Without enzymes, life would be impossible. The body would starve to death in the midst of plenty. Enzymes are necessary to convert food into energy and living cells. Vitamins can do their work only in the presence of enzymes. Enzymes are the catalysts that bring about the complicated chemical changes that prepare food for assimilation and digestion.

Salivary Enzymes: As soon as food is put into the mouth or, if the food looks or smells good, at the very prospect of eating it, several enzymes are released by the salivary glands to begin digestion even before the food enters the stomach. That's why the old advise of chewing each mouthful of food thirty times before swallowing is valid today as it was when it was first stated. The enzyme ptyalin starts the preliminary work of digestion by combining with moisture to attack the carbohydrates in the food and reduce them to maltose, the predigested form of starch, or energy-producing sugar.

Stomach Enzymes: After being thoroughly chewed, the food is swallowed and enters the stomach, where the gastric juices contain new enzymes to continue the digestive process. The stomach has been signaled by the sight, the smell and the taste of food to start releasing the needed chemicals from the glands. That's one of the reasons for foods to be prepared in a manner that will appeal to the senses. Food that is appealing and is anticipated will be digested more thoroughly.

The enzyme rennin handles milk, causing it to coagulate and changing the milk protein (casein) into amino acids, which the body can use. Rennin also works on the minerals of milk and cheese to make them available for assimilation into the system. The calcium, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium present in the foods can then be transported by the bloodstream to all the cells that need them: the bones, teeth, nerves, organs, etc.

The enzymes pepsin and lipase are also present in the stomach. Pepsin is the chief protein-splitter, breaking down long chains into shorter chains that the body can handle. Lipase works on fat and splits it into forms which the body uses for nourishment.

Hydrochloric acid presents a problem: is it to be considered an enzyme or even more than an enzyme? It breaks down protein foods and the tough fiber of vegetable cells to release their content of protein, minerals, vitamins, etc., but because it's an acid it also destroys bacteria in the stomach, and is thus part of the defense system of the body. It also helps to regulate the acid-base balance in the system and, without adequate hydrochloric acid, there would be no way to liberate iron from food so it can be converted into a form the body can use. Hydrochloric acid, or rather the lack of it, can be one of the most important factors affecting digestion, malnutrition and a host of other uncomfortable or debilitating symptoms. The hydrochloric acid level is the first thing to be checked when there is extreme upper or lower gas, burping after meals, flatulence and so on.

Intestinal Enzymes: The next step for the food is into the small intestine where it is subjected to more enzymes to extract and transform the vital nutrients from the food into assimilable form. There's bile to emulsify fats, then pancreatic lipase to change the fat into fatty acids (they keep the skin and mucous membrane in good condition, help in building the linings of nerve and brain tissue and help in all healing processes). Then there's tripsin to continue the work begun by pepsin and rennin; and lactase, streapsin, amylopsin, and so on and on.

There are over 600 different types of enzymes, and each one of them performs a separate and vital function. Enzymes are present in every one of the billions of cells in your body. Without enzymes the body cannot convert food into energy or transform protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and other nutrients into muscle, bone, hair, skin, organs, glands, hormones and so on.

Without enzymes, wounds would not heal. Enzymes protect against inflammation, dissolve clots, erase scars, counteract the adverse effects of drugs, aid in the coagulation of blood, promote oxygenation of blood and are even involved in your sex life.

Enzymes are responsible for the normal healthy function of all of your bodily processes, for your mental and physical health. These miraculous molecules are the special youth-factors created by Nature and provided in plants. And they are most readily and easily obtained from natural foods in their raw state. When you eat raw foods, the body is supplied with all of the enzymes necessary for digestion and assimilation of the nutrients found in those foods. Enzymes are not stored; after they do their job they are destroyed, and the body has to obtain or manufacture new batches. That's why the quality of the food you eat is so important.

Enzyme Destruction: The day man discovered how to cook was the day he opened Pandora's Box of disease, premature aging and death. Temperatures over 122 degrees Fahrenheit are lethal to enzymes, which mean, when fruit and vegetables are cooked (all too often overcooked) all enzymes are destroyed.

Therefore, if you want the power of the enzyme undiminished, you have to eat your foods in their natural, raw state. This can be easy or it can be difficult. Part of it, the easy part, is tasting fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, honey, legumes, etc., just the way they are when they come from the ground, the tree or the hive. You'll find they are more delicious raw than cooked, and easier to digest than cooked food (provided you haven't totally destroyed your digestive system with devitalized food, overcooked, oversoftened, undernourishing).

If that's so, you have to give yourself time to rebuild your digestion so it can adjust to a new eating scheme. Start gradually by adding raw food and juices to your diet. As your system begins to enjoy the unexpected rush of good health, add more and more raw foods until your diet consists about two-thirds raw and one-third cooked and processed food. But, if you are of thin bones, irregular digestion, lightweight, hyperactive, thin hair and weak set of teeth, don't exceed on raw food. In this special case, eat warm dishes, very well cooked, but drink a glass of fresh vegetable or fruit juice about one hour before each meal, or eat fresh fruit at that time. Only medium to heavy complexions are okay to eat that much raw food.

Modern farming methods are designed to make profits and not to deliver nutritious food. Fruits and vegetables are picked before they mature and sprayed with chemicals to look ripe. Caning procedures destroy enzymes and vitamins. The length of time between picking, packing, transportation, cold storage, packaging and the actual purchase by the consumer, depletes much of the nutrient value of produce.

COMA MEJOR Y AHORRE, de la colección VIVA MÁS Y MEJOR,