Day 107

Thoughts: Why Are Wheat and Rice So Bad for Your Health? Afterall wheat is grown naturally on the earth, so it must be part of the Earth Diet? Well it would be...however it's how it's now being made and processed that makes it bad for us. You can actually grow your own wheat and make your own flour and it's easier than you think! The process of of making your own flour is a lot easier than most people imagine. Before the advent of the modern flour mill, grinding wheat or corn into flour was a laborious task. For that reason, most Americans still assume flour is made with some sort of magical machinery in a factory somewhere. In actuality, wheat is one of the easiest crops to grow, even if you have limited space. Once you’ve grown it, you just need to cut an arm-full, flail it a bit to remove the grain, blow the chaff off the grain, and use a device like your blender to make the flour. From there, the cookie, bread, pasta or pancake recipe you use is up to you!
(To learn how http://mindbodysmile.com/2009/06/05/how-to-grow-and-make-your-own-wheat-flour/)

Wheat is Australia's most important grain crop. Over the five year period to 1995, wheat exports averaged about $2.3 billion.

First of all by default wheat refers to refined wheat and rice refers to white rice. These are not whole grains. What makes them so bad for you is the good stuff was taken out and the bad stuff was left in. So when you eat these foods they need to rob your body of the good things that were in them so you can digest them.

Over time this destroys your health. Then they create all these foods with wheat like pancakes, waffles, french toast, cream of wheat, bread, pasta, muffins, biscuits, soft and hard pretzels, cakes, cookies, crackers, donuts, bagels, blintzes, perogies, lasagna, sandwiches, burgers, pies, pizza and strombolis. Whole wheat and brown rice are whole grains and so are not unhealthy.

The whole wheat is not great for health though, but it is cheap. It is better to use other grains like rye, barley, kamut, spelt, quinoa, millet and wild rice. Wild rice is not a rice. It is the only grain that is native to North America. The wheat and rice is originally with 3 parts. To refine it, they take off the bran. This has most of the fiber and a lot of anti-oxidants. This is then sold in the heath food store. The wheat and rice are sold in the fat and sick food store.

Then they take off the germ and that is sold in the health food store. It has most of the nutrition. The part that is left is called endosperm. That is what rice and wheat are-- rice and wheat endosperm. It is mostly carbohydrates. So that is why this food makes you fat and sick. Whole wheat may be bland but brown rice tastes as good as white rice. It has a nuttier taste. Many Indians have switched from basmati rice to brown basmati rice.

Copyright 2008 by Chuck Bluestein http://www.submityourarticle.com/articles/Chuck-Bluestein-2967/wheat-27079.php

HealthThe Critical Role of Wheat in Human Disease by Dr. Mercola...

Lectin is a type of 'wheat germ agglutinin' (WGA) and glycoprotein. Through thousands of years of selectively breeding wheat for increasingly larger quantities of protein, the concentration of WGA lectin has increased proportionately.

WGA is largely responsible for many of wheat's pervasive ill effects.
What’s more, WGA is found in highest concentrations in "whole wheat," including its supposedly superior sprouted form.

What is unique about the WGA glycoprotein is that it can do direct damage to the majority of tissues in your body without requiring a specific set of genetic susceptibilities or immune-mediated articulations.

This may explain why chronic inflammatory and degenerative conditions are endemic to wheat-consuming populations.

WGA lectin is an exceptionally tough adversary as it is formed by the same disulfide bonds that make vulcanized rubber and human hair so strong, flexible and durable.

Like man-made pesticides, lectins are extremely small, resistant to breakdown by living systems, and tend to accumulate and become incorporated into tissues where they interfere with normal biological processes.

At exceedingly small concentrations, WGA stimulates the synthesis of pro-inflammatory chemical messengers. WGA induces thymus atrophy in rats. WGA can pass through the blood-brain barrier. It may also interfere with gene expression and disrupt endocrine function.

more...http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/01/16/The-Critical-Role-of-Wheat-in-Human-Disease.aspx

Challenges: Most people don't have the time, or more won't make the time to grow their own wheat and rice, then harvest it and grind it, and create a recipe, then create that and eat it. And that's why we have so much disease on the planet, because it's so much more convenient to go to the shop and buy something that's already been through that process for us. Wow and don't we miss so much of it's creation! I would much rather be part of the creation of it, or I won't eat it.

Triumphs: Giving up flour and rice has been easy on this Earth Diet. Becuase there are so many beautiful and delicious fruits and vegetables and recipes I haven't even thought about eating these grains. I never thought I would give up bread or rice, especially rice as I used to eat sushi almost every day. Now I know that I am able to grow my own on the Earth and then make it! That is exciting :)

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Apple. 5 nectarines. Grapes a big juicy bunch!

Lunch: A salad with green lettuce, spinach, avocado, and lemon.

Dinner: 5 nectarines. Water melon.

Dessert: Uhh another nectarine! haha!

Snacks: Lihees!

Exercise: A run and swim on the beach.

258 Days to go!!!