Blake,
>> All throughout the book, he gives scientific rationale and quotes various
>> scientific literature in an attempt to substantiate his claims. He also
>> speaks of his personal experience in working with people (clients),
>applying
>> the principles.
>
>Anyone can supply scientific references for anything, this does not refelct
>it's accuracy.
Right. But the bottom line should be results, and many people have
experienced great results with applying food combining principles. All the
intellectualizing, theories, beliefs, etc. in the world doesn't mean nearly
as much as results.
Have you read Shelton's materials on food combining? He quotes physiology
texts in some detail. I don't have the inclination to check up on any of it
to verify the accuracy or lack thereof of the rationale.
>> Most of the protein digestion takes place in the pyloric portion of the
>> stomach, in a strong acid environment.
>
>This is not right, most protein digestion takes place in the small
>intestine. This is consistent with any mainstream university teachings as
>was the case with the two universities I have studied phisiology at.
I haven't studied digestion physiology theory in-depth, nor do I feel any
need to do so (again, the main thing for me is results; theory comes a
distant second). However, I did get the impression that most of the
digestion of protein takes place in the pyloric portion of the stomach, in
concentrated HCl + pepsin, which transforms the protein mass into "chyme",
prior to its moving into the duodenum. I do not know what percentage (on
average) of protein digestion takes place in the stomach, and what
percentage takes place in the small intestine.
>> Howell's long-time research (over the course of decades) found that
>enzymes
>> from food are active in the cardiac portion of the stomach. He said that
>on
>> average, this lasts for about 45-60 minutes, prior to the food moving into
>> the pyloric portion of the stomach, and later, the small intestine.
>
>Howell is well known for his lack of scientific credibility.
He was an M.D., and he engaged in decades' worth of credible research on
food enzymes. Have you read/studied his books? As far as I know, no-one else
has studied the food enzyme issue as in-depth as Howell did. His was
pioneering work. To dismiss his work seems rather closed-minded.
>Do "food enzymes" significantly enhance digestive efficiency
In my experience, yes they do. A strong case in point for me was when I was
a devitalized, sick, SAD eater, several years ago. I started doing some
study on natural health at that time. I experimented with tons of
supplements during that time. One of the few things that I felt any
noticable results from was a food enzyme supplement (not pancreatic enzymes
-- food enzymes). It dramatically helped improve my digestion, vitality, and
well-being. I became aware of a lot of other people who also experienced
great benefits from food enzyme supplementation.
Later on, I learned about and applied raw food nutrition, and my digestion
got even smoother. Now, my digestion usually feels effortless, "smooth as
silk", and very "light". Oftentimes, it hardly feels like there's even any
food in there, after a meal and the hours following. I never experienced
that when eating cooked foods. Digestion most often felt "heavy" and
burdened, and I often felt tired, after eating cooked food meals. That no
longer occurs. I'm sure there's more to the reason "why" than just food
enzymes. Nonetheless, all theories aside...what works well, works well.
Wes
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