Breakfast....The most important meal of the day!
by Heather
As a kid, I ALWAYS wanted my mom to buy the sweetened cereals at the store....everyone else got to eat sugared cereal! But nooooooo, I got Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, plain Cheerios and Wheat Chex. On the random and rare occasion that mom got Honey Nut Cheerios, my older brother and I would happily look at each other and try to figure out what the chain of events was that lead to this delightful purchase....with intent to reproduce them in order to get the blessed sweet cereal again. We never figured it out. :( That's OK because it at least trained me to not like sweetened cereals. I vowed (I'm sure MANY times...dramatically, no doubt) that, "When I get married and have my own family I WILL buy (insert random sugar coated, boxed cold cereal) for breakfast." Totally true. Guess what one of my first grocery purchases was as a young, married lady? Yep, sweetened garbage in a box! Did I like it? Heavens no! Did I eat it all? You know I did! I spent hard earned money and by golly, it was the principle! Again, totally true. I've often said that I married a granite mule, (I love you, honey!) but I do believe that I can be just as bad. Shhh, don't tell him I said that!
I'm certainly glad that I never acquired the taste for those things. It has been easier to prepare delicious, nourishing breakfasts. I'm going to quote Sally Fallon in her AWESOME book, Nourishing Traditions regarding breakfast.
"Whole grains that have been processed by high heat and pressure to produce puffed wheat, oats and rice are actually quite toxic and have caused rapid death in test animals. Breakfast cereals that have been slurried and extruded at high temperatures and pressures to make little flakes and shapes should also be avoided. Most, if not all, nutrients are destroyed during procession, and they are very difficult to digest. Studies show that these extruded whole grain preparations can have even more adverse effects on the blood sugar than refined sugar and white flour! The process leaves phytic acid intact but destroys phytase, an enzyme that breaks down some of the phytic acid in the digestive tract."
Next, my FAVORITE!
"In 1960, researchers at Ann Arbor University performed an interesting experiment on laboratory rats. 18 rats were divided into 3 groups. One group received cornflakes and water; a second group was given the cardboard box that the cornflakes came in and water; and the control group received rat chow and water. The rats in the control group remained in good health throughout the experiment. The rats receiving the box became lethargic and eventually died of malnutrition. But the rats receiving the cornflakes and water died before the rats who were given the box-the last cornflake rat died on the day the first box rat died. Before death, the cornflake rats developed schizophrenic behavior, threw fits, bit each other and finally went into convulsions. Autopsy revealed dysfunction of the pancreas, liver and kidneys and degeneration of the nerves in the spine-all signs of "insulin shock." The startling conclusion of this study is that there is more nourishment in the box that cold breadfast cereals come in than in the cereals themselves. Loren Zanier, designer of the experiment, actually proposed the protocol as a joke. But the results are far from funny. They were never published and similar studies have not been repeated. If consumers know the truth about breakfast cereals, vast fortunes would be jeopardized." "For a new generation of hardy children, we must return to the breakfast cereals of our ancestors---soaked gruels and porridges."
Soooooo.......what's for breakfast? We have some crazy easy whole grain recipes for delicious, no fuss breakfasts that everyone will love! Plus, I encourage you to eat (pastured) eggs, bacon and sausage. Cover your breakfast cereals (the good ones!) in fresh, raw cream and real butter. The porridges marry very well with them and the fat-soluble activators provide the necessary catalyst for mineral absorption. Remember, we need fat.....and properly prepared whole grains.
Stay tuned for breakfast recipes!!!
Happy eating!!!
Jen & Heather
