The holidays are always fun for me. But for many of my patients, they can be downright exhausting. Running around, stress, and worry can wear you out. It can even be tiring having a lot of fun.
We feel the most run-down during the busiest times. But our bodies are still humming along even when times aren’t that hectic. If you don’t listen to your body’s needs, this constant energy drain can make you start to look older and haggard.
“She’s 40 but looks 60” is something no one wants to hear.
Just one simple change that takes just a few minutes can reverse this process and keep you looking younger all the time.
The trick is to first realize that your body is an intelligent adaptive system. At those times when you burn the candle at both ends your body starts to “triage.” That’s a term we use in emergency medicine. It means that when you have limited resources, you treat the most life-threatening cases first.
So when energy is low, your body responds by sending energy first to life sustaining functions. Your heart and brain need to keep going, of course. And digestion is essential to burn the fuel you need. Even on a good day, 50% to 80% of your energy can go just to digesting your food and extracting essential nutrients.1
But when your body starts rationing energy, skin, hair and nails are considered strictly “non-essential.” So your skin’s normal and routine maintenance slows down. Collagen breaks down leaving deep wrinkles. Hair becomes dull and nails become brittle. And lack of circulation leaves you with a puffy face and dark circles under the eyes.
Now that you know this, in order to maintain a healthy, youthful look, it becomes easy to see that a good way to have more energy for skin hair and nail repair is to lighten your body’s digestive load.
This frees up resources for other functions like rebuilding collagen, cleansing, and building strong hair and nails.
The less energy your body spends on digesting your food the more it has to clean out old toxic buildup and byproduct, and push nourishing nutrients to the surface. That helps restore your skin’s youthful glow, your hair’s shine, and your nails’ strength.
This doesn’t mean you have to go on a crazy diet.
One of the best ways I’ve found to give your digestion a break is to just add digestive enzymes.
Digestive enzymes “pre-digest” your food. Within an hour of eating, they break down up to 75% of the proteins, carbs and fats in your meal. That’s before stomach acid even starts to work.
Your body naturally produces digestive enzymes in the pancreas and other glands. But every 10 years your enzyme production drops by about 13%.2 By the time you’re 60, you could be operating with less than half the enzymes you need.
You can make up the difference by getting enzymes from your food. Fresh vine-ripened fruits and vegetables are rich in digestive enzymes. But enzymes start to deteriorate within hours after harvesting. By the time you buy produce at your supermarket, 90% of the enzymes may have been destroyed.
And when you cook food you lose even more enzymes. Heating food to about 116 to 129 degrees Fahrenheit destroys them.
So unless you’re eating a mostly raw food diet from your own backyard or a local farmer, you’re probably not getting enough digestive enzymes. That’s why you may need a supplement.
Finding a good enzyme formula can be a little confusing. You see, there are different enzymes for different foods.
The table below lists the basic digestive enzymes, what food they digest, and the minimum amounts to look for in your supplement.
|
Digestive Enzyme |
Food |
Activity Units |
| Protease | Protein | 33,000 HUT |
| Amylase | Carbohydrates | 12,000 SKB |
| Lipase | Fats | 5,000 LU |
| Cellulase | Fiber | 750 CU |
| Maltase | Grains | 600 DP |
| Lactase | Dairy | 1,500 LACU |
| Sucrase | Sugars | 200 SU |
Notice that the enzymes themselves are not measured in milligrams but in “activity units.” And each enzyme uses a different unit. But when the enzymes are combined in a supplement the dose will be measured in milligrams.
Start with a 500 mg capsule of digestive enzymes right before eating. You can always take more (two to four capsules) if needed to help you digest larger meals.
Herbs are another way to support your digestion and free up energy. I recommend a combination of three herbs called triphala. When I was studying in India I saw Ayurvedic doctors use triphala for sluggish digestion. It also helps you get more nutrition from your food.3 Here’s how it works.
Your intestinal tract is lined with little hair-like villi that extract nutrients from food. When they get bogged down by mucus it slows your digestion. Triphala helps scrub the villi so they work more efficiently.
You can find triphala capsules at health food stores or on the Internet. Take two grams twice a day after meals when you need digestion support. But don’t take triphala every day. Too much can cause headache, rash, nausea or diarrhea. If that happens just reduce your dose or take a break until things clear up.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
1. Derek E. Wildman, et al., “Implications of Natural Selection in Shaping 99.4% Nonsynonymous DNA Identity Between Humans and Chimpanzees: Enlarging Genus Homo,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 19, 2003.
2. M., Kanbak, G., Sunal, E. “Antioxidant enzyme activities and malondialdehyde levels related to aging.” Clinica Chimica Acta. 2001; 305(1-2):75-80.
3. Pole, Sebastian. Ayurvedic Medicine: The Principles of Traditional Practice. Churchill Livingston, 2006. 126-127, 145-146, 194-195.