Part 26 (2/2)

Proteolytic enzymes were also found to be helpful in clearing the lymphatic system. One dental study found that post-operative lymph node swelling was significantly reduced in cancer cases. The prophylactic long-term use of enzyme therapy post-operatively was helpful in minimizing constant lymphatic edema following breast cancer surgery.

Proteolytic enzymes seem to be significantly helpful in the treatment of viral infections. Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr, hepat.i.tis, herpes simplex, and acute herpes zoster infections are all diminished with proteolytic enzymes. One of the main reasons proteolytic enzyme therapy is effective is that it stimulates the development of T lymphocytes and macrophages. These two parts of the immune system have specific anti-viral effects. Enzymes also activate NK cells, which destroy the virally infected cells. The proteolytic enzymes help to regulate virally disturbed interrelations.h.i.+ps in the immune system. The overall result is that they can even slow down the time between viral invasion and the outbreak of disease.

Research in 1964 by Dr. Dorrer, a senior physician in Prien am Chiemsee, Germany, found that the use of enzymes reduced herpes zoster pain within three days, and the herpes zoster vesicles became encrusted sooner than normal. Post-herpetic neuralgia did not develop in any patients using enzymes. The clinical results with enzyme therapy are equal to those with Acyclovir in the treatment of herpes zoster.

In rheumatoid disease, proteolytic enzymes can decrease inflammation, and mobilize, cleanse, and degrade immune complexes created by the immune response process. In one large study reported in Enzymes: The Fountain of Life, depending on the type of rheumatoid disorder, 76-96% of the patients were cla.s.sified as improved or considerably improved. The condition did not progress in 10%, and 2% experienced a deterioration of their condition. Proteolytic enzyme therapy has been used to alleviate such rheumatoid symptoms as morning stiffness, joint swelling, loss of grip strength, and loss of joint flexibility. In one double blind study by Dr. Klieg of Austria, the course of chronic polyarthritis could be stabilized with enzyme therapy.

Enzymes decrease and minimize the immune-mediated inflammation of joints, while strengthening the immune system rather than weakening it like cortisone. Enzymes have been shown to degrade the inflammatory-causing immune complexes deposited in the joints and even remove them while they are moving in the bloodstream of rheumatoid patients. Another way the proteolytic enzymes work is to dissolve the fibrin mantle which forms around the deposited immune complexes in the joints. This allows these immune complexes to be actively degraded by the immune system as well as the proteolytic enzymes.

As compared to gold treatments, which run about 20% effective over the long term, enzymes have about 1% side effects versus 20-30% for gold. The one drawback to enzyme therapy is that it may take weeks or months to be effective. But once effective it remains so, and enzyme therapy rarely has to be discontinued because of side effects. This is contrary to the case with other rheumatoid treatments, which often have c.u.mulative side effects over time and have to be discontinued. There is a variety of arthritic conditions including arthritis from psoriasis that proteolytic enzymes can help to ameliorate. Enzymes also help in osteoarthritis because of their anti-inflammatory effect, immune-moderating effect, and the general improvement of circulation.

In auto-immune diseases of the nervous system, enzymes break down the immune complement reaction with its destruction of the myelin sheath. By decreasing all levels of inflammation, enzymes protect the myelin sheath and hence slow or neutralize the progression of diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Non-spastic symptoms of his MS patients, according to Dr. Wolf, were decreased 50% with enzyme therapy, and the improvement was maintained over many years. Dr. Ulf Baumhackl, chief doctor at the neurological department at the hospital in St. Polten, Austria, and a full professor named Kretschowa in the department of neurology at the University of Prague both found that two years of enzyme therapy gave better results than the use of cortisone. In another European study, 80% of patients with episodic progression of MS benefited from enzyme therapy.

Proteolytic enzymes have been proven to play a significant role in the treatment of cancer in several ways. One is to strengthen the immune system to better cope with the cancer. Another way is to dissolve the fibrin cloak which often forms around tumor cells. The fibrin covers the cell surface landmarks of the cancer cells that attract the immune cell response. When the proteolytic enzymes dissolve the fibrin cloak, the immune system is better able to recognize the cancer cells and then destroy them. The proteolytic enzymes also stimulate the anti-cancer macrophages and natural killer cells, so that their anti-tumor capacities increase twelvefold. Proteolytic enzymes help the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) molecules do their job of destroying tumor cells. They do this by keeping the TNF molecules from clumping together in large ma.s.ses and blocking their own action. Another way the enzymes work is to inhibit the cancer cells' adhesiveness, which is important for their ability to create metastasis.

