The Truth About Wheat
…simple joy by simpler living.
In a world where bread has been declared a dietary evil, it was a huge revelation to me to learn that bread, when made with freshly ground wheat using the WHOLE wheat berry, is one of the most nutritious foods we can eat. Packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber, freshly ground wheat can and should be a part of everyone’s diet unless someone truly has celiac disease.
It has become popular and trendy to go “gluten-free”, but in doing so most do not recognize that most “gluten-free” substitutes are devoid of much nutrition and can actually be detrimental to your overall health. Gluten-free diets often have an excessive amount of non-nutritious rice flour. The result is less gluten, very little nutrition and very high levels of arsenic! This is very similar to the low-fat diets of years past, where the “bad” food ingredient was replaced with another “bad” ingredient. In the case of the low-fat diet, foods decreased fat but massively increased refined, white sugar. The result was an unhealthier food. Many foods such as yogurt were much healthier in the higher fat original version.
Often, those who see the benefit of going gluten-free are transitioning from bleached, nutritionally devoid white flour products made from just the endosperm part of the whole wheat. Most also say they have a problem with gluten but have never eaten gluten alone. They eat bread from the store and when they have gut issues, blame it on gluten intead of the 5 other ingredients in the bread that explicitly cause gut issues. Also, almost all bread you can buy removes the two nutritious parts of the wheat and leaves just the starchy gluten part making the proportion of gluten excessive and without the God-given counterparts designed to digest it.
When white flour (endosperm part of wheat only) was introduced in the early 1800s, health problems and diseases were introduced that did not exist before. This seems to be because nutrients that are necessary in our diets were replaced by high starch flours devoid of many nutrients our body needs. For those of us sensitive to inflammation, we can literally feel our hands swell or joints get stiff when we eat too much of this nutrient-depleted white flour.
Once the chaff is removed, the remaining wheat berries contain three parts: endosperm, germ, and bran. All three were designed to be eaten together for extremely high nutrition and digestibility. An added bonus is that these wheat berries can be bought in bulk saving A LOT of $$ and time. The endosperm is made of mostly protein and starch. It has some amino acids but practically no vitamins, minerals, or fiber. So obviously eating white flour which contains only the endosperen will cause inflammation and a lack of nutrients. The bran part contains: fiber (both soluble and insoluble), protein, vitamins, minerals, and enzymes to help digestion. The germ is the most nutrient-dense part of the grain. It contains vitamin E, most B vitamins, antioxidants, essential fatty acids, and more. Vitamin E is found higher in wheat germ than almost any other food. This helps explain why many viruses and illnesses are cured simply by eating delicious foods made from freshly ground wheat berries.
It has only been a very few generations since most American families cooked from scratch and knew exactly what was in their food. With the rise of restaurant eating, fast food, and needed shortcuts for our fast pace of life, we often do not know the ingredients of the food we eat. This has led to a multitude of health problems and our society has bought into different quick “fixes” for the inevitable problems our modern diet has caused.
For me, it has been a delight to discover that healthier foods not only taste better but can be easy to make and incorporate into our family’s diet. It has taken time to create these new routines but now it is easier to cook from scratch than go out to eat. One of the best discoveries I made was that bread and baked goods with freshly milled flour can be good for me!
So yes, most wheat products available in grocery stores should be on the “bad” list. But gluten should not take the blame if it has never been eaten in isolation to confirm that is what is causing health problems. And one should be very cautious eliminating one of the most nutrient-dense foods.
Buying whole wheat berries and grinding them yourself is extremely nutritious, easy, and very economical! Before I discovered this, I was on a gluten-free diet. I can tell you that the improvement in my energy level and how I felt overall changed dramatically after making and eating freshly, ground wheat products. This was evidence in itself for me that I was getting more nutrition. After much research, I now know there are vast amounts of nutrients contained in freshly ground wheat. Eating freshly ground wheat has actually been found to treat and cure illnesses! Historically, it has been found that many illnesses first became prevalent in our country when the nutritious part of wheat was removed and bleached, white flour took its place. What a great thing that delicious, freshly ground wheat bread is actually really, really good for us! Now that is some good nutritional news!
Grain Mill
I have this grain mill to grind my grains and love it: Nutrimill. I have had it for about many years and use it a few times per week and have never had a problem. It is an initial investment but you save immediately upon buying a large bag of grains quickly making up the cost. With this one tool, you immediately turn your kitchen into a nutrient-dense factory optimizing health for your whole family!
If you would like to learn more about the fascinating facts about freshly milled grains, I highly suggest Sue Becker’s free podcast: Sue’s Healthy Minutes with Sue Becker.
We need to get back to the basics of freshly milled wheat for maximum nutrition!
(** For full disclosure, I receive a small affiliate fee through the Amazon links. Although, I only recommend products I actually use and believe in.**)
