Childhood memories of whole wheat bread were not among my favorites.  Maybe your experiences are much the same.  Whole wheat bread was dry, heavy and gritty.  Years later, with the needs of my own family to consider, I became more conscious of the foods I was choosing.  I knew the white bread I was buying had no nutritional value at all.  We made the switch to wheat bread.  It was not appreciated by my family (!) but they ate it anyway - even if it was store bought.

I learned much about whole grains and in particular - whole wheat during the next few years.  If you have ever baked with whole wheat flour, you know that it can create a very heavy, dry product.  That’s why most recipes use a blend of wheat flour with other lighter flours.

Whole Wheat - Rich in Nutrients

Whole wheat berries are made up of 3 parts: the bran, germ and endosperm.  Whole wheat flour uses the entire grain - rich in calcium, protein, iron, fiber and containing multiple vitamin and mineral properties.

Refining Whole Wheat Grain Removes Nutrients

During the process of refining the whole wheat berries, 40% of all nutritional value is lost.  Refined flours contain only the endosperm.  Most of the bran and germ (where the bulk of nutritional value is) have been removed.  Often you’ll see the  word ‘enriched’ stamped onto bread labels - making you think it is far better.  Truth is - everything of value has been processed out.  Only a small fraction of nutritional value has been added back in and that little bit of value is no longer in its natural form.

Finding a way to use the whole wheat grain in order to make bread my family would love was my biggest problem.  I did make homemade bread quite often, but the flours were mostly refined and - for the most part not nutritious.  I used unbleached flour - thinking that it was much better - only to find out that it was still refined flour.  My attempts at making whole wheat bread left a lot to be desired.  The bread was dry and had no shelf life at all.  We usually ate it the same day and threw the rest away.

It all changed the day I heard about a way to make whole wheat bread that was moist, flavorful, chewy and had a counter life of nearly 5 days!  Life has never been the same.

The Bosch Kitchen Mixer and Wonder Mill

Up to that point, baking my own bread meant at least 5 hours of tending.  The time factor alone made it near to impossible for the average working family to even address the possibility.  When I saw the Bosch mixer in action I was impressed. This is not a bread maker.  It is an actual kitchen mixer with a powerful 800 watt motor that kneads the bread for you - developing the gluten (a stretchy protein) in the wheat, making it soft and light.

Imagine the health benefits of freshly ground wheat berries, still warm from the grinder and rich in nutrients, immediately made into the softest, chewiest and most flavorful bread you have ever tasted.  Are you ready for the best part?  In 2-3 hours - from the moment you begin grinding the wheat, to taking 4 loaves of bread out of the oven and mess cleaned up, you can be enjoying your own nutritious bread.  The Bosch mixer and the Wonder Mill grinder are two of the most amazing things I have ever purchased.

When you consider your nutritional health, think about one of the most staple products in your pantry - bread.  You eat it nearly every day.  Why not choose bread that is loaded with nutritional value, has no preservatives but still boasts a 4-5 day counter life and costs only pennies to make?  You’ll never want to buy another load of store-bought bread!

I am amazed at the number of people who look for the quick fix and just want to take a pill for every ailment and problem. They want to be better - now. They don’t have time to be sick. What they maybe don’t realize is: the chances of having to take another pill to offset the side effects of the first one are greatly increased. Once on that roller-coaster, it’s difficult to ever get off.

We live in a world of push-button technology. Life is fast paced and hectic. Is it any wonder that we many times choose the easy way out - the road that is nicely defined and paved? We think we understand prescription drugs. We just pop a pill to make it better - never mind wondering about what really caused the situation in the first place.

New Diet Pill in the Making

Talk of a potential new drug for weight management is yet one more way we are going for the easy fix. I will not argue the point that we have a very real problem. But, I will argue that it might not be the best way to fix the issue. There are exceptions to every rule, but in the vast majority of cases, weight management is more than just a problem with weight.

Lifestyle Can Impact Your Weight

It’s a problem with lifestyle and education - priorities and health. At the very core of most weight problems is simply the result of living the fast paced life for far too long. We have forgotten what it means to have healthy, home cooked meals. Come to think of it, we’ve forgotten what it means to HAVE a real meal at home - period.
When I happen to mention home cooked ‘sit down as a family’ meals to my students just in passing conversation, their eyes almost glaze over - like I have just spoken in a foreign language. Do you want to hear something really sad? Most of them cannot ever remember sitting down to a family meal. Then it’s MY turn to have my eyes glaze over.

Preventive Health Instead of the Pill Trap

Is it any wonder we are falling into the ‘pop a pill’ trap? What about addressing preventive health before it becomes an issue? Finding ‘health’ naturally is not a quick fix. One just doesn’t ‘find’ health. It is a process of learning how best to support your body on a daily basis - beginning in childhood. This is one roller-coaster ride you never want to take.

Are You Really Healthy, or Do You Just Think You’re Healthy?

Health is most commonly defined as the absence of symptoms of illness. I have talked with countless people about health. Most of them adamantly profess to be healthy. However, they usually follow it up with a statement like: Well, I do take prescriptions to treat my ______, but I’m totally healthy. The interesting thing is: they don’t perceive taking prescription drugs to be contrary to healthy. It’s the normal thing to do. Everybody takes prescriptions…..don’t they?

Let’s say for a moment that you are one of the few who don’t take prescription drugs - that you are actually symptom free. Does this mean you are healthy? My answer is: maybe. The fact that you are symptom free simply means that you are not experiencing any symptoms of illness! It is a well known fact that many types of illness lie quietly for years before symptoms manifest.

The Communication Super Highway and Health

Sickness and disease happen when there is an interruption in the communication super-highway within your body. This was quite a new thought for me a few years ago. I truly did not relate sickness to something that happened as a result of a mis-communication within my body!   I thought I just ‘caught’ a bug.

Your body’s ability to fight off sickness - your body’s ability to prevent disease is directly related to how good that communication line is. And sadly, one only has to look up statistics of how many people in our world take prescription drugs to realize that the communication is not all that good.  So, how healthy are you really?