Enzymes in Raw Living Food Diets

Enzymes are the vital life force present in all raw living foods. Understanding Enzyme nutrition is vital to understand the secret behind raw food diets.

Enzymes are produced naturally by the human body to act as catalysts for a variety of different biological activities. These include digestion, cell detoxification and all metabolic processes. The digestion of food is the most significant of these processes and requires more enzyme energy than the others.

Natural Enzymes and Digestion

When we eat food we need specific enzymes present in the body to properly digest the various components of the food we eat. Amylase is the main enzyme for carbohydrates, protease digests protein and lipase is the enzyme for the digestion of fats.

All food in its raw and living state has all the enzymes required for optimal digestion. Heating food above 118 Fahrenheit degrades enzymatic activity. As the majority of foods we eat in the world today are cooked we make it very difficult for our digestive tract to process these foods.

The Pancreas Produces Digestive Enzymes

When food coming in to the body is lacking in enzymes or they have been destroyed, the pancreas provides the necessary enzymes to complete the job. This takes a lot of energy away from other metabolic activities and result in tiredness and lethargy after eating.

The larger the meal and the more cooked and processed it is, the greater this effect will be. Other bodily processes are shut down until energy is freed up once again.

Enzymes and Detoxification

Detoxification is vital to any healthy body. It occurs at the level of the whole body and at the level of each individual cell. Waste is thrown out of the cell and vital nutrients and new parts for the cells infrastructure are brought in.

Understanding the process of disease is relatively simple when we consider the role of enzymes. The correlation between modern processed diets and the dramatic increase in disease becomes obvious.

When the body is unable to detoxify itself there is a build up of toxic waste and metabolic bi-products in its cells. This inhibits the cells functioning and leads to the organs being impaired and then systemic malfunction.

Healing the Body Through Enzyme Replacement

The body has extraordinary healing wisdom and is able to repair and monitor body functions to ensure they are all running at peak efficiency. It directs the production of enzymes and ensures the priority for their use is carried out.

Digestion is the most important function or else food will sit around in the gut and rot and receives enzyme priority for this reason. When there is enzymes already present in food this extra workload on the pancreas is avoided. The body continues with general cleansing and detoxification and disease and ill health is postponed.

Eating plenty of raw foods lowers the energy committed to digestion and is a key to living vibrant and healthy lives.

First published Jul 23, 2010 Bernard Coogan