The adhesiveness of the blood and of cells is increased during chronic diseases and cancer so there is a concomitant decrease in blood flow, especially with age. Proteolytic enzymes increase the blood flow by dissolving excess fibrin and decrease the activity of the adhesion molecules of the cancer cells so it is harder for them to form metastasis. In studying malignant melanoma, Dr. Lucia Desser of the Inst.i.tute for Tumor Research and Tumor Development at the University of Vienna found that proteolytic enzymes inhibited metastasis formation of the melanoma cells. Dr. Rudelf Kunze of Berlin showed that by blocking the formation of vitronectin, an adhesion molecule on the surface of the melanoma cells, proteolytic enzymes inhibited the adhesion molecule receptor CD44 on colon and breast cancer cells, and thus blocked the metastasis of disease. In general, it seems that proteolytic enzymes act as a prophylaxis to metastasis and are helpful in maintaining cancer recovery.

Proteolytic enzymes plus vitamin E seem to help with breast fibrosis and many cases of early breast cancer. Professor Dittmar of a teaching hospital in Starnberg, Germany, showed in a study of 96 women with breast pain, swelling, and tenderness from nodular and cystic changes in the breast tissue that enzyme therapy significantly improved symptoms. Dr. Wolfgang Scheef of the Robert-Janker Clinic in Bonn, Germany, found that 85% of his patients with benign breast fibromas had no symptoms after six weeks of enzyme therapy.

Enzymes support many aspects of our immune system. They help build immune activation and immunoregulation. Proteolytic enzymes strengthen and potentiate many aspects of the immune system and therefore may help with the healing of the immune and auto-immune diseases. They also serve to protect us from heart attacks, stroke, blood clots, varicose veins, injuries, inflammation, rheumatoid and other forms of arthritis, a range of infective diseases, especially viruses, and from cancer. There are even enzymes which constantly repair mutations in the DNA and RNA. Enzymes optimize and enhance many levels of functioning of the immune system and so counter the potential negative effects of aging on the immune system.

The importance of a high level of enzymes for maintenance of quality of life and rejuvenation is significant. Three of the main symptoms of aging- a decrease in the function and efficiency of the immune system, a slowing of blood flow because of increased fibrin production, and cross-linking of proteins in our connective tissue-are directly improved by maintaining a high enzyme level in our tissues. Proteolytic enzymes fill in for the declining plasmin-producing cells to dissolve fibrin and minimize any clotting phenomena and the progression of atherosclerosis. According to European research, proteolytic enzymes both break down and inhibit the formation of cross-linked protein chains and thus help maintain the elasticity of the tissues, including the arteries and veins.

We can postulate that the higher we keep our enzyme reserve, the better all aspects of our biological functioning will be, and thus we will minimize the biological aging process. Eating live and raw foods is one of the best ways to enhance our body's enzyme reserve, thereby minimizing the physiological aging process and maximizing the rejuvenation process. The use of proteolytic enzymes prophylactically and therapeutically is a powerful additon to the live-food lifestyle.

Food Enzymes: A New Perspective on the Theory of Food Combining.

THE GENERALLY HELD THEORY OF FOOD COMBINING in some sectors of the vegetarian community is that certain combinations of foods will disrupt digestion and cause putrefaction, fermentation, toxic acids, and heartburn. The combining at the same time of certain foods is said to disrupt digestion-for example, fruits and vegetables; fruits and starches; fruits and protein; starches and proteins; simple sugars, complex carbohydrates, and proteins; fats and protein; acid fruits and proteins; acid fruits and starches; two different types of concentrated starches; two different types of concentrated proteins; and dairy or melons with any other food. These poor combinations are said to take longer to digest and use up a great deal of enzyme energy Many find these ”rules” to be obsessively overwhelming.

The idea of food combining is not new; it is historically recorded in Exodus 16:8, which says, ”And Moses said ... the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full.” This can be interpreted to mean that we should not combine starches and proteins. Another Kosher food-combining law from the Torah is not to combine flesh and dairy at the same meal.

The general theoretical principle behind food combining is that the different food cla.s.ses require different enzyme secretions and digestive pHs for their a.s.similation. They also have different rates of digestion. For example, food-combining advocates claim that fruit digestion requires an alkaline solution that neutralizes the acid medium needed for the protein digestion and, therefore, fruit and proteins are a bad combination. Also, fruit has a faster digestive rate than protein, and if the fruits are held up for the slower protein digestion, they will begin to ferment. This is also why fruits and starches should not be combined. Fruits and vegetables are said to be incompatible because the enzymes required for their digestion neutralize each other and block digestion.

