As early as 1930, Dr. Paul Kautchakoff, a Swiss physician, demonstrated that digestive leukocytosis occurred whenever a cooked food was ingested. This phenomenon, observed in many patients, was then considered normal. Digestive leukocytosis is a dramatic increase in the number and activity level of white blood cells (leukocytes) in the blood following the ingestion of cooked food. It should be noted that this increase in the number and activity of leukocytes does not occur in subjects consuming exclusively raw food.

The reason for this is simple: raw foods contain the food enzymes necessary for their pre-digestion and which complement the natural physiological digestion. It appears that cooked, low-enzyme foods force the body to draw metabolic enzymes to digest food from systems other than the digestive system, including the immune system. The whole enzymatic system of the body could be compared to a bank account. If you continually draw money and never replenish the account, you will end up broke! Thus, in case of excess consumption of cooked food, all the enzymatic reserves of the human body - except those of the digestive system - and normally intended to fulfill other physiological roles will be exhausted sooner or later.

This will result in a series of degenerative diseases and/or premature aging of the body. In fact, the organs or systems that are solicited, and that do not belong to the digestive system, no longer fulfill their expected physiological roles, such as the digestion of allergens or other intruders entering the body (fungi, candida...), if it is the immune system.

The immune system, which is continuously solicited for purposes other than defending the body, will become exhausted over the years, and pathologies such as allergies, asthma, chronic candidiasis, etc. will appear. Dr. Howell states that longevity and quality of life would be inversely proportional to the amount of non-digestive enzymes depleted in the digestion of cooked foods. This doctor also proved that food enzymes are the most heat sensitive nutrients.

Indeed, they are generally destroyed when heated to 118°C for more than 15 minutes, which is the case when baking, boiling, grilling, canning, frying, pasteurizing, roasting, and even steaming or microwaving. A shorter cooking time at higher temperatures will produce the same effects.

Dr. Howell also found that fasting resulted in an increase in the number of metabolic enzymes available in the body. In the absence of food, the body has more enzymes to repair and heal. Thus, regularly replenishing what he called the "enzyme bank" is one of the keys to healthy aging and protection against disease.

The first conclusion to draw is therefore not to eat too much in order to have a healthier and longer life.

Second, increase your consumption of raw foods. Even if you eat cooked food, start the meal with raw vegetables, this will delay the aggression of cooked food and the phenomenon of leucocytosis by providing your body with essential micronutrients from the start.

Eat appetizers or entrees made with fruits, vegetables, sprouted seeds, oils, fish (delicious raw fish marinated in lemon and herbs) and raw ground or minced beef as often as possible. A simple approach that replenishes the body's "enzyme bank", enzymes that, let's not forget, are among the key factors of health and healing.