Wow, there’s so much information out there about Digestive Enzymes, it’s not always easy to know where to start and what to believe.
With most things I ingest, my true test is how I feel afterwards. But when I was new to upgrading my diet, I wasn’t sensitive enough to notice a difference with enzymes. Now that I’ve been eating superfoods for over a year, I can definitely tell a difference in how I feel after I eat when I include enzymes, and when I don’t. That difference is all the more obvious when I eat something cooked since my energy drops when I don’t include enzymes.
So, now that I’m noticing a marked improvement with enzymes, I thought I’d check into the details of why digestive enzymes are so important. Here’s what I’ve learned so far, in the simplest way I can put it:
- We’re all born with enzymes in our body (metabolic enzymes) that help us break down food in the digestive process. (These metabolic enzymes also help repair tissues and organs and other life-sustaining stuff when they aren’t busy breaking down foods).
- Raw foods also have enzymes in them – the ideal enzymes to help break down that specific food when you eat it.
- When you cook food, most or all of those food-based enzymes are destroyed. That means your body has to use its supply of metabolic enzymes to break down the food in the digestive process.
- Your supply of metabolic enzymes does not replenish itself. (Darn!) So every time you eat cooked food you are using some of your limited enzyme supply.
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