I don't know how or where, but I stumbled upon some intesting information in a book I was reading relating to food cures — or more specifically trophotherapy. After reading about trophotherapy, I realized this is what a wholesome raw meat diet was all about. So in November, 1995, I wrote about this very topic.

Trophotherapy literally means food cure.

Enzymes are a key part of trophotherapy. Enzymes are needed for every reaction in the body. No hormone could do work without them. No vitamin or mineral could do work without enzymes either. Without enzymes, food would not be broken down into chemical structures that are then able to pass into the bloodstream. Without enzymes, the lungs, kidneys, liver, skin and colon could not properly perform their eliminative tasks.

Different enzymes have different jobs. One converts phosphorus into bone, while others bind iron in red blood cells, still some provide oxidation, and different enzymes convert the proteins, sugars, carbohydrates into fat which the body then stores to be used later. This fat then requires another enzyme to convert the fat into carbohydrates when the body requires energy.

For our carnivore friends, they rely on the enzyme cathepsin found in raw meat. Cathepsin is a form of protease which then aids in the digestion of the meat.

Lipase which is found in the fat of the raw meat aids in the digestion of the fat. Cooked food however doesn't contain any cathepsin, lipase or any enzyme for that matter and we wonder why so many dogs and cats are sick today.

90% of problems begin as a result of improper food and poor nutrition. Improper food will create a digestive problem which is where just about all diseases and problems begin.

The good news is that we can help prevent and help heal problems by getting the digestive system working again with the aid of fresh food and supplemental enzymes.

Good food and good nutrition does the body good and as the old adage goes, you are what you eat. What a concept?!?

Fermented foods are predigested by their own juices allowing even easier digestion by the body. Sauerkraut is a famous fermented food which has many healing powers and has been around for a long time.

The benefits of unpasteurized sauerkraut are best illustrated by the health of the crew of Capt. James Cook, the early sea explorer who sailed for years at a time mapping the new worlds.

Sauerkraut is loaded with friendly enzymes, friendly bacteria and vitamin C; as a result, Capt. Cook who adamantly fed sauerkraut to his crew had the best health record of his time.

Other fermented foods include miso, tofu, tempeh, yoghurt, and even nut yoghurt.

For our companions, their equivalent of fermented food is the buried bone or meat.

A buried bone or meat is referred to as autolyzed or predigested. The putrefied meat is broken down by its own enzymes.

According to Dr. Rabinowitch, he noticed no ill effects have been observed in the dog (or cat) because of eating putrefied meat. This explains why if your companion buries a bone, digs it up 2 weeks later, he or she can eat the autolyzed meat with no problem.

The dog is not the only animal to realize digestion can be made simple by eating autolyzed meat. The Eskimo (Eskimo is a native American word for he eats it raw) of Greenland were well known for eating raw clams out of the stomach of the walrus as the clams have been predigested by the walrus.

Still other Eskimo tribes were known for burying their meat. The pygmies of Africa have been seen eating the carcass of an elephant after it has been in the hot sun of equatorial heat for a few days. When asked why eat the putrefied meat, one pygmy replied we eat the meat, not the odour.

These examples are not given to encourage you to feed or eat putrefied meat, but merely to show how autolyzed or predigested foods help. The Eskimo who ate a largely meat based diet did not have cholesterol or a high rate of heart disease because the meat was raw, sometimes putrefied & predigested allowing extremely easy digestion.

Uncooked foods naturally contain an abundance of enzymes that correspond to their nutritional value. Coconuts will contain lipase for the fat along with oils, nuts, and seeds. Sprouted grains will provide amylase for the carbohydrates and starches while fruits and vegetables will contain cellulase for the vegetable fiber.

Without enzymes, digestion cannot be made simple. Good digestion allows proteins, carbohydrates, fat and all elements of the food to be properly utilized. Using fat as an example, we all know that where there is fat there is cholesterol. Problems associated with clogged arteries as a result of cholesterol are known as atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis.

Cardiovascular disease is a general term referring to the ailments of the heart and blood vessels. Lipase, the enzyme that is directly related to digesting fat easily and fully, is clearly a factor in maintaining good fat metabolism.

In 1968, Rubinstein and his associates at Montefiore Hospital, New York, tested the blood of dogs with atherosclerosis. These doctors tested the dog's blood for the metabolic enzymes dehydrogenase (arterial enzyme) and reductase. These enzymes were low to very low and worse in advanced cases. Of course, it should be no surprise that any dog or cat being fed a commercial, canned or packaged heat treated food are suffering from many human diseases.

It should also be of no surprise that researchers and scientists working in the jungles have yet to find a single instance of heart or blood disease in wild meat eating land animals.

When commercial pet food companies say their brand of dog or cat food is more digestible, what are they comparing this to, cement?!? We don't know what there comparison is to, perhaps it's in comparison to another brand of the devitalized junk they call pet food.

Are commercial pet food companies telling the whole truth about their food?

I think not.

Sure they are concerned about the short term health of your dog or cat and will prevent your animal friend from immediate poisoning, but are they as concerned about long term effects?

In 1868, about 60 years before the age of insulin, Drs. Donkin and Tyson told their diabetic patients to drink seven quarts of raw, unpasteurized milk per day. Remembering the law of adaptive enzyme secretion (read the previous article on enzymes) we realize there is more amylase in raw milk (even if you could get raw milk today, it would not compare to that found before urbanization).

Amylase helps convert those carbohydrates and starches into sugar your body can use. Supplemental enzymes play a key role for healing diabetics. A quick look at psoriasis, a skin disease. Is psoriasis a result of improper fat utilization or a sign the body is lacking lipase?

Usually a vet will lower that fat in the food, but why lower it when you can change it to a normal state that has enzymes?

Only a fresh food diet with enzymes can help heal the body. Only fresh food, and not commercial pet food, has the properties and power needed for trophotherapy.

Among the many thousands of species of creatures living on this earth, only humans & some of their domesticated animals try to live without enzymes. And only these transgressors of nature's law are penalized with defective health. It is not surprising that dogs (and cats) have many human diseases since they are given only canned or packaged, heat treated, enzyme free food.

• Dr. Edward Howell, author of Enzyme Nutrition

We all have choics and I have personally chosen to feed a wholesome raw meat diet.

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