FOUNDATIONAL FORMULAS:
ENZYMES AND PROBIOTICS
What are enzymes? Enzymes are complex molecules, vital catalysts that are needed for every chemical reaction in the body. There are two major types of enzymes - metabolic and digestive. Metabolic enzymes help build body structure. Digestive enzymes work to break down large food molecules into smaller, readily absorbable building blocks the body requires. Naturally grown foods contain the enzymes necessary to break the food down to the essential nutrients the body needs. Nature provides enzymes in food to aid in the digestion process so that the body doesn't have to use its enzyme reserves to do all the work. But when we process, refine, overcook, or microwave our food, most if not all enzymes are rendered useless. At a temperature above 118 degrees Fahrenheit, all enzyme activity is destroyed. When we consume cooked or highly processed foods, our digestive system has to produce the enzymes necessary to digest what was eaten.
Our Digestive System: The purpose of our digestive tract is to extract and absorb the essential nutrients contained in our food. Consuming cooked foods can cause our body to take enzymes from the liver, pancreas, and other organs to use in the digestion process. Over time, this can cause these organs to be stressed which can weaken our immune system and slow down our metabolism.
When we consume enzyme-deficient food, the food sits in the upper portion of the stomach putrefying instead of being predigested (due to a lack of enzymes). The body reacts by increasing the white blood cell count as the immune system begins to treat the undigested food as a foreign substance. The body further stresses itself to produce extra digestive enzymes to digest this putrefying material, reducing its ability to produce metabolic enzymes for cellular activity. If stomach acids are not able to complete their work before the food moves into the small intestine, the food particles can enter the blood system undigested!
This putrefied material coats the small and large intestines, reducing the absorption of nutrients and hindering the expulsion of toxins through the intestinal wall. Bacteria and viruses feed and multiply, causing the body to become susceptible to infection, fatigue, and degenerative disease.
The Products Designed to Support Digestion -
Enzymes and Probiotics
MaximizerTM - The Most Potent Enzyme Available This enzyme formula, which contains more than 20 different kinds of digestive enzymes, will increase the utilization of the foods you eat. There are six different types of enzymes to digest proteins, four for digesting fibers, 25 for digesting fats and oils, three that reduce starches and six kinds of enzymes for sugars and dairy products. This allows your body to use metabolic enzymes to do their vital work, rather than use them for food digestion. Maximizer can help you restore your body's natural enzyme levels and help you maximize your energy level, feel better and give you a much better chance of staying healthy and disease-free. Maximizer works in a wide range of pH environments. You have to eat - so get all that you can from the food you eat with the Maximizer.
QuadraZyme PlusTM - An Effective Solution Contains all enzymes necessary to digest everything you eat: starches, fats, protein, fiber, sugars, and dairy foods. Helps pre-digest food in the upper stomach for optimal digestion and absorption of the nutrition in foods. Also reduces the bloated or sleepy feeling after meals. Available in capsules or powder.
Cooking, preservatives, pasteurization, irradiation, and other common food processing and preservation techniques kill virtually all enzymes in food. These enzymes are vital to health. If the foods we eat don't have them, our digestive systems "steal" our internal metabolic enzymes to do the digestive work, robbing them from other organs and systems. Even then, the food is most likely not completely digested. This enzyme depletion negatively impacts health.
Enzymes help pre-digest food in the upper stomach, resulting in the optimal digestion and absorption of the nutrition in foods. This allows metabolic enzymes in the body to do their vital work throughout the body, rather than robbing them for food digestion. Enzymes break down toxins, strengthen the immune system, build protein into muscle, eliminate carbon dioxide from lungs, and reduce stress on the pancreas and other vital organs. As we said above, they also reduce or eliminate a bloated or sleepy feeling after meals.
Other Beneficial Enzyme Formulas - The following specific enzymes are available as separate products. Taken with meals, they aid in proper digestion and assimilation of foods. Taken on an empty stomach, they may be beneficial in enabling the body to compensate for specific health deficiencies.
Protease Formula: This excellent formula contains enzymes to assist in the digestion of proteins. It may help relieve fever, infection, colds, flu, sore throat, parasites, candida, acne, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia. Because of its therapeutic value, it is important to introduce Protease Formula into the body gradually. Do not take if you have a condition such as ulcers, a sensitive stomach, or gastritis, as it may irritate these conditions.
