Almost everyone loves a nice, hot meal. Casseroles, stir fries, soups, stews, you name it… if it’s steaming, hearty, and brimming with tasty ingredients, most people will choose it over a plate of bland, cold veggies the majority of the time. But what many people don’t know is that the cooking process (as good as it makes many foods taste) changes the composition and structure of raw food. In fact, it can kill off a key nutritional element that our bodies need for proper digestion and assimilation: enzymes.
Though they don’t get nearly the attention they deserve, enzymes are the energetic stimuli that convert food nutrients into fuel that our bodies can actually use. They’re naturally present in rich supply in raw foods straight from nature.
On the other hand, foods that are cooked, pasteurized, and/or processed contain few or no enzymes. And yet these are the types of foods that many people rely on for daily sustenance, unaware of the fact that they are aren’t getting the nutrition they think they’re getting due to enzyme deficiency.
These “dead” foods are devoid of enzymes and place a heavy burden on our bodies’ own enzymatic reserves which have to be tapped in order for dead foods to be digested and passed through the system. Our bodies are programmed to correct this deficiency by working extra hard to redirect their inherent enzyme stores. But they can only do so for a time until finally reaching a point where they, like processed foods, end up depleted of enzymes.
It’s right around this time when enzymatic failure begins to rear its ugly head − manifesting as indigestion, constipation, and eventually much worse… chronic disease and death.
Raw Food Enzymes: Eating for Life Rather than Death
If this is the first time you’re hearing about enzymes, you’re certainly not alone. Despite the fact that they’re among the most important dietary co-factors for staying nourished, enzymes are usually one of the last things people think about when they eat. That’s because public health officials and others dispensing dietary advice in the mainstream rarely mention enzymes − probably because they themselves don’t even know what enzymes are and why they’re critically important for good health.
Either that, or they don’t want to admit publicly that the conventional ways of processing, packaging, and serving food destroys its enzyme content. Perhaps if more people knew the truth about this, it would drive them to make different food choices.
While it won’t do the big food conglomerates any favors, the truth of the matter is that enzymes are absolutely critical for life. Eating food raw, or as close to raw as possible, helps ensure that its nutrients are fully bioavailable for maximum health.
These are a number of enzymes necessary for the foods you eat to be digested and used by the body. These include:
- Amylase, glucoamylase, and phytase being among those that break down carbohydrates;
- Alpha galactosidase, hemicellulase, and invertase that break down sugars;
- Bromelain, papain, protease, and peptidase that break down proteins; and
- Lipase that breaks down fats
At What Temperature Do Enzymes Die?
You should know that any food that’s been heated beyond 118 degrees Fahrenheit has already undergone some level of enzymatic breakdown. If you think about it, most convenience foods, fast foods, and processed foods are cooked at temperatures well beyond this. Even traditional cooking methods render food that, enzymatically speaking, is as good as dead.
Now, this isn’t to say that your body can’t still derive nutrients from dead food. It can through its own input of digestive and metabolic enzymes. But this isn’t an ideal or sustainable situation, as the body’s own enzyme reserves are limited and can also become depleted with excessive use.
Eating raw foods, or what I like to call “eating for life,” means that your body won’t have to deplete its enzymes stores because raw food has its own enzymes. Raw food constitutes the full package your body needs to ensure that nutrients get to wherever they need to go without overtaxing it. Eating processed and overcooked foods, on the other hand, or what you might call “eating for death,” forces the body to have to compensate for enzyme deficiency by substituting its own enzymes.
Simply put, food is supposed to give life to our bodies with ease. But it can’t do this effectively when the foods we eat are lacking in enzymes, forcing the body to supplement this deficiency with its own metabolic enzymes.
This diversion of the body’s metabolic enzymes to fill the enzyme gap creates a situation where the body loses some (or in a worst-case scenario, all) of its ability to supply enzymes for energy production and cell regeneration and detoxification, leading to all sorts of health problems.
