HOW TO BUY GRAINS

For barley, buckwheat, millet, oats and rye, buy only HULLED, without its outer husk. Don’t buy them UNhulled. You can’t eat grain hulls, they’re tough indigestible cellulose with no nutrients.

With unhulled barley, rye, oats, you can see the outer husk. With millet, it’s hard to see – if it looks crunchy, it’s not hulled. The millet must look and feel soft. Unhulled buckwheat has a dark brown shell, so it’s easy to spot.

For amaranth, corn, kamut, quinoa, rice, spelt, teff, and wheat, there's no outer husk or shell. Corn I found too hard to sprout or cook, so I stuck to popcorn.

To grow the grain into grass for juice or chewing, buy only unhulled.

Kamut is an ancient form of wheat, an heirloom grain rich in unsaturated fats and protein. Many gluten- and allergy-sensitive individuals can eat it without the adverse side effects of wheat. It sprouts beautifully.

Spelt is a relative of wheat, also tolerated by people with wheat or gluten allergies. Many celiacs can eat it. Test for reactions with a small portion first. Uniquely, its fiber is water-soluble and dissolves easily when you sprout it.

HOW TO COOK GRAINS

Bring 3 cups of water to a boil, pour one cup of grain into the boiling water, bring to a simmer then lower the heat to the lowest possible setting on your stove. Place lid on top and leave to cook gently on low and slow. One cup serves 2 or lasts one person for 2 nights.

Through experience, you’ll get to know the different times for different grains, e.g. one hour for whole barley (use more water here), half-hour for brown rice, 20 minutes for millet, depending on how low your stove will go, and how crunchy or soft you like it. The more water, the softer it cooks.

Add a chunk of seaweed to simmer with the grain. Kombu and whole kelp are good. Seaweed gives more alkaline minerals to balance the acid grain, and adds a salty full flavor.

Never stir grain while it’s cooking. When it’s cooked, remove it from the pot so it won’t expand and sweat, making it wet and tasteless.

Don’t refrigerate left-overs. Eat within 24 hours. It’s okay if the grain ferments a little overnight, it’s more digestible then. But don’t eat if the fermentation has gone too far.

An easy way to cook whole grains is in a thermos flask. Use one cup of grain to 2-3 cups water (experiment with different grains). Pour grain into thermos, boil water in a kettle and pour it onto grain, screw the stopper on, and leave for a few hours.

Oats you can eat raw or cooked. They’re the only grain where you don’t have to sprout them first, to eat raw. Grind whole oat groats in a coffee-nut grinder, then soak for a half-hour or more before eating, e.g. with a chopped banana. To eat cooked, grind and soak for half-hour, then simmer on the stove for three minutes to bulk out the starch.

To make grain crackers or bread, please see Raw Recipes here with Dehydrator. To get back to this page, click on your Browser’s back button.

Popcorn is quick to pop in a popcorn popper, no clean-up. I pour a little raw cold-pressed almond or flax oil onto my popcorn, then seasoning such as barbecue, pizza, or a veggie salt.

Popcorn is the quickest whole-grain meal of all. I used to eat it often, but now only once every few months.

HOW TO EAT GRAINS

Then maltase, an enzyme in the mucosal surface of your gut, splits up the maltose pairs into single sugars of glucose which your blood can absorb. Ah maltase, you great heart-breaker, turning couples into lonely singles.

If you eat too fast, straight starch hits the maltase enzymes, and they can’t act on it. So the mucosal surface secretes mucus to prevent the starch from sticking to it. The starch is “mucoid-forming” and we all know what excess mucus looks like – sinusitis, allergies, runny nose.

As to the Whites, my junk-food rule was: “Can I last 24 hours without it?” If yes, I ate Energy Soup or whole grains, or a salad. If no, I ate the junk.

Just for today. It’s a day at a time. One day you find you’re free. First I’d go one day without sugar, then three days, then ten days. I’d swing back to the biggest binge imaginable, but I’d given my cells a chance to cleanse and balance. Every day you are strong, your cells grow a little stronger.

Dr. Phil says it’s not about will-power or making decisions. If you’re anything like me, then the more you decide to eat right, the more you eat wrong.

It’s about re-engineering your life. Keep several air-tight glass jars of grains and sprouted grain crackers, and throw away all cookies, cakes and chocolates.

Install a Sprouter in your kitchen for fresh greens daily. Keep bags of pre-washed green leaves and baby carrots in your refrigerator. I buy the vacuum-packed bags of leaves and reach into the packet to munch. When you crave sweet, turn to fruit, greens, carrots or grains.

When eating junk, buy only enough for one day. That’s re-engineering. Make it a Big Hassle to eat junk, and make it Quick + Easy to eat whole foods.

You know the junk will unbalance you and keep you wanting more.

“One is too many, a hundred is not enough”

Grains and greens will balance you, and give you Life.