One thing drilled into me at Hippocrates was the slogan HOPE = Hormones, Oxygen, Phytonutrients, and Enzymes.   Eating a healthy plant-based diet that is preferably raw and nothing cooked above 118 is ideal. The reason to eat raw or utilize low cooking and dehydrated foods are to retain the vital enzymes in the food. When we eat cooked foods, the body expends a lot of energy digesting it and creating its own enzymes to do so. With cooked foods, the body utilizes cups of digestive enzymes vs spoonfuls to break it all down. Eating cooked foods slows down the entire process and depletes the body of enzymes.  Enzymatic exhaustion is aging.  Enzymes are the spark of life, the electric.  Hippocrates maintains that eating cooked foods causes digestive glucose cytosis – where your body engages white blood cells to go ‘on attack’. The immune system doesn’t recognize processed and cooked food as food. The thought process here is that a lot of energy the body spends ‘fighting’ cooked foods could be spent on detoxing and curing cancer.  At the very least, raw foods should be consumed with cooked and eat the raw foods first, followed by the cooked ones.

Enzymes help you alkalize.  An alkaline system is inhospitable to cancer.  Enzymes benefit cardiovascular and degenerative diseases. Digestion is the #1 thing. If you lack enzymes from your food, your body will borrow it from other places and that is not a good thing.  Enzymes are necessary to break down fats, carbohydrates and protein.  Getting enough enzymes helps regulate healthy weight.  It is recommended to take enzymes with each meal or snack regardless of whether the meal is raw or cooked.  I do not take an enzyme when I juice, however, as I consider juicing to be ‘pre-digested’, meaning it is all fresh raw ingredients, macerated into a juice without pulp (see my article on Juicing vs blending) so that the body has minimal work absorbing the nutrients.  I typically juice first thing in the morning as my ‘breakfast’ and then later eat a solid breakfast of salad, typically or hummus etc.

I love feedback so please post your success stories and comments after being on enzymes. ♥