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Good Digestion Fuels the Fountain of Health
By Julia Craven

What does your body spend most of its energy doing? The answer may surprise you. Roughly 80% of our energy is used in the operation and maintenance of our digestive systems. That leaves only 20% to deal with every other function your body has to look after. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could shift that ratio a little? What if you could reduce some of the energy your body spends on digestion and let your body redirect it for healing? Your body could use this extra energy to better address those elements that compromise health, improve immunity, and even bolster brain function!

Think of this. What would you be able to accomplish if you were given extra energy every day? Would you exercise more, engage in more play time with your children, spend more time with friends? It’s the same idea in your body. If your diet is rich in enzymes (proteins that are catalysts which enable and accelerate digestive processes), you are helping your body shift some of that energy to attend to other issues. The simple truth is that by caring for your digestive system through the use of enzymes at every meal, you are providing your body with all the tools it needs for peak performance everywhere else.

How do we get these great enzymes? One way is from raw foods. The beauty of raw foods is that they have the perfect amount of enzymes to take care of their own digestion. When we eat raw foods, our bodies do not have to manufacture any additional enzymes for digestion. When food is heated to over 118 degrees it denatures the naturally occurring enzymes. We know we need enzymes to digest and assimilate our foods, so where are they going to come from? The answer is YOU! When we eat cooked foods our body has to manufacture the extra enzymes needed to digest them, meaning we have to spend about 80% of our total energy just to deal with that meal.

It is often difficult to eat raw foods at every meal. Living in a cold climate or maintaining a busy lifestyle can make raw diets challenging. However, there is still a way to nourish your body at every meal with enzymes. Supplemental digestive enzymes provide excellent support, are convenient, provide value, and are well tolerated. Increasing the overall amount of raw foods and supplementing with digestive enzymes at each meal is a moderate, yet effective, approach to conserving your digestive energy.

How do you know which enzyme formulation is the best? For an enzyme formulation to be truly therapeutic, it must meet a few important criteria. The enzymes present should address a broad spectrum of foods, including protease, amylase, cellulase, and lipase at the very least. The formula should be made to work across the various pH levels that naturally occur in the digestive tract. The enzymes should be plant-based and vegetarian because they deliver higher digestive activity than animal sources. Digest Gold, from Enzymedica, delivers high-activity and top-quality digestive enzymes. Enzymedica specializes in the manufacturing and formulation of therapeutic quality enzymes, creating a product that meets all of these criteria.

It is not uncommon to hear people remark on how much more energy they have after taking a high-quality digestive enzyme, or that a chronic problem has become easier to manage. And because enzymes act as catalysts, easing every step of the digestive process and helping to release the nutrients from food, people are able to get the most nourishment possible.

The increased availability of nutrients means more energy, better healing, and overall increased quality of health. You can see how the simple but powerful act of consistently making sure you are getting plenty of digestive enzymes can encourage optimal health for the whole body.

About the author
Since 1989, Julia Craven has been dedicated to educating the public about natural strategies for a healthier life. In addition to years of self study and apprenticeships in nutrition, supplements, and traditional herbal medicine, Julia is pursuing her degree in Holistic Nutrition. She is currently a National Educator for Enzymedica.