The following story is, unfortunately, true.
Before the 1950’s, most bakeries in Australia, indeed the world, ran 2 shifts of workers because the dough was fermented throughout the night, long and slow. That bread was made from plain, unbleached wheat flour, and now, seen in retrospect, was superior to most breads of today.
I would often visit our local bakery with my uncle, who home-delivered bread for many years. During the 50’s, the US-based bakery giant Tip Top came to Brisbane, and started to buy up all the small bakeries it could; other giants competed with them, meaning that in very quick time we had only 2 or 3 bakers in the entire city, ditto in all parts of Australia.
One of the very first actions these corporate bakers were to take was to introduce the fast loaf (3 hours from start to finish), effectively eliminating the need for half, or one entire shift, of their labour force. This was actually required by a new law called The Bread Act.
This seemingly innocuous cost-cutting decision would relentlessly impact and compromise the health of each and every bread lover since – that’s virtually everybody since the 50’s – and would cause countless deaths, bestow myriad miseries, as it continues to do. The first act of a major tragedy that still plays, everywhere, everyday.
Very basic bread that had once been fermented for a healthy 8 hours or more was now brewing in just 2 hours! Yeast levels were increased, accelerants and proving agents introduced. Glutens, starches and malts were not given the remotest opportunity to convert to their digestible potentials, in a sickly anti-nutrient-laden, gluepot stew. Breads are still made this way, even the so-called health breads!
Fast-made bread is one of the most destructive implementations into the modern diet. It has become normal fare, and poorly-prepared and poorly-digested wheat is the chief contributor to the current plague of “gluten-intolerance”, obesity, diabetes, candida diseases and many allergenic conditions.
Gluten (once properly fermented) is a wonderful vegetable protein. It is actually a mix of the two elastic proteins, gliadin and glutenin. So-called gluten-intolerant adults and kids are eating my long-ferment bread with amazement at, delight in, the taste, the clarity and the painless, satisfactory satiety.
Sure, be intolerant of gluten in its under-prepared, expedient form. It most certainly is toxic. Such sensitivity is wise and self-preserving, but do not condemn gluten and wheat via this premise. We are not gluten-intolerant; we are allergic to the accelerating haste of modern life!
Wheat is, yes, potentially one of the most highly allergenic foods on the planet, but like soya beans, converts to a truly great food once it is fermented long enough.
All current breads, pastas, pizzas, cakes, biscuits, and on and on and on, contain complex proteins which have not been given the requisite fermentation time to convert to their excellent, digestible alter-egos.
Wheat also contains a difficult starch and a highly allergenic maltose, but within that same complexity, when correctly fermented, there lies varied and splendid nutrients – 18 amino acids (proteins), complex carbohydrate (a super efficient source of energy), B vitamins, iron, zinc, selenium and magnesium, and maltase.
From a demon to a god in one ferment.
The catastrophic changes in bakery procedures were a disaster that went largely unnoticed in the 50’s, except by my baker/uncle and a few other observant souls. He became aware that from that fateful change onwards, many of his customers began to grow ill. Amy MacGrath made the same observation in her book “One Man’s Poison.”
Of course the 50’s also saw the introduction of mass pasteurisation of milk and other food perversions, so there were several developing culprits. This period marked the beginning of the end for bread and milk as healthy, nutritious staples, and signalled the onset of the demise of food in general.
Today, the absolute extreme of this perfidy is found in Hot Bread kitchens, which produce loaves of very toxic, allergy-inducing crud, in just 40 minutes from start of dough to baked finish!
Long Ferment Bread
The longer the ferment, the less yeast is required. Over time, even the smallest amount of yeast will slowly grow and spread throughout a dough. The addition of ginger powder (instead of sugar) to the original mix helps to create a strident growth network for even and healthy leavening to occur.
Sourdough leaven is a fine option to baker’s yeast, but bear in mind that sourdough is also yeast, also a leavening agent. It’s just that in sourdough the yeasts are attracted, gathered wild from the atmosphere.
Remember, whether you employ baker’s yeast or sourdough as the leaven, the actual dough fermenting time must be longer than 6 hours!
I have not only gluten-intolerants enjoying my wheat/granulated yeast bread, but also yeast-sensitive folk are also reporting no reaction – not 100% success of course, but enough to suggest that, just as proteins and starches transform in the long ferment process, the yeast positively alters also.
The tremendous upsurge in cases of gluten, carbohydrate and lactose sensitivity is a totally modern phenomena, and finds its origins in quick, economically convenient, and incorrect food preparation - forging a delusional, diversionary path that we have charted in just the last 50 years, far far away from traditional lines.
Bran is Bullshit!
Actually, far, far better to eat bullshit than bran! True.
Bran is the outer husk of any grain or seed, it is indigestible, and its high phytate content robs our bodies of nutrients, especially minerals, and stifles digestion. If we are eating well, we don’t need such gross fibrous brooms to “sweep out” our bowels.
Bran robs us of nutrients in another way also: Because bran is an irritant to the bowel, its radical stimulation of the peristaltic motion means that any foods accompanying the bran get shunted along far too rapidly in the bowel, severely restricting the crucial extraction of minerals and vitamins which would occur in a normal (slow) passage through the colon.
Not even to their pigs would the Chinese give bran, from any grain (rice included).
In 1542 England, the government-published “Dyetary of Health” stated “bread having too much bran is not laudable”. At that time, the rich ate plain bread, the poor ate the waste, the brown.
Bran is now lauded as a lifesaver, is present in so many of today’s foods. A huge market has been created for what was, for thousands of years, and deservedly so, rubbish.
Don’t toss it out though, it’s ideal for the compost heap or chipboard manufacture.
I have experimented with fermenting bran-rich wholemeal flour doughs for over 24 hours and still the resulting bread is indigestible.
The germ of grains too, like bran, is loaded with anti-nutrients.
Wheat germ oil is an excellent food, but prone to rapid rancidification, and this is true of the whole germ of any grain – not to be eaten raw, even if it’s super fresh – makes no difference, ‘cause the anti-nutrient phytates are still present.
This is what wholemeal means - that the bran and sometimes the germ too are left in the flour.
So you see, this is my case(not yet rested) - that whole don’t necessarily mean wholesome!
The ancient, tried and true slow-ferment baking way rejected outright the germ and bran of grains. It fermented doughs overnight, and delivered nourishing, allergen-free, 100% digestible bread from unbleached, long-fermented plain flour, just like my uncle did, and just like many of today’s tradition-savvy Italian and French bakers do.
I was surprised to find, considering that they go to so much trouble with sourdough processes and good ingredients, that the two most popular health breads available in the Byron Bay/ Brisbane area (from Sol and Goanna bakeries) have dough-fermenting times of an inadequate 2 to 3 hours. No fault of theirs, they just don’t know about it, but nevertheless the bread retains the damaging phytates and insufficiently converted glutens and carbs, etc. There is one Sydney bakehouse, Sonoma, which ferments its bread for 32 hours, and my daughter tells me it is superb. Another realized baker is Crystal Waters on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
Ask your bakers how long they leave their bread dough sit, or is it stand?
You may be surprised.
Cereal Killers
“Puffed” cereals are particularly irksome because of the high heat and pressure processing, but flakes and other shaped cereals are no better, including the so-called health versions. Studies have shown that these heat-extruded grain preparations can have an even more adverse effect on the blood sugar than refined sugar.
Nevertheless, in television advertising, they are totally misrepresented as almost wonder foods, supported by sports stars with false and fabricated health claims.
All mueslis, cereals, fast-rise breads, puffed rice/corn cakes, pizza bases, pastas, pastries and biscuits contain under-prepared grains, and most contain dextro-malt, lecithin or glucose in one or more of their many disguises – hence numerous toxic, mineral-denying, anti-nutrient allergens plus indigestible proteins and carbs, etc. are being ingested. Yet most of these extremely popular foods can also be made from the same, but carefully fermented grains. It just takes time.
From the early 1960’s onwards, as a result of championing brown rice and wholemeal everything, we have given many deleterious substances totally unwarranted and misleading kudos. And we are suffering, en masse.
Billions of Asian (and other) peoples have eaten, for millennia, not whole, not brown, but white rice, exclusively!
How do proponents of brown rice get around this amazing statistic? Do they seriously think that these ancient societies got it wrong?
Give us a break!
The first cereal-gathering people would have tried eating and cooking grains many different ways, over aeons, as their stomachs’ and bodies’ reactions refined their attitudes to each grain. The white rice diet of Asia is the result of such ageless observation and tradition, from both dietary and medical standpoints.
If brown rice were healthier, they’d be eating it!
This article is a chapter in Clive’s book, “Whole Don’t Mean Wholesome: a love of fermentation and all things slooow“
About the Author...
A musician, journalist and explorer of the outer and inner worlds, Clive has had some wild incarnations in his life. While staying in India and studying with Osho, he severely damaged his gastrointestinal and nervous systems by ingesting the wrong mushroom. Nursing his body back to health has been his main preoccupation for some years and his road of discovery has taken him many places. He now writes, rests, makes and sells activated nuts, rests and enjoys life in Northern NSW. You can enjoy more of his writing in his book Whole Don't Mean Wholesome: a love of fermentation and all things slooow
Feb 6th, 2008 at 2:41 am
Okay, so is this author suggesting we use “white” (albeit unbleached) flour in our baking? Even Sally Fallon uses wholemeal flour, fresh ground and with long soaks. And I’ve heard that white flour products deplete B vitamins. I’m really confused!
What are others in the Nourished community doing/thinking on this one?
Lisa
Feb 6th, 2008 at 6:30 am
Great article Clive. Know of anyone in Brissy serving up the long-fermented bread? thanks
Feb 6th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Hi Clive,
I just had a go at making your sourdough bread. And the results were spectacular!!! Now I have never made bread before except using breadmachine mixes so I am pretty impressed that it came out so well first try! I just used plain white flour I had in the cupboard instead of bread flour. Does it matter? Do you get a better loaf out of bread flour?
