By Dr. James Carey, Ph.D. (computers)

In my last article we discussed how and why eating an organic raw living foods vegan diet led to weight loss by detoxifying the body.

In this article we’re going to look at the value of digestive enzymes to the body, and their relationship with an organic, raw lifestyle, digestion, and your daily energy level.

Digestive enzymes are the tools that the body uses to turn food into nourishment. When you consume a meal of cooked food the body examines the contents of the stomach, then the pancreas goes to work producing the proper enzymes to digest that food.

This process is called “tagging” the enzymes, and is an approximation process. In other words, the pancreas can’t always correctly tag enzymes for the foods you’ve eaten, and takes it’s best guess. A common example of this is to see undigested corn in your stool – it’s hard for the body to properly tag enzymes to digest cooked corn, thus, it passes though the body without being utilized.

When we eat raw fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables, however, the properly-tagged digestive enzymes already exist in those foods. Raw apples have apple-tagged enzymes, raw coconut has coconut-tagged enzymes, and corn has the properly-tagged enzyme for the body to digest it, and thus get the most from the nutrition it contains.

So when we consume our foods raw our bodies get maximum benefit because of proper digestion. That alone is reason enough to eat lots of raw foods.

But it gets better…

That desire you feel for a nap after a big meal is caused by the blood going to the pancreas to produce the needed digestive enzymes.

When you’ve already got the enzymes in there, as part of the food you just ate, the pancreas gets “time off.” That’s why raw fooders seem to have so much more energy.

Eating a 100% raw vegan diet saves the body eight hours of work a day – that’s a lot of energy saved.

But it gets even better…

Over time, the pancreas loses the ability to produce digestive enzymes. That’s why we begin to have digestion problems as we get older. Taking that load off the pancreas thus improves our digestion.

As we discussed last time, the body never takes time off. When we remove one responsibility from it, like working eight hours a day to digest food, it finds something else to do.

In this case, it can now devote itself to cell rejuvenation and healing with the conserved energy. This is the reason raw fooders, even when they begin later in life, start to not only feel younger, but to look younger. I’ve even seen white hair revert to it’s darker color over time – something I though was irreversible.

I know that I certainly feel better, have more energy, and am more mentally alert than I was 20 years ago.

“OK, Dr. Jim, I’m sold on the raw vegan lifestyle.”

Ah, but you only think you’re sold. Right now you’re motivated, so grab some organic fruit for your next snack, not something that comes in a plastic package. Next issue I’m going to share some information about stress reduction, DNA healing, and how living foods take you there, naturally.

By the time we finish these sessions you’ll be convinced, not just sold.Yours in Great Natural Health,
Jim Carey

Dr. Jim Carey, PhD, DD, has been a raw living foods advocate for six years, ever since the Dr. Ann Wigmore program changed his life. You can learn more about Dr. Wigmore, N.D., and Dr. Carey at AnnWigmore.com, RawDoctors.com, chiDiet.com, chiDietVideos.com and chiDiet.net.

Dr. Carey is currently doing an American television series about the raw vegan lifestyle. Episodes of his show can be seen at GrassyRoots.com. He resides in rural Georgia, USA, where he loves to eat wild edibles, and travels extensively sharing the message of the raw living foods lifestyle. He can be contacted via email at jcarey@chiDiet.com.

Dr. Jim also served as Director of Creative Health Institute for several years, and is a Trustee of the Creative Health Institute 501(c)-3 Non-Profit Trust.