Eating Raw, Juicing, and Supplementing With Enzymes
This is obviously a situation you want to avoid, which is why it’s important to make sure that you’re getting enough enzymes in your everyday diet. One obvious way to do this is to simply eat more raw foods, and especially raw juices freshly-pressed from vegetables and fruit. The reason why juicing is particularly beneficial as far as enzymes are concerned is that it concentrates not only nutrients but also enzymes from fresh produce into an easy-to-drink juice that you can take on the go.
(Tip for getting maximum nutrition from fresh juices: Use organic produce, consume as soon as possible after juicing, and store any leftovers in glass containers instead of plastic.)
Another way to ensure that you’re getting enough enzymes so as not to overburden your body’s enzyme stores is to supplement with a food-based enzyme formula. By taking a full-spectrum enzyme supplement with every meal − and especially those that involve a lot of cooked and processed food items − you’ll help ensure that your body is fully able to use its own enzyme stores for bodily maintenance and repair, rather than to digest enzyme-deficient food.
One of the great things about supplemental enzymes is that whatever enzyme surplus your body ends up with beyond what’s necessary to digest enzyme-deficient foods can be used by the body to perform various digestive and metabolic tasks. This assumes, of course, that you’re taking a high-quality enzyme supplement that’s been designed to withstand digestive breakdown and function at a systemic level.
Can Enzymes Increase Your Vitality?
Supplemental enzymes can also support the body with staying strong and youthful. Not in some kind of “miracle wrinkle cream” way that defies logic, but simply because our bodies need enzymes to repair and grow. Aside from the fact that processed and cooked foods are enzyme-deficient, our bodies progressively produce fewer and fewer metabolic enzymes the older we get. This means the more supplemental enzymes we can get, the better the odds for our long-term wellness and vitality.
All the way around, enzymes are a critical component of any healthy diet. And if you’re like the vast majority of people living in the developed world who don’t adhere to a strict, raw food-based diet, then chances are your body is in desperate need of more enzymes.
Truth be told, many of the chronic health conditions that people face today stem from an underlying enzyme deficiency. By simply making sure that you’re getting more than enough enzymes to keep all the systems in your body running smoothly − including the digestion of your food − you can help your body avoid the pitfalls of having to operate in enzyme overdrive due to a lack of food enzymes.
raw spinach is toxic, betther you not eat that!
The raw versus cooked is a complex issue. I consumed a mostly raw diet for a long time, not so much now. I have a couple of concerns re a mainly raw diet. How does one adequately deal with the goitre genic effect of raw brassicas and the impact this has on Thyroid health? I think enough is not said about the beneficial enzymes added to a cooked meal from properly prepared lacto fermented condiments such as sauerkraut.
I’m disappointed to not see enzymes in raw animal foods and fermented foods included on this list. What about raw milk, kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, and pastured raw egg yolks? Rich sources of enzymes and I feel so much better and my digestion is better when I eat them regularly.
I forgot to include sprouted nuts and seeds on my list, and grains that have been prepared with sourdough methods.
1. Haven’t we been cooking food since fire was first utilized?
2. Good luck with eating raw meat.
Thank you TY for reminding us to eat raw. Back from 1976 working at ” A Movable Feast” in Houston Texas, one of only five health food restaurants at the time, I learned from a yogi that eating coconuts and raw fish was about all one needed. However eating food heated less than 130°F, juicing (and yes the fibers prevent bowel straining), and 75% raw diet (fresh is better), I understood was a better lifestyle. Living with no cooked meat, bread or milk (pasturization is heat) for two years thereafter and realized I had NO colds or disease! Sprout your seeds! Processing or hydrogenation of seeds was good to stay away from as well.
Remember digestion starts with mouth juices.
What are we supposed to do with grains that we can’t eat raw? Wheat, barley, rice, lentils, beans, garbanzos, etc? Are you saying that they shouldn’t be part of our diet?
