The World’s First Bionic Burger
By Mr Blue

www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyDXH1amic

Wheat is Not the Staff of Life Anymore

Perhaps at one time, when produced in the area in which you lived and processed with a stone grinder, wheat sustained life. Now, for most individuals, it fosters illness.

Wheat is found in numerous products. It’s ubiquitous. Since I educate myself by being a label reader, I’ve been astounded to find that wheat is in so many foods. I eat essentially no wheat, by choice, so this really got my attention.

When asked, I’ve often suggested that an overweight person stop eating wheat. In every case the person followed my suggestion, the results were phenomenal. I’ve also suggested to people with a variety of other conditions that they eliminate wheat. And when they’ve done so, they’ve also experienced profound results for the specific condition as well as other conditions they had come to accept as "normal."

I suggest 100% elimination of wheat to truly test your tolerance or intolerance. Whether you’re overweight or have aches and pains and other physical complaints, likely you’ll find symptoms and discomforts will dissipate with the elimination of wheat. This is not an easy task. However, if you abstain 100%, you’re likely to experience at least minimal or moderate positive results in as little as three days.

Wheat comes processed with other substances, most of which are tasty, addictive, and debilitating. Food manufacturers typically use salt, sugar, wheat, dairy, and msg in their products, all of which are known to be addictive. Add to that the fact that the products are cooked so they arrive in an unnatural package, free from the enzymes that help you to digest the foods properly.

Refined Sugar is not Sweet for Your Body or Emotional Well Being

When talking about sugar, I like to be as clear as possible that I mean "refined sugar" or "processed sugar." I understand that the worst of all the refined sugars is high fructose corn syrup — the cheapest and most used. The names chosen by the food industry are extensive. To educate yourself, I suggest you do a Google Search for Names of Sugar.

Many of the sugar substitutes are as devastating to the person wishing to lost weight or get healthy because they make the body hungry for the very foods that add excess weight to the body. Again I recommend a trip to Google for a Search for Sugar Substitutes and Weight Gain.

Natural Substitutes for Processed Sugar

Natural sugar is found in fruits and other plant foods. If you’re both overweight and diabetic, you need to be careful of these as well. And don’t be fooled simply because a sugar is derived from a plant food; it matters how the sugar is extracted. If heat above 118 degrees is applied, it’s not longer raw and natural. U. S. labeling laws allow the indiscriminate use of the word "natural," so that it has no real meaning on the shelves.

Here are some sweeteners that are generally good for your health. Moderation and other dynamics need to be taken into consideration. Look for organic items that are raw for greatest health.

With minimal commentary, they are: stevia (which is sold as a supplement rather than a sweetener), dates, dried fruit, mesquite pod meal, carob, Xylitol, yacon syrup, honey (usually not either raw or vegan). If you have problems with sugar, not all these are appropriate.

Glycemic Index

According to the Home of the Glycemic Index, "The glycemic index (GI) is a ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to the extent to which they raise blood sugar levels after eating. Foods with a high GI are those which are rapidly digested and absorbed and result in marked fluctuations in blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods, by virtue of their slow digestion and absorption, produce gradual rises in blood sugar and insulin levels, and have proven benefits for health."

I believe that the Glycemic Index is a somewhat helpful indicator, especially for anyone who is overweight or has some blood sugar condition. It’s probably more helpful to think of it as a GENERAL indicator or comparison than an ABSOLUTE indicator.

At the above web site, you can search the GI Database for your favorite foods or types of foods.

This site is definitely not geared to the raw foodist! I just checked out "lettuce" and it gave me seven results, none of which was lettuce alone, but in combinations of foods for typical American meals.

I did, however, have a slightly better set of results searching for "carrot." With twelve results, one was actually "Carrots, raw"!

So, use it if it’s helpful, but take it with a grain of … sugar.

Substitutes for Wheat

Unfortunately, many of the new processed foods that are promoted as "gluten-free" or "wheat-free" are rarely good for those who want to be free of gluten or wheat. While they may be lacking gluten or wheat, they’re often filled with other highly processed grains, like corn and/or rice, in forms that take you off the charts on the glycemic Index.

I just searched for "gluten-free" to find that one of the twenty-seven returns has a GI of 102. This is quite revealing, since the scale when originally calibrated was based on 1-100. Now, certain foods are beyond what was once considered to be the highest on the chart.

As far as I’m concerned, grains have no place in a raw food diet. Since they need to be cooked to be palatable, they’re not raw. You get to choose whether or not to eat wheat or other grains. Typically, the most difficult food for most raw foodists to give up is bread. For those who have severe negative reactions, it’s self-evident to abstain.

An Overarching Choice

As I mentioned in Lose Weight with Raw Foods, I advocate selecting one rule or principle to follow that makes all the daily choices easier. The focus of that article is using raw foods for their slimming effect because I was responding to a reader’s specific question.

However, the principle is the same for any set of choices, especially when you want to make a change in a habit, such as increasing the amount of raw food in your diet.