Digestive Enzyme-rich foods on the Banting Diet
Digestive enzymes break the food and nutrients in your stomach down into particles that can be easily absorbed by your gut lining before passing into your blood stream. This process is called nutrient absorption.
There are two reasons you feel full. The first is when you are physical full – your stomach has enough food in it. The second is when your brain becomes satisfied that there are enough nutrients in your blood.
This means that if you are eating nutritious food, and you have great nutrient absorption, your brain will be satisfied with less food. If you eat rubbish, your stomach will feel full, but soon after that, your brain will realise it didn’t get the right amount of nutrients, and it will tell you to eat more. If you have bad nutrient absorption (malabsorption syndrome), you could end up being hungry all the time, in spite of all of the nutritious food you are eating, because you are not actually absorbing them properly. In this situation, you may also find it tough tough to stay healthy.
Ten potential causes of malabsorption syndrome:
- Poor gut bacteria
- Leaky gut
- Damaged gut lining
- Prolonged use of antibiotics
- Parasitic diseases
- Radiation therapy
- Diseases of the gall bladder, liver and pancreas
- Celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, chronic pancreatitis or cystic fibrosis
- Lactose intolerance or lactase deficiency
- Heavy alcohol consumption
What does this have to do with the Banting diet?
You may want to start a low carb diet, hoping it will cure or help you recover from a whole stack of the above ailments. And that would be the right decision because there are heaps of benefits. But please be aware that simply lowering your carbs may not be enough. If your digestive system is damaged from any of the above ten causes, you will battle to get the results you want by dropping your carbs alone.
Although almost everyone will benefit in the long run, there are a host of side-effects that stem from ‘low-carbing’ without proper guidance. The most common relating to malabsorption are dry hair, hair loss, fluid retention (edema), bloating, gas, explosive diarrhea, low blood pressure and muscle wasting.
Malabsorption isn’t just bad because of these side-effects. It gets worse (Banting or not).
If you fill your stomach with foods from the Banting Red List, your brain will temporarily think you have had enough to eat, and will you tell you to stop. But, once you have processed all the junk you’ve eaten, and your brain realises you haven’t taken in nutrients, it will tell you to eat more, so you get hungry and eat more. This is why eating junk will make you fat and unhealthy. You eat a lot, and even though you’re eating so much, you don’t get enough nutrients to keep you firing on all cylinders.
The first and easiest way to start getting healthier is to stop eating foods from the Banting Red list and to start eating foods from the Banting Green and Orange lists. It is the single most important step to finding Real Health – something we believe is possible for everyone.
But what if you’re eating healthy food and you’re still starving?
Great question. If you’re eating well (Banting like a champ on the Green List only) but you’re still starving, you may be suffering from malabsorption. If you’ve been eating a diet of refined carbs and other junk, your body may not have needed to work so hard to digest the food you were giving it. All it needs is a little help.
By putting extra effort into getting enough digestive enzymes into your diet, you can get your digestive system firing on all cylinders again.
Digestive enzymes play an important role in getting the gut and the mind into the right space. Because they make nutrients more accessible, they have the ability to make your brain realise you are full faster and with less food. They also make the job easier for your gut lining, or better put, they allow the gut lining to push through more nutrients. Your gut lining can only push nutrients into the blood if they are in the right shape and size, which only the enzymes can help with. So, if your enzymes aren’t breaking nutrients down properly, you could have loads of nutrients going to the loo instead of your blood stream, your brain, your organs and your muscles.
You need them.
Where do I get digestive enzymes?
They are found naturally in the digestive tract and in a large variety of foods. They can also be taken in supplement form but if you’re eating right, some supplements (including enzymes) are totally unnecessary.
In the Banting Food lists, we have labelled all enzyme-rich foods with an (e). It is worth mentioning that we also advocate a diet high in fibre (or prebiotics) which is why we have also highlighted all ingredients that are high in fibre with a (p).
Have a look below where we have highlighted a few ingredients on the green list that are high in digestive enzymes:
If you are doing this on your own, you absolutely have to make sure you are getting digestive enzymes into your diet if you want to avoid side-effects. There are lots more enzyme-rich foods on the Banting Food lists.
How much enzyme rich food do I need?
It depends on how you feel. If you’re having regular bowel movements and you’re not suffering from the above mentioned side-effects, you might be getting enough already. However, if you’re in need of some digestive assistance or you think your bowels could improve, you should add at least one (e) item to your food at every meal.
Here are a few of the most effective enzyme-rich foods from our latest book. We’ve paired them up with a few great serving suggestions to help inspire you.
Remember that if you are counting carbs, the carbs in the fruit still apply. If you’re a member, that won’t be an issue because all of our meal plans cater for carb counts, enzymes, fertilisers and decliousness of course.
Five Foods Rich in Digestive Enzymes:
- Papaya – have it neat, or try mixing a few tablespoons or quarter of a cup with kefir and ice in a smoothie.
- Pineapple – you must eat it raw (not tinned or cooked) and you could have it in a salad or in a smoothie as above.
- Avocado – eat as is or in every salad, smoothie or shake you have.
- Extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil – use this in all of your cooking and/ or dressings.
- Raw meat and fish – make sure your source is hygienic, then enjoy sashimi, carpaccio and steak tartare.
If you haven’t already, download the Banting Food Lists to find out what you should be eating to benefit like the hundreds of thousands of Real Meal Revolution customers who have changed their lives already.
If you want the benefits of the Banting diet for yourself, you’ve come to the right place. Real Meal Revolution is a healthy eating company that uses award-winning low carb recipes, deliciously practical Banting meal plans, mind-blowing lectures, entertaining cooking lessons, state-of-the-art tools, a bustling community and professional high-touch support you should join our online course.
If you want some of these benefits for yourself or a loved one, there is no need to wait. Click on this link and join to change your life today.