What about bone broth when it comes to cooking what’s the difference
I respect and appreciate all that Ty and his team have sacrificed to bring much needed information to the US that has been known on other parts of the world for years regarding the healing of cancer and healthy living. However, every time I get an email that sells a product at an average of $40+ dollars a bottle per person, I get very discouraged that so many of these products are said to be “necessary” for optimum health, yet many people cannot afford these products for a family. I’m sure I am not only speaking for myself when I say that I’d like to see more information from this organization who claims they have the best interest at heart for everyone’s health to offer home-made alternatives to these products on sale, i,e, enzymes from kefir, fermented foods, kombucha, etc. versus these bottled enzymes. I am sure there are plenty of people who can afford all of these products who can help continue to fund all of these important endeavors to keep Ty’ and others who are in the industry of health products important missions funded, but I am speaking about the rest of society who are on a budget while still trying our best to eat an organic, grass-fed, raw milk, pasture raised chicken/eggs diet with a few supplements to maintain health.
I love to eat fresh raw foods where possible, but surely a lot of the enzymes etc that are contained in them are broken down into protein components in our digestive system anyway, allowing our bodies to make plenty of enzymes from our pancreas and other organs.
I think the whole eating of enzymes is something to be wary of as most are acid sensitive, so you could be wasting your money!!
I live in a state (Arizona where Raw Milk can be sold in Grocerys Only 8 states allow this 2 others touch Arizona ( CA and NM)
In my experience, there is not a one size fits all diet. It is irrational to think that one way of eating works for 7 billion different systems, imo. What IS CRITICAL is for people to research, explore and find out what works for them, to become skilled at tuning in and taking responsibility for their thrival. If one is dealing with life threatening disease, of course there will be adjustments. I find there are foods that my body loves on some days and does not want on others. There are some foods that my body says yes to regardless of time of day. Yes, it is tricky yet it is quite empowering to be able to listen daily to what the systems want. I agree that with the depletion of our growing systems, supplements are quite beneficial.
I do not profess to know it all, yet I am feeling so much better now that I am taking the time & effort to learn what works and what does not for all the layers of my Being.
Good post, William.
Nutrition science shows that when high carotene and cruciferous vegetables are lightly cooked, the nutrients are more bioavailable, particularly fat soluble. Cooking breaks protein bonds that allow for release of nutrients.
Boiling temperature (100C.or 220F.) destroy 100% of Enzymes and 95% of Vitamins. Frying or Baking Temperatures 22 C. or 400F. also denature Protein…
Agree with Alysia and William different cultures different DNAs require varied approach to diet. I’ve tried totally raw food diet health went down straight away due to gut absorption issues. Also see a experienced Chinese doctor and now seeing gret improvements in health. I now et to suit my DNA a mixture of lightly cooked, fermented, steamed and raw ORGANIC foods. Also specific herbs and spices in their natural form NO EXTRACTS or funny, destabilizing concoctions! This is why Chinese people especially in rural parts of China live active, healthy lives to well over 100 years its all about living and eating a more balanced life. Rest and reasonable exercise also helps.
TO THE MODERATOR: I wrote a very relevant, verbally decent and acceptable comment on March 12th regarding the importance of living a Vegan lifestyle and that we need to stop eating flavored, cooked animal corpses, and thus stop using our bodies as “graveyards”. I don’t see my comment posted here.
Hi Benny,
Thanks for the comment!
According to my records your comment was approved and is on this article. I will comment on it as well so that you can see it.
This is what bothered me about both truth about cancer series. It seemed to come from a paleo or at least ketogenic perspective. I believe a cancer patient should reduce meat to a minimum to make for much easier digestion as well as avoid so much of the toxicity of eating what the animal ate. There are so many clinics that are vegan and raw which were not really given much time in the documentary yet that is the segment of the holistic cancer industry that seems to be having the most success. On the ketogenic side there is a lot more confusion and guru following whereas a raw diet is so simple as long as its organically grown.
