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Raw Food and Enzymes

Share The basic idea of the raw food diet is to consume unprocessed, whole plant based foods.  A portion of your diet should consist of uncooked, raw foods.  A raw foodist is that person that follows the raw food diet wholly.  They believe that the higher portion of your daily intake of foods should be raw for increased health benefits.

Enzymes are proteins that function as catalysts for very specific biochemical reactions in the body.  In raw food such as fruit and vegetables, nature has supplied each one with enzymes in order to support digestion.  These enzymes are not found in cooked food as the heat will destroy or alter these enzymes. 

Here are 4 fruits and their enzymes:

Apricots

Apricots are rich in a number of enzymes.  One of them being intervase.  This particular enzyme breaks down sucrose into fructose and glucose units making it more readily absorbable for quick energy.  Invertase is also an antioxidant enzyme with free radical scavenging properties.

Avocadoes

Avocadoes are a great source of a variety of enzymes including lipase.  Lipase enzyme is important for breaking down dietary fat.  It is not vital to get it from your food as your pancreas produces lipase.  Enjoy your avocado on toast, on salads, as guacamole blended with chopped onion and tomato.

Bananas

Bananas are a rich source of the enzymes amylase and maltase.  Amylase is an enzyme that breaks down carbohydrates that are found in foods such as bread, potatoes and cereals.

Pineapples

Pineapples contains the enzyme, bromelain.  It is found mainly in the stem of the pineapple.  Bromelain can be used for reducing swelling (as an anti-inflammatory), especially after an injury or surgery.

Bromelain can also be used in the treatment of burns where it can be useful in removing dead tissue from third degree burns. 
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