Modern-day nerve and immune system stresses, environmental pollution, and an obesity pandemic ironically connected to nutritional deficiencies, are just a few of the insults our bodies cope with every hour. It is little wonder the general state of health in the world is deteriorating, and many scientists point to lack of enzyme production as one major cause. Enzymes do everything from breaking down french fries to attacking viruses and bacteria, not to mention attempting to digest whatever we put into our mouths. A leader in this research and the development of enzymatic formulas is Dr. DicQie Fuller-Looney, founder of the Transformation Enzymes company based in Houston, Texas, USA. Her groundbreaking work in this field reveals a very holistic approach to body health, and offers hope to those suffering the effects of a fast-paced, overworked, and stressful modern life.

Most of us are so caught up in the intensity of economic survival, raising kids, dealing with relationships, and other demands, that often our health takes a back seat. Good health begins with a healthy lifestyle. As obvious as that seems, it requires daily reinforcement, planning and an overall strategy. Instead, faced with the prospect of having the deal with yet another project, it's sometimes easier to assign blame: the government's environmental and agricultural policies, the IRS, the food industry, on and on ad nauseum.

"It’s about control, not blame," says Dr. Fuller-Looney. "If you know what your choices are but you continue to make poor choices, then it is something that you have created and you are not in control. We have to stop doing what doesn’t work for us. We do that by finding out the reasons why it doesn’t work for us."

So when it comes to health, lifestyle is everything. Understanding how our bodies work, and what we can do to support that work is part of taking responsibility for health. Beyond needing clean air to breathe and pure water to drink, the right foods and the enzymes to digest them are the next most important thing.

People in the United States, as well as most of the Western world increasingly are unable to properly digest the food they eat. The $40 billion annual antacid and digestive relief industry in the U.S. readily attests to that. In most cases, these items treat the symptoms, not the cause. Worse, the suppression of the symptoms usually further exacerbates the cause.

When the food we eat is not properly digested, over time, one thing is virtually guaranteed to happen--we get sick. There is growing evidence that the primary cause of most health problems is bad digestion. Good digestion is a direct measure of optimal health. Undigested food creates toxic waste in our body. The toxicity sets into motion the onset of disease--arthritis, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, chronic heart burn, and cancer, to name just a few. These maladies are typically misconstrued as the inevitable frailty of aging or the unexplained action of heredity and genetics.

Many of these conditions can be prevented and/or reversed with lifestyle modification combined with digestive enzyme therapy. With the proper application of supplementary digestive enzymes, an insulted metabolism can be restored and internal biological systems returned to a healthy normal.

PROTEIN DIGESTION
Dr. Fuller-Looney names inadequate protein digestion as the primary villain to good health. "We need to digest our food, especially protein," she says. "As we age, we have a problem digesting protein. So many in nursing homes are wasting away, just skin on bones. This happens even if they are staying active. The one thing that all elderly people have in common is that they cannot break down protein. They cannot build muscle. And that is because everything is tied to the loss of enzymes."

Protease, the enzyme that converts raw proteins into useable amino acids, is initially manufactured in the pancreas. But beyond digesting new protein intake, the protease production of your body is also used for rebuilding tissues. If there is a lot of tissue damage of the digestive tract because of nutritional abuse, this adds a big demand, often exceeding the requirements needed to digest food intake. Additionally, the body's immune system uses protease to break down and eliminate dead bacteria, viruses and parasites. Pile on stress and other coping mechanisms to make up for organ dysfunction, and clearly the demand for protease exceeds the body's ability to produce it.

"It is vitally important to digest proteins while they are still in the gut," reveals Dr. Fuller-Looney. "What happens to undigested proteins? Partially digested proteins are utilized by the microorganisms in your gut, resulting in toxic amines such as cadaverine and putrescine, substances that are characteristically found in cadavers. This starts a chain reaction of inflammatory conditions and immune reactions. The microflora population uses the undigested protein, resulting in the release of ammonia. The liver is now bombarded with toxins. The liver then forms ammonia (nitrogen) and the kidneys release urea, since they have become overloaded. Your lymphatic system, which also works to remove toxins, will likewise suffer." (See our Protease supplement, PureZyme.)

WOMEN'S HEALTH
Dr. Fuller-Looney has focused the majority of her research and practice on women's health issues, and the connection between hormones and enzymes. She says, "The symptoms of poor protein digestion are the same symptoms of menopause. Some of our young girls are starting their periods so early and our women are having so many problems because it all goes back to digestion. Protein digestion leads to the building of muscle and hormones. These must all go together."

Recently, doctors have found that conducting hormone replacement therapy using animal hormone sources created the unintended effect of susceptibility to cancers. It was discovered that because there were many substances besides hormones in the animal sources, it was overwhelming women's elimination organs, causing toxic buildups, eventually leading to cancers. What's worse is that a reliance had been created on the useable hormones, making it especially uncomfortable and unhealthy to "come off" the hormones. This is where enzyme supplementation comes in.

Says Dr. Fuller-Looney, "Health care professionals cannot cure all of their patient’s symptoms just by giving out hormones. Doctors have finally seen that. Doctors now need to see that they also must give enzymes. A woman who is hormonally imbalanced by age twenty-five continues that way to early menopause. In fact, some little girls have been on birth control hormones since they were eight or nine years old. It is no surprise, then, that hormonal imbalance is so prevalent."

Dr. Fuller-Looney has noted that the symptoms of menopause are the exact same symptoms of non-digestion of protein. Everything we eat must be broken down by enzymes first, then hormones can be created by the body. Therefore, by providing a sufficient supply of enzymes, sufficient hormone levels can be created.

Besides the need for proper protein digestion for certain types of hormones, fat metabolism is also critical in the production of hormones, since most hormones are synthesized by the body from cholesterol. Failed fat digestion causes cholesterol to buildup in the bloodstream, leading to circulatory blockages and low hormone levels. (See LypoZyme, and see Dr. Fuller-Looney's booklet, "Women's Health")

WEIGHT LOSS
Chronic appetite cravings that lead to overeating are a warning by the body that it is not properly digesting those foods. When enzyme supplementation is applied to weight loss, people report a lack of cravings, lowered hunger, and more energy. This is because the foods they do eat get fully digested, giving their bodies the nutrients it needed.

"What a person lacks in enzymes will determine what they need in food," declares Dr. Fuller-Looney. "If they cannot break down a certain food, then their body will crave that nourishment even more. However, regardless of how much of it they eat, they will not benefit from it. If they are unable to properly digest their food, then the more of it they eat, the more of it they will crave. Enzyme supplementation is what bridges the gap between biochemical deficiencies and nutritional balance. Enzyme therapy has given countless patients the key to weight loss." (see our Enzymes, and take our BODY Evaluation Survey to find out the right enzymes for you. Also, see "Obesity Epidemic")

USE ENZYMES!
Unlike hormone replacement therapy, or some over-the-counter sleep aids, the body does not become dependent on enzyme supplementation. Enzymes are already being produced in the body in response to food intake. The problem lies in the inadequate production of enzymes to meet the demands of modern stress factors, including denatured fast food, environmental toxins, economic and emotional stress. Therefore, enzyme supplements help the body to simply catch up to its demands. Acknowledging and understanding this is the key to lifestyle change.

Dr. Fuller-Looney recommends the following general guidelines for a healthy lifestyle:

• Breathing Exercises (Yoga, etc.) especially when nervous or upset.
• Meditation to forget thoughts and come to peace.
• Feed your spirit--speak to your inner source.
• Adjust your attitude or intention every day. Get up with the intention to have a joyous and balanced day.

And...take your enzymes!