Healthy Happy Hour - Enzymedica

Hello everyone! So I recently got the opportunity to attend a health event hosted by Kor180 & Enzymedica! It included a Kor180 spin class lead by Co-Founder Maja Kermath, followed by a nutritional talk lead by Carly Pollack and Amy Pereira. Carly has a Master’s Degree in Holistic Nutrition, is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, and Lifestyle Coach. On top of all that she also wrote a book called “Nutritional Wisdom,” which you can check out here. Amy works for the company Enzymedica and is a CHNC Enzymedica Educator who loves spreading the joy and benefits of healthy eating and how whole foods have a huge impact on our bodies. There were also yummy little appetizers that Chef Tanner O’dell kindly cooked and provided for us to snack on after the sweat indulging workout! Thanks Tanner the food was absolutely AMAZING and I want those recipes 🙂

Since I am a Nutrition Major at UT, I was absolutely thrilled to find out about this event! Carly went over the digestive system in (easy to follow) detail and explained why we feel the way we do when we eat certain foods! She started by explaining to everyone how the digestive system works in our body, which of course lead to how easily things can go wrong. I will explain in-depth a few of the main points Carly mentioned on the reason our digestive system may not reach its full potential:

Not Enough HCl. HCl is the acid in our stomachs that breaks down our food for further absorption and nutrient uptake. When we drink a ton of water, that dilutes the acid in our stomach which leads to less breakdown! So she suggests not drinking water during a meal and even avoiding it an hour before and after our meal in order for the HCl in our stomach to do its job properly.
Not Enough Digestive Enzyme
Eating the Wrong Foods
Toxic Liver
No gallbladder. People now-a-days may think that the gallbladder serves no purpose in our bodies anymore. When the truth is it has a HUGE impact on how well we digest our food! The gallbladder releases bile in large amounts so that our food can be broken down, digested, nutrients absorbed, and then secreted in our waste. Bile is an alkaline fluid that aids in digestion. Our liver makes bile, but only drop-wise, while our gallbladder releases it in much larger quantities. So when people have surgery to remove their gallbladder, afterwards they have a much harder time digesting meals and getting the proper nutrients they need!
Brain-Gut Axis has miscommunication
Damaged Intestinal Lining
Bugs, Fungus, and Bacteria (the good and the bad)

In order to help her clients change their habits and put them on a path to better digestive health, Carly suggests ways to avoid these digestive issues.

Eat REAL Food. In other words, if it spoils or molds within a few days or a week, its real. Things that contain preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, and other things we can’t pronounce probably are not on the Real Food list.
Slow down, smell your food, chew.
Replace HCl, enzymes, and bile salts when hindered.
Get off any Major Food Intolerance. If you know/realize your body reacts to milk or dairy products, don’t keep eating them! It is like putting a toxin in your body when you drink a giant glass of milk and you’re lactose intolerant!
Don’t drink when you eat. Like I said earlier (on behalf of Carly), drinking water while eating just dilutes the HCl in our stomach and hinders the breakdown of foods.
Don’t guess, test. As a Nutritionist, Carly mentioned that when people come to her and they have a complaint or problem they are dealing with, she tests them to see what could maybe be the cause instead of just changing their diet and hoping it works.
Manage Stress. This is a big one for many people (myself included). No matter what you’re dealing with, Finals, Work, Personal issues, always make time to clear your head and stay as least stressed as possible. Go for a walk, get a massage, maybe take 5 minutes to just sit down and have time to yourself. Stress can lead to many dysfunctions in our bodies and we want to avoid that as much as we can.

Now I’m going to switch gears a little bit and talk to y’all about Amy and the Enzymedica product. First, I want to say they did not pay me to write about them or the product, this is my own opinion. As stated above, we talked briefly about enzymes. They play a HUGE role in our digestive tract by helping with the breakdown and absorption of foods. When these enzyme level concentrations are low, our body cannot perform its functions properly and that leads to bloating and digestive imbalances.

Enzymedica is a company based in Florida that makes products to increase enzymes, aid digestive health, help with food intolerance, contain probiotic’s and so much more. Their goal is to inform people on the benefits of enzymes and taking care of their overall health. As guests of the event, they sent us home with a few of their products, “Digest Gold” and their Multivitamin. All of their products contain the highest quality of ingredients like whole foods, enzymes, antioxidants, and what they call the “whole food matrix”. I have been taking the Multivitamin for a week now, twice a day, and can tell a small difference in the way I feel. I’m not as tired as I usually am and I think they keep me more aware of what I’m eating. When I take them, it makes me feel like I’m putting good into my body so why would I want to put something bad back in there and ruin that? You can read more about Enzymedica here and the other products they sell!

I know this was a long post, but there is just so much to learn about Nutrition and living a healthy life! I hope y’all took away at least a few topics and apply them to your lives because you can really make a huge difference in the way you look and feel just by paying more attention to your diet and making sure you’re getting the proper nutrients!

Thank You so much to Kor180 & Enzymedica for hosting the event! I loved meeting everyone and listening to Maja, Carly, and Amy! These are some outstanding women and are so knowledgable and passionate about what they do!

Kor180 – http://kor180.com

Nutritional Wisdom – http://nutritionalwisdom.com

Enzymedica – http://enzymedica.com