Therapeutic Uses for Enzymes

This is part three of a three part article....

Most people in our culture assume that indigestion is just something that “happens” to you, i.e., it's none of your fault. But indigestion is always a sign that what you just ate was “wrong.” It means that your body is not able to digest what you just consumed, hence you have what should really be called “miss-digestion.” I pay attention to indigestion and try to avoid eating in ways that cause indigestion because when you have indigestion you're creating inflammation in your digestive tract and that leads to chronic illness.

Conversely, when digestion goes smoothly and the food doesn't feel “heavy” on my stomach and there is no feeling of discomfort, stuffiness, gas, bloating, etc., then I know that what I ate was good. This is why I know that enzymes are good for me. They make my digestive system feel good, and help restore that good feeling when I do something that makes my digestive system feel “wrong.”

If people would simply pay more attention to how the food they are eating is affecting them, they would soon learn to eat in a way that produced better health. This is more useful than trying to follow any “expert” advice on nutrition.

Enzyme Therapy

My good friend and fellow herbalist, Thomas Easley, clued me into a new and very valuable use for enzymes a couple of years ago. He does enzyme cleanses for cancer patients where he has them fast and take enzymes every few hours for a couple of days. This made a light bulb go off in my head.

When I travel, I sometimes get constipated and my digestive tract gets sluggish because I find it harder to get quality food. As a result, I start to get a little “acid” stomach and feel bloated and constipated. Now, when this happens, I know I can “fix” the problem with enzymes. What I do is this—I stop eating and start taking 2 enzyme capsules every two hours while drinking lots of water. In about 4-6 hours, my system clears out, my appetite returns and I feel fine again. In other words, digestive enzymes make a great “laxative.”

This leads me to believe that many people who are constipated are actually enzyme deficient. As a result, I've started using enzymes for cleaning and not just for digestion. Now, I take enzymes with my fiber drink and cleansing herbs in the morning. I find this works really well to keep my digestive tract working properly.

Enzymes are also therapeutically useful for a wide range of illnesses. Enzymes, particularly protease (protein-digesting) enzymes, are an important aid to eliminating parasites and to helping the body fight cancer.

As previously indicated, I learned from Jack Ritchason, and my own subsequent clinical experience, that all chronically ill people have poor digestion. These people nearly always benefit from taking enzyme supplements. However, I've found enzymes to be a critical part of helping people with parasites, chronic infections, cancer, auto-immune disorders, allergies (both respiratory and digestive), chronic sinus problems, digestive disorders and mood problems.

Good digestion is one of the foundations of good health. That's why enzymes are one of the most important, if not the most important, basic supplement people need. I would hate to be without them.