The Hidden Influence
(Enzyme Inhibitors)
One of the most important areas in the field of Nutrition is the subject of grains, seeds, tree nuts and beans, but especially grains. This is one area that has been grossly misunderstood by many in the Naturopathic field for quite some time. Many health food stores and authors of recipe books are ignorant of this data. After reading this article, you will understand why so many Americans are overweight and unhealthy.
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You can take a kernel of Spelt, or Hard Red Winter Wheat, Rye, or Barley, or any other grain, and place it on your dining room table and leave it there for the next five years. Do you know, it won’t rot or decompose one little bit? They’ve even found grain in the pyramids over 2000 years old and when water was added, some of the kernels actually started to grow.
This is an amazing fact. But, why is this???
Well - all grains, seeds, tree nuts, and most beans have in them a live, biochemical agent called an enzyme inhibitor.
What is this??? And what is an enzyme???
Simply speaking, an enzyme is a substance similar to a protein that allows nourishment to easily move around and feed the entire body. Furthermore, enzymes are catalysts that allow biochemical changes to occur in your system. There are literally thousands of different kinds of enzymes and they allow every organ and gland in the body to be in communication with each other.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that your Liver receives some enzymes from some food you’ve just eaten. It will convert those enzymes into a different enzyme, and use this newly created enzyme to communicate and send some nourishment to your Pancreas. Your Pancreas then takes this enzyme it just received from the Liver, converts it into a totally different enzyme and uses this one to communicate with and nourish the Spleen. And so on, and so on! This happens throughout the entire body, and even organs and glands like the uterus; ovaries, testes and the adrenals have their own enzyme usage and enzyme production.
So what is an enzyme inhibitor???
Inhibit means “stop”, so an enzyme inhibitor is an ingredient found in all grains, seeds, tree nuts, and beans, and these stop enzyme activity from happening. Their main purpose is to preserve these foods until the right condition exists where they can now grow into a parent plant. It’s nature’s way of preserving the life force for the purpose of future plant reproduction. The main ingredient that triggers that “right” condition where the seed will start growing is Water.
But what happens when we eat foods that have these enzyme inhibitors in them???
You got it! Go to the head of the class. They begin stopping the natural enzyme activity in our bodies. These foods are very difficult to digest and actually stop the enzyme action that is supposed to be happening naturally. This means, that every time you eat pasta, bread, cake, cereal, and all other grain products that are not made from “sprouted grains”, you are slowing down the communication processes throughout the entire body, and are therefore suppressing the body’s ability to function at peak performance. The same data applies when it comes to seeds, tree nuts, and most beans. Enzyme inhibitors exist in all of these foods, but they exist in the greatest quantity in grains. This explains the latest craze where everyone and their grandmother are diagnosed with gluten intolerance. It is not gluten that the body finds intolerable, but the lack of the body’s ability to process gluten due to the enzyme inhibitors.
Does this mean we need to knock off all of these foods because they’re bad for us???
Absolutely not! On the contrary! It just means we have to prepare them correctly so that the enzyme inhibitors are no longer present. Grains, seeds, tree nuts and beans are some of the most perfect foods when prepared correctly. They are very high in assimilable amino acids (proteins) once the enzyme inhibitors are gone. Used properly they are extremely rich in the exact kinds of enzymes our bodies need to keep us in good physical condition.
So – how does one go about getting rid of enzyme inhibitors???
The answer to this is very simple. SPROUTING! You soak these foods in water for 6 to 12 hours depending on the food. The water sends them into “sprout” mode or in other words starts the germination process. Then you drain the water and rinse the sprouts 2 to 4 times over the next 12 hours. The entire process of completely removing all enzyme inhibitors takes a total of 24 hours. Read on, as I’m going to get into this a little deeper.
Some of the problems encountered by ingesting enzyme inhibitors are: Obesity, Lethargy, Gas, Bloating, High Blood Pressure, Gastrointestinal difficulties, an enlarged Pancreas, Diabetes initiation, destruction of the body’s own natural production of enzymes and an overall general condition of poor health. I have even observed all of the mental symptoms associated with the bogus psychiatric diseases ADD and ADHD.
From my research, it is obvious that there are many associated negative effects as well. I have concluded that meat protein will tend to clog in the presence of enzyme inhibitors becoming less utilizable, while animal fats concentrate and raise cholesterol as well as triglyceride levels.
Do you see how all the different levels of nutrition dovetail with each other? What an amazing system?
An awesome discovery you’ll make when you get into sprouting is how great everything tastes! When you place those sunflower seeds into that sprouting jar, add water and let them soak for 8 hours, the germination process starts. Empty the water at the end of 8 hours and place the jar on a 45 degree angle out of direct sunlight and in a place where it can drain for the next 12 to 16 hours. Your sprouts need air circulation so be sure that the seeds do not cover more than half of the jar lid opening. Sprouts should be rinsed 2 to 4 times during this 12 to 16 hours and returned to the position described above. At the end of the 24 hour period, drain sprouts well and spread them on unbleached paper towels on a cookie sheet and let dry. The enzyme inhibitors are gone and you’ll have a taste treat you’ve never had before. These seeds are now bursting with flavor! Sprouting makes all grains fully utilizable and the only bread you eat should be made from sprouted grains – Ezekiel or Manna.
A great book to read which has all the charts on germination time for the various foods is: “Dining in the Raw” by Rita Romano, published by Kensington Books. Additionally, read the article written by Valorie Shillington entitled “How to Grow your own Sprouts”.
The above information will put your family on the road to health. It’s very powerful. Use it!
Much love,
Doc
Copyright © 2001 by Ian “Doc” Shillington N.D. All rights reserved.
505-772-5889
Dr.IanShillington@GilaNet.com
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