Whole grains: diet of millenary peoples

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By pro_admin

Every day there are more studies that refer us to eating habits as responsible for many of the diseases we suffer. That if much sweet, possible diabetes; that if a lot of fats, high cholesterol and therefore hypertension, heart disease, liver disease … blah, blah, blah… And doctors and specialists are right, but in the midst of so much information we get lost and end up wondering, in short, what we should eat.

Good nutrition is as simple and natural as possible

Many times these studies are manipulated and put according to the market. We need responsible institutions committed only to the health of people that tell us, more or less, where the truth is going. But in the meantime it is a good idea to keep our minds active and let the common sense act that generally chooses to feed us in the simplest and most natural way possible, always endorsed by the traditions of the peoples who, after countless mistakes, ended up learning the correct way to nourish themselves.

Whole Grains

Wheat, for example, is Europe’s main food; rice, that of the East; corn, that of the American Indians; buckwheat, that of the Saracen people settled in Siberia and the mountainous regions of the East. Quinoa was a favorite of the Incas; millet, from the Aztecs and Mayans and sorghum, from the African peoples.

In short, on whole grains and their various ways of cooking, rests the diet of these millenary peoples. And since in this XXI century everything requires a scientific explanation, here is one of them:

The ratio Sodium / Potassium (Na / K according to the chemical symbology) in these basic foods is relatively similar to that of seawater, source of life, and also to that of the internal fluids of humans, be it blood, lymph or brain fluid. Brown rice, for example, has a ratio of 1 part sodium (NA) to seven parts potassium (K), similar to that of blood and “coincidentally” few dishes are as beneficial as this one of easy and effective digestion.

Soy milk powder, for example, so fashionable these days, has the excessive ratio of 3 milligrams of sodium to 1680 milligrams, that is, a Na/K ratio of 1/560. No wonder then the acid whey from soy milk and soy bagasse, is highly indigestible, intestinal gas forming and also harmful to the kidneys.

And it is not that soy is bad, but that it must be consumed in the right way. Miso, for example, if it is of good quality, and natural shoyu, require a fermentation process ranging from 12 months to 3 years, a period in which the acidity of the soybean is modified and the bacilli induce changes in proteins making them more easily assimilated. That is why miso and shoyu are used daily in all parts of China, Japan and Korea, but grain in its most natural variants.

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