Pineapple and The Miraculous Bromelain?

Lurking behind the pineapple’s prickly exterior is a golden flesh, heralded for its sweet citrusy flavor and enzyme–  bromelain.

Best eaten when just freshly sliced (fresh fruits and vegetables start to oxidize and begin to lose nutrients after slicing), and on an empty stomach, the enzyme in pineapple powerfully aids in digestion. Due to its digestive enhancement qualities, bromelain is commonly isolated and found in digestive enhancement supplements– a hot item on the market these days.

Aside from its important role in digestion, bromelain has an impressive resume.

Bromelain 

Experience: Naturally found in pineapple; looking to support the health and immunity of the body by enhancing digestion, and warding off inflammation.

Anti-Aging:

• Thought to reduce tissue irritation, helps to keep the skin youthful and glowing

Reduction of Inflammation:

• Considered a powerful anti-inflammatory and used to treat joint inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis

Injury Repair:

• Commonly used to combat swelling after post-traumatic stress

Cardiac Assistance:

• Research shows that there is a reduction in platelet aggregation
• Helps to reduce plaque build-up in arteries

Digestive Enhancement:

• Helps to breakdown food properly and completely for assimilation of nutrients

A Note on Isolation: It is easy to look at bromelain’s qualities and say: “I want that!” But regardless of what studies have shown, Mother Nature offers these exceptional nutrients as a package because they are meant to be consumed in their whole form. In other words, you cannot pick Bromelain from a tree, or expect an extraction of the the nutrient to work magic solo.

 

Pineapple offers this active enzyme in addition to various other nutrients, like vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, and manganese, in addition to sugars, water, and fiber– galore!

This package deal, the UPD— as I like to refer to it as, helps us to better assimilate the nutrients.

We want Mother Nature’s UPD. We want the nourishment– a.k.a. the nutrients, that are more quickly digested (because they are natural– not a fortified recreation), and have the potential to be more readily absorbed in a healthy body. We also want the fiber, water, etc. that keeps things a’ moving in there, and helps us to naturally get rid of the toxic waste that slows down our productivity.

It would be like trying to get somewhere in a boat without a paddle, or trying to wrap a present without tape.

Could you do it?

Sure! The body is brilliant and creative.

But… would it take more energy?

Would it be done well?

Properly?

Completely?

Eh… Not so much. Whole foods work better together, instead of isolation. 

So eat your pineapple.

Enjoy the taste and the health benefits– but don’t forget about the UPD, and the rest of your diet.

Here is another article on Bromelain. More on supplementation here. 

Note: Due to it’s porous skin, try to enjoy organic pineapples, especially since pineapples are not one to be grown “locally.” 

 ~ – ~

NUNATURALS WINNERS

As for my winners- I have randomly chosen the following (4) to win NuNaturals new Lemon and Orange flavors!

1. Elizabeth:

“I am working on eliminating sugar, so this would is a perfect time to finally try stevia. I am especially intrugued by using it in homemade salad dressing. Store bought dressing has so much sugar! Thanks for offering the giveaway–love your blog!”

2. Kaitlyn:

“I have the origional flavwould love to try some flavored stevia! Smoothies, summer-y dressings, tea, homemade sorbet”

3. Katie-Lee:

“I liked them both on Facebook! I am new to your blog but I absolutely love it! Your health information is very insightful and all of your recipies sound amazing. I have actually never used any of NuNaturals products but I would love the opprotunity to do so. I am a college girl who is always looking for new, creative things to cook with. I would love to use the NuNatural orange and lemon flavors in my smoothies and my baking!”

4. Sunnie of MGN:

“Salad recipe looks amazing- thanks for sharing! I would definitely use the the NuNaturals in my smoothies to amp up flavor. I would also like to try marinating with them- particularly salmon. It would be so nice to have a different flavor than vanilla in my yogurt, too! Also, I liked your Facebook page.:)”

Thanks so much to all that entered! Please send me your shipping information, etc. so that I may pass it on to NuNaturals!

lauren@theglowdetoxdiet.com

Happy Monday!

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Enzymes, Raw Food, Juicing, Digesting…

This is such an important topic, someone suggested that I, at least, post it as an article, in addition to being a page on the site.  So… here it is!!

Enzymes.  Raw Foods.  Juicing.  Digesting… and who cares?

Enzymes are biologically active proteins that are required for cellular activity and metabolism.  In other words, we need these proteins and without them… there would be no life, i.e. we would not exist.

There are three (3) types of enzymes:

1. Metabolic Enzymes– these enzymes enable us to see, hear, breath, move, think, and feel…
2. Digestive Enzymes– these enzymes (proteins) are created by the body in order to breakdown the food we eat, and turn them into useable nutrients and waste.
3. Food Enzymes– these are the live enzymes that are found in raw foods.  Raw foods have enough enzymes to be able to digest itself.

Who cares?

Digestive enzymes, and the food enzymes found in raw foods, enable us to digest and assimilate the foods that we eat, so that the body can absorb the nutrients and get rid of the waste.

As we age, the body can become deficient in these enzymes, hence why older people have more trouble digesting foods, often becoming constipated… and why there is that on-going, not-so-funny humor around prune juice.

When we eat foods, void of food enzymes (all cooked foods, excluding lightly steamed vegetables), the body has to work extra hard to breakdown those foods in order to absorb the nutrients and excrete the waste. In this fast food nation, where there is a fried food joint and a vending machine at every corner, we are eating foods that are not only void of enzymes, but void of nutrients, altogether (sorry, there is not one redeeming quality about that deep-fried chicken tender).

There is only so much the body can do before it starts to suffer under the pressure.  A good workout regimen, although beneficial in many respects, does not makeup for a poor diet or a diet void of raw enzymes.  Ex:  I have seen many a toned body, suffer from premature aging and wrinkles, illness and other avoidable complaints.

Raw Foods are amazing.  Not only are they rich in vitamins and minerals, but they are the ultimate package deal– they are able to digest itself.  When eaten in the right combination, raw foods quickly nourish and leave the body, without requiring too much energy.

It’s like a having a personal chef that picks up the food from the grocer, prepares it, and then cleans up your kitchen for you.  Is that not fantastic, or what?!

Freshly pressed vegetable and fruit juice infuses our body with nutrients. Juicing separates the enzymes, vitamins, minerals and naturally energizing sugars, from the fiber.  With the fiber separated, the body does not need to “stop” to digest the juice (or slow you down, as you go about your daily activities) and instead the nutrients are flooded into the colon tissue, where it can then absorbed into the bloodstream. This blood is the same blood that visits all of the organs, so imagine all of our vital organs receiving a personal dose of nourishment.

Blenders and blended smoothies are of a different species than juicers and their juices. Blenders pulverize fruits and vegetables into a creamy substance.  Juicers remove fiber.  Blenders squish everything together, fiber and all– and our body must digest this.

But what about the fiber?  Fiber is excellent for you, but the purpose of juice is to give the digestive system a rest and infuse our body with nutrients, without slowing it down. Digestion requires energy. Smoothies and blended soups, are wonderful “meals” but they do not offer the same benefits as freshly pressed juice.

If we focus on getting enough raw foods in our diet, and eating them in combinations that “work” with the body, not against it, indigestion will be something of the past and the body will defy what society has deemed as “aging.”

Speaking of digestion… expect articles written on M-I-L-K in the days to come… Happy MLK day.

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