I’m curious about what you were saying about wholemeal flours. In Nourishing Traditions it says to use wholemeal flours as all the vitamins etc are in the germ. Wouldn’t sourdough wholemeal flour be healthier than white flour?
Cheers,
Kelly
Feb 6th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Comment:
Clive, I like your article. Sounds like common sense to me.
Feb 6th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Great that you got excellent bread.
Not good to use “bread flour”, just plain, organic, wheat flour is best.
What was posted on Nourished mag was a chapter from my book, “Whole don’t
mean Wholesome” - A Love of Fermentation and All Things Slooow”. So please
read that and perhaps some of your questions will be answered re wholemeal,
etc.
If you like, I can send you other chapters which lead up to, and explain,
the reality in more depth.
Wholemeal is indigestible, and houses toxic anti-nutrients. It was an
aberration, an error in the development of the diet.
All the best,
Love,
Clive Lawler
2die4 Live Foods
Byron bay
Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Dear Clive. I followed your recipe using a small amt of regular bread yeast. As our house gets cold at night, I placed the dough to ferment above the wood-burning stove., which eventually goes out during the night! All together, incl. the rising in the 2 pans, rising time was c. 19 hours. The bread is nice, my husband really loves it, as do I though I’m not a huge bread-eater, but it does not have a sour taste like the purchased “sourdough” or like the rye sourdough bread I have made, where I did not use any yeast at all, except for a home-made starter. Where did I go wrong? I used 1/2 C. of white rice flour + 1/2 C. oat flour because that is what I had on hand in the freezer.
The bag was labelled “Unbleached White Flour” but I thought it was a wee bit dark for unbleached and suspect that it was merely super-sifted and there were tiny bits of bran in there. Could this have caused the lack of sour taste?
Also, are you sure that bran, even if super-fermented, would remain undigestible? Is there a possibility that it serves a medicinal purpose in SOME people and was never intended to be an everyday food for all people in a population? I mean, they say everything has a purpose - the bad stuff in whole grains has been made into a supplement for people with certain conditions. So for me the big issue is: just how much tradition can we truly go back to, without considering all intervening developments in our own civilizations’ evolution?
I am very interested indeed in fermented foods in general. I pickle stuff from my garden and it is so nice to bring out a jar of whatever in these cold winter months.
I am interested in reading your book and would like to buy it bye-the-bye. Quite a few yr. ago I bought a wee book on fermented foods from around the world but it was not detailed enough. Regards, Madam Anna May.
Feb 6th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
AM dear,
My answers are in CAPITALS amongst your words.
I’ve attached the intro + first chapters of my book, leading into BREAD
DREAD. Please read them, and you will understand things much better,
especially the “One Woman’s Passion” section.
It’s a DOC file, if you have any trouble downloading, I will send a PDF.
OK?
Dear Clive. I followed your recipe using a small amt of regular bread
yeast. As our house gets cold at night, I placed the dough to ferment above
the wood-burning stove., which eventually goes out during the night! All
together, incl. the rising in the 2 pans, rising time was c. 19 hours. The
bread is nice, my husband really loves it, as do I though I’m not a huge
bread-eater, but it does not have a sour taste like the purchased
“sourdough” or like the rye sourdough bread I have made, where I did not use
any yeast at all, except for a home-made starter. Where did I go wrong? I
used 1/2 C. of white rice flour + 1/2 C. oat flour because that is what I
had on hand in the freezer.
CORRECT. THIS BREAD IS NOT SOUR LIKE SOURDOUGH, YOU DID PERFECT.
OAT AND ESPECIALLY RICE FLOUR MAKE IT A LITTLE HEAVIER, BUT FINE, AND YOUR
HUSBAND LOVES IT!!
>
> The bag was labelled “Unbleached White Flour” but I thought it was a wee
bit dark for unbleached and suspect that it was merely super-sifted and
there were tiny bits of bran in there. Could this have caused the lack of
sour taste?
AS I SAID, THIS IS NOT SOUR BREAD.
THE UNBLEACHED FLOUR YOU USED WAS EXACTLY RIGHT. I DON’T USE THE WORD
“WHITE”, I USE “PLAIN” FLOUR. AS YOU DESCRIBED, IT’S OFF-WHITE, STILL WITH
ALL THE NUTRIENTS, AND JUST A TOUCH OF FINER BRAN PARTICLES - PERFECTO.
>
> Also, are you sure that bran, even if super-fermented, would remain
undigestible? Is there a possibility that it serves a medicinal purpose in
SOME people and was never intended to be an everyday food for all people in
a population? I mean, they say everything has a purpose - the bad stuff in
whole grains has been made into a supplement for people with certain
conditions. So for me the big issue is: just how much tradition can we
truly go back to, without considering all intervening developments in our
own civilizations’ evolution?
NO, IT’S A MODERN ABERRATION, AND THERE’S ADEQUATE ROUGHAGE ANYWAY IN THAT
FLOUR YOU USED, AND DIGESTIBLE TOO.
I ONCE FERMENTED A DOUGH MADE WITH FRESH WHOLEMEAL FLOUR FOR 48 HOURS!! AND
STILL IT WAS ACIDIC AND INDIGESTIBLE.
READ MY BOOK HERE AND YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.
>
> I am very interested indeed in fermented foods in general. I pickle stuff
from my garden and it is so nice to bring out a jar of whatever in these
cold winter months.
>
> I am interested in reading your book and would like to buy it bye-the-bye.
Quite a few yr. ago I bought a wee book on fermented foods from around the
world but it was not detailed enough. Regards, Madam Anna May.
LOTSA LOVE,
CLIVE
Feb 7th, 2008 at 7:51 am
For those of you, in Sydney or the Sunshine Coast, who may not have the time for the splendidly satisfying job of bread-making (fools!), Sonoma Bakery in Sydney makes traditional recipe bread (36 hours fermentation), as does new creation, Alchemy Bakery of Maleny, who sell thru the Maple St. Co-op.
Clive
Feb 8th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Letting you all know, dear Nourishers, that Clive’s book, “Whole Don’t Mean Wholesome” is available in the Nourishing Store for $38.
http://nourishingstore.com.au/products-page/?product_id=13
It’s well worth the investments. Oh and if you haven’t tasted his Activated Nuts, you simply must.
Feb 8th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Clive:
Stumbled on your blog and wanted to echo what you say. I recently learned about a simple super-fermented way to make bread and wow does it work well.
Mix your usual salt, water, yeast and flour and let it rise for a couple of hours. Do not knead it.
Put it in the refrigerator (covered) for up to about two weeks.
Take out what you need (wait for a few days at least); let it rise and bake it at 425.
Enjoy.
Jeff
Feb 8th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Hi Jeff,
Placing the dough, as you suggest, in the fridge after 2 hours would suppress the fermentation process, so I would doubt, once you make a loaf, that the ferment time would have exceeded the essential 6 hours (at normal air temperature_. Bread doughs MUST ferment longer than 6 hours for the enzymatic conversion to be complete, the longer the better, meaning the gluten and carbs have totally transformed into their digestible, nutritious “other selves”.
Clive
Feb 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
It is not baked until after at least days (sometimes weeks) and after a second rising at room temperature, a couple more hours. Judging from the fact that bubbles continue to form during the multi-day process, fermentation is continuing albeit more slowly.
The bread has a wonderful texture when done and is very digestible. Try it, you might be surprised.
Feb 17th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Wow, I am surprised that nourishedmagazine would promote “white” rice and “white” flour. I guess, each new opinion will sell books and in order to market an idea, we need to arrive at a “right and wrong way to eat”. It doesn’t make sense that the ancient people remove the bran from their food - how would then have done it, without the use of machinery. Have you ever tried making white rice from brown rice - you would probably go hungry before you succeeded !
Why is it too that cockatoos that live for a hundred years can happily feast on raw food and they don’t go to the trouble of fermenting their grains. Why do humans cook, when other animals don’t? If you believe in evolution, you probably will be stumped for an answer because to suggest that man evolved to need clothes, cook food, require shelter is quite ridiculous. But if you believe that God created the heavens and the earth, then you can read the story of what food he provided for man and it is well documented in the Old Testament, what foods were considered “clean” and “unclean”.
In the end, man will die ragardless of whether he eats well or not but there is hope for those who seek the truth. No need to buy any books on what to eat, read the old testament and you will find the answer to what is good to eat, how to prepare it and what foods to avoid.
Feb 18th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Response to Jen
From Clive Lawler:
I don’t see Nourished Magazine as “promoting” anything by publishing stories and blogs.
It is simply an open forum for expression and retort - extremely healthy situation I would say. The key word there is “open”, a quality you don’t much appear, by your assumptions and judgements, to embody.
I believe I have answered your queries, or statements, regarding birds/animals and fermentation in the following chapter from my book. Bear in mind that its previous chapters have detailed explanations for some of the expressions used here:
WE ARE NOT RUMINANTS
Even the ubiquitous and lauded alfalfa sprout contains a toxic amino acid called canavanine. Alfalfa is lucerne, gourmet food for a cow or any ruminant. Humans don’t have the digestive system to cope with canavanine, because we don’t have the stomach for raw foods, period. However, a quick soaking of sprouts in cider (or any fermented) vinegar de-fuses any unwanted toxic presence.
No doubt we could eat raw foods till the cows come home, if, IF, we had a cow’s, or a rabbit’s, or a deer’s multiple stomach arrangement, because whilst the final one of the four ruminant stomachs is for normal, human-style acid digestion, the first, the primary and largest stomach, the rumen, is for yes, fermentation – bacterial fermentation of the enormous cellulose content of the green/raw vegetable world they consume, and where anti-nutrients and toxins such as phytates, oxalates and canavanine are either neutralised or discarded, making food ready for passage to the second stomach, the reticulum.
