Blog — enzymes

Digestion is the process by which the complex materials of food are broken down into simpler substances in preparation for their entrance into the bloodstream. For example, proteins are broken down into various amino acids; carbohydrates, composed of starches and sugars, are converted to glucose, a simple sugar; and fats are broken down into new tissue. Let’s look at this process in more detail.

Three Steps to Digestion

Step 1:  The Mouth

The human digestive tract is divided into three cavities: the mouth, the stomach and the small intestine. When food enters the mouth, it’s masticated and mixed with saliva, initiating the digestive process.

Appropriate digestive juices are also secreted here, according to the type of food ingested. If the food contains starch, then the enzyme amylase is also secreted. This enzyme is active only in the presence of starch and will not be secreted otherwise.

Step 2:  The Stomach

After leaving the mouth, food passes down the esophagus and into the stomach. Here, gastric juice is secreted, containing primarily hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. The concentration of hydrochloric acid varies, again depending on the type of food ingested. Protein requires a highly acidic medium for the digestive enzyme pepsin, to be effective.

Starches and fats, however, require a nearly neutral medium for their digestion. In fact, salivary amylase is actually destroyed in the presence of highly acidic gastric juices, and the enzyme, gastric lipase, secreted for fat digestion, is also inhibited in its work in the presence of a highly acidic medium. These distinctions represent a significant factor in complicated digestion.

Step 3: The Intestines

The next factor to consider is this: each cavity contains its own distinctive digestive secretions with which to carry out its own specific work of digestion. And at each stage of this process, digestion proceeds more or less efficiently, depending upon the conditions present at each stage.

In other words, the efficiency of digestion in the intestines is dependent upon the work done in the mouth and stomach. It is a sequential operation.  For example, if pepsin, the enzyme secreted in the stomach during the first stage of protein digestion, has not converted these proteins into peptones due to unfavorable conditions present in the stomach, then erepsin, the enzyme secreted in the intestine, will not be able to carry on the final stage of protein digestion, that of converting the peptones into amino acids. Each stage of digestion must not be interfered with if we desire efficient digestion.

Be sure to take Digestive Enzymes with every meal to aid this process and help support the breaking down of foods to absorb the most nutrients possible.

Digestion is really important stuff! It's what our body does to break down food so it can move through our intestinal tract (stomach, small intestine and colon). Sometimes the body has difficulty doing this and needs some help or a change in lifestyle. If you don't think so, just think back to any time you've been bloated, constipated, had diarrhea, acid reflux (heart burn), felt compacted, or couldn't go to the bathroom well. Having second thoughts now?! Yep. Those are all things going on in the intestinal tract.*

Knowing that, you can do some little things that can go a long way for your comfort and health to ensure you have a good day, everyday* :)

1 - Good Diet

The first thing would be to eat well. And you might be saying, "Okay. Well, what does that mean?! Easier said than done, because there's a lot of diets out there!" I hear you loud and clear. We have been around lots of diets over the years, and they all come and go, but one thing remains the same - we all basically have the same organs, have to eat food to survive, and go to the bathroom. It's the body's way of living well. Taking in the good and pushing out the bad, through an assembly line of organs. All of which have a specific job or more. The more we can eat in a way that supports these functions and not create difficult situations, the better we'll be.*

The two diet recommendations we've seen that are the most effective and simply makes sense are*:

• Food combining properly
• Eat according to your blood type

People can see benefit with either one of these, but we've noticed they work best together!* CLICK HERE if you'd like to find out more on these two concepts or view our book "Guide to Smart Food Choices."

2 - Enzymes & Probiotics!

Yes! Our bodies produce these naturally, but it's a great idea to supply more to our body, because this will only help the body digest our processed, organic or not, everyday foods. And the probiotics will help support the good bacteria in the body and support a good immune system! All positive points there.*

Together, Digestive Enzymes and Probiotics & Prebiotics help support a balanced digestive system and a healthier you.*

3 - Go to the Bathroom!!

Very important this one. Most of the world is uncomfortable talking about this subject, but not us! Let's go over this.

Poop, fecal matter, feces, waste - it's poisons and toxins - bad stuff. You don't want poisons nor toxins in your body. It was food that we ate, and then the body took all the nutrients out of it to get energy and survive, then it transformed it into what you see in the bathroom. The body has no use for it anymore, so it gets rid of it.*

When we don't get it out, all that waste stays in our body, mostly the colon (large intestine) and as a result of it staying in there our body can absorb the toxins from our colon. As you can imagine, that would not be a good thing.*

So, what do I do? Well, the 2 points stated above (good diet, enzymes & probiotics) will help this situation. You can also incorporate drinking more water (we recommend a gallon every day), but sometimes the body needs extra help in performing this natural action. You could get different herbs from the store that you can either eat naturally, get them in some form like liquid or powder, or simply get a supplement that has them. Ones that are known to help regularity are cascara sagrada, senna, psyllium, aloe vera, barberry, slippery elm, rhubarb and others.*

We offer a colon cleanser that has all these and is our most popular product - Colon Magic. It's a safe, gentle, effective, non-habit-forming, herbal formula to help cleanse, feed, stimulate, and rebuild the tissue and muscles of the stomach, small intestine, colon and gastrointestinal tract.*

Whatever way you incorporate these 3 principles, great! We want you to have healthy success!