that we are providing our body.

Think of eating raw foods like recharging a battery. The more raw foods you eat, the more you are recharging your battery – which, in this case, is your body. Conversely, when the majority of your diet is comprised of dead foods, you inherently drain more of your battery’s energy.

This occurs because dead foods require more energy to be digested and metabolized. For instance, eating meat (that is cooked) draws more water from your body to be digested since most, if not all, the water in the meat has been evaporated by the cooking process.

Not only does eating cooked meat help to dehydrate your body but it also taxes your body’s digestive enzymes. Because the food is dead it no longer contains it’s natural food enzymes. As a result, your body must now spend more of its own energy to produce and secrete more of its limited digestive enzymes.

These are just a few reasons why cooked foods drain your energy but there are many more. Now, I’m not saying that you have to totally forego cooked foods from here on out (I certainly haven’t) but it’s important to understand that you should offset some of the “stress” imposed by cooked foods with an abundance of raw foods.

And it doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply eating more fruits and vegetables, in their raw state, is really all you need to do. When people ask me how to start eating raw, I usually just tell them that the easiest way to do so is by adding a few more fruits and vegetables into their daily diet.

Once you experience the benefits of doing so, you’ll find it easier to transition away from those foods that have held you hostage for so many years.

Go for it – you can do it!

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Digestive Enzymes for Better Digestion

October 15th, 2009

Digestion is perhaps the most important function our body performs. Obviously, that’s up for debate but the truth of the matter is that faulty digestion is where most health problems begin.

Think of allergies, auto-immune diseases, candidiasis, constipation, eczema, asthma, and many more.

All of these problems (and tons of others) can be caused and/or attributed to bad digestion.

Bring in the Enzymes…

Our body produces 2 different kinds of enzymes: digestive and metabolic.

Metabolic enzymes are used in every single reaction in the body outside of digestion. These are also critical for helping to breakdown immune complexes and dead cells, and helping to rebuild new tissue.

Digestive enzymes are produced within the digestive tract and are used exclusively to assist in the breakdown of food.

The problem with digestive enzymes is that we only have a limited number of them.

That’s where the importance of eating more raw foods come into play. Raw foods are packed with food enzymes (the 3rd category of enzymes). These enzymes are inherent in every single living food and are there to help the digestion of that given food.

If you eat a raw apple, it’s inherent food enzymes will pretty much take care of the digestive process. However, cook that apple above 118 degrees fahrenheit and you can kiss those food enzymes goodbye.

When we eat food that no longer contains “food enzymes” our body is forced to expend more of its limited supply of digestive enzymes to break down the food.

Over time, this can become a problem as our digestive system weakens and digestion becomes compromised.

Digestive Support Nutrients

So we know that we need to support our digestive system by eating a greater proportion of living foods since they are enzyme-rich.

But what do you do if you occasionally eat cooked foods?

One thing I would highly recommend is to supplement with some digestive aids like digestive enzymes and hydrochloric acid.

In general, you want to choose a digestive enzyme that covers a full spectrum of enzymes. You’ll see the suffix -ase on nearly all enzymes. For instance, maltase digests the sugar maltose. Lactase breaks down lactose. And so on.

However, there are other enzymes that do not end with -ase such as chymotrypsin, pepsin, trypsin, and pancreatin.

I personally use a digestive enzyme at any meal in which the foods are cooked. Since I understand the importance of proper digestion, as well as the fact that I have an underactive stomach (as do most people), I definitely feel that my digestion is much improved with the use of supplemental digestive enzymes.

Hydrochloric acid (HCl) is another digestive aid I use anytime I eat cooked foods, and in many cases raw foods as well.

HCl is naturally produced and secreted by the parietal cells in the lining of our stomach in response to the ingestion of fat or protein. However, when we eat more frequently than required by the body or over-consume fats or proteins, acid production begins to decrease.

And decreased HCl production can lead to faulty digestion, with symptoms like gas, belching, bloating, discomfort after meals, fatigue after meals, and excessive fullness.