Here, any undigested food is packed into cud, which is regurgitated for chewing (hence, even further processing and refinement); then onto the third stomach, the omasum, where water from digested materials is reabsorbed. Phew!
Stomachs 1, 2 and 3 are all pre-digestive facilities humans do not possess.
Finally, food reaches the cow’s equivalent of the human’s one and only stomach - the abomasum - where acid and pepsin digestion begins upon any proteins still remaining.
All of this is necessary – just to digest raw food.
Other ruminants or animals with digestive systems similar to that of the cow include the gazelle, giraffe, moose, antelope, caribou, sheep, goat, deer, kangaroo, camel and llama. The tiny, carrot-loving rabbit too has a multi-stomach system.
Raw and whole foods are perfect for these creatures. Not so for humans.
Other classic wholefood eaters, the birds which eat seeds, nuts and grains, have a recessed pre-digestive area in the oesophagus, called the crop, where any quickly-swallowed food is caught and held. Here it is softened and ground up with small stones the birds swallow – before moving onto the proventriculus.
There, large amounts of digestive juices are produced, particularly pepsin and hydrochloric acid. Then on to the gizzard for further grinding.
We had a pet talking cockatoo, which would carefully remove all husks and bran from seeds and nuts before eating the inner part only.
Humans don’t have rumens, or crops; chewing does help, but we don’t have the stomach for raw and whole foods. We are destined to do the essential preparatory work in our precious kitchens – the critical work of pre-digestion, of fermentation.
Sure, you’d have to eat a sinkful of alfalfa sprouts to actually endanger your life with canavanine poisoning, but who needs yet another toxin to combat? We have enough, in the environment alone.
Even if your food is mostly organic, when you total the daily consumption of anti-nutrients and indigestible elements from sprouts, other raw foods, quick-fermented (basically all) breads, non-fermented (all) pizza bases and pastas, biscuits and grains, unsoaked and poorly cooked beans or pulses, toxic raw nuts and mueslis, numerous other wheat and soy products, tampered-with milks and yoghurts, etc., you can get some idea of the humungous job given to our embattled, flagging immune and digestive systems, which are working overtime, and which are more vulnerable to serious violation now than at any other time in history.
That’s without any consideration of phosphates, pesticides, any other externally applied chemicals, and junk additives like msg, tvp, hvp, corn (grain) syrup or dextro-maltose, and the endless list of chemical preservatives.
This part of the narrative deals only with what naturally occurs within each plant.
For those who fear loss of vitamins, chlorophyll, etc., due to cooking, know that the chlorophyll in greens is actually enhanced for the first few seconds it is placed in simmering water, and is still available for up to 7 minutes of gentle boil. Ditto with orange veges and their carotene. There’s no need (as there is with say, dried pulses and root veges) to cook green vegetables for a long time, because they surrender their anti-nutrients quite easily. Even the ancient practise of peeling and soaking vegetables in water before cooking has a modern scientific validation. Don’t knock it.
The greatest concentration of phytates being found in, and close to, the skins, traditional wisdom told our foremothers to remove all skins and soak the veges in water for several hours prior to cooking. The peeling routs the external battalion of anti-nutrients, the long-soaking leaches out the inner brigade.
I remember seeing both my grandmothers doing this, and wondered why.
I wonder if they ever wondered too.
Water and time are the key components. Water penetrates, leaches out unwanted elements, neutralises and cleanses, so if you must use inorganic produce, long soaking will assist in removing chemical elements such as pesticide residues.
However slight the nutrient loss thru peeling, soaking and cooking, it cannot compare with what the body must expend, must waste, in order to combat ingested anti-nutrients and inadequately converted carbohydrates, sugars, fats and other nutrients.
It is possible for humans to (not actually graze, but most definitely) enjoy the green, red and orange vegetable/fruit world, to ensure their vitamin/mineral/chlorophyll and beta-carotene, etc. intake, but we must mimic the cow – beloved bovine, sublimely slow – not in the fields, but in the kitchen, the three pre-stomachs of the kitchen, via various lacto-fermentation processes and their kindred crafts – peeling, long soaking, and careful sloooow cooking.
This is necessary for our lone stomach to ably perform, for the body to thrive.
And “thrive” it does, because when we eat peeled, soaked, well-fermented, appropriately-cooked foods and avoid anti-nutrient intake, the vitamins and minerals in the food become not only fully available but also enriched, and the body experiences an enzyme surplus, a splendid satiety, a glorious plague of nutrients and anti-bodies which have been relieved of their defensive duties, free now for previously unfamiliar tasks of repair and invigoration – duties they rarely get time to perform in most modern-day bodies.
Bruce Lipton, cellular scientist extraordinaire, in his bloody marvellous new book “The Biology of Belief”, writes a chapter titled “The Biology of Homeland Defence”.
It explains how “the body has two separate protection systems, each vital to the maintenance of life”.
Put very simply, external threats are handled by the HPA axis, which ultimately activates the adrenal gland in fight or flight situations. The latter may include anything from a lion attack to a tsunami to everyday elevated stress levels.
Internal threat, which covers everything that we eat, drink, inhale or absorb, toxins from the kitchen or the atmosphere, are managed by the immune system.
Now you can see by those two job descriptions that both systems must be extremely busy, in many people, much of the time.
The crucial aspect to Lipton’s explanation is that when the fight or flight defence is up and running, it dominates all other systems, severely restricting their functioning, especially the immune, digestive, and intelligent thinking faculties.
Lipton explains “once the adrenal alarm is sounded —– the visceral organs stop doing their life-sustaining work of digestion, absorption, excretion, and other functions that provide for the growth of the cells and the production of the body’s energy reserves”.
Stressful life = extremely poor accessibility to immunity, digestion, regeneration and clear thought.
Similarly, if the immune system is heavily occupied with countering toxic dietary input, such as anti-nutrients, other indigestible elements, drugs and so on, as well as coping with everyday environmental pollutants, then quite naturally other system functions suffer.
Now when you consider that these two defence systems are being called upon constantly, it’s small wonder that we are getting sicker and sicker, but also, crucially, dumber and dumber.
When will we relax, sloooow down, laugh, eat well, have fun?
Apart from managing the anti-nutrient factor, there is an entirely separate raison d’être for fermentation – and that is the intrinsic enzymatic converting, into their nourishing, pre-digested alter-egos, of the complex starches, sugars, fats and other nutrients within all foods - elements which, without such transformative action, are not only denied us, but are also indigestible, and ultimately, toxic.
Yes, that’s right, unconverted nutrients are toxic to the human body!!
A Jekyll and Hyde scenario.
The properly cooked (or the lacto-fermented) food is imparting optimum benefit, tox-free. But what has become normal fare– as in present-day rapid food preparation – robs us of nutrients and of precious enzymes to fight the (mostly unnecessary) fight (against the toxins that same food introduces).
Lose – lose.
The other (traditional) way gifts us with accessible nutrients plus multiple enzymes – sans the fight.
Win – win.
All foods actually demand fermentation before consumption.
If we don’t do the necessary before eating, it’s gonna happen anyway, after eating. Meaning? As with the cows, fermentation of food must occur before digestion. It’s a rule of nature. Humans don’t have this facility. Chewing helps, but it’s not enough.
So, it’s all destined to happen in our stomach, which is a totally inappropriately designed for such activity.
This gaffe results in the creation of numerous gases and toxins injurious to well-being.
Further evidence of the importance of prior fermenting is revealed in the bread that I make. Because it is long-fermented (12 hours or more) at the dough stage, hence all nutrients have been enzymatically converted, it has a greatly extended shelf-life. I’ve seen loaves keep well for weeks, with little or no breakdown.
Compare this to what happens to fast breads, given the same conditions. They start to ferment, the marker of this activity being the rapid growth of fungus, and they become inedible. Ferment the bread before cooking and you will see no fungus for weeks.
Observe the bloating stomachs of African kids surviving on almost raw or poorly prepared grains. This is fermentation taking place inside the body. I saw it frequently in the 70’s commune kids and adults who fed on raw foods.
Our food, only 100% of it, screams out for pre-digestion!
Check out your own wind situation. This is fermentation happening - anyway.
An “F” in the School of Farts.
Proper mastication of foods, ie. chewing long and well and introducing saliva into our food is an important aid to the human body’s own digestive process, in that it will create more access to nutrients and less acidity, but it will not neutralize the natural toxins, the anti-nutrients in our food.
People who chew well are fortunate, but I am reminded of an excellent yarn from the great Sufi master George Gurdjieff’s classic work “Meetings with Remarkable Men”, a book, and later movie, which delighted me in the late 70’s.
GG’s love, as a young man, was to roam with several friends over much of Asia Minor and Russia seeking heightened, cutting-edge experiences and enlightened beings in an intense search for “the truth”. It is reported that he once deliberately drove a Bugatti racing car at full speed into a tree, breaking many bones in his body, just for the experience, and to see how aware he would remain. Apparently he passed his own test.
He remained conscious throughout the ordeal, and survived.
One of the journeys these wandering compadres embarked upon took them into the Turkish mountains to sit with a Sufi dervish master.
As they shared a bowl of rice around an evening fire, the master observed, with some hilarity, that George was still eating long after he and the others had finished their repast. GG had recently adopted the discipline of chewing each mouthful 50 times, and this ritual became the focus for the master to speak, giving GG (and myself as I read, for I had also been suffering the same practise) what would prove to be a powerful and welcome lesson in balance and acceptance, a slap in the face of fanaticism.
The essence of that discourse went so:
If you naturally eat fast, the body will adjust, it will create both the necessary chemical presence and the efficiency to deal with any contingency.
First and foremost, be and love what you are. Don’t force change upon what is already perfect as it is, or you will set up new and complex stresses, neuroses, and illnesses.
Do not seek enlightenment through the body, nor attempt to become healthy by imposing absurd disciplines upon it. If you are a fast eater, then be a fast eater, happily. Be yourself and all else will take care of itself. Let your body adjust to what you are, and don’t manipulate the body towards some idealistic notion of what you could, or should, be.
