Enzymes and digestion.

Are you one of the millions of people who suffers from indigestion or heartburn?  Have you been convinced by Big Pharma that the solution to your problem is by taking over the counter and prescription medication? Well, don't be sucked in.  Digestive aids are a $10 billion a year industry.  Most people can solve their digestive issues by changing their eating habits.  Your digestion is dependent on having the enzymes you need to break down and digest the food you eat - that and sufficient hydrochloric acid.  Hydrochloric acid??? Yes, and many digestive aids work by neutralizing this acid which in the long run leads to worse indigestion.  So, what can you do?

Enzymes are essential for life.  As we age, there are fewer enzymes in our bodies.  Enzymes are crucial for the digestive process and a lack leads to indigestion.  So, where do we get extra enzymes to aid with digestion?  From fresh, raw food.  Fresh raw fruits, vegetables and milk are loaded with enzymes.  (Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.  Contrary to popular belief and what the milk board would like you to think, raw milk is not dangerous if if comes from animals that are grown on open pasture and not kept in tiny cubicles where they develop infectious diseases.  Raw milk does not contain any hormones or antibiotics and is considered by many who take food seriously to be the "perfect food".)  Raw nuts on the other hand are not a good source of enzymes.  Nuts are the seed of the tree that produced them and all seeds contain enzyme inhibitors that prevent the seeds from sprouting until they encounter warm wet conditions.

Any food that is cooked is completely lacking in enzymes.  Any food that has been heated above 118 degrees F is completely lacking in enzymes because heat kills enzymes.  So, if you are not eating fresh fruits and vegetables, you are not ingesting any enzymes.  Canned, baked, broiled, fried, boiled and pickled foods are all lacking in enzymes.

I recommend eating a minimum of 10 servings of FRESH whole fruits and vegetables daily .  One serving is 1/2 cup.  Do not drink juice unless you are making home made juice from fresh ingredients.  Most fruit juices are pasteurized and don't contain the fiber of the whole fruit so are not comparable to the whole fresh fruit. 

Another way to ingest enzymes is by taking enzyme supplements.  These are the fast, easy but less tasty way of doing it but can be very effective.  Papaya and pineapple contain digestive enzymes - papain and bromelain - that make effective supplements.  They are far more effective than digestive aids.  If you have really bad indigestion, I suggest Hyland's homeopathic "Digestion".  But first and foremost, eat fresh food.  If you cannot eat 10 servings a day, start out with 2 or 4 and increase the amount you eat over time, but just eat it!