Why do live foods create the best anti aging effect, life extension effect, anti chronic degenerative disease effect and bring the highest amount of vitality to any type of food ? Part of the reason is because when we cook food, we destroy the enzymes. Enzymes contain the power of life itself. Therefore it is in our own health interest to increase the amount of enzymes in our enzyme pool, thus enabling us to increase the quality of our health and longevity. Enzymes are living proteins which activate every metabolic process. They are essential for digestion and also help repair DNA and RNA. It doesn't stop there, enzymes transform energy, dissolve fibre and prevent clotting. They can help heal cancer and a number of other health issues like arthritis and rheumatoid disease, by boosting the immune system.

With age, under stress and after illness, the amount of enzymes in our bodies decreases. This is because enzymes are critical for health and are used up in those situations. The best way to preserve our enzyme pool, is to eat a live raw food, for it is jam packed with its own essential life giving enzymes. If we cook food, the enzymes are destroyed, thus, we then have to use our own vital enzymes from our pool supply to digest the food, when preferably they could be used to support our immune system and help keep us healthy. So the answer to health becomes easy, increase the amount live enzymes in your diet.

Here are some examples of food which contain their own essential enzymes; Seeds are made up of primarily oil and protein so the enzyme content is lipase which digests the oil and protease for the protein. In seeds there is not much amylase because they do not contain much starch. When seeds are sprouted they then seriously increase the amount of enzymes. Amylase – breaks down carbohydrates, starches, and sugars which are prevalent in potatoes, fruits, vegetables ...So you can become familiar with scientific talk, here is a broad look at other enzymes and what they break down.

• lactase – breaks down lactose (milk sugars)
• diastase – digests vegetable starch
• sucrase – digests complex sugars and starches
• maltase – digests disaccharides to monosaccharides (malt sugars)
• glucoamylase – breaks down starch to glucose
• alpha-glactosidase – facilitates digestion of beans, legumes, seeds,
roots, soy products, and underground stems

• pepsin – breaks down proteins into peptides
• peptidase – breaks down small peptide proteins to amino acids
• bromelain – derived from pineapple, breaks down a broad spectrum of proteins, has anti-inflammatory properties, effective over very wide pH range
• papain – derived from raw papaya, broad range of substrates and pH, works well breaking down small and large proteins
• cellulase – breaks down cellulose, plant fiber



Enzyme supplements are recommended by Gabriel Cousens for their pre digestible qualities, and for also building up our enzyme pool supply. The extra supplementation can take off the stress of the entire digestive enzyme system. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut are also greatly supplied with their own enzymes and this is a really great cost effective way to aid fill the body with living enzymes for free. I feel the more you research the powerful effects of enzymes, the more you will be inclined to eat a live raw plant based diet because it will just make sense.