From a live-food perspective, there are some major incongruities in the orthodox food-combining approach that need to be considered. The first is the scientific evidence that live foods bring with them their own active digestive enzymes which digest a considerable amount of the food in the enzyme, or upper, stomach. Therefore, the concept of different bodily enzyme secretions for the different foods cancelling each other is much less an issue, especially in the food enzyme stomach where no enzymes other than saliva and those released by the living foods themselves are activated. It is a proven scientific fact that each raw food comes complete with its own set of specifically combined enzymes to digest that specific food. For example, seeds are made up of primarily oils and protein, so Mother Nature has packaged in the seeds sufficient amounts of lipase for the oils and proteases for the protein. In seeds there is not much amylase present because they do not contain much starch.

Another scientific fact that needs to be considered is that there are two distinctly different digestive stomachs, as discussed earlier in this chapter. There is the pyloric-or primarily protein-digesting-stomach, and the food enzyme stomach, in which all the raw-food starches, proteins, sugars, and lipids are self-digested. We do not have just one stomach in which competing enzymes are poured as if into a bag, cancelling each other out. In the food enzyme stomach, the pH is between 5 and 6, which is a range in which all of the plant food enzymes for all the different cla.s.ses of food are active. No enzyme of any cla.s.s of food is neutralized by any other food enzymes in the food enzyme stomach.

A third point involves a set of foods called the predigested foods. This predigestion process happens primarily by soaking or sprouting the seeds, nuts, and grains. In this process, the enzyme inhibitors, phytates, and oxalates are deactivated and almost entirely washed away after 6-24 hours of soaking. During soaking, complex carbohydrates are broken down to simple sugars, oils are broken down into free fatty acids, and proteins are broken down into free amino acids. In these predigested forms, these foods are much easier to a.s.similate. Some examples of these highly a.s.similable predigested foods are: raw, soaked, and sprouted seeds, nuts, grains, and legumes; bee pollen; raw nut and seed ferments; nut and seed cheeses and yogurts; and other fermented products, such as sauerkraut, tempeh, and miso. Most of these foods, except the tempeh and miso, which are cooked, can be digested easily with all cla.s.ses of foods, including fruits.

The ability to comfortably combine predigested protein and fruits is particularly important for people with hypoglycemia. I have found that a great many of my patients who have hypoglycemia become unbalanced by eating just fruit in the morning. By adding the predigested seeds and nuts either directly to the fruit, or blending them into seed sauces, hypoglycemics have stabilized well and improved with this approach. I have also had good results using these predigested proteins for people with digestive disorders or other forms of malnutrition.

The fourth consideration is that food enzymes are not destroyed in the very acid, protein-digestive part of the stomach. They again resume active digestive capacities in the more alkaline-digestive part of the small intestine. They are also not neutralized by either the acid secretions or the alkaline pancreatic secretions of the small intestine, and so they keep their digestive powers to some extent throughout the full digestive process.

I do not intend to negate the orthodox theory of food combining. It is, however, put into a less urgent perspective if one eats primarily live or predi-gested foods. By presenting this more liberal view, I will be very happy if just one less person doesn't become obsessive about food combining; or if one less person stops breaking down in frustration and being alienated from Mother Nature and his or her own intuition because of intellectual fear of combining the wrong foods. I will be happy if one more person is not psychologically and gastronomically blocked by all the food-combining concepts. Human beings are extremely capable of creating what they believe and expect is supposed to happen. The more we can put orthodox food-combining theory into perspective, the easier it will be to establish our own harmony with the gifts that Mother Nature offers us.

Honor Your Food-Combining Needs.

THE SIMPLEST RULE OF FOOD COMBINING is to eat a food, or combinations of foods, that in our direct experience are easiest for us to digest and thereby maintain our life energy and enzyme reserve. If we are eating a primarily live- and predigested-food diet, the food-combining rules are considerably less applicable. If we have a mono diet, but eat too much of that one food, we will still have digestive difficulties because overeating of any food, no matter how well-combined or raw, is still a stress on the digestive system. Overeating is a primary cause of digestive difficulties.

When I was in India in the 1970s, I lived on very little food. Often in the morning, about four hours after getting up, I would have raw tahini mixed with banana on a chapati (a piece of flat bread). Theoretically, this was the worst of three combinations: fruit, protein, and starch. I never had digestive difficulties from this simple meal because I ate so little of it and so little food altogether. If, however, we eat when we are emotionally upset or rushed, we will tend to cause digestive difficulties. Some people, especially pittas, have very strong digestive const.i.tutions and so are less affected by their food combinations. Others have delicate digestive const.i.tutions and need to pay more attention to their harmony with nature. It behooves us to become our own scientists and experiment to discover what are the best food combinations for us. The food-combining ideas can serve as a rough guideline for this.

