Many Americans assume that the United States is the world's healthiest nation. Although we do enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world, including medical care, we are far from the picture of health. While modern medicine and technology have lengthened the average lifespan, we are now four times more likely to suffer from chronic disease by age 40 than we were just twenty years ago. In fact, rarely, did our ancestors die from diet-and lifestyle-related illnesses that today kill most Americans. Our fast-paced lifestyles mean we are eating more junk food, fast food and prepackaged food. The average American now consumes an average of 170 pounds of sugar per year and two-thirds of American adults are overweight and nearly 23% are considered clinically obese.

Just as a car needs fuel to run, your body needs high quality food to function correctly. Every cell of your body is either sick or healthy depending on the food you eat. However, fueling the body correctly does not mean just ingesting calories. To nourish the body, nutrients must be broken down and delivered to the individual cells of the body. The first and foremost step in any properly designed nutritional program is restoring proper enzyme activity to the body. History reveals that most primitive people were healthy because their diet consisted of raw foods. Neanderthal Man of 50,000 years suffered from fully developed crippling arthritis. Evidently, it was not the cold weather that contributed to this arthritis because primitive Eskimos, whose diet consisted of large amounts of raw food, never suffered from arthritis or other chronic disease.

Dr. Edward Howell was the first researcher to recognize the importance of food enzymes to human nutrition. He believed that our modern diets, consisting mainly on cooked foods, were the paramount cause or premature aging, obesity, degenerative disease and early death. In his own words, "Enzymes are substances which make life possible. They are needed for every chemical reaction that occurs in the body. Without enzymes, no activity at all would take place. Neither vitamins, minerals nor hormones can do any work without enzymes. Enzymes are the labor force that builds your body, just like construction workers are the labor force that builds your house. You may have all the necessary building materials and lumber, but to build a house you need workers, which represent this vital life element. Similarly, you may have all the nutrients, vitamins, proteins, and minerals for your body-but you still need the enzymes, the life element, to keep the body alive and well.

Joyce Rizzo of Healthy Home Products can be reached for more information at 321-637-1924.