I cheered to tears upon reading that.
Yet another self-imposed hard time vanished.
Feb 18th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
“When will we relax, sloooow down, laugh, eat well, have fun?”
Great Question Clive. One I hope to answer myself this year. So far though, I’m failing abysmally. Any ideas any one?
Feb 19th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Jen, your post made me think! How, indeed, did ancient people remove the bran from their grains? Does anyone here have an answer?
However, I am not so sure that we have to take our cues on how & what to eat from the old testament. The OT was written for a certain population at a certain time in its history. That has nothing to do with me, here, today. Of course I am not saying all the advice contained in that book is wrong, only that there are all kinds of factors involved in what to eat. And, yes, that’s a good point - we are all going to croak some day regardless of what we eat!
Feb 20th, 2008 at 2:51 am
I have to agree and disagree with taking our cues from the OT. I believe that God gave those rules for sanitation as well as health. Our family chooses not to eat anything from a pig or seafood that does not have scales. I realize that both types of animals have certain health benefits, but they also have several unhealthy factors. Pigs dont digest things like a rumen. Food they digest is immediately placed into their muscle for energy. This means everything they eat, whether it be grain, feces, a dead animal or vegetation isn’t put through a rigorous cleansing process in the stomach. Seafood is somewhat similar. I think that God was looking out for our best interest when he gave us these food guidelines. However, today we have better sanitation (in some ways) and are able to prepare and store our food differently. I’m a big fan of common sense and listening to my body. My body has been responding very well to the bread I make with 50% unbleached white flour, after it is soaked and fermented. Usually my digestion does not agree with white flour, until now with this process. I will continue to use whole wheats and grains 90% of the time though, as I know there’s higher nutritional value. When it comes to your food guidelines, I believe that your body will tell you what it can and cant handle. I have simply found that for us, my family, we do well to loosely follow the guidelines given to us in the Bible.
Feb 20th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Well Anna, yes a lot of us a led to believe that the Old Testament has little or no relevance, perhaps we should not refer to it as the Old Testament but as the Scriptures (the world “old” seems to frame it as outdated) . It is both a historical and spiritual book and as the Oldest written historical documents, it is a wonder it is not compulsory reading. Our society today has laws based on the Ten Commandments but we don’t throw out our laws(do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery) because they were based on Old Testament. For many years I ignored the Old Testament but there is great blessing in reading it.
There is so much in the Old Testament from what happens to a society that exacts usury (interest) and how wealth concentrates in the hands of a few, without a year of Jubilee (a year when debts are released), to food preparation, hygiene and spiritual wisdom, etc.
Man did not eat bread until after Adan sinned and broke God’s law. “In the sweat of your brow, you will eat bread, till you return to the ground” It is commonly known that grain was central to the diet of early civilisations, without it we could not survive on seasonal fruit, which also does not satisfy. People did not kill meat like we do today. They had no means of refrigeration and animals were valuable for milk and textiles. Meat was reserved for special occasions or necessity. It was only 200 years ago that the potato came to become a replacement for bread and the peasants did not want to accept this food but were ordered to plant potatoes instead of grain by the nobility. Grain takes work to prepare (so with the peasants eating potatoes, they had more time to do other things for the nobility) but can stored for many years. It is a staple. Further bread is both eaten with and without leaven, with special holy days where it was eaten without leaven. Symbolic of cleansing. There is no evidence in the Old Testament that eating bread made without yeast is bad, in fact it was eaten at the Passover Feast and for 7 days in the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. Generally, though bread was eaten with yeast but the old yeast was thrown out before Passover. The Last Supper was celebrated with unleavened bread.
So the Israelites lived for thousands of years eating bread and they were a healthy people - just look at the geneology, the years they lived for and the number of children they had. There was no mention in the Old Testament of how long the bread had to ferment for, yet it is well documented how a priest should inspect for leprosy and what should be done if a person was found with leprosy. Our bodies can digest prepared grains and if it were not so, the Old Testament would have recorded it and on top of which, the Israelites would have been a sickly nation. Indeed they had no means of removing the bran from the bread - though they threashed the wheat, it would not have removed the bran. So if the Israelites ate bran in their bread and lived well, I imagine we will too.
Todays people are clogged up with years of potato and meat eating. Bread is good for your heart and the bran in the bread helps you to remove from your body all the dead cells and estrogen (excess estrogen leads to numerous health problems). Eating additional bran only clogs up your body because it is out of balance but if you grind your own flour, you can be certain that you won’t be getting too much bran and if your body feels like lighter flour, then a sifter is in order.
Feb 21st, 2008 at 10:28 am
For one, how did you know if the ancient people ate just white rice? I am from one of those Ancient groups and let me tell you we mainly used whole wheat flour for most of our dishes. I am part Indian. Yes as a young child we ate white rice, but I cannot stand it any more.
I eat only brown rice and have done for many many years now and my children will only eat brown rice and do not like white bread or white anything. In fact i find it hard to eat white rice or white bread;. My children balk at white pasta and my older daughter in particular loves, the whole spelt variety or the whole rye variety.
After such a long time of eating only brown rice, I find eating white rice a bit hard to take. Too plain in taste for me. I do not feed my family any processed cereal. That means no weetbix or fruit loops. We eat good old fashioned porridge of either the oats, barley or spelt variety, which my children love, or eggs, boiled or scrambled, brown bread for breakfast. My kids are healthy. They have no problems. But then again, they eat loads of fruits, almost $80 a week is spent only on fruit, sometimes even more and they are mostly organic. They do not snakcon artificially flavoured yoghourt, but instead eat the wholemilk natural one, and I add honey in it, for my older daughter as she loves it that way. However that is only what we do at home.
My older one goes to pre school twice a week, so where I can, I make sure nothign artificial touches her lips.
Feb 21st, 2008 at 10:33 am
And yes I soak my porridge over night before cooking too. I also soak my lentils too, over night as this peeds up the cooking process.
Feb 21st, 2008 at 10:43 am
Lacey, I have to agree with you.
Feb 21st, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Hello, Jen. I appreciate y0ur long essay on interpretation of holy scripture. I have made Clive’s long-fermented bread 2 ways: with unbleached white flour with small particles of bran and also with totally purified white unbleached. Believe me, the former - with the small bran particles - is much, much more satifying. Clive says that using all the bran in the wheat is not traditional practice and that bran, no matter how fermented, is indigestible. Maybe it is undigestible for only certain people?
Mum, you say you are part Indian. I presume you mean asiatic Indian (not North American aboriginal). I wonder if you are familiar with a fermented bread (rice & lentil) patty called idli. I am planning to buy an idli maker and take a crack at it, as I love fermenting things. (I’ve made soybean tempeh many years ago, yogurt, too - it’s all very satisfying!)
You know, I think that “what we should eat” all hinges on: how do you define tradition as it comes to food? I think that one could debate and discuss this for hours. Where does tradition start? Well, obviously, with one’s own ethnicity. But it is more complicated than that. No ethnic group, unless you are talking about some paleo tribe in Borneo or the Amazon region, has been eating the same food for thousands of years.
My own people came from eastern Europe in 1900 but when they arrived in North America they wanted to eat native North American food such as corn meal & tomatoes, as well as Oriental food such as rice - because they ate it in Eastern Europe! So, the influences of those foods were in their DNA for a few generations, and therefore in mine also. How could I possibly track down “tradition” for myself? My parents, whose reproductive cells created me, were an admixture of food influences from around the world. I cannot, therefore, even figure out what my tradition is in any pure sense. I hope you understand what I am saying, and I very much welcome your viewpoints, all of you who are reading this.
Maybe we should eat whatever we feel like eating, so long as it doesn’t make us sick. If we become ill, it may not be the food that did it, but some inherent weakness and lack of perfection & that we are all born with, according to the holy scriptures that Jen has studied (tho I am not at all religious, I don’t reject the bible completely).
Feb 21st, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Clive, I loved reading your response to Jen. So much good information in there.
Feb 22nd, 2008 at 12:51 am
Anna May, that was a great comment. I have been thinking along the same lines. What are my food traditions? Well, I have to discount what I grew up eating because that was the typical American diet for kids in the 70s and 80s–supposedly “scientific”, horrible food for the most part. Looking back on my ancestors, they come from all over Europe. Scandinavia, England, Ireland, Wales, even Italy and France way, way back. Generally, European then but from many different regions/geographies/traditions. I may have some American Cherokee blood, too. How do I know whether its oats or wheat or potatoes or corn that should be my staple grain? Well, I don’t! I can’t! Except to know what makes me feel best.
We now live in a world culture. I think it’s beautiful that our ancestries have been mixed up so much and now we are coming to a time in which we are all just HUMAN. It maybe makes it a bit more confusing, but it’s beautiful. Perhaps what God has hoped for all along? (Since we’ve brought religion into it.)
Therefore, I’ve come to the conclusion that each person or family needs to eat whatever makes them feel best. For me, Sally Fallon’s _Nourishing Traditions_ book is full of foods and ways of preparing foods that make me feel much better than I have eathing other ways. I still eat foods fairly familiar to me and haven’t tried many of her recipes yet, but what I have adopted into my life has been good. Even just looking at her book, she has a whole world’s worth of recipes in there, from many traditions and cultures. She doesn’t judge them except for their nutrition and digestibility, and she presents them for all of us to try as we wish. I think it’s a good way to look at food.
But, if those types of foods don’t work for you, eat what does.
Lisa
Feb 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 am
Yes. I am of the Asiatic stock and yes we ate idli at my grandmother’s house. I am not sure how she made it though.
Feb 23rd, 2008 at 7:47 am
According to Jeffry Gordan, a scientist at Washington University in St. Louis and his research team “The landscape of the human gut is truly terra incognita, ..The menagerie of microscopic organisms living there acts like an organ that carries out functions that we humans have not had to evolve.”
