Healthy fat. Exercise. Eat more slowly. Cortisol. Run faster. Detox. Now. Neurotransmitters. Jump rope. Or trampoline. Eat breakfast. 3 meals a day. Caffeine is bad? Sleep 8 hours every night. Adkins. Glutathione. More Vitamin D. Interval training is the best. Bioidentical hormone replacement. Kombucha. Parasites. Candida. I am getting older, you know. Colon cleanse. Heavy metals. Digestive enzymes. 6 small meals a day. Don’t eat before bedtime! 20-30 grams of protein per meal. Organic! Aloe vera. Tea tree oil. Swim. Think positive thoughts. Rest. Colloidal silver. Vitamin A is critical. Meyer’s cocktail. Thyroid controls metabolism. Soy is bad. Gluten free? Burn fat, grow muscle. The root cause. Enzymes. High Cholesterol. Coconut oil. 2 a days. Joint pain. Apo B. Homocysteine. Rotation diet. Cell membranes. My serotonin is low. An apple a day. Phytic acid. Energy. Testosterone. Juicing. Antioxidants. cAMP. Nutrigenomics. Cytokines. Fish oil. GPC. Muscle memory. Just do it they say. Stress. Saliva testing. Colostrum. Equilibrium.

On and on and on….

What to do? How to do it?

Health and well-being await.

A better way. A new way. Enzymes, Energy and Equilibrium…..coming soon….

For centuries people have been using natural apple cider vinegar as both a food and a medicine.  The benefits of apple cider vinegar result from the fermentation of apple juice to hard apple cider followed by a second fermentation to apple cider vinegar.  This natural product retains all the nutritional goodness of the apples from which it was made plus it is fortified with the extra enzymes produced during the two fermentation steps. It’s the sum of all these ingredients that give apple cider vinegar its amazing health benefits.  The best type of apple cider vinegar to use is one made from cold pressed, organically grown whole apples, in which no chemicals or preservatives have been added, which contains the “mother of vinegar”, and is not pasteurized. The “mother of vinegar” is a natural gelatinous substance formed during the last fermentation step.

There are a variety of health benefits that can be obtained from apple cider vinegar including aide with digestive problems, heartburn, calming down of allergies and boosting the immune system.  These benefits are mostly attributed to two different parts of the apple cider vinegar: the acetic acid produced by the fermentation of the apples and the rich supply of enzymes retained during the double fermentation process.  We know that enzymes are critical to cell function and are needed by our bodies to help digest and absorb food as well as maintain balance within our inflammatory cytokine cascade.  These fine attributes of the apple cider vinegar also then contribute to overall detoxification which can lead to fat loss.

Apple cider vinegar is generally mixed in warm or cold water and drank first thing in the morning for maximal benefit.  If you don’t tolerate the taste of the apple cider vinegar and water, add a little honey to help with the taste.

Where to get high quality apple cider vinegar?  Most people look to Bragg’s brand, but I recently was fortunate to try a different and far better type made from a company in California, Body Ami.  Body Ami has created their own unique line of Certified Organic Apple Cider Vinegar in several different flavors including Goji Berry Honey, Currant Honey, and Pomegranate Honey flavors.  They use only high quality organic ingredients to make this delicious tasting, detoxifying apple cider vinegars.

You can check out all of their products right here.

Adding high quality apple cider vinegar to your daily regimen is very easy to do and I think that you will quickly see the benefits from both a digestive standpoint as well as an increase in overall health and well-being.

While digestive enzymes are best known for their help with digestive aides, there are numerous benefits to these same enzymes outside the realm of the GI tract. Let’s review a few of them here:

1.) Athletic/ muscle recovery: digestive enzymes exert an anti-inflammatory influence by their direct (and indirect) effects on the inflammatory cascade of prostaglandins.  We are all familiar with the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory (NSAID) class of medicines that include Ibuprofren (Advil, Motrin), Naprosyn (Aleve) and countless others. These medicines work on the inflammation cascade of chemicals that includes the prostaglandins which are responsible for attracting inflammatory white blood cells.  Interestingly enough, several enzymes exert similar influence including the pineapple based Bromelain and papaya based Papain.  These two enzymes have been proven (in the lab and in real life) to decrease inflammation by their DIRECT effect on reducing the prostaglandin cascade that leads to white blood cell recruitment and inflammation.  This is very interesting and exciting because these enzymes have powerful benefits for those who exercise as they literally decrease inflammation after exercise and thus promote recovery.  These same enzymes also help with the inflammation associated with arthritis.  The most known product is “Wobenzyme” which is a blend of enzymes along with the antioxidant Rutin.  Wobenzyme is well known to help with joint pain and muscle pain and really does work.

