Did you know that over $7 billion a year is spent on over-the-counter and prescription digestive aids for everything from indigestion to acid reflux, gas, constipation and more?
 

Healthy Digestion Is Important For Health

 
The health of every cell, tissue and organ in your body depends on healthy digestion and the absorption of nutrients from your food—this process is essential for life and made possible through digestive enzymes.
 

The Skinny On Digestive Enzymes

 
Digestive enzymes make the process possible by helping your body break down food to release the nutrients from the proteins, carbohydrates and fats you consume in your daily diet. Without these enzymes, your body wouldn’t be able to get nourishment from the foods you eat. Digestive enzymes enable your body to break down and digest your food.
 
Digestive enzymes fall into 3 categories: carbohydrases (which help break down carbohydrates), proteases (which help break down proteins), and lipases (which help break down fats). Each type of enzyme functions to break down the specific nutrients it’s suited for.
 

You Need Enzymes From Raw Food

 
Your body has a limited capacity to make digestive enzymes, but it’s best to get them directly from your food. Raw fruits and vegetables are the best source (since cooking food over 118 degrees for 3 minutes or longer destroys the enzymes). A diet of mostly cooked foods makes getting enough enzymes from raw foods to help with daily digestion even more critical.
 
If you eat a mostly cooked diet, your body’s reserves of enzymes gets depleted and over time your body is unable to digest and absorb any nutrients from your food, which leads to a serious enzyme imbalance and all kinds of digestive disturbances. When the imbalance occurs, uncomfortable symptoms such as gas, bloating, improper digestion and poor elimination start to surface.
 

Everyone Benefits From Supplementation

 
In addition to getting your enzymes through raw fruits and vegetables, you can also benefit greatly from a high quality digestive enzyme supplement. Supplementation with digestive enzymes helps support digestions by reducing your body to have to manufacture the enzymes (at the expense of depleting existing enzymes), enhancing your entire digestion process. You don’t have to let stomach discomfort, indigestion, and sleepiness or “food coma” after meals affect your life. If your digestive system is overburdened and inefficient—support it with enzymes. Enzymes are to your digestive system, what calcium is to your bones.
 
More complete digestion of the food you eat means better utilization of the energy from that food. The result? Less gas and bloating from incomplete digestion and maximum energy.
Prevention is always the best medicine, so even if you are not currently experiencing digestive issues, if you are eating a mostly cooked diet, I suggest including more raw fruits and vegetables in your diet as well as digestive enzyme supplement. As far as supplements go, I recommend a vegetarian enzyme blend which can support and enhance your entire digestive process and prevent digestive issues before they start.