The Skinny on Enzymes

Enzymes act as catalysts for proper food digestion and assimilation.

At birth, each human receives a limited amount of digestive enzymes. Once gone, they’re gone; food enzymes must then be supplied from the outside.

Each plant contains food enzymes, the precise enzymes needed for proper human digestion of that food, if the plant is left in its raw state.

More About Enzymes

I find it’s most helpful to think of enzymes as catalysts, because that’s their function. They ignite life. It’s also true that most enzymes are proteins. As important as proteins are, enzymes are so small that it’s pointless to try to calculate them into your daily protein count.

Understanding that enzymes make food more digestible and able to be assimilated is key to understanding the importance of these little gems. Even if you don’t have a felt digestion problem, if you’re not properly digesting or assimilating your foods, then you’re not getting the nutrients that you need.

Food that’s not properly digested does not travel through the body properly and its nutrients are not used fully by the body.

Enzymes are destroyed when heated above 118° (or, depending who you read, 120°). Therefore, enzymes are only found in raw foods or foods that are dried at temperatures below 118°. Some enzymes survive the food-freezing process.

Enzymes continue to be alive even as they pass through the body, so they’re assimilated by the tissues of the body.

As you age, you require greater need for live food with enzymes, especially you’ve consumed cooked foods frequently. Lacking the proper enzymes to break food down, undigested foods accumulate. Accumulated foods create weight gain, aches and pains, inflammation, digestive problems, and fatigue. Living with such conditions makes it easier to attract even more debilitating illness.

The Practical Application

If you want to read scientific data about enzymes or you want to know which enzyme is needed for each type of food, I suggest a Google search or one of the three excellent books shown at the bottom of this article. I’ve read all these books and a lot of this type of information, which has been enormously educational.

However, I want to leave you with the bottom line of practicality: eat more raw and living plant foods. Adding seeds you’ve sprouted yourself, fresh cucumbers, young romaine lettuce, and other greens that you like will enhance your life

You’re at your own unique place with respect to eating raw foods. I think the most practical suggestion is to honor where you are right now (don’t make yourself wrong about anything). Add raw plant food to each meal. Make living plant food a regular part of your life. Limp carrots and wilted lettuce add little of value. Cooked foods have few nutrients (and no enzymes); many cooked foods and other popular substances drain the energy from you.

If you’re already eating many live plant foods, consider eating even more — in quantity, quality, and variety. You truly can get stronger with age.

If this is all new to you, be like a baby and take baby steps. Many people who make dramatic changes in their eating regime rarely stay with the new program for long. Gradual changes are easier to incorporate. Do what works for you. If you’re encouraging others to eat more raw foods, encourage gently and without judgment.

Clearly, there’s more involved in healthy living than food. The main reason that I wanted to write about enzymes is this: if you’re aging (and if you’re alive, you are), this is a good time to increase the enzyme intake through raw, living plant foods to moderate the decline with age.

It’s a beautiful thing to age;
it’s not such a beautiful thing to decline.