Let’s explore eating to increase energy and decrease inflammation. We have to eat, but eating consumes 60 to 80% of your body’s energy production according to enzyme-facts.com. On top of that the chemicals produced in normal digestion cause inflammation.

So how can we eat for energy efficiency and decreased inflammation?

Eat Clean

               1. Eat only organic food, so your body doesn’t have the extra burden of detoxifying pesticides and herbicides. Eating organic food also helps you totally avoid the intestinal damaging genetically modified food (GM food).

               2. Eat at least 50% of your food raw. Raw food contains 75% of the enzymes needed to digest your food so your body doesn’t have to work so hard to make 100% of the enzymes needed to digest cooked food. All of the enzymes in food prepared at over 110 degrees Fahrenheit are destroyed.

               3. Take plant based digestive enzymes with each meal.

               4.  Sprout raw nuts and seeds to increase the nutrient content and decrease the phytates that interfere with digestion. https://sproutpeople.org/growing-sprouts/sprouting-basics/              

               5.  Eat cultured or fermented food at each meal. Culturing food increases the enzyme levels and provides the good guys (probiotics) that aid digestion. You only need w tablespoons of the fermented food with each meal. There’s a big variety of food and drink to choose from: https://www.drjomd.com/2014/05/cultured-food-your-best-probiotics/

               6.  Reject irradiated foods and genetically engineered foods.

               7.  Eat your food as close to harvest time as possible. The longer the food has been picked, the greater the nutrient and enzyme loss.

               8.  Buy local, at farmer’s markets and from stores that buy from local farmers.

                And learn how to space your meals so your body doesn’t always have to be expending energy to digest your food.

Optimal Spacing of Your Meals to Optimize Energy and Lower Inflammation

                Spacing your meals properly may be the most important aspect of increasing over all energy availability and decreasing inflammation. The easiest approach and the best starting place is to always have a 12 hour fast per 24 hours. That’s easy to implement if you eat your last mouthful at 7 pm and wait until 7 am to eat your first mouthful. You may already have a 12 hour fast in your current lifestyle.

We’ll cover other ways to space your meals the next time we get together.

References:

http://www.enzyme-facts.com/enzymes-and-energy.html