GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY ‘WHOLEMEAL’ BREAD
At one time if a baker adulterated his flour he was placed in the stocks and pelted with his loaves. If he offended three times he was expelled from his guild and his bakery burnt to the ground. Of course, no one would suggest we burn down the huge factories that produce the modern loaf but people should be aware of what has happened to what was once called ‘the staff of life’ because it played such an important part in the daily diet. Years ago, bread and milk represented two of the most basic forms of complete nutrition, readily available and affordable to practically everyone. Taking bread first, today’s commercial loaf has been reduced to little more than a junk food with hardly any nutritional value at all.
At one time if a baker adulterated his flour he was placed in the stocks and pelted with his loaves. If he offended three times he was expelled from his guild and his bakery burnt to the ground. Of course, no one would suggest we burn down the huge factories that produce the modern loaf but people should be aware of what has happened to what was once called ‘the staff of life’ because it played such an important part in the daily diet. Years ago, bread and milk represented two of the most basic forms of complete nutrition, readily available and affordable to practically everyone. Taking bread first, today’s commercial loaf has been reduced to little more than a junk food with hardly any nutritional value at all.
DAMAGE CAUSED BY MILLING & REFINING GRAINS
A revealing study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition back in 1971 found that the milling process alone denatures or destroys nearly half of the nutrients naturally found in a whole wheat grain within the first 24 hours following extraction. After 72 hours (three days), nearly all of the nutrients are lost. The milling process exposes the nutrients in wheat to irreversibly damaging oxidative stress, and this is followed by refining and bleaching which has the end result of turning what would otherwise be nutritious wheat grain into little more than empty wheat starch, a form of simple sugar that the body ends up storing as fat. The composition of highly-processed wheat flour, now reduced to starch, contains almost none of the 22 vitamins and minerals naturally present in whole wheat, and only trace amounts of fibre, linoleic acid (omega-6), vitamin B, vitamin E, and amino acids such as lysine, a necessary component of protein synthesis. FORTIFIED ‘NUTRIENTS’ ARE SYNTHETIC IMPOSTERS
To create the illusion that this flour is still somehow healthy after all that it’s gone through, manufacturers “enrich” and/or “fortify” it with synthetic vitamins and minerals that do nothing for the body in terms of nourishment, in fact it actually makes the situation worse. These so-called “vitamins” added back to refined flour to make it seem edible are synthetic imposters that the body can’t even use. They are chemical products created in a laboratory and have different biological structures to vitamins that occur naturally in food. Folic acid for example, is a synthetic form of natural folate (vitamin B9) that the body finds difficult to metabolize. Folic acid doesn’t undergo the same metabolic cycle as folate, which is metabolized into usable form by the mucosa that lines the small intestine. Instead, folic acid goes straight to the liver where it’s processed so inefficiently that most of it ends up entering the bloodstream non-metabolized, triggering the growth of cancer-causing neoplasms. |
WHITE FLOUR IS SUGAR IN DISGUISE
So what we have with refined, enriched flour is essentially a disguised form of simple sugar laced with synthetic vitamins and minerals that, for all intents and purposes, is toxic to the body. Consuming only organic, whole grain flour as fresh and as close to its natural state as possible, offers the best chance of getting the most nutrition from the grains. Organic wheat in its whole form is a type of ‘superfood’ that contains nearly every essential vitamin and mineral, including protein that our bodies need for life and especially for the brain and nervous system. The great function of plants is to take the inorganic minerals found in the soil and turn them into organic minerals that the human body can assimilate. Chemical analysis shows that by far the most effective ‘factory’ for making this change for the body’s use is wheat. The last word should go to Magnus Hippocrates (born 460 B.C), who is acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest philosophers. “And this I know, moreover, that to the human body it makes a great difference whether the bread be fine or coarse, of wheat with or without the hull (bran). Whoever pays no attention to these things, or paying attention does not comprehend them, how can he understand the diseases which befall a man? For by every one of these things a man is affected and changed this way or that and the whole of his life is subjected to them whether in health, convalescence or disease. Nothing else then can be more important or more necessary than to know these things.” MILK FROM GRASS FED COWS Some years ago milk was almost universally acknowledged as an essential food especially for growing children. One pint a day for each child was recommended and considered so important that schools issued free milk to all school children in special third of a pint bottles. In his book Man Versus Toothache, dentist Dr. George Heard believes that, when taken raw, milk from grass fed cows is the best source of calcium for bones and teeth and moreover, the natural fluorine in milk offers much more protection for the teeth than fluorine in water where it cannot be absorbed by the body. Dr Heard argues that pasteurizing milk spoils it completely as it kills off the beneficial bacteria as well as most of the vitamins and disorganizes the mineral values so that there is little actual food value left. 20% of the iodine is destroyed and the major part of the calcium contained in raw milk is made insoluble by pasteurisation. In fact, pasteurized milk is just a product made from milk. . . it is no longer milk; it is designed for shelf life. Contrary to popular belief, lactose intolerance is not an allergy or intolerance to milk. It is an inability to digest and assimilate pasteurized milk that no longer contains an enzyme known as lactase that is a necessary cofactor for processing lactose, the disaccharide sugar in milk that makes it taste sweet. The modern dairy factory processes milk to such an extent that it is barely recognisable as the healthy food it once was when it left the cow. Click here for more about milk |
NUTRITION DESTROYED FOR PROFIT AND GREED
The food industry has succeeded in destroying the two basic sources of nutrition that we in the West had, until now, enjoyed for many, many years. The whole system of food production, including milk, has been geared to suit machines not humans and we are paying the price by being forced to eat and drink adulterated products as we no longer have any choice. Previously, even the poorest people could live a healthy life, given true wholemeal bread and unpasteurized milk, as these foods supply almost everything that the body needs. Incredible as it may seem in this modern age, people actually risk dying from malnutrition, but with a full stomach.
The food industry has succeeded in destroying the two basic sources of nutrition that we in the West had, until now, enjoyed for many, many years. The whole system of food production, including milk, has been geared to suit machines not humans and we are paying the price by being forced to eat and drink adulterated products as we no longer have any choice. Previously, even the poorest people could live a healthy life, given true wholemeal bread and unpasteurized milk, as these foods supply almost everything that the body needs. Incredible as it may seem in this modern age, people actually risk dying from malnutrition, but with a full stomach.
Good News
Due to public demand raw milk from grass fed cows is now available even in the London area and from most Farmers' Markets
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