Digestion is one of the most important functions our body is able to perform . Unfortunately, most people don’t digest their food the right way.
In my experience, having worked with thousands of personal clients, faulty digestion or an “underactive stomach” is the most common health concern I notice.
So why is digestion a health concern ?
Well, consider that improper digestion can lead to nasty conditions like leaky gut syndrome, allergies, and auto-immune disorders – just to name a few.
Just remember the last time you ate a heavy cooked meal .
Did feel really tired (and full) for several hours?
I know I did. And it’s not fun .
Think about those big family Thanksgiving or Christmas dinners where you’d stuff yourself with turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, bread, wine, and on and on…. Thankfully, those kind of meals are rare.
Cooked Foods Are Dead
Remember that cooked foods are dead. They contain no functional enzymes since the heating any living thing above 118 degrees Fahrenheit denatures them .
This makes it inherently difficult to digest these foods. After all, there’s a reason that all living foods contain enzymes that will naturally assist in their digestion. But as soon as their cooked… all bets are off!
What this means to you is that your body now has to secrete more of its own digestive enzymes from the pancreas to breakdown these “dead” foods. And by the way, these enzymes can run out. When they do, you run out of life!
Now let’s think of a really tough piece of steak
To help you understand just how hard it is for your body to digest dead foods – especially cooked proteins – let’s consider a piece of steak for a moment.
One of the toughest foods for our stomach to digest is animal protein . But what happens when we cook meat – or a steak in this example?
All of the steak’s proteins become denaturized (just like those enzymes we talked about). They get all bent out of shape, coil collectively, and make it even tougher for our stomach to breakdown .
Just think of how many times you need to chew each bite of that steak just so you can swallow it! Maybe 100 times? Just imagine how much strain is now put on your stomach to further digest it.
Here’s a rule of thumb…When protein is cooked, it makes it tougher for our body to beak it down .
Here’s another example… Taking a raw egg, throwing it in a frying pan, and watching it ” coagulate” into a fried egg. Which do you think is easier for your body to breakdown – the raw “liquidy” egg or the tough, protein-denatured fried version?
If you said the latter, then you’re correct.
That’s why if you person has digestive difficulties and they love their eggs, one of the best things they can do is eat a soft boiled egg instead of a hard boiled egg. Less cooking time makes it moderately easier to digest.
Simply put, raw foods are easier to digest
Based on what we just discussed I’m sure you can appreciate just how much easier it is for us to digest raw foods. Raw foods are packed full of food enzymes, which assist in their own digestion. They don’t contain cooked, undigestible proteins.
And they’re actually good for you . They contain tons of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients that you simply don’t get in a cooked food .
