Enzyme Appreciation

Enzymes are substances that perform two specific functions–they can either start chemical processes or they make them perform more quickly. Every cell in living plants and animals contains enzymes that are responsible for the very functions that keep them alive.
If enzymes are so important to keeping us alive, how come so few people know about them or how they function? Consider this fact: Enzymes are required to perform every single chemical reaction that occurs in your body. If it weren't for enzymes, none of the vitamins, minerals, or hormones in your body could work properly. Seems then there is quite a bit we ought to know about them and what they need to work well!


Let’s look at digestion for instance. Digestion couldn't take place without enzymes. From the time food enters your mouth, enzymes both in the food and in your body are working to break it down into smaller particles so they can be absorbed properly. Raw foods contain lots of enzymes that are necessary for digestion; these are released when these foods are chewed.


Unfortunately, many of the enzymes in food are destroyed by the ways in which they are prepared and processed. Enzymes are destroyed in temperatures higher than 118° F (48° C) and some are destroyed in temperatures as low as 105° F (41° C), so most can't even survive light steaming – a way of preparing food that most people erroneously believe fully preserves the nutritional value of food!


What happens when the enzymes in food are destroyed and the only enzymes at work in your body are those that are made there? Digestive disorders, compromised immunity, allergic reactions, skin problems and mood swings can occur. Eating enzyme-deficient foods also taxes your pancreas and other organs, overworking and ultimately wearing them out. Since your body needs both kinds of enzymes, when only one kind is present, it suffers.


One way to address this problem is through juicing. In fact, juicing is one of the best ways to ingest raw foods as part of your diet. In a world where "fast food" has taken a firm hold on our eating habits, juicing vegetables provides a great way to obtain the enzymes you need to ward off diseases that can rob you of your health and energy.


Understanding that enzymes can also help to heal chronic health problems which often seem to defy medical solutions is important as well. Getting regular chiropractic examinations and adjustments are also an important part of keeping your immune system functioning properly as part of living a healthy lifestyle. When we work together to give our bodies the food and care needed to stay healthy – we all benefit!

WATERMELON MAY REDUCE THE RISK OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S. If you or someone you know has CVD, or has high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, or any of the other factors that could lead to CVD, you have probably been told to exercise, reduce stress levels and avoid certain foods like sugar, white flours and junk food. Or you may have been prescribed drugs like statins. However, there are certain foods — known as ‘functional foods’ — that, in addition to the nutrients they supply, also specifically promote health or prevent disease in a certain part of the body. In the case of CVD, you still want to exercise and eat well, but there are also functional foods that may help prevent it, and may even help you avoid drugs.
Let’s just take one of the CVD risk factors: hypertension, high blood pressure.
Normal blood pressure is considered 120/80 or below. High blood pressure starts at 140/90. Between those you have a rating called prehypertension, which basically means that if you don’t do something to lower your blood pressure you could end up with full-blown hypertension — something you really want to avoid.
The risk level is much higher with hypertension than prehypertension, so getting your blood pressure under control now is a smart health move.
What functional foods help prehypertension? According to a recent study conducted at Florida State University, watermelon might be just what you need.
The study, though small, is very promising and is the first on human subjects. While the participants didn’t actually eat watermelon, they were given six grams daily of the amino acid L-citrulline/L-arginine from watermelon extract for six weeks. There were four men and five women, ages 51 to 57, and each were prehypertensive. All participants had positive results: improved arterial function and lowered blood pressure.
The real ‘active” ingredient, the one that’s making the difference, is the amino acid L-arginine. However, L-arginine taken on its own can be hard on the gastrointestinal system. The better option is another amino acid, L-citrulline, which converts to L-arginine once in the body.
Watermelon is loaded with L-citrulline, is well tolerated, has no side effects, and provides the added benefits of Vitamins A, B6 and C along with fiber, potassium and lycopene, a powerful antioxidant.
If you’re looking for natural solutions to protect your heart, give watermelon extract a try. It is available at local health food stores and online!

SOURCE: Science Daily: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101013173847.htm.

4 Reasons You Should Drink More Water!

You can go without food for days, weeks and even months, but going without water for just one day can negatively impact your health.

Many people don’t realize just how important water really is. The human body is made up of 2/3 (66%) water and when we lose just a little bit of water through sweat and elimination, and we do not replenish lost liquid, we’ll begin to notice the effects to our health right away.
 