2.) Allergic reactions: this includes reactions from environmental allergies and food allergies.  Amylase, the enzymes that helps break down sugars and carbs, has been shown to have a strong anti-histamine effect. This means that Amylase itself can help alleviate allergic reactions and PREVENT them from occurring.  We are all familiar with the anti-histamine class of medicines that includes Benadryl, Claritin, Zyrtec, Allegra, etc.  These medicines help turn off the histamine response–histamine is one of the chemicals that is recruited at times of irritation.  Well, Amylase does the same thing–but without any side effects of drowsiness.

3.) Migraine Headaches: less is understood about the exact mechanisms that explain how digestive enzymes help with prevention and treatment of migraines. But, there is certainly real data of patient reports that identifies the enzymes as exerting anti-inflammatory properties to lessen the bad effects of migraine headaches. I think the same mechanisms are at work here–decreasing the inflammatory and chemical response to irritation. It seems that the enzymes help regulate blood vessel integrity. And the current thinking on migraines is that some blood vessel irritation occurs that can lead to the trigger of aura, pain and associated nausea.

4.) Weight loss: yes, it is certainly true that enzymes can help individuals lose weight. This goes back to the power of the enzymes to help with digestion.  When we are able to digest our food properly and break down the food into smaller nutrients for absorption, we are enabling our bodies to absorb these nutrients. When we are unable to effectively break down our food into the real nutrients it carries, we are unable to use these nutrients and can, in turn, end up storing more of these unbroken down (for lack of a better term) food particles as fat.  This has been verified in both the lab setting and in real life–patients who take enzymes seem to be able to lose weight much easier than those individuals who don’t take enzymes.

There are many other examples of how enzymes can have an effect “outside” of the digestion tract.

The key with all of these systemic treatments is the timing of the supplemental enzyme intake.

For any help with the above issues, it is critical to take enzymes AWAY from meals–in between meals.  If you take these same enzymes with meals they will be used with help digesting the food. But taken separate from food, they can be used by our bodies for lots of other uses.

Tomorrow I will discuss how enzymes can be used to prevent and even treat cancer–this is the most interesting chapter of the enzyme story yet….

As I touched upon in the last 2 days, the digestive enzymes Amylase, Lipase and Protease help us digest the carbohydrates, fat and protein we eat.  These digestive enzymes are made by a portion of our pancreas and are secreted into our small intestine when we think about food and when we are eating.

The supplemental use of these enzymes to aide with digestion and absorption issues, is why most people purchase digestive enzymes.  We now know that as we age, we make less and less digestive enzymes and as such, we have a more difficult time breaking down our food into the nutrients that can be absorbed.  As a result, as we age, it becomes more difficult to actual get the nutrition from our food that we need.  This is an ever-growing problem and, in my opinion, is a major cause of fatigue for older individuals.

It is now fairly well accepted that as we age, our hormones decline, but less widely accepted or believed is that as we age, our enzymes decline as well.  The interesting aspect to this notion is that our hormones don’t work to capacity unless there is sufficient enzymes around to help (more on this tomorrow).

We also now know that as we deal with any stress including acute illnesses, we do not make as much digestive enzymes.  This is particularly true for any Gastrointestinal disease or ailment–from diarrhea to constipation to inflammatory bowel disease to irritable bowel syndrome.  The vast majority (over 90%) of people we test for a GI disorder have very low levels of digestive enzymes.  The difficult question, of course, is what comes first–the symptoms of the disease process (diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation, gas, bloating) OR the decline in the digestive enzyme output?  The conventional thinking (even among alternative minded doctors) is that the disease process sets in BEFORE the enzymes decline.  So the infectious agent, be it parasite, bacteria, yeast or virus, sets up shop in the intestines and causes havoc which then leads to symptoms as well as a decline in our ability to produce our needed digestive enzymes.

The more I know about digestive enzymes, however, the more I think it works the other way around–we FIRST have a decline in our digestive enzyme output which then leads to a lowering of our immune function in our intestines which then allows for the unstable environment to develop where the infectious agent can come and start to live.  I think this because it has become abundantly clear to me that most people do not know how to eat for themselves.  As a society, we have come to accept the notion that pre-packaged, processed, handled, chemically sprayed food is not just okay, but actually good for us.  Since this way of eating is now the norm, we fail to reject these food practices and as a result, we are literally contributing to our individual aging process in a negative way.

