"Juicing"...Empowers Your Life...Your Health

What is an "Enzyme"? Why is "juicing" from raw fruits and vegetables so important?

According to the American Pocket Medical Dictionary, (nineteenth edition), an "Enzyme" is defined as an organic compound, frequently a protein, which is able to accelerate or to produce by catalytic action some change in a substrate for which it is often specific. Enzymes "Empower" us.

Humans, animals, and plants are composed of cells with different activities, both inside and outside the cell membrane. All these activities need the presence of enzymes in order to function. Without enzymes, there will be no cellular activities. A cell without cellular activity is considered dead.

Enzymes, like vitamins and essential minerals, are vital to all living things. We have different enzymes in different systems. Those that are concerned with digestion are known as digestive enzymes which are secreted by special glands or mucosal cells along the digestive pathway. Their chief function is to metabaolize the ingested food so that its components can be absorbed and utilized by our body. This whole process of digestion, absorption, and utilization is know as "assimilation".

Food enzymes are digestive enzymes present in food or food supplements. Their sources can be animal or vegetable in origin. In medical terms, digestive enzymes secreted by our digestive system inside our body are "endogenous". Those taken as food or food supplements (food enzymes) are "exogenous". These "exogenous" enzymes:

1.] Function best at certain pH and temperature.
2.] Are easily destroyed by high temperature due to cooking or food processors.
3.] Once destroyed, they must be replaced.

Digestive enzymes are categorized into four main groups. In layman's terms, these are comprised of

*Carbohydrase Enzymes which digest carbohydrates.

*Proteus Enzymes that digest proteins.

*Lipase Enzymes digest fats.

*Cellulase Enzymes digest cellulose which is a complex carbohydrate forming the framework of plant structures.

When we are born, each of us is given a limted supply of digestive enzymes. This supply needs to last throughout our lifetime. The more rapidly you use up your enzyme supply, the shorter your life will be. "Juicing" with raw fruits and vegetables replenishes many of these necessary enzymes. "Juicing" Empowers our minds, our bodies, our lives...