What I have found practicing natural medicine and Ayurveda for 22 years is that Digestive Enzymes are dolled out like Gatorade for just about any and all digestive imbalances. What folks don’t realize is that once you get on them – it is very difficult to get off them.

A few years ago I was honored to lecture with one of the most brilliant natural medicine doctors of our time. He was in his nineties and after writing 50 books, developing iridology and colon cleansing therapy, I was told he was taking 17 digestive enzymes with every meal. This was due to excessive intestinal cleansing and colonics. To the “rescue” came digestive enzymes which do the digesting for you. They helped him digest his food and slowly but surely he needed more and more of them untill he was forced to take 17 with each meal or he just couldn’t digest his food.

While there is a time and place for these enzymes as a medicine for short term use to help your digestion in an emergency, long term use is just not in your best interest. Regular use of digest enzymes weakens your digestion because your body no longer has to do the work itself and you will then become dependent on them. It\’s similar to exercise – if you stop exercising you start to atrophy and become weak.

Ayurvedic medicine is designed to restore body balance so the body can heal itself without dependence on pills or powders. My goal with all my patients is to get them well, often with the use of herbs. As soon as we reach a clinically effective dose, I start to wean them off that herb so we don’t create such dependencies. In Ayurveda there is a classic remedy for the digestive process called Trikatu. Trikatu actually resets the ability for you to digest your own food rather then do the digesting for you. It is a simple combination of Ginger, Black Pepper and Long Pepper:

Ginger is perhaps one of the worlds finest digestive aids that won’t overheat the digestive process.
Black pepper stimulates the flow of your own digestive enzymes.
Long pepper helps to strengthen the digestion and break down hard to digest foods – and like ginger it won’t overheat the digestive process.

What I love about Trikatu is that a patient who has poor digestion (ie. gas, bloating, heavy stomach, indigestion, constipation and abdominal pain) can restore normal and healthy digestive function and then steadily wean off it. When this formula is combined with an understanding of How, When and What to eat – like I talk about in my DVD’s and The 3-Season Diet – weaning off this formula is a natural process.

Digestive Enzymes are OK for the Short Term and in Small Doses.

The issue with enzymes is not that they are \”bad\” – they have a place in supporting a digestive imbalance for short periods of time. Like any medicine – you get on it, get better, and then get off. Even if you are taking small dosages of enzymes, this is a sign that your digestion is weak and will only continue to get weaker unless you strengthen it.

The problem is that we are told that our bodies do not make these enzymes after a certain age and they are needed longterm to make up for this lack. I do not believe this.

The digestive system can be reset to produce adequate amounts of enzymes and not need any supplementation for maintaining good digestion. It is the misunderstanding that we need digestive enzymes forever that I am concerned about, as it creates long term dependancy and weakens your digestion. For the short term, digestive enzymes can be useful – as long as you have an exit strategy.

Please Note: If you have a tendency towards heart burn or acid reflux, you may benefit more from the herbal formula Cool Digest, which strengthens digestion like Trikatu but also cools acidity and heat in the upper digestive tract.

Author Bio: Dr. John Douillard, DC has written and produced numerous health and fitness books, CDs, and DVDs. He has been teaching and lecturing internationally for 25 years and publishes a free wellness video-newsletter filled with the latest studies and research. He was the Director of Player Development for the New Jersey Nets in the NBA and currently directs the LifeSpa- Ayurvedic Retreat Center in Boulder, CO, where he lives with his wife and six children.LifeSpa

Category: Wellness, Fitness and Diet
Keywords: Digestion, Enzymes, Ayurveda, Douillard, Probiotics, Constipation, bloating