Enzymes: The Missing Health Link

You may know that fresh fruits and vegetables are packed with powerful vitamins and minerals, but there is something lacking in cooked foods that raw foods contain and that is, enzymes.

Raw foods are the natural fuel for your body, but if you look at your diet, you may find that you eat way more cooked and processed foods than raw. That means you are not getting enough enzymes and as a result, your digestion may suffer for it. 

This may come as a surprise to some of you who are currently eating a diet filled with a range of different fruits and vegetables. When you stop and think about it though, how often are you consuming fruits and vegetables in their raw form?

Your body craves the nutrition that is only available in raw foods, but unfortunately modern diets are a little limp where enzymes are concerned. No one really discusses how important they are to your overall health.

You’ve probably heard of enzymes, but do you know how they help your body? One of the many overlooked nutritional aspects of drinking fresh juices are the enzymes that they offer. Your body runs on about 3,000 different enzymes that perform thousands of metabolic functions every day, including absorbing nutrients from the food we eat. In simple terms, they are our lifeline. Without them, our body would simply not function.

How Enzymes Affect Your Health

Your body needs a constant supply of fresh enzymes, however, typical modern diets are severely lacking in these essential nutrients. Enzymes occur naturally in fresh fruits and veggies, but poor soil quality, polluted water and other environmental toxins contribute to producing items devoid of many essential nutrients. Cooking and processing foods kill the few enzymes that remain, leaving your body totally depleted of what it needs to thrive.

Many health issues can also be responsible for enzyme depletion. Intestinal inflammation, chronic stress and the aging process can all contribute to your body’s inability to digest food properly. Impaired digestion can also lead to depressed immunity, bone problems, rashes and infections, lung diseases, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems - the list goes on and on. Chances are, if you’re not feeling well, including enzymes in your diet can help your body function better.

So, can you just eat a bunch of raw veggies and you’ll be fine? Not exactly. If your body’s digestive system is not functioning as it should, raw fruits and vegetables may be difficult to process, and you’ll end up feeling even worse. Fortunately, there is a simple way to get your digestion back on track, one of the main ways being, juicing fresh fruits and vegetables.

How to Get More Enzymes in Your Diet

Although enzymes naturally occur in all fruits and vegetables, there are a few that especially help with digestion. Your body needs a constant supply to process all of the different foods you eat in a day, and juicing can help you get more beneficial nutrients in a way that is readily absorbed by your digestive system.

If you’re thinking that enzymes may not taste so good, think again. Delicious, exotic fruits like papaya and pineapple are excellent sources of enzymes such as bromelain, amylase, and papain which aid in digesting proteins and starches.

Try the following recipe for an enzyme rich way to start your day!