Which species of microbes live in the gut and what they do in there are just two of the many key questions that scientists are asking about this largely unexplored realm.
What I find particularly interesting about this research is that though many people claim to know exactly how the human body works and what it can and cannot digest, these resaarchers see the microbes in the gut as an unexplored area in science - indeed how our body digests food is largely a mystery. Anyone that claims otherwise, should be able to explain why the make up of microbes varies from person to person, and changes during ones lifetime. They should also be able to document the thousands of microbes and the various combinations present in each individual and their function in the human digestive system. Even David Relman and his collegues at Stanford University stopped counting when they hit 395 different species in 3 healthy people. See http://www.newsweek.com/id/73357 for the full article. (or google these names for papers and articles)
With a University major in Statistics, I can tell you that the number of permuations and combinations of microbes would mean that there an infinite number of microbe colonies to assess and determining exactly how each particular microbe works and how they work in unison with other microbes would be several lifetimes of work, and perhaps never achievable because each person has their own unique set of microbes. Research has centred on what microbes are common to obese people, in an attempt to isolate the microbes that are responsible for obesity. Like any research, there has to be a hypothesis, and the hypothesis is, that “certain microbes affect weight gain” but if the researchers’ hypothesis is “the absense of which microbes is responsible for weight gain”. The results of the research change.
Therefore, what is nourishing is largely both a religious and personal decision.
The worst thing anyone can do, is to blindly follow the advise of another person, if their body, heart and mind tells them differently.
Personally, I can say as a mother of many children that our family, rarely gets sick, perhaps a running nose for a day, now and then, usually if we’ve been up late for a number of nights. They all have well formed teeth, strong bones, athletic, full of energy, mentally fit, have great appetitites, sleep well, and have no health problems that so oommonly afflict today’s children.
People ask, why are my children healthy?
And my answer is in best said in Psalms 103
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.
19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
20 Praise the LORD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the LORD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the LORD, O my soul.
Further, we don’t go to doctors, we don’t get vaccinated, we don’t use medicines or eat processed food. We eat wholegrain foods. we are vegetarian (though the old testament people ate meat, they poured the blood on the ground and only ate fresh meat that was recently killed - that is not readily available today and I don’t think anyone in our family has the stomach for killing an animal), we don’t use the microwave, our food is sourced as much as possible from farms (perhaps one day, we’ll be able to grow it ourselves), we grind our own flour, our water is sourced from mineral springs. milk, olive oil and spelt grain from the farm. We eat organic fruits and vegetables - lots and lots of fruit.
Did we get to this lifestyle and diet overnight?
No, we made small changes, adopted new habits and saw the benefits of those changes. It is easy to go back to old habits but when our decision was sealed when I realized that what you eat represents who you are and our food should glorify the God that we worship. So that is why, we go back to the only guide that is reliable - the Old Testament scriptures. There are so many new opinions, by so called experts but even the scientists agree, the human gut is a mystery and if you choose to follow the advise of any one person, you’d be gambling that their advise was sound because you will end up reaping the results of that advise. For me, I’d put my trust in God over any research, book or article.
Anyway, thought you would enjoy the extra bit of information about the human gut and microbes.
Best wishes to all.
Feb 23rd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Your comments on the gut microorganisms was pure gold, Jen. It is because everyone has his own unique combo of bacteria that I think we really ought to be feeding what is already there instead of getting too hooked on probiotics from a jar. Whatever is going on in there is really such a great mystery and one wonder if we will ever, ever figure it out completely. However, some people are so sick they need to take probiotics. I say, never be rigid about anything.
And religious dietary and behavioural advice is like that too - some people just naturally gravitate to the holy scriptures that you love and quote, and others feel no attraction to them whatsoever. I occasionally like to use the bible to back up my opinions on something or other, rather than the other way around.
You know the saying, “You are what you eat.” My husband says, “No. You eat what you ARE.” I have come to agree with him. The spirit is there first.
How many children do you have? I started too late so only have one. Oh, well. If I could relive my life, I’d have 8 or so.
Feb 23rd, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Hi Anna,
Yes, your husband is so right, you eat what you are but you are equally as right. I have often wondered why people continue to eat from the supermarket when they know its bad for them, why when I first got married, we thought eating was buying food from the supermarket but that was who we were then - we ate what we were. As you explore and understand the world around you, you learn to chuck out the old ways and adopt new ways. The change comes from within first.
We have nine children, aged 17 to 2. So it is very lively (noisy) house. I chose to follow God when I was younger and seek what he wanted, and it kind of ended up that I had quite a quiver full. It is hard to deny His power in my life because I have very easy births - a few contractions and the baby is out - kind of like going to the toilet. I probably would never have gone down this road, of going back to a wholefood, back to basics, Old Testament diet without the children being there.
Food for me has been a journey of discovery, as much as my spiritual journey. A lot of people say to me, “we don’t have time to make our own bread or do what you do” and that is how I used to think too. Why make bread when I could buy it for $1.40. I realize that, that what I chose to eat, was a reflection of who I was then; impatient, stressed, competitive, mathematical, tunnel visioned.
As I changed on the inside, I learned to find enjoyment and satisfaction in making my own bread and food. I enjoyed both the doing and the result (though food doesn’t last long around here). I enjoyed being home, where once I was itching to be out all the time. As my diet changed, espcially riding myself of flouride, I found my mind opened up, I became more creative. Flouride makes you more docile and easily influenced and that combined with television is a bad combination. So getting rid of the flouride by eating organic, avoiding flouride toothpaste and avoiding tap water was probably what helped me turn the corner and move initially to eating organics (though not a very good organic diet - just the same sort of things we ate conventionally only organic). Then meeting other people who ate organic, trying whole lentils for the first time and loving it and learning to bake sourdough bread, make yogurt, try new recipes, etc. Now we’ve given up sugar using honey and agave syrup, pretty much given up coffee, and I have to say, the changes we have made have made have us physically fitter but also, spiritually aware and mentally sharper. So, food does influence who you are, “you are what you eat” but at the same time, you eat what you are. A dominio effect and the only way to get the first domino piece to fall, is for something to click inside.
Anna, I hope you don’t live with regret about having only one child. You have to accept that for whatever reason, that decision you made was a result of who you were then. The one child you have must be very precious to you.
Feb 29th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Wow, what an interesting, factual story. I do so want to try some bread made this way. i wonder if i can get it from maleny. truely this is amazing for me. i’ve gone from white/wholemeal to rye & sourdough in an attempt to try and feel less bloated not realising the fermentation process had such implications!! i’d make my own if i knew how.
i’m in outer brisbane & the bakeries near me are “fast” and there is such a market for the slow stuff!! i’d buy!!
Feb 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
http://www.slowrise.com.au/
Found these guys at the Noosa markets while we were there. Yummy and not hard on the tummy.
Mar 1st, 2008 at 1:36 am
Jen, you expressed a wish to some day be able to grow your own food. I hope your dream will come true. We have a veg. & flower garden and while the work is hard, there’s nothing like home-grown!
And thank you for your warm heartedness in your comments to me about having only one child. You sound quite healthy for a woman who has birthed many times. No doubt, God is on your side. I guess he is on all our sides, but our eyes are shut to this, often. Even in bad situations, sometimes you can see a little blessing there if you try. But you know all this. Fluoride is one of the worst things out there, along with aspartame. They truly are brain-damagers. And it seems that 90 per cent of the population doesn’t know or care. If you are blind, you need to be told you are blind, or else you think it’s normal to not see! First, God taps you on the shoulder, and when he has had enough, he kicks you in the a**.
We are fortunate to have Clive show us, step by step, just how to make the long-raised bread. I wonder why it is called “fermented”, though. I think there is only a minimal amount of true fermentation, but I hope Clive will step in and explain.
Mar 1st, 2008 at 8:09 am
Anna May,
The Bread Dread chapter in my book is preceded by 5 chapters of introductory text essential to comprehending fermentation. One of those I’ve published here “We are not Ruminants”, so I’m gonna place the 2 opening chapters here, then add 2 more later. Hope this helps in the undertsnading of a ferment.
INTRODUCTION
The 60’s and 70’s frenetic, fun, often-fanatical compunctions to radically alter everything from minds to diets did quite a beatup on the prevailing conservative attitudes towards food and health. Politically incorrect to the max.
My parents considered my budding vegetarianism as akin to serious drug abuse or participation in the Jonestown massacre.
First came fasting, very much like a new drug for some; colonics and enemas too, during those early clumsy rituals and highs towards the new wholeness.
Vegetarianism, then veganism gently, peacefully rampaged.
For many, purifying the body gave people their first taste of psychic, out-of-body experiences, and so the wholefood revolution had (still has) definite religious undertones.
Fanaticism could thrive.
First the body, later India.
After the initial purgings and ablutions, we bumbled and bungled a burgeoning health food scene.
Raw foods hit hard.
We wanted raw or whole wherever possible, even barely processed grains in mueslis, because we naively thought chewing 50 times made it cool. Anything was fair game, as long as it was mostly raw, as nature intended. Wholemeal bread and sprouts appeared, and entirely new cookbooks emerged.
However, as is being made clear today, it was not at all a scientific shift, yes a feelgood revolution, even an expansive time – for myself an extraordinarily welcome change from the drudgery of 20 years of burnt meat, mashed spuds, cremated cabbage, MSG gravy and cornflakes. Love ya, mother dearest, and yes, I see now that you were right; we were just a tad over the top. It is coming to light that much of the movement was ignorantly extreme.
Modern (friendly) science is now verifying that we made some fundamental flaws in the formulation of the new counter-cuisine, raw and whole foods being at the very centre of this hullabaloo. Big parts of the baby were thrown out with the bathwater, giving rise to a modern pandemic of serious allergenic ailments, compounded by unmitigated misunderstandings about all foods, especially excellent items such as wheat and milk.
