Comments on: Food for Health, Being Conscious of What I Eat. http://omareduardo.com/2010/02/14/food-for-health-being-conscious-of-what-i-eat/ Improve yourself. Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:32:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Omar Eduardo Fernández http://omareduardo.com/2010/02/14/food-for-health-being-conscious-of-what-i-eat/comment-page-1/#comment-679 Omar Eduardo Fernández Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:46:50 +0000 http://omareduardo.com/?p=1060#comment-679 I thought the same, but I read something similar to this argument: (from <a href="http://www.living-foods.com/articles/enzymes.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.living-foods.com/articles/enzymes.html</a>)<br><br>"HDN: When people get enzymes from food, aren't they destroyed by stomach acid and therefore of little or no value?<br><br>HOWELL: This is not true. Although most nutntionists claim that enzymes in food are destroyed in the stomach, they overlook two important facts.<br><br>First of all, when you eat food, acid secretion is minimal for at least thirty minutes. As the food goes down the esophagus, it drops into the top portion of the stomach. This is called the cardiac section, since it's closer to the heart.<br><br>The rest of the stomach remains flat and closed while the cardiac section opens up to accommodate the food. During the iime the food sits in the upper section, little acid or enzymes are secreted by the body. The enzymes in the food itself go about digesting the food. The more of this self-digestion that occurs, the less work the body has to do later.<br><br>When this 30 to 45 minute period is over, the bottom section of the stomach opens up and the body starts secreting acid and enzymes. Even at this point, the food enzymes are not inactivated until the acid level becomes prohibitive. You see, food enzymes can tolerate chemical environments many times more acid than neutral."<br><br>Don't get me wrong, I have always been a food junkie, and love to eat many different kind of foods, so it is a struggle to think of a diet that is so limiting. I went to Dim Sum yesterday for Chinese New Year... so I have definitely not given up cooked food. At the same time, however, I'm intrigued by the health benefits, and I'm willing to slowly, as I've been doing, replace meals with raw food meals. My breakfast and dinner yesterday, and my meals the two days before were almost completely raw food. Not sure about the dressing my salad had on Friday, since I didn't ask... :( I thought the same, but I read something similar to this argument: (from http://www.living-foods.com/articles/enzymes.html)

“HDN: When people get enzymes from food, aren't they destroyed by stomach acid and therefore of little or no value?

HOWELL: This is not true. Although most nutntionists claim that enzymes in food are destroyed in the stomach, they overlook two important facts.

First of all, when you eat food, acid secretion is minimal for at least thirty minutes. As the food goes down the esophagus, it drops into the top portion of the stomach. This is called the cardiac section, since it's closer to the heart.

The rest of the stomach remains flat and closed while the cardiac section opens up to accommodate the food. During the iime the food sits in the upper section, little acid or enzymes are secreted by the body. The enzymes in the food itself go about digesting the food. The more of this self-digestion that occurs, the less work the body has to do later.

When this 30 to 45 minute period is over, the bottom section of the stomach opens up and the body starts secreting acid and enzymes. Even at this point, the food enzymes are not inactivated until the acid level becomes prohibitive. You see, food enzymes can tolerate chemical environments many times more acid than neutral.”

Don't get me wrong, I have always been a food junkie, and love to eat many different kind of foods, so it is a struggle to think of a diet that is so limiting. I went to Dim Sum yesterday for Chinese New Year… so I have definitely not given up cooked food. At the same time, however, I'm intrigued by the health benefits, and I'm willing to slowly, as I've been doing, replace meals with raw food meals. My breakfast and dinner yesterday, and my meals the two days before were almost completely raw food. Not sure about the dressing my salad had on Friday, since I didn't ask… :(

]]> By: snix http://omareduardo.com/2010/02/14/food-for-health-being-conscious-of-what-i-eat/comment-page-1/#comment-677 snix Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:04:04 +0000 http://omareduardo.com/?p=1060#comment-677 i'm kinda skeptical of the enzyme argument, as most enzymes would probably be broken down in the stomach before they made a significant impact on your body.<br><br>not that you shouldn't go for the raw food diet. i've read good things about it and similar diets. personally, i think avoiding processed food/the products of the meat industry is sufficient to stay healthy, but i'm rather fond of cooked food, and it would take a lot to convince me to give it up. i'm kinda skeptical of the enzyme argument, as most enzymes would probably be broken down in the stomach before they made a significant impact on your body.

not that you shouldn't go for the raw food diet. i've read good things about it and similar diets. personally, i think avoiding processed food/the products of the meat industry is sufficient to stay healthy, but i'm rather fond of cooked food, and it would take a lot to convince me to give it up.

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