Amylase Formula: This formula assists in the digestion of carbohydrates. It may be useful in relieving asthma, allergies, swelling, inflammation, skin eruptions, bee stings, and joint mobility. It is also excellent for people who can't take large amounts of Quadra-Zyme Plus, due to ulcerative conditions.
Lipase Formula: Assists in the digestion of fats. It may also be helpful for chronic inflammatory and cardiovascular conditions, and for people without gallbladders.
Benefits of Probiotic Supplementation In earlier times, these friendly bacteria were passed naturally from mother to infant. Unfortunately, over the past half-century, in our haste to kill all bacteria, we have eliminated most if not all of the good bacteria. Further, any good bacteria that does exist and could help destroy these pathogenic or harmful bacteria is constantly under attack by the antibiotics we take for illness, the antibiotics we ingest in meat and pasteurized dairy products, chlorinated water, alcoholic beverages, ingested chemicals, and radiation and chemotherapy. We believe that probiotic supplementation is necessary for anyone wishing to maintain a healthy colon.
Inner Garden FloraTM: In addition to other valuable ingredients, this product contains L. Salivarius and L. Plantarium--- live, friendly bacteria that have been specially stabilized using a proprietary process, making them more aggressive and active on a wider spectrum of substances. Inner Garden Flora attacks many unfriendly organisms (including E-coli) and re-establishes beneficial bacteria in the colon. It also controls dangerous bacteria, yeast, and viruses that flourish in the presence of food that has not been completely digested and eliminated. L Salivarius is a faster bowel cleanser and focuses more on bacteria.
Friendly bacteria, once found in natural abundance in human intestinal systems, are victims of our modern diet and lifestyle. Chlorinated water, antibiotics (taken when ill and consumed in meat and dairy products), enzyme-deficient foods, alcohol, chemical preservatives, even radiation and chemotherapy, can reduce or virtually eliminate friendly bacteria. Consequently, most people no longer have these useful bacteria in their colon, and so accumulate encrusted waste and unfriendly organisms that can affect health and functioning in a variety of ways. This effective combination of friendly flora supports colon health and well-being.
L.Salivarius: This highly effective friendly bacteria (one of two key ingredients in Inner Garden Flora) is also available as a stand-alone product. It works to restore the proper balance of bacteria in your intestines, attacking many of the unfriendly bacteria and other detrimental "invaders," while promoting the growth of beneficial organisms. It is believed to be useful as a bowel cleanser, for fighting the distress caused by food poisoning, for help with flu-like symptoms, and removal of plaque from the teeth.
Bowel Toner: Although not a probiotic, Bowel Toner was formulated to help shorten the "bowel transit time" in the intestinal tract. Lengthy bowel transit time is a contributor to bowel toxicity. Bowel Toner is not a laxative but instead a special combination of fiber, herbs and an enzyme activating system. It is an excellent alternative to over-the-counter laxatives, which are often harsh and unpredictable and can upset the healthy balance in the colon. Bowel Toner is designed both as a stand-alone product to reestablish regularity, and as an additional supplement for those taking the Quadra-Zyme or Gamma-Zyme enzyme and Inner Garden Flora probiotic digestive bacteria products, who may experience temporary constipation or irregularity, particularly during the 90-day "Back in Balance" program period. This may occur due to the cleansing and detoxifying activity in the colon and intestinal tract. Bowel Toner helps normalize bowel functions, and should be taken only until this is achieved.
Additional R·Garden products are listed
in the R·Garden Essences, R·Garden Herbal Formulas,
R·Garden Herbal Blends, R·Garden Essentials and VitaMinerals, and the R·Garden Water Boosters pages, linked below.
Gamma-Zyme: This soothing formula is designed to be used by anyone suffering from stomach or colon conditions such as ulcers, gastritis, severe burning sensations, irritable bowel syndrome, or intestinal lining damage. Gamma-Zyme contains three enzymes to help digest fat, starches, and fiber, plus other ingredients to soothe and restore damaged or irritated intestinal linings. Gamma-Zyme's special formulation of plant enzymes and herbs help digest fat, starches, and fiber and soothe and restore damaged or irritated intestinal linings. Many people are able to switch to MaximizerTM or Quadra-Zyme Plus after these conditions subside. Protease, the protein digesting enzyme, found in Maximizerand Quadra-Zyme Plus is excluded from this product as it may cause temporary irritation or burning. Gamma-Zyme has also been beneficial when occasional indigestion, bloating, gas or nausea occur.