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Thursday, February 4, 2010

In the Beginning, There Was All Natural

The other day, I went grocery shopping in a store that I don't regularly shop in. Toward the back of the store, there is a little shelf area where they place items that are reduced price or going out of stock. I happened to see boxes of cereal that had "Ezekiel 4:9" on the front. What???? I pick up the box and along with the big picture of a spoonful of cereal are the words from the Holy Bible: "Take also unto thee wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt and put them in one vessel and make bread of it..." ~Ezekiel 4:9. I can't believe my eyes. I flipped the box around and read some of the side panel: "We discovered when these six grains and legumes are sprouted and combined, an amazing thing happens. A complete protein is created that closely parallels the protein found in milk and eggs. In fact, the protein quality is so high, that it is 84.3% as efficient as the highest recognized source of protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids. Plus, there are 18 amino acids present in this unique cereal - from all vegetable sources." I was intrigued...I bought a box to try.

It reminds me of Grape Nuts cereal...with raisins. The Ezekiel 4:9 cereal I bought was "cinnamon raisin" (2 things I like) and I ate it with skim milk. In just 1/2 cup of cereal there are 190 calories, only 1 gram of fat and 7 grams of protein! Not to forget the vitamins - it's loaded. One of the BEST cereals, nutritionally speaking, that I've ever had. It's very crunchy, but if you pour your milk on it then put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, it reduces the crunch factor a little bit. Ya know, if you have dental work, you may want to take this approach! All-in-all, I thought it was not bad! It lasted me until lunch!

I visited Food For Life today to read more about them. They have many things to offer for gluten/wheat free diets, yeast free products, diabetic friendly items and products that are high in fiber. They do something called "sprouting" to their grains. What is sprouting? Well, I'm glad you asked. I pulled this from their site: "Sprouting is the only way to release all the vital nutrients stored in whole grains. The sprouting process activates beneficial enzymes which cause the grains to sprout and become living and nutrient-rich. Stores of vitamins and minerals dramatically increase over the amount available in flour. Sprouting also converts the carbohydrates in grains into maltose, which is ordinarily done by the body during digestion, thereby predigesting nutrients for you. The enzymatic action enables the body to assimilate the vitamins and minerals more efficiently. Plus, the sprouting process naturally increases the protein content and decreases the calories and carbohydrates found in the original grain." Do you think they did this in the days of Ezekiel? Nonetheless, it's getting closer to all natural eating.

Personally, I believe I should be getting closer to the original state of the food - it's natural state. For example, in our house, we ask the kids: "Did God make the powdered cheese that goes in the macaroni and cheese from a box?" Well, no. We believe that God DID make the cow that gives the milk for cheese. God created the grain that is harvested and made into noodles. So we make mac'n cheese with whole grain noodles, real butter, milk and cheese. In addition to getting closer to the original state of the food, we are going to get our vegetables from a farm this year instead of the store. We are participating in a CSA(community supported agriculture) with a local farm and all our produce will come directly from the farm for 20 weeks. We also have a ton of deer meat in the freezer - the leanest meat you can get - thanks to JT's hunting abilities. We are stocked up for quite a while in that department. Talk about original state of the food...and all-natural!

I'm inspired! I really want to know more about where my food is coming from, how it's being raised and that it is being raised for flavor, not for shelf-life. I'm not surprised that healthy living and balanced nutrition is found in the Bible - after all it's where it all started (IMHO).

2 comments:

  1. What's the Fiber content in that cereal?!

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  2. Fiber content is 5g per serving and serving size is 1/2 cup.

    ReplyDelete