This post is by way of a mini-update in the recent dead air of this blog. I’d really like to get back to this but feel I can’t just “dive” back in. The past several months have brought about many changes for us. Jobs, health, and location have drastically altered since July.
We’ve relocated and C has a new job and I am looking for one. We are waiting for our house to sell while staying with family. I was looking forward to taking advantage of the time having little work would provide this fall, but instead I had a scary health incident in August which led to round after round of testing while I also tried to recover. In the end, the enemy turned out to be multiple sclerosis. Thankfully, it was a quick diagnosis and my recovery was fairly “good” in terms of what might have been.
And so although I have long been on the path of healthful living and eating, my efforts have had to be twice what they were before as I am determined to stay off medication. Right now, what this means is cutting way back on saturated fats (going against all the WAP and NT wisdom). According to research of Dr. Roy Swank, people with MS tend to have difficulty metabolizing these fats leading to the eventual development of disease. I will not get into details here. Also, after reading “The MS Diet Book” it seems persons with MS can usually trace back a food sensitivity which triggers the immune system dysfunction due to poor absorption of this food or foods. (This is the overly simplified explanation!) So I am working on cutting way back on fats and dairy right now. It’s hard to tell if it’s “working” as my symptoms were not overt, but rather consisting of many smaller things at once. It is a complex puzzle. I seem to only get one piece every few weeks figured out, but there is progress and I am determined not to be victimized by a diagnosis. This is taking much of my time as we now live in a rural location with less of the foods we buy readily available as well as researching new food needs, recipes, supplements, herbs and most importantly it seems at the moment, enzymes.
My theory is that with proper enzyme support (of which I am sure I am lacking due to digestive complaints I’ve had for quite some time and did not know how to deal with or thought were “not that bad”) I can help correct the absorption problem, eat a less restrictive diet and heal my own body. My goal for today is identify which enzymes my body most likely needs and order them. If you think this sounds like an easy task, just take a look at this list of types of enzymes that we use!
• amylase – breaks down carbohydrates, starches, and sugars which are prevalent in potatoes, fruits, vegetables, and many snack foods
• lactase – breaks down lactose (milk sugars) • diastase – digests vegetable starch • sucrase – digests complex sugars and starches • maltase – digests disaccharides to monosaccharides (malt sugars) • invertase – breaks down sucrose (table sugar) • glucoamylase – breaks down starch to glucose • alpha-glactosidase – facilitates digestion of beans, legumes, seeds, roots, soy products, and underground stems
• protease – breaks down proteins found in meats, nuts, eggs, and cheese
• pepsin – breaks down proteins into peptides • peptidase – breaks down small peptide proteins to amino acids • trypsin – derived from animal pancreas, breaks down proteins • alpha – chymotrypsin, an animal-derived enzyme, breaks down proteins • 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
• lipase – breaks down fats found in most dairy products, nuts, oils, and meat
• cellulase – breaks down cellulose, plant fiber; not found in humans
• other stuff
• betaine HCL – increases the hydrochloric acid content of the upper digestive system; activates the protein digesting enzyme pepsin in the stomach (does not influence plant- or fungal-derived enzymes) • CereCalase™ – a unique cellulase complex from National Enzyme Company that maximizes fiber and cereal digestion and absorption of essential minerals; an exclusive blend of synergistic phytase, hemicellulase, and beta-glucanase • endoprotease – cleaves peptide bonds from the interior of peptide chains • exoprotease – cleaves off amino acids from the ends of peptide chains • extract of ox bile – an animal-derived enzyme, stimulates the intestine to move • fructooligosaccharides (FOS) – helps support the growth of friendly intestinal microbes, also inhibits the growth of harmful species • L-glutamic acid – activates the protein digesting enzyme pepsin in the stomach • lysozyme – an animal-derived enzyme, and a component of every lung cell; lysozyme is very important in the control of infections, attacks invading bacterial and viruses • papayotin – from papaya • pancreatin – an animal-derived enzyme, breaks down protein and fats • pancrelipase – an animal-derived enzyme, breaks down protein, fats, and carbohydrates • pectinase – breaks down the pectin in fruit • phytase – digests phytic acid, allows minerals such as calcium, zinc, copper, manganese, etc. to be more available by the body, but does not break down any food proteins • xylanase – breaks down xylan sugars, works well with grains such as corn
Other general terms for enzymes referring to their general action instead of specific action
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Endopeptidase: Enzymes that cleave proteins only on the inside
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Exopeptidase: Enzymes that cleave proteins only on the outside (terminal) part
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Aminopeptidase: Exopeptidase that cleaves at the amino terminating end
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Carboxypeptidase: Exopeptidase that cleaves at the carboxy terminating end
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Crazy! This above link, however, is the best source of knowledge for the uninitiated (like myself). So, I think this is a decent returning post. There is so much other information I have learned in this interim, but I have to stick with what’s current for me now or I’ll never get anything posted!
The Nutritionary 