Now that we have taken a new look at orthodox food-combining rules, we can appropriately consider some ideas of food combining. Whether or not the food-combining rules are based on accurate explanations for why people have digestive troubles when eating certain combinations, there are some combinations of foods, particularly if cooked, that are more likely to create fermentation or putrefaction than others: milk and meat, protein and starches, fruit and vegetables, and melons with any other foods. Eating too many different types of foods, even of the same food cla.s.s, can also result in disrupted digestion.

Papaya and lemons seem to go well with any type of food. Avocados can also go with fruits or vegetables. A few easy-to-digest combinations are predigested proteins with vegetables or sweet and subacid fruits, sprouted grains with vegetables, or protein with vegetables.

The timing of eating plays a role in digestion too. A little water at meals if one is thirsty is acceptable, but drinking many gla.s.ses of liquid at a meal dilutes the digestive enzymes and therefore tends to impair digestion. A good time to drink liquids is twenty or more minutes before meals. If one must have dessert, it is a good idea to eat a fruit dessert one or two hours after a nonfruit dinner. Paavo Airola used to teach that if one is eating a salad and a protein, it is better to eat the salad either with the protein or afterwards. The roughage of the salad may tend to block the hydrochloric acid secretion from reaching the protein if it is eaten beforehand.

The best way to tell if our food combinations and volume of food intake are good for us is through the results. If we get gas, constipation, bloating, nausea, or exhaustion after eating, these are distinct signs that our combinations can be improved and the quant.i.ty of food decreased.

In a quote from the Essene Jesus in The Essene Gospel of Peace, Book One (p. 38), the concepts for proper food combining are nicely described: Take heed, therefore, and defile not with all kinds of abominations the temple of your bodies. Be content with two or three sorts of food, which you will always find upon the table of our Earthly Mother. And desire not to devour all things which you see round about you. For I tell you truly, if you mix together all sorts of food in your body, then the peace of your body will cease, and endless war will rage in you.

It is more difficult to enjoy the flow of the cosmic energies and the peace of meditation when gas warfare is raging inside the bowels. In the US, Taga-met, a drug for digestive disorders, is among the number-one-selling drugs. This suggests that people have not yet begun to pay attention to what, how much, and how they are eating. Part of the reason is that the traditional, ”home economics, basic-four-food-groups-at-each-meal” concept is still being taught in our schools. It is hard to overcome old food thoughtforms, no matter how unscientific they may be. In general, however, if we eat live food with some degree of awareness of food combining, eating the appropriate combinations will no longer be a big issue and we will not need Taga-met for dessert. The more we become attuned to the laws of nature, the simpler our meals become, with fewer combinations at each meal. Please trust in your own experience and use some artful intelligence.

Shop for organic life in your foods.

Smell and touch foods to feel aliveness.

As you eat these foods, the memory of soggy, frozen, overcooked, cheesy, goopy vegetables will fade.

Preview of Chapter 27.

THE ESSENCE OF THIS CHAPTER is-if it is not broken, don't fix it. Raw foods are the original creation and nutrition gift of G.o.d. Do we really think we can improve on them? In the process of trying to ”fix” live foods to appease our taste buds, we destroy their SOEFs, deplete and disrupt their bioelectrical energy, disrupt their immune-protecting factors, destroy a high percentage of nutrients, destroy the living enzyme force, and destroy many known and unknown heat-sensitive health factors of the living food. As with the rain forest, there is much we don't even know we are destroying. In this chapter you will also learn about the ancient and modern history of living-food cuisine and health practices, an energy system for cla.s.sifying foods, and potentially harmful natural factors in foods. For many, increasing the living foods in the diet means letting go of culturally programmed habits of cooking and taste. Are you ready to begin eating more foods for health and learning new tastes?

I. Live-food nutrition, a gift of nature A. Raw foods as healers B. Energy categories of food II. Bioelectric energy of live food III. Biophysics of live foods IV. Raw food boosts immunity V. Cooked foods are damaged goods A. Cooking is a risky business and can transform certain fungicides into cancer-causing agents B. Browned or burned sections of food are mutagenic VI. Lesser-known health factors in live foods: wholeness of raw foods is health-producing VII. Potentially harmful factors in food A. Oxalates and phytates B. Estrogens in vegetables.

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