How come most times when juicing is mentioned, people assume it’s mostly sweet fruit. The real juicing community has graduated beyond mostly juicing sweet fruits. Adding a green apple or even sweeter juices for energy like running, etc. And of course if a person is challenged with healing of some sort, then the diet may need to be altered to include steamed or cooked food for a period of time. There are always steps to achieving health. I think the point is that food is already cooked by the sun & we really don’t need to improve it in general. The thing about increasing lycopene content my cooking tomatoes may be true, but you can rest assured that eventually they will find out you’re loosing another key ingredient. There are so many nutrients that haven’t been discovered yet & I know from experience I have evolved to a state that my health is much improved & I actually weigh less, have better blood pressure, etc, etc. when consuming mostly raw. But I’m not buying enzymes, I have noticed a substantial increase in selling products, one after the other, that I find a little distasteful. It seems to be the focus of this site nowadays.
Marilyn I totally agree with you. All of these products get very expensive. A family of four cannot afford all of it, particularly if one lives in another country as I do and have to apply the exchange rate which hikes the price up even more. Homemade alternatives have to be an option. Having said that much appreciation to Ty and the team but please be mindful that some of us do have to live on smaller budgets. The have to for family health has to balanced with keeping a roof over the head, clothes on the back and food on the table etc.
Yes! Excellent comment!!
Hello I had colitis in 2015 and the LORD showed me that I was going to get worst. Between 2016 and 2017 I lost more than 30 lbs. I got worst I had a pain in my low abdominal and end up in the hospital the doctor did blood test and CT Scan and they found me a colon cancer so he said I had to do surgery right away otherwise I will die. I prayed to the LORD to use the surgeon so He will do the surgery because He knew where exactly was and that’s how exactly it happened. When the surgeon came out from the surgery he said to my husband “so many surgeries he has done this is the most wonderful surgery he has ever done”. Praise the LORD!
Now I’ve been eating organic fruits and vegetables. Drinking green smoothies and fruits smoothies in the morning. Do I need supplements? Protein? Essential oils? Herbs? Teas? How long do I need them to take? Please contact me through my email. Thank you for all the information, it has given me hope and help me a lot. Blessings!
Hi Gladys,
It sounds like you have gone through quite a journey. We cannot provide you with medical advice, so the best advice we can give you is to consult with one of the doctors/experts that we interviewed in our Global Quest Series. Here is a link to get their information: https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/experts-info-sheet/
Hello from the UK,
This post will probably be off topic but I’m confused, I see articles that say raw food is best, I see articles that say cooked foods is best, I see articles that say medicine can only cure you, I see articles that say food can heal you.
I’m stuck in the middle, who do I believe what is wrong and what is correct ?
I’ve tried to read several books about our own Microbiome and I think that I’m starting to understand what its all about but then I see text stating otherwise.
What I have started to do over here in the UK is to read the ingredient list on the food in the Supermarket, I picked all the following and read the ingredients, they all had 1 thing in common
Box of Bran Flakes
Tub of Coleslaw
Tin of Sardines
Bread
Tin of Soup
Guessed yet? They ALL contained sugar, am I correct in thinking that this has been added? Why add sugar to a tin of sardines?
So the reason I have started eating just fresh veg and fruit is that I can see what is in these, no added sugar or anything else.
sorry to waffle on
Wow some comments have missed the point, Ty did not say 100% raw, he’s stating high raw to increase enzymes and clearly states our bodies CAN handle a degree of cooked foods as we have an enzymatic supply to utilize but we should be mindful with eating enough varity and sufficient raw food in our diets to maintain a high storage of various enzymes for optimal digestive health and nutrient absorption. A big grean salad with variety of salad veggies, pickled beetroots, some cooked potatoes and beans of choice dressed with a healthy oil free dressing that includes some healthy seeds and you got yourself a perfectly balanced High enzymatic meal right there. Don’t like all cold? , start with the big salad first course ad the beans to make a nice spicy bean chilli to top a baked potato and you got it covered once again. Its not that hard folks one of my faves is mashed potatoes, both sweet and white, lightly steamed greens and whatever veg and to make a “gravy ” ( steak Dianne) from pureed black beans to pour all over, my kuds didn’t notice the difference at all, once again all bases covered making sure to have had a big salad for lunch and or a super green smoothie for breakfast, we can satisfy our desires with compromise and creativity 😋😋😋
Thanks for sharing, Joanne! We appreciate you! 🙂