As I just mentioned, most people have an underactive stomach. This means that their stomach does not produce sufficient HCl to properly digest their foods.

For this reason, I highly recommend taking supplementary HCl with your meals.

The only contraindication to using digestive enzymes and HCl is if you have an ulcer or other type of gastric inflammation as too much extra stomach acid may further irritate the situation.

HCl is primarily available as betaine hydrochloride. You can take one or more capsules before, during, and after your meals to assist your stomach in producing enough acid.

The combination of digestive enzyme and HCl supplementation will not only help you digest your foods better but they will also improve your energy levels, help slow the aging process, and prevent many chronic degenerative diseases from developing.

It’s very powerful stuff!

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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.

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Raw Food Diet for Athletes?

September 1st, 2009

Can athletes benefit from a raw food diet?

Many people have asked me this question. And my answer is a definite…

YES!

The problem is that most sports nutrition textbooks and resources tell athletes to eat lots of carbs like pasta, bread, and other grains as a way of maximizing their glycogen stores.

The problem with that, though, is that most people are sensitive to these food. In fact, there’s even debate as to whether the human body has sufficiently evolved to even digest grains.

I can tell you from my own experience that eating a big plate of pasta before a game makes me feel tired, lethargic, and even makes my body crave simple sugars within a few hours.

So how can a raw food diet benefit athletes?

Having played professional soccer and subsisting on pasta and bread, then transitioning to more of a raw food diet, I can tell you firsthand that eating more raw foods can make a huge difference in your performance and your ability to recover from exercise.

First, raw foods are packed with food enzymes. These enzymes facilitate digestion, which means that your body doesn’t feel bloated and lethargic after your meals. It also means that your body can spend more of its energy, not on digestion, but on recuperation and regeneration!

Second, eating more raw fruits and vegetables means that your body will be receiving a huge influx of needed alkalinity.

Why is alkalinity so important for athletes (let alone everyone else)? Well, an alkaline environment promotes high oxygenation. Considering that oxygen is needed for energy and body movement, the answer should be pretty clear.

Furthermore, diseases cannot flourish in an alkaline, oxygen-rich environment. This has been demonstrated by numerous Nobel Prize winners including Otto Warburg and Linus Pauling. 

Oxygen is essential for performance. Alkaline foods (fruits and vegetables) oxygenate your body!

Third, you don’t need meat to be strong!

In a study published in the Yale Medical Journal, Professor Irving Fisher conducted a study in which he compared the strength and stamina of meat-eating athletes versus that of vegetarian (both athletic and sedentary) individuals.

The study concluded that of the 3 groups tested (meat-eating athletes, vegetarian athletes, and vegetarian sedentary subjects) the vegetarians’ (including the sedentary group) average stamina was double that of the athletic meat-eaters.

There is strong evidence that a meat-less diet is conducive to greater endurance.

Similar results have been demonstrated by several studies including that of Dr. Ioteyko from the Academie de Medicine de Paris, in which vegetarian athletes averaged 2 to 3 times more stamina and required one-fifth the time to recover from exhaustion compared to their meat eating rivals!

Here are just well-known athletes who are (or have been) vegetarian (or raw vegan):

- World Champion gymnast Dan Milman
- “Mr. International” bodybuilding winner Andreas Cahling
- Tennis great Martina Navratilova
- Olympian Carl Lewis
- Football Hall-of-Famer Art Still
- Four-time “Mr. Universe” title-holder Bill Pearl (described in more detail later)
- Swimming World Record Holder Bill Pickering
- World Class marathoner Gail Olinekova
- Canadian champion tri-athlete Brendan Brazier

If you’re an athlete (or recreation exerciser) and want to have more energy, more strength, greater endurance, and improve your overall performance, then adopting more raw foods into your diet will be greatly beneficial.

Try it for yourself and experience the difference!

References:

Fisher, I. (1907). The influence of flesh eating on endurance. Yale Medical Journal, 13(5): 205-221.

Ioteyko, J et al. Enquete scientifique sur les vegetarians de Bruxelles, Henri Lamertin, Brussels, p. 50.

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