Heal Your Body and Get Slim with Enzyme-Rich Foods

We can easily support or diminish our life force energy through our lifestyle and food choices, and nutrition plays a massive role in keeping the spark strong. However, our typical modern diet is not designed to help us stay strong and vital: It is not supporting our life force.

If you are like most people, you are probably deficient in at least one important dietary factor that is leaving you tired, overweight, and at risk for many major illnesses and weakening your life force.

Researchers estimate that 80 percent of women may be suffering from an overlooked deficiency. I suspect it is in the same vicinity for men and that this estimate may actually be low. And I’m not talking about a deficiency in protein, calcium, vitamins, or essential fatty acids. This deficiency is even more widespread than most of the common nutrient deficiencies we hear about, yet virtually no one in the medical community knows about this potentially serious epidemic. The missing nutritional factor I’m talking about is enzymes.

Enzymes are a special type of protein that is necessary for every chemical reaction in your body, including the normal functioning of cells, fluids, tissues, organs, and organ systems. Enzymes are uniquely different from other protein molecules because they are biologically active. In other words, they contain life force energy.

Without adequate amounts in your diet, you may be vulnerable to weight gain, bloating, fatigue, asthma, arthritis, high cholesterol, pain, and countless other health concerns. Research by Dr. Edward Howell, revealed that enzyme shortages are commonly seen in people suffering from chronic diseases, including allergies, premature aging, some forms of cancer, heart disease, skin conditions, and obesity. Enzymes are found in almost all uncooked fruits and vegetables, but they can easily be destroyed as you’ll learn over the coming weeks.

This is not surprising when you understand that enzymes are used in vast quantities in our bodies to quell inflammation, promote wound healing, and regenerate tissues, all of which are essential processes to prevent or handle most chronic illnesses. Illness, injury, or just eating a heavily cooked diet may deplete our body’s enzyme manufacturing abilities. To counter this depletion we need to ingest more enzymes through food. Think of the balance between the need for enzymes, the depletion of enzymes, and the replenishing of enzymes through food as our “enzyme account.” Like bank accounts, if we always withdraw and never make deposits, we will eventually deplete our resources.

Over the next several weeks I’ll teach you how to stop depleting your enzyme account and how you can eat a diet rich in miracle healing enzymes.

Just joining the series? Click here to start the Life Force Diet from the beginning. Ready to get started on The Life Force Diet? Post your health intent and find community support and content to help you achieve it!

Michelle Schoffro Cook, DNM, DAc, CNC, is a six-time and best-selling book author whose works include: The Life Force Diet, The Ultimate pH Solution, and The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan. She is a doctor of natural medicine, holistic nutritionist, and holistic life coach. Visit www.TheLifeForceDiet.com to learn more.

Intent.com provides content and community for who you aspire to be–personally, socially and globally.

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Past Member .

12:05AM PDT on Jun 15, 2009

thanks...
Kabin
Konteyner

send a green star

Audric M.

9:00AM PDT on Mar 10, 2009

but despite that, from what you've said so far, it seems the Life Force Diet may be a great, healthy way of eating -- just not because of the enzyme factor.

8:57AM PDT on Mar 10, 2009

Michelle, I'd like to see some references that prove that "plant-based" enzymes remain intact during digestion. From what I know (and I certainly don't know everything) from my medical research background, regardless of their source, enzymes are proteins. Proteins are all chains of amino acids. These chains are virtually always broken down by the stomach, regardless of whether they're from plants or animals. Jacqueline had a great point about how some plant enzymes aid in "pre-digestion" BEFORE they reach the stomach, but once they're in there, I highly doubt that they have any effect on digestion.

Michelle S.

8:44AM PDT on Mar 10, 2009

Most plant-based enzymes remain intact during digestion thanks to their capacity to perform in a wide pH range. While it is true that a few nutrients are enhanced from the cooking process, most are depleted by heating/cooking. Besides, The Life Force Diet is not a raw foods diet. It includes lots of cooked food too.

