Brenda Khan
Digestive enzymes are crucial for breaking down food and facilitating the absorption of nutrients. While the body naturally produces these enzymes, certain factors, such as food intolerances, stress, and dietary choices, can impact their production and lead to digestive issues. To increase enzyme levels, one can make dietary changes, incorporate stress management techniques, and adopt healthier lifestyle habits. This includes consuming raw foods, particularly fruits and vegetables, which are rich in enzymes and fiber, as well as avoiding highly processed and fatty foods. Additionally, specific foods like pineapple, papaya, avocado, ginger, and kiwifruit are known to be high in digestive enzymes and can aid in improving gut health. For those with enzyme insufficiencies or specific health conditions, digestive enzyme supplements may be beneficial, but it is important to consult a healthcare professional before starting any supplementation.
How to Increase Enzymes in Your Diet
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Diet | Include enzyme-rich foods like sauerkraut, papaya, pineapple, mango, avocado, ginger, raw honey, and bananas. |
| Food Preparation | Cooking destroys food enzymes, so eat some foods raw. However, certain vegetables become more nutritious after being cooked, so try to strike a balance between raw and cooked foods. |
| Food Preparation Methods | Steam, sprout, soak, blend, and juice foods to preserve enzymes and antioxidants. |
| Food Intolerances | Identify and eliminate foods that you are intolerant to, as these can disrupt your body's ability to produce enzymes. |
| Lifestyle | Manage stress through techniques like meditation and yoga, and try to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. |
| Medication | Avoid unnecessary medications, as some can affect your body's ability to produce enzymes, e.g., antacids, steroids, and antibiotics. |
| Environment | Minimize exposure to pollutants like pesticides, car pollution, and plastic residues, as these can disrupt enzyme production. |
| Supplements | Consider taking enzyme supplements, especially if you have a health condition that impairs nutrient absorption, but always consult your healthcare provider first. |
| Probiotics | Consume probiotic-rich foods like kefir, natto, kimchi, kombucha, and tempeh, or take probiotic supplements to restore gut flora. |
| Chewing | Chew food thoroughly to give your body ample time to produce enzymes and break down food into small particles. |
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What You'll Learn
Eat raw foods
Eating raw foods is a great way to increase the number of enzymes in your diet. Enzymes are essential for breaking down food and promoting nutrient absorption, and raw foods are a rich source of these enzymes.
Food enzymes are found in raw foods, particularly plants, where they serve to harvest the sun's energy, protect the plant, and promote its survival and reproduction. A diet rich in raw plant foods, such as leafy greens, bell peppers, and garlic, can provide your body with an abundance of these food enzymes.
Consuming raw foods can also lighten the load on your digestive system and aid in nutrient uptake. This is because cooking often destroys food enzymes. Raw food dieters claim that the digestive enzymes in vegetables and fruits are diminished when heated above 118°F (47.8°C). However, it's worth noting that the human stomach's highly acidic environment also contributes to the destruction of these enzymes, and this is a topic of debate among nutritionists.
To maximize the benefits of raw foods, consider including a variety of fresh, unprocessed fruits and vegetables in your diet. Fermented vegetables, such as kimchi or sauerkraut, are also excellent choices as they contain beneficial probiotics that support gut health and enhance the availability and digestibility of nutrients.
In addition to vegetables, raw dairy products, soaked nuts, pineapple, papaya, mango, and avocado are all good sources of digestive enzymes. For example, papaya contains papain, an enzyme that aids in protein digestion, while mango is high in amylase, which helps break down starches.
However, it's important to note that a completely raw food diet may not be suitable for everyone, and cooking can make certain vegetables more nutritious. Therefore, it's best to aim for a balanced approach, incorporating both raw and cooked foods into your diet to support overall health and well-being.
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Consume enzyme-rich foods
Consuming enzyme-rich foods is a great way to increase your digestive enzymes. Enzymes are activated proteins that facilitate reactions in living organisms. They are crucial for breaking down macronutrients like carbohydrates, proteins, and fats into smaller parts that the body can absorb and use for energy.
Enzyme-rich foods include:
- Sprouted seeds and legumes, soaked nuts, and grains: These foods are very rich in enzymes but also contain enzyme inhibitors. Soaking, sprouting, and lacto-fermenting neutralize the inhibitors, making the enzymes more effective.
- Fruits: Avocados, grapes, figs, dates, bananas, kiwis, mangoes, and papayas are all excellent sources of digestive enzymes. Papaya, for example, contains papain, an enzyme that aids in protein digestion. Mango is high in amylase, which helps break down starches.
- Vegetables: Ginger is a vegetable that contains the protein-digesting enzyme zingibain, which may be responsible for its nausea-fighting properties.
- Fermented foods: Sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, natto, kombucha, and tempeh are all fermented foods that contain a variety of enzymes and probiotic bacteria, which can improve digestion and alleviate digestive complaints.
- Other foods: Raw honey, coconut oil, pineapple, and raw dairy products are also good sources of digestive enzymes. Raw honey, for instance, contains several enzymes that support digestion, including diastase (amylase) and catalase.
It is important to note that cooking foods above 118 degrees Fahrenheit can destroy enzymes, so consuming certain foods in their raw state can help preserve these enzymes. However, some vegetables become more nutritious when cooked, so it is beneficial to strike a balance between raw and cooked foods. Additionally, some foods, such as nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes, contain enzyme inhibitors, which are neutralized through preparation methods like soaking, sprouting, and lacto-fermenting.