RAW FOOD - RAW DEAL
“ We are not gluten and lactose-intolerant!!
Given just a tad more t-i-m-e and tending, gluten enzymatically converts to become fully digestible, creating access to the two splendid vegetable proteins of which it is made.
With lactose it’s a different tale, but easily manageable also.
We are allergic, and addicted, to the rampant rush of modern life and to the wasted haste of crucial and elementary food processes – in both the public and domestic domains. But we are also being heavily conned by a heartless and profit-rapacious medical/pharmaceutical illness industry, and its partners-in-crime, the food biz.
Yes, it’s true that a small percentage of the people do have genuine allergies, but much of blame for the current plague of food allergies contains false and perilous premises.
Since the 1950’s, we have lost the thread connecting us to an ancient culinary tradition that renders the troublesome elements – all proteins, carbohydrates, malts, etc. - not only harmless, but also maximally digestible, nutritious and delicious.
That missing traditional process is fermentation -
- its lost habitat, the sloooow kitchen.
Furthermore, there is a totally new and quite separate sphere of awareness concerning food allergens unfolding simultaneously.
Central to that revelation is what affirmative science is now bringing to light - something the ancients knew by instinct – that in all raw, whole and dried foods there are various naturally-occurring chemicals, broadly and appropriately termed anti-nutrients, which have differing roles to play in the lives of their plant hosts.
Elements not meant for human consumption, but which can be easily neutralised.
Hence, we have two demons to deal with – under-prepared, unfermented, unavailable, toxic nutrients (proteins, carbs, etc.), plus the reality of the existence of noxious anti-nutrients in all foods.
Like humans, plants too have their own protection - their complex immune systems, which are comprised of multi-various chemical elements.
These micro-sentries are always more concentrated in the skins of foods, the exterior walls, the brans and germs, but many are found interiorly also.
For example, phytates (phytic acid): Their role is to act as plant preservatives, protecting the sesame seed, the chick pea, the peach, the carrot or the spinach leaf from bacterial digestion – to stop the rot, as it were, so that the grain, vegetable or fruit doesn’t simply disintegrate on the bush – chemicals to confer a longer shelf-life, and which, when ingested, as we continually and unwittingly do, hamper our own digestive processes; and in some people, especially the young, the aged or the merely sensitive, severely so. Phytates also rob digestive systems of nutrients by binding with iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, copper and zinc, preventing the absorption of those minerals, hence the term anti-nutrients.
Phytates are found in all fresh and dried raw foods, more in some than others, the highest levels being in grains, beans, nuts and seeds, then throughout the food chain thru vegetables and fruits to bananas, which have the lowest levels. The fruits that we naturally peel contain the least anti-nutrients. I will later show how the peeling of all raw foods has a beneficiary scientific consequence.
Apart from phytates, some of the other anti-nutrients present in raw foods are:
Oligosaccharides (the flatulence factor in beans, pulses, etc.), various protein/enzyme inhibitors and phytoestrogens (some of which jealously guard the ability of each seed to germinate), goitrogens (thyroid function depressants), hemagglutinins (a clot-promoting substance that causes red blood cells to clump up), and growth inhibitors, oxalates, tannins and so on.
The gifted yet complex soya bean contains all of the pre-mentioned anti-nutrients, and more. (See later chapter “Soy Polloi”.)
Plus there are various fungi (mycotoxins and aflatoxins), which may be contracted during storage or in humid conditions.
Most of the aforementioned plant elements are not intended for human consumption.
But we do, every day, and though our bodies can cope with a little of this and a little of that, ignorance of anti-nutrients and how to simply deal with them is creating allergenic and immune system overload, and causing a major leakage of vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
About oxalates (oxalic acid), these also bind with minerals, especially calcium, rendering absorption of that mineral difficult. This can lead to the creation of calcium oxalate crystals, the chief component in the formation of the most common kidney stones. Oxalates are in most greens, raw almonds and some root veges, the highest levels being in spinach, silver beets and chards, beet tops and rhubarb.
Despite this common knowledge, the latest innovation in healthy salad mixes is the addition of raw baby spinach and beet tops. Yet another aberration – an economic ploy to fudge (expensive) bulk with (cheap) waste matter, delivering further toxins for the body to cope with. Simple cooking, even for only 6 minutes, removes the bulk of oxalic acid and retains the precious chlorophyll.
The massive increase in vitamin/mineral supplementation since the late 50’s, early 60’s, occurring almost exclusively throughout the western world, can be attributed not only to the rise of environmental pollutants, fast junk foods, obscene additives and speedy, soul-less kitchens, but also to the enormous increase in the consumption of anti-nutrients, via the tragic trend to raw, improperly cooked, whole, or inadequately-fermented fare.
And fast-food joints are no more culpable in this failure than the new, quick home kitchens of convenience.
As the nutrient content of modern-day foodstuffs is being increasingly slaughtered by earth-exterminating, non-biological farming practises, we are left with grains, fruits and vegetables that are, quite literally, but shadows of their former selves.
A recent scientific experiment found that the tomato of today contains significantly less nutrition than a tomato of 100 years ago. And of course, for good measure, a multitude of serious phosphate and pesticide-based toxins, plus weird GM entities, are thrown in.
Yet these are the foods that our health authorities insist (ably coerced by crooked science and the grocery, pharmaceutical and medical industries) contain adequate essential nutrients, and therefore vitamin and other supplementation is but propaganda.
Welcome to the illness industry.
Yet even when vitamins and minerals are ample, and pesticide-free, in say organic or bio-dynamic foods, wrong preparation and fast cooking methods still mean that we are being denied those nutrients, as well as suffering toxic input, all of which further necessitates the addition of supplements to the diet.
The essence of this story is that we no longer need to wear any of this shite.
(The basic constitutional right of access to, freedom of choice of affordable, natural supplementation is under severe threat, may soon be denied us – under the new WTO statutory arm called the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which passed a motion, at their June, 2005 Rome meeting, stating their basic working premise to be that the people of the earth “should get their nutrients from food only”!!)
Next time, 2 chapters on “BACK TO THE FUTURE - FORWARD TO THE PAST”, and “FERMENTATION - FINE ART”.
Love,
Clive Lawler
Mar 2nd, 2008 at 3:05 am
I’ve found 2 more bakeries making bread the long-ferment way:
Suffolk Park Bakery, Byron Bay. Thanx to Tom there.
Ask for the SOURDOUGH loaf only.
And:
Slow Rise Wood Fired Breads
1160 Cootharaba Road, Boreen Point, Q 4565
Tel / Fax: 07 5485 3673
http://www.slowrise.com.au/
Ciao, Clive
Mar 3rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Please note that Slow Rise Wood Fired Breads listed above do NOT sell bread from the address given, so do not call there. They have a stall at the Noosa Growers’ Market each Saturday.
Mar 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Correction:
Above notice should read SUNDAY Noosa markets, NOT Saturday.
Mar 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I appreciate reading about the bread baking in Australia, in the 1950s.
My comment:
Usually the germ of any grains and or beans in the bread or any other food are cooked that means the germ is no longer a living or anti-nutrients absorb the minerals and vitamins.
“Brown rice or whole grains;” vs. “the white rice dietary evolution” is similar in the process of evolvement to the baking of bread. It is just a way of saying that the fast prepared bread is coupled with white rice fast prepared dish.
Since many are like you share their valuable knowledges about bread baking to others; the brown rice or whole grains provide the body with valuable nutrients and health; as well.
Mar 5th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Hello, Clive! Thanks for your writing. You are so kind to share your knowledge with us, and so patient, too!
It appears to me that when rather large numbers of folk are attracted to a certain kind of food, it is serving a biological purpose. When people first glommed onto brown rice, and whole grains generally, in a big way, and did well on it, that may be because they instinctively needed the supposedly “bad” phytic acid. Why would anyone need phytic acid? Well, as it turns out, phytic acid removes calcium excesses that have been laid down in the soft tissues - and that is not where you want calcium deposited. And the brown rice and cereal-based diets helped us to discharge that.
And so it goes, too, I think, with raw vegetables & juices, etc. The people attracted to them have had a lifetime of overcooked, oversalted, overprocessed, heavily meat-based diets. The raw food regimen will clean that out, specifically targeting the liver, and is therefore healthy - so long as you know when you have attained a balance, and reduce or stop the raw foods & juices. Trouble is, people become emotionally attached to their food decisions and refuse to see that you simply cannot eat the same way forever.
I think this might be the case with the nutrient-dense meat- and dairy-based “traditional” diets. The people wanting this, and thriving beautifully, were woefully deficient in nutrients and probably weakened in digestive ability too, so what better way to obtain these nutrients than thru animal products - your body recognizes animal flesh easily and it does not need a complicated digestive process. But whether this is good for you for 40 years is another discussion.
I would welcome everyone’s opinions. Whatever you choose to eat is just fine. Personally, I have no axe to grind, as I eat day-by-day. Truly, I can’t believe I am saying this because I am so non-religious, but…God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.
Mar 6th, 2008 at 8:11 am
“Why would anyone need phytic acid? Well, as it turns out, phytic acid removes calcium excesses that have been laid down in the soft tissues - and that is not where you want calcium deposited. And the brown rice and cereal-based diets helped us to discharge that. ”
Anna, where did you read the above statement? I’ve never heard of that before. Phytic acid may remove excess calcium as you say but it will bind all the other vitamins that you want to absorb too.
I think I’d be healthier eating a nutrient-dense meat and dairy-based diet for 40 years than a raw foods one for 40 years. Lots of good meat and vegetables is the way to go with some seasonal fruit.
Mar 18th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Hello, Sue. Tks so much for responding to my post. I got the information on phytic acid from “Healing with Whole Foods” 3rd edition. Author is Paul Pitchford. No, his book is not my bible. I don’t have a bible for nutrition. The recipe section of this large book recommends neutralizing the phytic acid in grains & legumes by various methods not inconsistent with the nourishing traditions advice. He probably got his advice from the Weston Price folks in the first place. If grains & legumes do not agree with a person, properly prepared or not, he or she should avoid them, like avoiding anything disagreeable to one’s physical health or personal preferences.
