Live Food Versus Dead Food
Keith Giaquinto
The importance of live food versus dead food cannot be underestimated when it comes to nutrition and healing. The difference between live food and dead food can be summed up in one word: enzymes. All living animal and plant cells produce enzymes. In fact, life cannot exist without enzymes. Therefore, live food is food in its raw form (raw fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.).
Dead food is anything that doesn't contain enzymes, or in which the enzymes are destroyed or removed, such as packaged and processed food. Why do you think it is possible for a food manufacturer to process a particular food and put it in a box that sits on the shelf at the grocery store for weeks? Then, after you buy it, you take it home where it may sit on another shelf for a while longer before you open up the box and then prepare it as a meal. The reason food packaging companies can do this is because they remove enzymes from the food to increase shelf life. Dead food can sit on a shelf for a long time without rotting. Dead food is great for convenience, and essential to modern living, but it is not beneficial to your health.
Now imagine that you put a dozen apples in a box and put the box on a shelf for a month. Would you be able to open that box and eat the apples, or do you think they would be spoiled? How does that happen? Live food contains enzymes. When an apple falls off a tree and hits the ground, a bruise will form on the spot where the apple hit the ground. Why? When the apple hit the ground, the impact of the fall destroys and bursts open cells. There are enzymes inside the cells to digest the apple. Therefore, the bruise is a result of enzymes working to digest the apple. Enzymes cause the raw fruits or vegetables to ripen, and if they are left by themselves, the enzymes will digest them completely.
Enzymes are sensitive structures when it comes to live food. When you cook your food above 118
degrees, the enzymes in live food are destroyed. Consuming raw fruits and vegetables is not difficult to do, but when it comes to raw meat, cooking it is recommended. When you eat cooked or dead food, taking a digestive enzyme can be helpful to support normal digestion.
The American Chiropractor has called Dr. Howard Loomis the "father of enzyme nutrition." In his book, Enzymes: The Key to Health, Dr. Loomis says, "We are very careful to replace the vitamins and minerals lost in the processing of food, (yet) we do not replace the more important food enzymes. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies produce acute symptoms, while food enzyme deficiencies are more insidious, producing chronic degenerative changes."
A simple way to support your patients' healing processes is by engaging them in a conversation about live food, dead food, and enzymes, and to recommend that they consume more live food and take plant enzyme supplements for improved digestion and inflammatory support.
Dr. Keith Giaquinto has more than 12years of f clinical experience as a chiropractor and internal health specialist. He frequently lectures to companies and groups in his community on topics of health and wellness. He has created a new patient lecture system for growing your practice through lecturing. You can contact him at www.drkeithgiaquinto.com
