As a nutritional guide & someone who both studies and teaches about foods in their whole state often, there are many questions, speculations and opinions upon us about the entire food industry. The standards met for quality, what good it does for you, what's harmful about the foods, how much is enough or too much & so on. I'm writing this blog in order to set some things straight with people about the true role of whole foods & how the body can actually utilize them.
Conventional wisdom, something I'm not a fan of, tells us the simplicity of something but doesn't break it down enough to teach us what we need to know. People are inclined to reach for a vitamin bottle in the store believing they will reap the so called benefits of what the bottle says those vitamins can do to increase the health of the body. Believing labels with no research for personal health is problematic for anyone who actually does want better health. There are way too many fads presented to us daily; i.e. drink me thin shakes, juice bars, sugar laden energy drinks, artificial sweeteners that are really just shit storm causing chemicals, weight loss pills, powders, boxed diet meals and so forth, in stores today than there are whole, unaltered & non processed foods. Its something we won't ever escape but there is a way to avoid all the hype and get the low down on what the body needs to reach a personal health goal. Its called research and yes, it requires work on your behalf.
Whole foods are the source of live & digestive enzymes, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants & more the body needs for many things including:
1. remove free radicals/toxins
2. help restore optimal health through necessary nutrients the body can recognize
3. replenish lost natural vitamins/minerals/enzymes in the body
4. providing energy we need on a daily basis
5. digestion of foods we consume
6. metabolic health
7. cellular function
8. optimal CNS & respiratory function
9. brain, cardiovascular and eye health
The body was not built to recognize processed or altered foods mankind has created. If it didn't grow naturally or wasn't farmed, the body cannot recognize what to do with it and causes waste of the food opposed to utilization. Basically, when we eat food out of its natural state, we're consuming dead food. There is no life to it. Changing the form of a food (heating it over 118* (cooking, baking), cold pressing, dehydrating, etc.) to change the state it was naturally in does nothing but kill everything alive about the foods. It will satisfy the mind by believing what you consumed, although altered & dead, will benefit your health.
When you take store bought vitamins, you're throwing your money away. The moment the vitamin breaks down, all your body does is waste it through your urine and pores/glands. This may be a little brash for some, but if you pay attention, a while after you've taken that vitamin & go use the restroom, there is a certain smell that comes from the urine & you can't ignore it- its potent! That smell is the unrecognized vitamin the body didn't process & utilize. You thought you were making an investment didn't you?!
So now you wonder "ok, so what can I do to get the nutrients I need?" My answer is relevant to this blog title; eat whole, unaltered foods. Raw veggies, raw nuts, healthy fat oils, fresh fruit, legumes & so on. Include whole food vitamins and I am an avid user of my good friend Shan Stratton's Core Health Products. I use the Core Health Pack, Heart Health, Joint Health & Digestive Health. The Core Greens are amazing too! Anything you can get at the grocery store that hasn't been changed from its natural state (i.e. canned vs. fresh/frozen) will help you get everything you need for enzymes/vitamins/minerals as long as it is also consumed in that natural state.
For example, above is a picture of mulberries. Growing up, my neighbors had a mulberry tree and I had no idea the benefits of the berries that grew from it. I did however know that silk worms eat the leaves of those trees as while I was in school, we all got the task to take silk worms home and learn how to care for them. I have since then learned that mulberries are great source of nutrient dense antioxidants, just as black/rasp/& blueberries are. They have an antioxidant a lot of people know to increase heart health called resveratrol. Its more often associated with the same cardiovascular health benefits of red wine. They are not only rich in antioxidants, a good source of iron, calcium, vitamin c & fiber, but are also one of the few fruits that contain protein. 3 grams of protein per ounce, these can actually be a great addition to any fruit mix, a side dish, blended in drinks or just a snack. Had I known this as a kid and had I known the benefits of whole foods, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have hesitated to pick the mulberries & eat them as I picked the fruit in my own backyard (blackberries, grapes, cherries & pomegranate's) to eat.
Another compound I've mentioned are enzymes. Live- metabolic and digestive enzymes are the 2 enzymes present in the body. The digestive enzymes are responsible for breaking down all the food we consume so the body can absorb/utilize it. The metabolic enzymes help the systems of the body's (CNS & respiratory) work flow. There are 7 categories of digestive enzymes and each one works on different macronutrients.
1. Amylase- responsible for breaking down starches
2. Cellulase- responsible for breaking down fibers
3. Lactase- responsible for breaking down dairy
4. Lipase- responsible for breaking down fats
5. Maltase- responsible for breaking down grains
6. Protease- responsible for breaking down protein
7. Sucrase- responsible for breaking down sugars
They play a HUGE role in us. Without enzymes (and of course a few other things) we couldn't survive. To answer your question, "what are enzymes?":
Enzymes are biological molecules that catalyze to increase the rates of a chemical reaction. They lower the activation energy for a reaction which in turn dramatically increases the rate of the reaction. As a result, products are formed faster and reactions reach their equilibrium state more rapidly.
So in short, enzymes are the key to life. We destroy (as I said above) all enzymes in our foods by altering them leaving the body no choice but to draw the necessary enzymes to digest this dead food from the organs that in turn become unbalanced. All cooked, baked & processed/altered foods are completely void of enzymes. These foods cause inside the body degenerative diseases. The restoration comes in the form of whole foods consumed in its natural state.
By this point I'm hoping I've opened a window of opportunity for people to use this knowledge next time they hit the grocery store or juice bar. While you may be thinking to yourself everything you've done up to this point is fine and you don't feel the need to change anything, remember one thing: In order to fix the damage the toxic foods you've been consuming have done to your body, you have to try foods in their natural state for a time being before you slate your official opinion. In order to achieve optimal health, you have to be ingesting whole foods. Don't be misguided by the labels in the grocery store, the televised advertisement or anything someone tells you. If you haven't researched it and haven't been hands on with it, you won't truly reap the benefits of what whole foods do for your health.
Here is to change, better health and a new outlook on foods!
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