Health Effects of Going without Water

Water is the most valuable life support product for our health, right up there with oxygen. Water and oxygen are the only two things in life that without for just a short period of time we would die.  Studies have been done that show if a 175 pound man were to lose just 2.5% of water in his body (2 quarts) he will lose 25% of his body’s effectiveness towards survival.
When a person begins to dehydrate more things happen in the body than just being thirsty. The more liquid in the body that is lost, the thicker the blood becomes and the harder the heart muscle must work to pump the blood through the circulatory system.  When a person loses their abilities to reason and think straight because of dehydration it means they will die very soon, unless they drink water to rehydrate. Depending on the circumstances, mainly environment, a person can die within 24 to 28 hours after having no water if they are laboring in the hot dry sun with no water. If a person is sedentary indoors and the elements, such as wind, sun, and heat is not present they may live up to 3 days, tops. So water is VERY important for survival, but water is also very important to your overall health.
Most people think they drink enough liquids throughout the day to keep them hydrated. But if you counted all the beverages besides water that people drink you would see that they are actually dehydrating themselves. Most liquids such as coffee, tea, soda, alcohol, Gatorade, and sugary fruit drinks do not hydrate the body like pure water can. Some people are walking around actually dehydrated and they don’t know it because they don’t feel thirsty. Let’s take a look at 4 of the main reasons you should make sure you’re getting enough water.

1. Fatigue and Tiredness
The first sign of dehydration is the feeling of being tired; some people experience a headache and feel like taking a nap. When the body begins to dehydrate it means the tissues and cells are not getting enough water to make a person feel like doing anything; enzymatic activity slows down and without water the enzymes are unable to produce energy either. In fact a dehydrated person may have no enthusiasm or joy for life.   The good news is once the individual starts to drink some water their energy reserves speed back up and sometimes the headache completely goes away.

2. Constipation and Digestive Problems
If a person is not drinking enough water they do not have enough liquid to help with the elimination process and without eliminating the foods we digest we gain weight, gain toxins, and feel awful.  Being constipated is the beginning to many health problems from allergies to toxic overload syndrome to digestive disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome, gas bloating, stomach pain, nausea and loss of appetite in chronic cases.

3. Stomach Ulcers
To protect the stomach from its acidic digestive fluids that is made during the digestion of food, the stomach is coated with a lining of mucous, which are 98% water and 2% sodium bicarbonate.  Sodium bicarbonate helps in the digestive process by neutralizing the acids. When a person is dehydrated the stomach does not have enough liquid available to make the mucous, thus a poor mucous lining protecting a person from the acidic fluids the digestive process makes. This is why some people are more acidic rather than alkaline, and have digestive problems such as acid stomach and heartburn, which eventually without the alkalinity results in an ulcer of the stomach lining.
4. Weight Gain
Many times when we are thirsty we eat food rather than drink water. This can cause unnecessary weight gain, especially for a sedentary person. When your body is dehydrated, just a little bit, sometimes it won’t tell you with a dry throat or mouth, but rather with a feeling of being hungry.  Here’s the thing, if you just ate a sufficient meal not too long ago how can you really need to eat again?
To know if you need water or food, next time you are hungry when you have already ate a meal, drink a couple glasses of pure water. If the hunger pangs subside you’ll know you just needed to feed the body some water. The body needs at least 2 to 3 liters of water a day, and drinking more than that will keep you from feeling hungry. Not only that, but it will also help you eliminate more toxins from your body. Eventually your body will stop telling you it’s hungry because you are maintaining hydration throughout the day.
When you drink enough water throughout the day you are feeding the tissues and cells in your body and that gets the enzymatic system moving, which actually releases fat toxins out of the body! Now isn’t that good news? Rehydrating the body through pure water gets your metabolism running in full balance rather than being slow and sluggish, which is a cause of weight gain.
Do you want to add some vitamins and zest to your water? Then squeeze two or three lemons or limes into each liter of water and drink this nourishing water throughout the day. The great news about this is you probably won’t catch a cold anytime soon! Drink water for your health!

Drink Pure Water
Some water sources are not clean even though many people drink from them. Well water can be full of toxic inorganic minerals that could be making you sick. Bottled water isn’t necessarily any better, you still need to know where it came from and what is in it. Minerals on rocks build up into a sludgy scum and then you drink it. Tap water in some cities is also very mineral laden and too much minerals will cause arterial problems. Water should be as pure as possible, without minerals and bad bacteria.

Inorganic Minerals that could be lurking in your Water

Aluminum	Arsenic	Asbestos
Barium	Cadmium	Chromium
Copper	Fluoride	Lead
Mercury	Nitrate	Nitrite
Selenium	Silver

Minerals and vitamins should come from the purest source, which are organic foods that derive from plants or animals. If you think you might be drinking water that is dirty with inorganic minerals you can have it tested. The safest and easiest thing to do to ensure clean water is to buy a good water filter or softener to put on your faucet that filters out mineral toxins from your water.