Enzymes and Peak Performance

by Glen Depke

Do you really want to know how to reach peak performance and live this way for most of your life? Of course you do, and honestly, who would not want this for themselves and their loved ones? Well, I cannot give you that one missing piece of information or the magic bullet, but I can help you understand a very important piece of the chemical and biological aspect of your being, that plays a significant role in achieving your performance, health and longevity goals. This key factor is your body’s metabolic enzyme activity.

Let’s first look at the different enzyme activity in our body. When discussing enzymes I will be talking about metabolic enzymes, pancreatic enzymes, food enzymes and supplemental digestive enzymes. As we look to achieve peak performance, optimal health and longevity, all of these enzymes play a significant role but the food, pancreatic and supplemental enzymes are necessary to slow down the “using up” process of the ever important metabolic enzyme activity. Unfortunately this “using up” process is a far too regular part of our lives; processed foods, cooked foods, over-exertion, and so on. For those that work, train and play hard or simply for those that are stuck in the normal patterns of our unhealthy lifestyles, it is of utmost importance to do something to save this metabolic enzyme activity. Your peak performance, optimal health and longevity depend on it.

Simply put, metabolic enzymes are created in the cells of our body to allow the chemical process of life to occur fast enough to maintain your life. Understand that if we did not enjoy this metabolic enzyme activity, life would cease in that moment. As mentioned above most of us “use up” our metabolic enzyme activity on a regular basis.

So why is this so important to be concerned about these enzymes if they are produced in the cells of the body? This is important because it is believed that we do not have an unlimited supply of these metabolic enzymes. It is recognized that as we age our metabolic enzyme activity is on a slow and steady decline until very late in life. Somewhere toward the end of life, our metabolic enzyme activity steeply and dramatically drops and life as we know it ends. This is very similar to the understanding that women are pre-determined at birth, the amount of times they are going to ovulate. Once that time is reached you cannot go back. The difference with your metabolic enzyme activity is that you have quite a bit of control over what you can do to save this activity. Let’s take a look at the other enzymes and the role they play.

The pancreatic enzymes are a conversion of metabolic enzymes in the pancreas into the necessary digestive enzymes that are released in the pancreatic juice to break down the food that we eat, in the small intestines. The body will produce the necessary enzymes needed based on the amount, or lack of, enzymes naturally in your food or supplemental enzymes. Remember that the pancreas will rob your metabolic enzyme activity to convert them into these digestive enzymes. This robbing Peter to pay Paul system is a part of this “using up” of the metabolic enzyme activity.

So how do we decrease our need for pancreatic enzymes? This is where food enzymes and supplemental enzymes come to the rescue. Food enzymes are the natural occurring enzymes in all natural, whole, raw foods. Every food has within it the enzymes needed to break this food down for optimal absorption and assimilation. When we cook the food above a temperature of 118 degrees, the enzyme activity is completely destroyed. Supplemental enzymes such as the Depke Wellness, Prime Digestive Support, simply puts back the enzyme activity that we destroyed by the cooking process. Getting your natural food enzymes or using the Prime Digestive Support is the way to get the most out of your nutrition and save your metabolic enzyme activity, so you can reach your peak performance, optimal health and longevity.

So where in the digestive tract do these food and/or supplemental enzymes play a role? After you have chewed your food and mixed this with the limited enzyme activity in the saliva, along with the natural food enzymes, your food will eventually move into the stomach. Once it reaches the stomach, your food will typically set high in the stomach for about 30 to 60 minutes where it will break down with the enzymes from your food, the limited enzyme activity from the saliva and with the supplemental digestive enzymes, such as the Prime Digestive Support. After this period, your food will move through the stomach into the acid bath for further breakdown of your protein and eventually move into the first third of your small intestines, where the pancreatic juice is released. This first 30 to 60 minutes is such a key to stopping the “using up” process of your metabolic enzyme activity and a must, if you wish to reach peak performance, optimal health and longevity.

With this in mind, you can understand the importance of eating all of you food raw or using digestive enzymes. Since most of you reading this are consuming cooked food regularly, the digestive enzymes such as the Prime Digestive Support is for you.

Based on my years of practice I recognize that the toughest foods to breakdown properly are flesh protein, fat, beans and some vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and Brussel sprouts. Most people can eat some vegetables raw but I do not know of many that are eating their flesh proteins and animal fats raw on a regular basis. This is another of the many reasons to supplement your digestive enzyme activity, since raw vegetables and fruit do not contain the enzymes necessary for proper breakdown of animal based foods. To achieve your peak performance, optimal health and longevity, this will require a full spectrum of animal and plant based enzymes to properly break down your full spectrum of nutritional choices.

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