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Manage stress
Stress can negatively impact your body's ability to produce enzymes, so it is important to manage it. Here are some ways to do so:
Diet
Foods can help tame stress and its effects on the body. A healthy diet can help counter the impact of stress by supporting the immune system and lowering blood pressure. Comfort foods, like a bowl of warm oatmeal, boost levels of serotonin, a calming brain chemical. All carbs prompt the serotonin production in the brain, but for a steady supply of serotonin, it is best to eat complex carbs, which take longer to digest. Oranges are a great source of vitamin C, which studies suggest can curb levels of stress hormones while strengthening the immune system. A cup of spinach can help you stock up on magnesium, which is a co-enzyme and necessary for the function of enzymes within the body.
It is also important to avoid processed and fast foods, which are made to last a long time and are high in sugar and salt, increasing your chances of numerous diseases. Instead, eat a diet rich in vegetables and fruits.
Lifestyle
Making lifestyle changes can also help manage stress. Getting good quality sleep, spending time outdoors, and exercising regularly can help relieve stress and decrease negative emotions. Interacting with your community and connecting with nature can be energizing and help manage stress.
Additionally, it is important to avoid alcohol and drugs, as they can promote a depressed state of mind and make it difficult to stay calm when stressed. Creating a routine that encourages a calm and healthy mind can be beneficial. This can include having a few moments to enjoy your morning coffee or going for a short walk before bed.
Supplements
If you are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or struggling to cope, it is important to seek help from a healthcare professional. They may recommend herbal supplements, such as St. John's wort, which has been shown to benefit people with mild to moderate depression and reduce symptoms of anxiety.
Medication
If you are taking any medications, speak to your doctor about whether they may be affecting your enzyme production. Certain prescription medications, such as steroids and antibiotics, may impact your body's ability to produce digestive enzymes.
Relaxation Techniques
Take up stress-relieving techniques such as meditation and yoga to help soothe your soul. Drinking black tea may also help you recover from stressful events more quickly, as studies have shown that tea drinkers have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol after stressful situations.
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Exercise regularly
Exercise is an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and can also help to increase serum enzyme activities in the body. However, it is important to note that excessive exercise can have the opposite effect and cause physical stress, which can disturb the digestive tract and the body's ability to produce enzymes. Therefore, it is crucial to exercise regularly but in moderation.
Weight-bearing exercises that include eccentric muscular contractions, such as bench stepping and downhill running, induce the greatest increases in serum enzyme activities. Prolonged daily training or competition in these weight-bearing activities produces chronically elevated serum enzyme levels. Serum enzyme activities increase more with exercise in males and untrained individuals, and age does not seem to influence the degree to which serum enzyme activities increase with exercise.
The intensity and duration of exercise play a significant role in increasing serum enzyme activities, with activities that cause marked muscle soreness, such as ultradistance marathons, resulting in the highest post-exercise serum enzyme levels. Additionally, exercises performed at altitude or in hot conditions lead to greater increases in serum enzyme activities compared to equivalent exercises at sea level or in cold environments.
Athletes, in particular, may benefit from incorporating sports nutrition enzymes into their diets to support their unique dietary and physical activity needs. These enzymes can aid in the digestion of dairy products and help the body recover after strenuous physical activity.
It is worth noting that while exercise can increase serum enzyme activities, the specific impact on digestive enzymes may vary. Additionally, the effectiveness of enzyme supplements is debated, and a well-balanced diet with whole foods, fruits, and vegetables is generally recommended to support digestive health.
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Take supplements
While it is best to obtain enzymes from raw foods, some people choose to take supplements to increase their enzyme levels. Enzymes are activated proteins that facilitate reactions in living organisms, and they are essential for the healthy functioning of the body.
Supplements can be beneficial for people who struggle to digest certain foods due to low levels of the enzymes that process those foods. For example, individuals with lactose intolerance may benefit from lactase supplements like Lactaid, which help break down the natural sugar in milk. Similarly, people who experience abdominal pain caused by intestinal gas resulting from difficulty digesting complex carbohydrates in beans and certain vegetables may find relief from supplements like Beano.
Digestive enzyme supplements are also commonly used to treat problems such as acid reflux, gas, bloating, and diarrhea. These supplements may contain amylase, lipase, and protease, as well as lactase and alpha-galactosidase, an enzyme that the body does not make even in healthy individuals. Alpha-galactosidase can help break down a type of non-absorbable fiber called galactooligosaccharides (GOS), found in beans, root vegetables, and some dairy products.
It is important to note that over-the-counter digestive enzyme supplements are not regulated by the FDA, so the dosage, ingredients, and enzyme concentration are not guaranteed, and their side effects are unknown. Some supplements make unsupported claims, such as promoting weight loss or a flatter stomach. Therefore, it is always advisable to consult a doctor before taking any kind of supplement.
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Frequently asked questions
Eat more raw foods, as cooking destroys food enzymes. Try to include more raw fruits and vegetables in your diet, such as papaya, pineapple, mango, avocado, and banana.
Include fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, and kombucha. You can also try ginger, which contains the zingibain enzyme and may help increase digestive enzyme production.
Yes, reducing stress is important for maintaining enzyme balance. Try stress-relieving techniques such as meditation and yoga, and aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
Yes, you can take digestive enzyme supplements, especially if you have a health condition that impairs nutrient absorption, such as IBS or Crohn's disease. However, always consult your healthcare provider before taking any supplements.
Yes, certain medications can impact enzyme levels. For example, antibiotics can kill good bacteria needed for enzyme function, and statins can raise liver and muscle enzymes. Always speak to your doctor or healthcare provider for personalized advice.
