This article is an excerpt from "The Acid–Alkaline Diet for Optimum Health: Restore Your Health by Creating pH Balance in Your Diet" by Christopher Vasey, N.D. and taken from the website
www.innertraditions.comnnnIn addition to the alkaline minerals mentioned in the previous chapter, there are other supplements that are quite useful for deacidifying the body: green food, enzyme supplements, prebiotic and probiotic complexes, and antioxidant complexes. All four reduce the production of acids by the body.nn
ENZYME SUPPLEMENTSnnPeople suffering from an acidified internal cellular environment are generally not eating enough vegetables, the principal food source for alkaline minerals. The result is a deficiency not only of alkaline substances, but also of enzymes. Enzymes play an important role for maintaining the acid-alkaline balance.nnEnzymes are protein-based molecules that act as catalysts in biochemical reactions, triggering and supervising the reactions. Enzymes perform numerous transformations in the body without which it could not survive.nnEvery enzyme has a specific function that no other enzyme can perform. nEnzymes are necessary for the digestion of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates and for their assimilation and incorporation into the tissues; for the production of energy; for cellular repair; for the breakdown and elimination of toxins; for the body’s defense system; and so forth. There are thousands of enzymes in the body, acting in synergy. nAs each is responsible for only a specific part of the work, different enzymes work together, each stepping in at a specific moment and at a precise place in the long chain of biochemical transformations.nnEnzymes are distributed throughout the cells and tissues, each type of enzyme located at the exact spot the body needs it. The body is constantly producing new enzymes to replace those that have been used. nThis production is not a quick-and-easy process, though. It is sufficient to compensate for the normal loss of enzymes, but not when abnormal demands are made on the body at this level. Such demands are made in the digestion of cooked food.nnFoods also contain enzymes, but they are very sensitive to heat. Too high a temperature during the cooking process destroys them. Cooked foods, whether boiled, steamed, or baked in an oven or microwave, are more or less impoverished of enzymes, depending on the mode of cooking used. Only the enzymes that survive the heat can take part in the digestion of the food from which they came. The body consequently has to supply the enzymes that were destroyed when the food was cooked, which gradually reduces its own reserves, especially if meals consist primarily or exclusively of cooked foods, if the individual overeats, or if the foods are refined (refined foods have already been stripped of a portion of their enzymes).nnWith these eating habits, which are followed by the majority of people today, over the long term the body’s enzymatic capability shrinks. This means that biochemical transformations are not being performed as well, and that much more acid waste is produced during the metabolic process than normal. So just how does this occur? For example, let’s take the transformation of glucose--that is, sugar--into energy. Because of the activity of various enzymes, glucose is first transformed into citric acid, then pyruvic acid, succinic acid, and fumaric acid in succession, ending finally as lactic acid. This acid is then attacked by another enzyme that transforms it into energy.nnNormally, these transformations are carried out to the final stage, and the acids do not survive as acids because they have been converted into energy. But if there is an enzyme deficiency, the glucose transformation comes to a halt during the acid stages, and the result is acidification of the body’s internal cellular environment, which would not occur if enough enzymes were available.nnTransition through a series of acid stages also takes place when the body converts fats and proteins for its use. This process is so extensive that the inevitable consequence of any enzyme deficiency is acidification of the body. Of course, the more extensive the enzyme deficiency, the more acidic the body becomes, eventually resulting in illness. This process is exacerbated by the fact that an acid organic environment inhibits enzyme activity, which reduces the enzymes’ effectiveness and increases the production of acid wastes even more.nnTo escape this vicious cycle, it is crucial to give the body the enzymes it needs. One way of doing this is to sharply increase consumption of raw vegetables at the two major meals of the day, noon and evening. Raw foods can be eaten either in the form of salad greens or as a side dish of colored vegetables like carrots or beets, or even as a mixed salad incorporating both. Thoroughly chewing these raw foods increases the benefit of this intake, because this frees more enzymes from the cellulose framework that binds them.nnThe benefits offered by a larger intake of enzymes can be easily seen: a cooked meal is digested more easily when raw foods have been added to it. We feel lighter after a meal accompanied by salad or raw vegetables because the digestion of the enzyme-poor cooked foods has been facilitated by the extra enzymes contributed by the raw foods.nnAnother way for the body to obtain the enzymes it needs is via enzymatic supplements. This additional support is often essential, because eating more raw foods is sufficient to address only minor enzyme deficiencies and maintain the proper acid–alkaline balance; if an individual’s enzymatic capacity has been overdrawn, deacidification requires a contribution of enzymes from supplements in addition to those supplied by the food in the diet.nnThe enzymes in commercial supplements are prepared so that they retain their properties even after they have entered the digestive tract, resisting stomach acids and other substances that could destroy them on their way to the cells. Taken on a daily basis in combination with a diet high in raw vegetables, the enzymes supplied by supplements should cause a sharp reduction in the body’s level of acidification. They help the body burn acids away, contributing to a quicker restoration of the body’s pH.