didi wrote:I eat lots of raw foods but cooked food too. Our closest primate raw food eating ancestors live in a very narrow region of the earth and when their habitat goes, so do they. Cooking releases more energy in starches which can be eaten raw but raw will not provide the brain with enough glucose and the body with enough energy. Cooked starches probably are what enabled our ancient human ancestors to grow bigger brains and live in other environments all over the world. The Hadza tribe women of east africa prize and seek out as husbands men who are good hunters and will bring home lots of honey. Yet, the bulk of their diet is from a tuber which the women gather. They eat it raw as they gather it but bring it back to camp to cook. It is a luxury, in our culture to eat raw food, much of which is imported from long distances. I understand that this country, because of government subsidies for certain crops does not even produce enough fruits and vegetables for the population to consume in healthful quantities. And in winter months we have to depend on frozen or canned food if we want vegetables that would be eaten raw when in season.
I am not knowledgeable about what enzymes from plants are supposed to do for humans. I do know that the enzymes we produce in our own bodies are part of our own metabolism and plant enzymes are produced for the use of plants. While I understand the need for vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, I am not convinced that plant enzymes are necessary for humans. Aren't they destroyed during the process of digestion?
Didi
Good question Didi!
Firstly lets slay that myth, yes plant enzymes are designed for plants, your right. BUT so are the vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and even the starches. So you see we do produce our own enzymes for digestion BUT this argument has nothing to do with if plant enzymes play a role in human health (also aside from digestion as they would have you believe). We do require exogenous sources of nutrients and I don't think mother nature got anything wrong. In fact that arrogant argument was used with phytochemicals for a long time too! Vitamins and minerals were considered all we needed for a long long time and we are still seeing the destructive aftermath of this.
There's lots that we are still learning and it's being revealed that enzymes are so important the body actually reabsorbs them, they circulate in the bloodstream and get returned to the pancreas.
Can enzymes survive the stomach? Yes they can. It's been proven, there is no doubt. How many, in what quantities, and what role do they play??? Well that's what some are trying to find out (with little funding and lots of it coming from their own pockets). Needless to say Gerson, Wigmore, Shelton definitely were onto something and helped lots and lots of people. This is not anecdotal mumbo jumbo as they would have you believe. The book "raw logic" provides the scientific basis for the avoidance of certain cooking and the consumption of many raw foods.
Although a lot of so called experts attempt to dismiss enzymes, they are 100% wrong, just point out both myrosinase and allliinase. Learn about them and challenge them, these are already well established in the published literature.
So called anti-nutrients may also play a role in human health too such as hemagglutinins and trypsin inhibitors. They may also help additional enzymes to survive the stomach.
To put it more simply, lots of "stuff" survives the stomach including proteins (we know about the negative ones that cause auto-immune disease) and as you'd probably know pieces of corn if you've ever consumed it and look at the contents of your stool.
I also think it's very ironic that Dr. Fuhrman says that having a faster metabolism actually ages you faster. This is the exact theory of Howell (Natural Hygienist) and that we also have a finite capacity to produce enzymes. Thus we age.
Enzyme theory goes back a long way and includes Pythagoras, Bicher-Benner, Buchner, the famous Virtanen and many others who were the most outstanding people of their day.
Raw food is powerful medicine.
I see that you do not live in an area that has fresh food, I am sorry to hear that. The evidence shows that fresh food is probably one of the most beneficial things we can do for ourselves. Eating from cans has been proven to be disastrous to human health, it also contains many toxins.
Humans have a remarkable capacity to inhabit even inhospitable places although we can survive it doesn't mean we are meant to be in these places, we have to adapt the environment to suit us. Also as long as we survive to our 30s and have a few children, that's all that has really mattered. Living longer wasn't really necessary (practically speaking). So Howell might not have got it all right but might have been on the right track, simply observations of native populations evidences a lot of what has been seemingly discredited. Research is now providing new insights and showing us that these Grand Healers of Old (many doctors and scientists who just wanted to help their patients) were onto something, perhaps not in the way they explained but they were right none the less. Orthomolecular medicine is an interesting area, that is medicine by nutrition (I don't agree with all in this area either as much of it has become "pharmaceuticalized"). Also there are major differences between food with vitamins and synthetic ones, to mistake the difference is a rookie error.
Also you'll note that we should limit our cooking mainly to steaming and boiling. And yes tribes have survived calories but do not put all your faith into stories recounted of tribes that you were not witness to. There's a lot more that goes on than some anthropologist observes or takes notes on. Many "secrets" in these tribes are simply never taught to an outsider too.
In summary Fuhrman probably knows a lot better but I'd imagine does not want to push himself too far away from the mainstream. He even features chicken and low fat dairy in his advice and meats do feature on his charts despite his protestations on their dangers.
Hope this helps, you can start "googling" the names of people and info that I am really very quickly glossing over.