Guest guest Posted August 29, 2004 Report Share Posted August 29, 2004 ENZYMES: OUR LIFE SUSTENANCE! JoAnn Guest Aug 27, 2004 20:29 PDT Have you ever wondered what was the best way to eat your food - raw, slightly cooked, moderately cooked or well done? Do you know that just the way you prepare your food can determine whether you can get all of the vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids and simple sugars from your food? Although ALL of the nutrients might be IN the food, if the food is cooked INCORRECTLY the food will not digest and metabolize optimally. The nutrients become less available to the body. There is enough evidence to show that the more food is cooked, the more difficult it is to digest and metabolize. The higher the temperature at which the food is cooked, the longer it stays in the gut. This makes it more difficult for the food to absorb and work on a cellular level where it needs to work. http://ahha.org/articles/appleton2.htm When the food cannot work at the cellular level, the cells can become deficient and/or toxic. This leads to deficiency and toxicity of the whole body making the body less able to function optimally. All food deteriorates during commercial food processing and during storage. Three different things happen to food that is overcooked, pasteurized or over-processed: 1. Destruction of essential amino acids. 2. Decrease in digestibility. 3. Production of anti-nutritional and toxic compounds. It is the liver's job to detoxify toxins, but the liver can become overloaded and unable to do its job. In the bloodstream, the undigested or partially digested food (in the form of macromolecules) is in too large a " particle " to get into the cell to function. Undigested or partially digested food moves through the *bloodstream* causing havoc in the body. When food is heated past the *heat-labile* point, its chemical configuration changes. Pasteurization, deep-frying, and barbecuing are all forms of cooking where food is heated past the heat " labile " point. The body does not understand these new chemical " configurations " and does not have the enzymes to digest the food easily. However, the immune system comes to the defense of the body, and makes these undigested particles back into substances that the body can use or escorts them out of the body. We ask our immune system to do the job that our digestive system did not do. The immune system was not designed to do this on a daily basis, every time we overcook foods or over-process foods. Over time the immune system becomes *exhausted* and the door is opened to infectious and degenerative diseases. Unfortunately it is not only foods heated past the heat labile point, such as potato chips, other fried foods, barbecued foods, dried milk or eggs, cake mixes and such, that cause this reaction. There is evidence that shows that foods cooked past *112 degrees* Fahrenheit are more difficult to digest. Foods in this category include fried foods, pressure cooked foods, barbecued foods and most processed foods. Also sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, corticosteroids, antibiotics, aspirin, and " many prescription, over-the-counter and street drugs can cause " upset " body *chemistry*. This upset causes undigested food to get into the bloodstream with all of the consequences. From this research and the principle of the heat labile point, it seems that the best way to cook food is the *least* way. If you do cook your food, it is best to lightly steam, bake, stew, stir fry or use a slow crock cooker. Eat as few over-processed and overcooked foods as possible. The state of balance (homeostasis) is the key to health. As long as your body is in homeostasis, it is healing. When it is out of homeostasis, it is in the degenerative disease process. The foods that keep the body in balance are natural foods. God made food for health. Man made food for shelf life, beauty and profit, and not necessarily in that order. Nancy Appleton, Ph.D. is a nutritional consultant working in Santa Monica, California. She has created advanced curriculum for National Institute for Nutritional Education and authored numerous books including " Lick The Sugar Habit " , " Healthy Bone " s, " Heal Yourself With Natural Foods " and The Curse Of Louis Pasteur. You can contact her at (310) 315-9242 or via her web site www.nancyappleton.com http://ahha.org/articles/appleton2.htm ===================================================================== I usually recommend steaming over other forms of cooking as well. Steaming brings the added benefit of keeping the nutrients more intact while various other methods just tend to destroy them. I really think we make ourselves sick by the way we prepare our foods. Here is some information I found in an article in the archives which helps us understand how our bodies respond to cooked foods— according to various experts the process of eating cooked foods activates our immune system…this is mainly due to a lack of the proper enzymes required to digest it. " A meal of predominantly cooked foods can lead to digestive leukocytosis (an increased white blood count). A rise in white blood cells is a sign that the immune system is being *mobilized*. " Digestive leukocytosis occurs a mere thirty minutes after eating cooked food. Such a response puts added stress on the immune system. " The concept of the immune system being stimulated every time you eat, was first reported in 1897 by Rudolph Virchow, the father of cellular pathology. In other words, your immune system is stimulated, as if you had an infection. " This does not occur when a person eats raw food because of the presence of plant *enzymes* in this food. " There is convincing evidence that the destruction of enzymes in the cooking and processing of food is, perhaps, the most significant *factor* in cancer and other chronic and *degenerative* diseases in both humans and animals. It begins with a phenomenon known as digestive " leukocytosis " . " Leukocytosis " is a pathological condition defined in Dorlands Illustrated Medical Dictionary as " a transient increase in the number of leukocytes in the blood, resulting from various causes, such as hemorrhage, fever, infection, inflammation, etc " . Leukocytosis was first discovered in 1846. At first, it was considered normal because everyone who was tested had it.Paul Kautchakoff, M.D. later found that leukocytosis was not normal. In fact, the major cause of leukocytosis was discovered to be the eating of 'cooked' food. An entire category of leukocytosis was classified as " digestive leukocytosis, " that is, the elevation of the white blood cell level in response to the lack of enzymes in the cooked food in the intestine. It is pathological because the *pancreas* was never intended to provide 100% of the digestive enzymes needed. Dr. Kautchakoff divided his findings into four classifications according to the severity of the pathological reaction in the blood: Raw food produced *no increase* in the white blood cell count. Commonly cooked food caused leukocytosis. Pressure cooked food caused even greater leukocytosis. Man-made, processed and refined foods-- such as carbonated beverages, alcohol, vinegar, refined sugar, white flour, and other processed refined food, causes *severe* leukocytosis. Cooked, smoked and salted animal flesh brought on *violent* leukocytosis consistent with ingesting *poison*. This phenomenon occurs after eating cooked food, since prolonged heat above *118* degrees Fahrenheit destroys enzymes in food. Three minutes in boiling water destroys the enzymes; pasteurization destroys 80% to 95%; and frying, stewing and canning destroys 100%. Nature designed food with sufficient enzymes within it to digest that food when it is ingested. When enzymes are destroyed by cooking or other processing, ingesting that food 'triggers' the body's " immune " system, and it responds with leukocytosis. Many health professionals are coming to the conclusion that this " syndrome " is an abusive scenario that puts significant stress on the pancreas, accounting for the " enlarged " pancreases of people in industrialized societies, and contributing to blood sugar problems such as diabetes and hypoglycemia, as well as the proliferation of chronic degenerative disease. " While convalescing immediately after my heart attack I heard a dear lady on cable TV who had written a book on the importance of eating raw foods. She emphasized during the course of the conversation that she had used raw food enzymes to send her cancer into remission using a diet of 95% raw organic foods. (no additional supplements involved)…amazing!! She also made the bold assertion that anyone anywhere could heal any illness just eating an abundance of enzyme/nutrient- rich raw foods. All the information I've read seems to confirm this fact. Here are a few more 'facts' I sorted out for you.... " A review of 206 human epidemiologic studies and 22 animal studies on the relationship between fruits and vegetables and cancer risk found that: RAW VEGETABLES ARE THE NUMBER ONE PROTECTIVE FOOD AGAINST CANCER. Steinmetz KA, Potter JD. Vegetables, fruit, and cancer prevention: a review. J Am Diet Assoc 1996 Oct;96(10):1027-39 World Cancer Research Fund, London, England. This is not to imply that you should eat more vegetables than fruit. Vegetables are a better source of certain minerals than fruit, but are a poor source of calories. Fruits are a healthy source of simple carbohydrates and other nutrients not abundant in vegetables. As far as " cancer-protective foods " go, RAW fruits and veggies are your best bet. Sue Snider, Ph.D. Food and Nutrition Specialist -University of Delaware Cooperative Extension ===================================================================== Raw Vegetables Protect Against Cancer http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/ ===================================================================== --—Enzymes build, *orchestrate* and unify the physical expression we call " life. " Enzymes create and modulate every system in the body. Enzymes help assemble a human body from a one-cell organism into a 50 to 70 trillion-cell life form. Enzymes are involved in repairing the body when it is damaged; they transport, use, and transform *oxygen molecules* and every other NUTRIENT the body needs; they break down metabolic waste and the by-products of cells; they quench *free radicals*, and they split off unwanted molecules from nutrients, adding necessary ones. The physical existence of every human being and the existence of all other living organisms is TOTALLY dependent upon the ability of our enzymes to do their job. Refined, processed foods are totally lacking enzymes! It is said that Actor Nick Nolte brought himself back from the BRINK, eating only fresh raw organic food straight from his garden. Just stop for a moment to consider...life breeds life! The moment raw foods are picked they start to lose multiple enzymes and other much needed nutrients. Eat straight from the vine and watch your energy and vitality grow! Best Regards, JoAnn _______________ JoAnn Guest mrsjo- DietaryTi- http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest http://www.geocities.com/CholesterolFacts.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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