Heat Destroys Enzymes – The Less Heat The Better
If you are surprised that diseases are innumerable, count the cooks. Seneca (4 BC-AD 65)
By Eric Bakker N.D.
A question I get asked regularly is this: “Why do I need to take enzymes because I have a yeast infection?”, and for this reason I wrote the following article. I read a book a few years ago called Enzyme Nutrition written by Dr. Edward Howell, and was surprised to discover that heating foods about 48 Centigrade (118 Fahrenheit) kills any enzymes in the food. Without enzymes in the foods you consume, your body has to start relying on producing an increasing amount of its own digestive enzymes to satisfy the demand. Those who eat refined or processed foods regularly will find that their digestion will begin to suffer, along with their energy and overall well being. Those with a Candida yeast infection will find that it is most important to maintain an excellent level of enzymes in their digestive system because candida does not like a gut associated with higher level of enzymatic activity. High enzymatic activity maintains a low pH (acid) environment in your stomach in particular, which discourages bad bacteria and yeasts from proliferating. Enzymes can also assist in busting open the cell walls of bacteria and yeasts, rendering them incapable of functioning.
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Anybody with a yeast infection who is serious about recovery should remain on a enzyme formula until they have fully recovered; the difference they make is astonishing. Some of the best candida supplements contain enzymes for this very reason, and this is why I developed a product containing several different key enzymes along with probiotics to assist in not only in improving your digestion, but is destroying an intestinal yeast overgrowth directly while reducing inflammation, all at the same time.
Microwave Cooking Destroys Enzymes
Enzymes are not only intolerant to heat, but also to irradiation from microwaves, and this is a very good reason to avoid cooking any foods in a microwave oven. Pasteurization also kills off any enzymes, and the milk you buy from the supermarket is “dead” for this reason.
There is a big movement the past several years amongst many enlightened people who appreciate natural health, to start using real milk from the cow again just as nature had intended. I made an interesting discovery some years ago that many people who cannot tolerate milk due to food allergies or intolerances can often tolerate unpasteurized and unhomogenized fresh milk. It is because there are plenty of natural enzymes in real milk, enzymes that have become deactivated and destroyed by the heating and sterilizing process. Many raw and fresh foods such as milk contain their own highly specialized enzymes, and if these are supplied it will be that much easier for the body to process it.
Another interesting observation is that human beings the only creatures that cook their foods, and over the past few hundred years we have developed the tendency to cook or heat everything we put in our mouths. Health experts now believe that many humans die below half their potential lifespan, and that much of the development of our chronic and degenerative illness and most of the premature deaths we face can be put down to faulty dietary and lifestyle measures.
When you think about it for one moment, cooking is the most profound abuse of food. But don’t get me wrong, as I mentioned earlier, I’m certainly not a fan of eating everything raw. But to me, there is nothing more satisfying than biting into a fresh apple or a juicy tomato, or enjoying the smooth and creamy taste of a fresh avocado. Once we start to cook and bake foods we tend to load them up after either sugar, salt or a host of spices to bring out the flavors destroyed by cooking and make no mistake, the nutritional value will have vanished along with the color.
Isn’t it interesting that many health-conscious people of today steer clear of processed and refined foods, but will not think twice about placing foods in boiling water, wrapping it in aluminum foil, place it in a styrene container, or cook their foods in a microwave or in an conventional oven? These same health-conscious people tend to forget that heating foods to very high temperatures is actually processing foods. We have been told that the less food is processed, the better. Then why process nearly everything we eat, but then tell ourselves that supermarket foods are not OK because they are processed?
Just be aware of the fact that processed foods are not just foods you buy from supermarkets in packets, boxes and cans, they are also the healthy foods you cook to very high temperatures are home when you place them in the oven or microwave. Try to eat some fresh and raw foods each and every day, your digestion will improve and you will be amazed and delighted at the difference that eating “living” foods can make.
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I love cats, and the healthiest cat I ever had was fed on one large, fresh sardine each day. I drove a garbage truck for several years when I was a naturopathy student and found a tiny little kitten in a garbage can on one of my rounds. I named it Wally, and fed my cat only on fresh and raw fish which I received regularly from a fish shop on my rounds. Everybody commented how amazingly beautiful Wally looked, his eyes and coat were the healthiest and shiniest of any cat I’ve ever owned, and I have no doubt it was his diet because he consumed every part of the sardine including the head, gut and even the scales. This is in stark contrast to how most people feed their cats, on highly processed biscuits or cooked canned foods.We currently have four cats, and one of our cats, a birman, prefers to eat raw meats like chicken and beef, in contrast to our tabby who only likes dried biscuit cat food. The difference in both the appearance and health between both these cats is amazing.
If you have the opportunity to feed your pet on fresh, raw and unprocessed foods, you will be absolutely amazed at the difference it can make. Imagine if you ate predominantly fresh, raw and unprocessed foods, your digestive problems would be solved literally in weeks or a couple of months, and your yeast infection would soon follow. And, you would look and feel amazing too!