It’s not an issue of choosing between a meat- and dairy-based diet for 40 years versus a raw foods diet for 40 years. We have to do what is right for our particular situation at any one time. Aren’t we fortunate that we have choices in this matter?
Even a long time ago, in western societies, anyway, a nutrient-dense meat-based diet caused cravings that were not assuaged by seasonal fruit. It went a lot farther, into the desire for alcohol and much sugar. All that meat cannot be balanced in most people by mere fruit, I am sorry to observe. The reverse is not true: people hung up on alcohol should absolutely not become vegetarians, but that is another entire discussion.
Mar 21st, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I have read the comments with great interest. Does anyone know of a bakery on the Gold Coast that sells slow rise bread???
May 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
Clive:
I am attempting to feed myself and my family a simple nutritious diet (following Sally Fallon and Schwarzbein), with ‘real’ foods, which is challenging enough with modern life and the pressure from my kids to eat what everyone else is (JUNK). My question to you is are you saying that we need to cook everything? I believed salads of various lettuces and vegetables (some cooked if necessary), with a good dressing, meat (cooked of course) and maybe cheese (pasture fed cows) to be highly nutritious and I eat this every day with a fully cooked meal at night. I believe we eat to live and the obsession with the perfect way to eat doesn’t give one a full, healthy and happy life. Also, I would have thought raw milk, cheese and butter, (which are supposed to be full of enzymes), to be a nutritious food. By the way, every time I think I am on the right track with our diet there is a different opinion to tell me it is completely wrong. I would just like to feed my family well without spending copious hours researching and finding different opinions - I don’t want my family to see a Mum trying lots of different fads. Your comments please would be great.
Jun 9th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Dear Clive,
after I read your atricle I was very excited to try this method. Both my 6 yr old son and I have been diagnosed as gluten intolerant He was very very sick and at age 5 was wearing the same pj’s and clothes he had since he was 3. We are all on the same diet now in our family and he has since thrived. Unfortunately the bread I buy is so very expensive and not at all nice to eat!! Also my Boss eats copious amounts of bread Breakfast, Lunch and Tea and then as a midnight snack. He is always bloated and has colds and coughs and the gunk he blows from his nose ewww. I emailed you article and he made the bread using you method I was a little skeptical to be honest, He absolutely loves it and all of his family also. I tried a piece and I usually know within 2 days how it has effected me a I am happy to say that I had no headaches to stomach pains no going to the loo every 5 minutes and it was so very very delicious. I have since made it at home by hand now and my family love it too. i love finding new things to cook for my family, because of Max’s and my condition I make everything from scratch simply because of the preservatives and chemicals in processed foods I have very lively healthy children and I can only imagine what their behaviour would be like it I introduced fast food, soft drink, lollies and all the processed “school food” avaliable today. I very much look foward to my newsletter each month as their is always something in here for me and my family.
Kindest Regards
Fluer
Jun 9th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
According to Sol Bread’s website, they ferment their bread a minimum of 15 hours so Clive, I don’t know where you got the info from that they “fast trak” it. Can you back that up?
Jun 9th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I am still extremely skeptical about this brown Vs white thing. I can see the logic in arguing in favour of white rice because all the countries that traditionally consume rice, eat it white. My husband (who is Japanese) says that even during the war, they put the rice in a bottle and used a stick to remove the bran. However, I don’t think the same argument applies to brown bread. I would argue that, if anything, bread is traditionally brown. On the other hand, I have heard that people with severely compromised digestive systems find it easier to digest refined grains (white bread, white rice). But surely for those of us with healthy digestions, wholegrain is fine as long as we prepare it properly.
Jun 21st, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Filippa, I like your post. Makes sense to me: if something agrees with you, it’s okay to eat it. Some can’t stomach 100% whole anything, so they might have to consume a somewhat refined version. No problem in my eyes. We are all a little different. But people do change. I used to like brown rice, then it’s like something snapped inside, and now I prefer white rice, esp. Basmati. But I eat it only occasionally. My Food Philosophy is: My wants are my needs!
Jun 30th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Clive, your info is a great find. Thanks.
My acidic digestive condition is wearing me down as it’s been on and off for a couple of years, if not longer. Once only mornings, now any time of day or night. During a previous episode I suspected my home made wheat free muesli, then last year a blood test revealed no Coeliac disease (Gluten intolerance) unlike my sister. Happily I began to eat more bread again. Things seemed ok for a while.
The reflux is now day and night. This past week, I’ve narrowed down that Oats are the worst and oddly, Wheatbix seem to be ok. This page of info has been fascinating and I’m keen to experiment beginning with soaking my oats overnight - after my current acid bout has settled.
I’m going to try Clive’s slow-ferment sourdough recipe and I’m wondering about using home milled wheat flour. This is something I’ve not done for years, but still have my mill. There was a time I would never use anything but my own flour, as it was so much superior in taste, and leaven. As my kids grew older and the day busier and more demanding, I stopped milling when products like SOL breads became available. Generally I eat SOL Bread, but I do have my fair share of other wheat based treats.
Is sifting and discarding the bran sufficient? I once preferred a more coarse flour than powdery, but should I opt for a finer grind and sift?
Think I have a load of questions now and will have to look for your book at the Mullum bookshop/library.
Jul 2nd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I found Clive’s article exactly what i needed. I know something is wrong with me apart from diagnosed illness. I continually have wind and stomach ache, which has become hour ending cramp and diarrohea. I was wondering about gluten intolerance and found the bread saga great info. I do not know how to make bread. Do i just follow a reciepe and extend the fermenting time?
I had also been making raw carrot and green bean vege juice in my juicer. I know realize i need cooked vegies. Nuts have also been a problem. Does this include peanut paste. Are seed oils out? I have been using flaxseed oil to add to my yoghurt/fruit smoothies as i am a vegetarian.
As bisciuts/cake are non fermented, how do i make them easily digestible? What flours do i use instead of wheat for cake/bisciuts? What about canned baked beans? What food additives do i look out for on labels?
I use soy milk. Is that a no no?
Jul 5th, 2008 at 5:49 am
Dear Robyn,
About food regimes, you will find your own unique harmony.
My own sojourn has led me to what I write about, and that always tweaks over time.
Yes, I feel we DO have to cook more of our foods, and curtail the fanatic reaction to RAW, but NOT, as you say, to cook EVERYTHING.
I have no doubts that long-soaking, long-fermenting and long, slow, low-heat cooking of our staple commodities will engender immeasurable benefits to the health and ease of humanity.
I have most definitely NOT indicated that raw milk, cheese and yoghurt are no-nos. On the contrary, I have devoted an entire chapter in my book to their virtues, and in that process slammed pasteurisation, homogenisation and soya milks.
I wish you well in your quest. There is no goal, only each moment along the way.
Love,
Clive
Jul 5th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Dear Fluer,
I love it that you have actually made the bread this way and have seen the benefits.
That’s all this is about - doing and seeing.
It’s not a theory about which some people thrive on arguing.
Whatever you find that suits you is golden.
Good on ya, love.
Clive
Jul 5th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Dear Anakowi,
Thanx for the feedback. For me it was a “great find” also.
My own vicious acidity levels disappeared when I started making long-ferment bread and long-soaking my oats. Plus a few other tricks too. But you are on the right track.
Home-milled flour is perfect, do it, coarse grind fine, but sift out the larger bran particles.
Please pass on the gossip of your first bread trials.
Love,
Clive
PS. My book is only in Santos’s Industrial Estate store, or direct from me.
Jul 5th, 2008 at 6:36 am
Dear Filippa,
I suggest you simply try the bread recipe yourself. Make some plain flour bread, which is not white (that’s bleached flour), but a sort of beige, which is a sort of brown, is it not?
Most “brown” breads get their colour via molasses or the addition of rye.
Your “brown bread” means that all the bran is included. Yet you would remove the bran from rice?
You’ll never know by arguing semantics. Have you tried it, like others in this column have?
About Sol’s process, at the time of writing my book, I telephoned the head bakers of both Sol and Goanna Bakeries to elicit their dough-ferment time. After some discussion, in which he first said it was “left for many hours”, I eventually gleaned that he meant it was actually ONLY the sourdough starter itself which was long-fermented, which is how sourdough is made - quite normal, BUT the actual bread dough mix stood for an inadequate 2/3 hours. Goanna’s spiel was exactly the same.
I will go thru that enquiry again, just in case there’s been a change recently.
Thankyou,
Love, Clive
Jul 5th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Dear Clive & All. I stopped making bread for a couple of months as I was so busy putting in and caring for my vegetable garden. I have been eating some good quality bread made from sprouts but they add other things also, such as concentrated gluten and a bunch of other stuff.
Well, I can tell the difference. I get that sour taste in my mouth afterwards and the next morning, too. Back to Clive’s long-raised bread for us!!! - A. May.
Jul 5th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Hi Clive,
thankyou for your advice.
In your mention of seeds/nuts….is it alright to use seed oil. I am using flaxseed oil (omega 3) as i am a vegetarian. I now know not to use my soy milk. Does that include powered soy protien that i have been adding to fruit/yoghurt smoothies to add protien to my diet? The label says easily digestible, but would it contain the bad substances? I presume that the soy sausages etc i eat are no good as they would not be fermented.
In regards to beans/legumes. I like my baked beans….navy beans. I contacted the company and they said the beans were soaked before they were cooked.
I have chronic fatigue/chronic depression/chronic anxiety and a sore belly. I am hoping what you have said will help the way i feel.
