The faster we “spend” our enzymes, the sooner we run out. What about the person who tries to eat healthy by eating lots of cooked veggies, eats whole grains, takes vitamins, etc.? When food is heated to 118 degrees or above (low to moderate heat), most of the enzymes are destroyed. The more cooked veggies, canned fruit, and processed foods a person eats, the faster they use up their enzymes. If that person inherited limited enzyme activity and rarely eats raw (live) foods, then they will run out of enzymes sooner than someone who inherits a large enzyme reserve or eats a lot of raw foods.

I know I like to save money when I can on good buys. I also like to save enzymes when I can by eating raw foods since enzymes are involved in all of the biochemical processes that go on in our body. In order for our body to absorb enzymes from food, they need to be eaten raw. It would be ideal if we could eat a diet of 50% raw foods. But if we could just eat one raw food at every meal, we would be doing ourselves a huge favor! I can tell a big difference when I eat more raw foods. I definitely feel better!

Have you ever noticed that the more sugar you eat, the more sugar you want? I was doing so well not eating candy and sweets…until Halloween came along. I can resist the Sweet Tarts, M & M’s, and even some of the chocolate candies. But when we were helping out with the Fall Festival at church on Halloween night, the bean bag game booth that we were working in had “Midnight Milky Ways” in them. Oh no, not dark chocolate…I really like dark chocolate. So I ate one, then another, and then another. Of course, they’re small, little pieces of candy. But you add up 3 here, 2 here, 1 here, and 2 more here and that’s like eating a large candy bar. And then we had candy brought home, and in that candy were some of the Midnight Milky Ways. So, I had a few more the next couple of days. That was enough to set my sweet tooth in motion, and yesterday I ate a whole Dove Dark Chocolate Bar. But you know what? I can tell a difference in the way I feel when I eat a lot of candy. I’ve read in various articles and heard from doctors how bad sugar is for us. And I believe it! I can tell by the way I feel. My husband said he’s noticed the correlation between the time sugar was introduced heavily into the American diet and when Americans started having an influx of certain diseases. There is definitely a link.

I try not to keep chocolate candy in the house during the month of December. I know chocolate is a weakness for me. One year, I bought two or three bags of Ghirardelli chocolate candies to use as stocking stuffers. I bought them on sale for a great price right after Thanksgiving. Well…that candy never made it to the Christmas stockings. I wasn’t the only one eating them, but I was the main one. So now, I wait until right before Christmas to buy candy. And I don’t buy as much candy as I used to, only a little. So now, it’s getting close to December again so I say “Sugar, sugar go away, don’t come again til Christmas Day!” LOL Well….maybe Thanksgiving Day. 🙂

Have you noticed that on Fruit Roll-Ups and other “fruit” snacks there’s hardly any real fruit in them. They have so much added sugar and food colorings that they’re on my junk food list. If they have a considerable amount of vitamin C, then they’re on my “better of the junk food list.” Don’t despair, though. There is a fruit snack that is truly a fruit snack. It’s Stretch Island Fruit Leather, and it’s the original, all-natural fruit leather made since 1976. If you look on the label, it’s all fruit and natural flavorings with no added sugar, no food colorings, and nothing that is not natural. I buy them at Central Market, and Albertsons used to carry them. They come in delicious flavors such as “Autumn Apple, Ripened Raspberry, Orchard Cherry, and Summer Strawberry” just to name a few. That made my mouth water just typing in the names.  So…if you want a fruit snack you can feel really good about giving to your kids (or yourself), then try these original fruit leather snacks. They’re great!

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