So when we eat the pre-packaged, processed, handled, chemically sprayed food, we are eating altered food that our bodies don’t know what to do with.  As a result we ramp up our digestive enzyme output as we try to break down this food so that we can extract something nutritious.  But the assault continues and we work harder and harder to keep our enzymes flowing efficiently. This goes on for a while and we are able to maintain our digestive enzyme supply, but ultimately, we cannot keep up anymore and we begin to slow down.  Our enzyme producing capabilities are worn out.  And wouldn’t you know it, in today’s society, this likely occurs when we hit the age of 10-12.

This of course depends on our diets for the early years of our life, but speaking in generalizations now, this is the norm and not the exception. How many people do you know that eat food they produce or grow or harvest themselves?

And we wonder why we have so much trouble with eating? I really think this destructive process begins when we wear out our ability to make digestive enzymes.  For some this may not be until later in life, but for most, I think this process happens very early.

So we really have two options: make better choices with the food we eat AND supplement with digestive enzymes.  It is very difficult to eat food that you grow, raise, harvest, etc. and for most people that is an impossibility.  But nothing is impossible.  It really does make a difference to eat food from your own garden or eggs from your own chicken.  Instead of taking the time to keep our lawns looking green and well-kept, maybe we should be taking that time to nurture a small orchard of fruit trees and growing a small supply of vegetables. Because the more fresh food we eat, the easier it is for our digestive enzymes to be produced.  This has been validated in the lab over and over again–the more fresh, raw foods have higher quantities of enzymes AS WELL as reduce the demand for our own enzyme production.

It is now fairly simple to supplement with digestive enzymes for digestive purposes–you can take them with meals or right before meals. And they are very safe–in fact, they are one of the safest supplements you can take–no side effects and you really do not have to worry about taking too much. Yes, it is tedious to keep up and maintain–but the benefits are truly worth it.  By having digestive enzymes on board, you will be able to better digest and absorb the nutrients from your food.  And when you are better able to get the nutrition from your food, lots of good things happen: you will have more energy, you will have healthier looking skin and hair, you will stop having bloating and gas and diarrhea and you will just feel better overall.

In summary, we have been taught that we are what we eat, and while this is true, it is probably more accurate to say: we are what are enzymes allow us to be.  The healthier and more robust enzymes you have, the healthier and more robust you will feel.

This week I will be posting information of digestive and systemic enzymes.  I am doing this because the use of enzymes for health and well-being is actually a very excited topic and there is a lot of information that currently exists which is not readily available.  I want you to learn about all of the amazing benefits of enzymes and by the end of this week, I think you will see that enzymes are an important part of any supplementation program.

Okay, let’s begin with the basics. What are enzymes (most commonly referred to as digestive enzymes)?  An enzyme is a biologically active (meaning they contain energy) protein catalysts (made up of amino acids) that literally help every single energetic reaction in our body.  This translates to meaning that enzymes are involved with every single step of human functioning–from breathing to our hearts beating to food being digested to thinking thoughts and so forth.  We generally only think of enzymes being helpful for digstive purposes, but enzymes are also very useful for the millions of systemic energetic reactions occurring everyday.

Here is a list of the common enzymes:

• Amylase – breaks down carbohydrates, starches, and sugars which are prevalent in potatoes, fruits, vegetables, and many snack foods

• lactase – breaks down lactose (milk sugars)
• diastase – digests vegetable starch
• sucrase – digests complex sugars and starches
• maltase – digests disaccharides to monosaccharides (malt sugars)
• invertase – breaks down sucrose (table sugar)
• glucoamylase – breaks down starch to glucose
• alpha-glactosidase – facilitates digestion of beans, legumes, seeds,
roots, soy products, and underground stems

• Protease – breaks down proteins found in meats, nuts, eggs, and cheese

• pepsin – breaks down proteins into peptides
• peptidase – breaks down small peptide proteins to amino acids
• trypsin – derived from animal pancreas, breaks down proteins
• alpha – chymotrypsin, an animal-derived enzyme, breaks down proteins
• bromelain – derived from pineapple, breaks down a broad spectrum of proteins, has anti-inflammatory properties, effective over very wide pH range
• papain – derived from raw papaya, broad range of substrates and pH, works well breaking down small and large proteins

• Lipase – breaks down fats found in most dairy products, nuts, oils, and meat

• Cellulase – breaks down cellulose, plant fiber; not found in humans

There are other ones too, like Wobenzyme, but I don’t want to completely bore you.

The take home point right now is that there exists a wide variety of enzymes and they serve many different functions.  Currently, though, most people only think of these enzymes for digestive purposes.  And as you will come to learn, these beneficial enzymes will do SO much more to help you….