8:41AM PDT on Mar 10, 2009

Actually, Emily, The Life Force Diet has nothing to do with hollywood diets and low (pick your major food group). It is based on sound nutritional knowledge and a well-rounded diet of nutrient-rich food, including foods with the highest capacity for healing disease.

Emily A.

7:52AM PDT on Mar 8, 2009

This is hoky nonsense. I expect this garbage from Facebook ads, not Care2.

Listen, folks, if you want to lose weight (not like the 82 pound 10 year old pictured on the scale up there) and be a healthy adult, here's the "secret": Use one of the myriad calorie tracking sites available on the web, livestrong.com has a good one, for example, make sure you're eating whole grains, lean, GRASS FED, free range protein sources, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, eating local and organic whenever possible, and EXERCISING. Burn 350-500 calories every time you're at the gym, depending on your level of fitness (more fit people need to burn more), and work out 4-6 times per week.

Make sure you're getting enough fat, protein and carbs. Macros of 30%/30%/40% are a good starting point.

Good luck, and ignore all this bunk about hollywood diets and enzymes and low (pick a major foodgroup). Avoid processed foods and you're fine.

Jacqueline W.

9:02PM PST on Mar 7, 2009

I'm glad to see that some folks have already posted what I was going to post about how most enzymes in our food would be destroyed in the process of digestion and not remain intact to be assimilated into the body. Therefore, I've always been skeptical about the claims for the benefit of a raw food diet. The consumption of some raw plant food is necessary for folic acid and higher amounts of vitamin C, but often absorption of other nutrients -- like vitamin A -- is increased by cooking. One area where consuming enzymes could be helpful is in the case of digestive enzymes, like bromelain and papain. Bromelain is found in high quantities in pineapple, and papain in papaya. In fact, papain is concentrated into a powder that is used in commercial meat tenderizers. Eating raw pineapple or papaya, or using bromelain or papain in capsule or tablet form might be beneficial for someone who is not producing enough of their own digestive enzymes in their digestive tract. These added enzymes would begin the digestive process before they were broken down -- digested -- themselves.

Jessica H.

7:03AM PST on Mar 6, 2009

One website where many different doctors and authors have nutritional articles based on Western A. Price's non-Western healthy eating style is found here:

http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/diabetes.html

That is an article from top to bottom with everything you'd want to know about diabetes. It's wonderful.

I trust the information found on that website with my life. It dispells a lot of myths that most American diets believe.

Here is a wonderful article on enzymes by Sally Fallon, who authored "Nourishing Traditions":
http://www.realmilk.com/enzyme.html

Enjoy!

Evelyn G.

4:30AM PST on Mar 6, 2009

I can't wait for the list of foods rich in enzymes. I am taking a preparation of enzymes from Nikken but it's very expensive. Besides, I would rather get it naturally from foods. And if I can incorporate those foods in meal plans for diabetics, it would be great. So thank you for your excellent article.

Evelyn Guzman

http://www.free-symptoms-of-diabetes-alert.com (If you want to visit, just click but if it doesn’t work, copy and paste it onto your browser.)

kym s.

1:29AM PST on Mar 6, 2009

I must agree with my fellow Canadian Audric who summed it up brilliantly with the word "hokiest" to describe this article.
But also, as a long time IBS sufferer, I'm a little insulted by the remarks made by Deb. She has obviously never experienced the complex and varied symptoms associated with it. I myself am able to eat raw fruit and veg with very little problem. In fact, my doctor encourages me to get most of my fibre in this way, as it is gentler on the lining of the large intestine. I suffer from extreme bouts of constipation, through which the traditional methods of solving it - that is eating nonsoluble fibres such as whole wheat, bran, other whole grains as well as small seeds such as flax, poppy, and sesame, only irritate my gut, causing further (and agonizing), inflammation. My IBS is not the result of eating or not eating particular foods in the past. If only it were as simple as that! As for her advice for the person suffering Crohn's disease,- that eating greens from the start would have prevented their Crohn's - well that's just totally ignorant and ludicrous.