I started taking maca root, to theoretically help the fatigue and endocrine system, but just felt sick and kept feeling i was poisoning myself. The root is dried and powdered, so it would not fit the soak and cook regieme.
thankyou again, Ingrid
Jul 5th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Thanks Clive - breadmaking is on my “when I have time” list of things I would love to do. In the meantime, I am forced to rely on commercially made sourdough breads like Sol Bakery so it’s great to have up to date info on their processing methods.
Rice and wheat are entirely different grains so I don’t think they can be compared. I was merely making the comment that it’s very interesting that rice does traditionally seem to have been eaten with the bran largely removed whereas bread doesn’t seem to have the same history. I am a believer in traditions but I don’t know how traditional the brown vs. white issue is. There are some interesting letters
on the Weston Price website about brown versus white rice.
I was just putting it out there that I felt a little confused by the conflicting advice given by you and Sally Fallon. You recommend white and she recommends brown. But there’s no judgement there - just questions - and in the end, as you said, people have to try for themselves and see what suits them.
Jul 6th, 2008 at 11:39 am
INGRID,
SEE MY RESPONSES IN * CAPITALS, ‘TWEEN THE LINES, AS IT WERE.
Hi Clive,
thankyou for your advice.
* THAT’S A PLEASURE. I’M DOING MY THING.
In your mention of seeds/nuts….is it alright to use seed oil. I am using flaxseed oil (omega 3) as i am a vegetarian.
* FLAXSEED OIL GOES RANCID (=TOXIC, CARCINOGENIC) FAST IF NOT SOURCED FROM THE RIGHT PRODUCERS. ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS SAMPLE IT, AND IF IT LEAVES A BITTER TASTE, IT’S DEAD. IT WILL HARM YOU AND YOUR GUESTS. CHUCK IT. DO THIS WITH ALL OILS. ENSURE THAT ANY SEED OIL YOU BUY IS FRESH, COLD-PRESSED, NON-GMO, ORGANIC, AND ONLY FROM STORES WHO KEEP IT ON A COOL SHELF. EVEN THEN INGRID, DO NOT COOK (ESPECIALLY HARD AND LONG) WITH IT. THIS SIMPLY (& QUICKLY) CREATES THAT SAME RANCIDITY. WHY? BECAUSE OF THE LOW HEAT RESISTANCE IN ALL SEED AND GRAIN OILS, EVEN OLIVE OIL. OK, A LIGHT SAUTE, FINE, BUT THE BEST COOKING OILS ARE THOSE WITH THE GREATEST HEAT RESISTANCE, NAMELY ORGANIC MEAT LARDS, CLARIFIED BUTTER (GHEE), AND THE TOP COCONUT OILS - THE FABULOUS FATS OF TRADITION AND GOOD SENSE.
THIS IS NOT SAYING THAT NUT/SEED OILS ARE NOT BRILLIANT AND DEEPLY DIVERSE. THEY ARE THAT. STELLAR! BUT BEST TO USE THEM RAW - IN SALADS, NEAT, WHATEVER.
OR EAT THE NUT ITSELF - LONG-SOAKED.
PITY YOU CAN’T TASTE MY FATTY BROTHS, GIRL. THEY NOURISH TO THE CORE. FOR A VEGO LIKE YOURSELF, COCONUT OIL IS PRIMO, AND IF YOU CAN ENJOY GHEE, YOU’VE GOT A VARIETY OF COOKING OILS AND FLAVOURS.
BUT THEN THERE’S THE SHOPPING, FOR THE RIGHT COCONUT OIL (TROPICAL TRADITIONS BRAND), AND THE PURE GHEE (GANEESHA BRAND).
I now know not to use my soy milk. Does that include powered soy protien that i have been adding to fruit/yoghurt smoothies to add protien to my diet?
The label says easily digestible, but would it contain the bad substances? I presume that the soy sausages etc i eat are no good as they would not be fermented.
* OTHER THAN QUALITY MISO, NATTOH, TEMPEH AND TAMARI, ESCHEW SOY ALTOGETHER.
YES, AND ESPECIALLY INCLUDING THAT SOYA PROTEIN. I WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED IF YOUR GUT WILL START TO FEEL A LOT BETTER WHEN YOU DO.
With regards to beans/legumes. I like my baked beans….navy beans. I contacted the company and they said the beans were soaked before they were cooked.
* IT’S NOT EASY TO PREPARE A MEMORABLE MEAL OF DIGESTIBLE, MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH BEANS AND PULSES. I DO IT, BUT IT TAKES 3 DAYS, WITH A LOT OF FOCUS, ATTENTION TO DETAIL, AND TRICKS. FOR THIS REASON, I RECKON YOU’RE RIGHT, THAT PRE-SOAKED, PRESSURE-COOKED, CANNED NAVY BEANS CAN BE A BLESSING. AND AS YOU SAY, YOU LIKED THEM!!
I have chronic fatigue/chronic depression/chronic anxiety and a sore belly. I am hoping what you have said will help the way i feel.
* WHAT I SAY CANNOT HELP THE WAY YOU FEEL. WHEN YOU TRUST WHAT YOU RECOGNIZE TO BE TRUE FOR YOU, AND DO IT, THERE’S THE REAL HELP. IT’S IN YOU.
I started taking maca root, to theoretically help the fatigue and endocrine system, but just felt sick and kept feeling i was poisoning myself. The root is dried and powdered, so it would not fit the soak and cook regieme.
* FORGET THESE SUPPLEMENTS FOR NOW, UNLESS YOU HAVE SOME FAVOURITES THAT AGREE WITH YOU. FAR BETTER THAT YOU GET THE NOURISHING ASPECT, THAT’S THE KITCHEN, TOGETHER.
AND KEEP ASKING FOR IT. HA HA.
thankyou again,
Ingrid
* LOVE,
CLIVE
Jul 6th, 2008 at 11:59 am
FILIPPA,
THE INSPIRATION FOR MY 2 BOOKS WAS PARTLY STIMULATED BY READING, IN 2003, NOT ONLY SALLY FALLON’S CLASSIC “NOURISHING TARDITIONS”, BUT ALSO A TINY, NO-LONGER-PUBLISHED PAPERBACK BRUTE OF A BOOK, “ONE MAN’S POISON”, BY AUSTRALIAN AMY MACGRATH.
IT WAS THE LATTER WHICH GAVE ME THE CLARITY I HAVE ON WHEAT, GLUTEN, BRAN, BROWN, BREAD-MAKING, BLAH BLAH. AND SHE WORKED IT ALL OUT HERSELF, LEARNT IT ALL BY EXPERIENCE, FROM THE 60′S THRU TO 80′S - A GENIUS. IF YOU’D LIKE, I’LL SEND YOU THE CHAPTER I DEVOTE TO HER?
SALLY’S WORK IS MONUMENTAL INDEED, MAJOR, I’M GRATEFUL TO HER, BUT AT THAT STAGE OF HER WRITING, SHE LACKED THE TOTAL PICTURE, WHICH AMY’S BOOK ROUNDED OUT FOR ME, AND 5 YEARS OF “DOING IT”, IN COMBO WITH A GROWING BAND OF EXPERIMENTAL, BIOLOGICAL BANDITS, HAS ONLY ENHANCED THAT.
AND AS YOU ENDED, FILIPPA - “in the end, people have to try for themselves and see what suits them”.
BAS.
CIAO, CLIVE
Jul 6th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Hi Clive,
in an article i read, the writer states that she makes tortillas with whey. The whey breaks down the phytates in the wheat. The dough is made the night before, and used in the morning for breakfast.
As the flour needs yeast and long fermentation, would the whey really do the job?
Jul 6th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
Hi Clive,
can your nuts be put in a processor to make spreading paste? I love peanut paste.
Jul 7th, 2008 at 2:01 am
Hi Clive,
Can you tell me more about properly preparing vegetables and fruits? Which should be peeled and soaked? For how long? Many vegetables are in fact fruits - capsicum, for instance. I’ve never seen it skinned though. Is it better to skin? Should I soak it and how long? Or soak first and skin?
How do you skin something like broccoli, or leafy vegetables? Also, I’ve heard that celery is tremedously hard to digest. How is it traditionally prepared? Are the leaves usually eaten?
What’s the best way to cook vegetables to enhance the nutrients? Boil or steam? Some people cook fruit too. Is this detrimental?
You did not mention raw meat in your posts. I’m interested in what you might know about it.
Thanks!
Jul 7th, 2008 at 5:56 am
Howdy, Clive! You have me fascinated to know exactly what you mean when you say that beans require “… 3 DAYS, WITH A LOT OF FOCUS, ATTENTION TO DETAIL, AND TRICKS.”
Is it really that hard? This is what I do: 1. Soak the beans for 24 hours or more. 2. Then of course rinse & sprout slightly, just a wee bit, which, depending on the variety of bean, could take from 12 hours to 48 hours. 3. Next, I try to remove some of the husks by floating them out. Easier for some varieties than others! 4. Then cook the beans on the stove for a bit. 5. Then add mustard powder, crushed tomato in any form, lots of sauteed onions & tamari. Other herbs & spices work fine, too - ginger powder, for instance.
6. Bake in the oven for at least an hour, maybe more.
Works for us! In the meantime, if you have a moment, I’d like to know your method; it may be an improvement on mine. Thanks. - Anna May.
Jul 7th, 2008 at 5:58 am
Ooops. Forgot something! Re above bean preparation: I also add some MOLASSES and/or bit of Succanat-type sugar. Jaggery if I have it works, too.
Jul 7th, 2008 at 6:52 am
Dear Ingrid,
Forgive this opportunistic moment to make a joke, but I had to laugh at your questioning if my nuts could be put in a processor to make spreading paste. Ha ha. Don’t worry, it’s a common source of laffs.
Well, the relevant answer is YES, they can, but only if the grinding action is slow. Otherwise the heat generated kills the essential oils once again. Peanuts are NOT a nut, they are a legume, like any other pea/bean, and so require the same sort of attention to detail when being prepared for eating. IE - lo