There are many types of cereals and it is important to vary them each day, because there are many different nutritional values that complement each other giving our body all the necessary nutrients.
In addition, if we eat the same food every day a form of addiction is created which causes less nutritional advantages because our body becomes too accustomed to it, with the risk of becoming intolerant in the future (such as with gluten-rich foods).
Every cereal contains optimum nutritional values, is rich in minerals and vitamins and has good quantities of protein.
Rice, also well known, is better as wholemeal, is good for losing weight and is easily digestible, likewise quinoa, a cereal with a high protein content and rich in calcium and millet which is cleansing and rich in minerals.
Spelt is suitable for sporty types as it contains few calories but helps to increase muscle mass and it invigorates muscles, as oats do, which are a great strengthener. Also we have barley which is refreshing and beneficial to the nervous system, and then there is rye which stimulates the metabolism and is energising.
Amaranth, good for the heart and liver, buckwheat (that, in spite of the name, is not actually a grain but for its characteristics is associated as one) is warming and mineralising.
Last but not least we have kamut, which is an ancestor of wheat, and maize, another well-known cereal, with relaxing properties that is used mainly to make polenta flour or sweets, and to make gluten-free pasta, as rice, millet, amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat can also do.
Recent developments have also shown that also oats are to be considered gluten-free although up to not long it was considered to be a cereal containing some gluten likely due to the fact that when it was cultivated it became contaminated with wheat, rye and spelt
Dehusked or pearled grain?
Pearled grain goes through a kind of process of refinery that takes away the outermost coat, while the ones that are de-husked are simply picked as they come, and so they are to be preferred to pearled grain.
If however we consume food coming from farms that use chemical fertilizers (to be avoided in any case!) it is better to favour the pearled grain as most of the chemical residue is found on the external husk.
Another advantage of pearled grain is that it does not require soaking as other types of cereals do.
Gluten
The graph shows the average amount of gluten content of various cereals. Wheat contains the greatest quantity.
Gluten is the wheat protein. The name comes from gluten which means 'glue' and it is the gluey part of the grain, the part that with a bit of water holds the flour together during the preparation of bread and pizza.
Some cereals without gluten might state on the package âMay contain glutenâ due to the fact that it is produced industrially in a factory where other types of cereal are also produced and runs the risk of coming into contact with other grains or flours that do contain gluten, for example a production line that works on other cereals.
For those who are intolerant even to the tiniest contact, this can bring about nasty side effects such as cramps and intestinal pains.
Then there are those who are not so sensitive to the ingestion of this protein in tiny amounts, but if taken in regularly they can be left feeling tired, drowsy and bloated.
Even those who do not have an intolerance should however reduce consumption, because consumption every day year in year out increases the risk of becoming intolerant.
If we have to avoid gluten, we should not only be aware of food containing this protein, such as crackers, bread sticks and rusk, but also anything with a breaded covering such as cutlets of meat or fish, fried food and even many vegetarian foods that are usually prepared with soya or wheat.
Not to forget beer, which contains malt in other words barley and certain liquors. We need to be careful with puddings, biscuits, certain types of ice cream and yoghurt and try to find gluten-free alternatives or prepare delicious dishes.
It could be trying to start with, but there are always more and more gluten-free products coming onto the market, clearly marked as such on the packaging, so you don't have to waste time at the supermarket, and once you have got the correct product in your hand things are a lot more simple.
Even if we are not gluten intolerant it is best to limit its consumption but not cut it out altogether.
Honey and Fruit
Fruit can also be considered a carbohydrate as it contains fructose, which is a sugar that is naturally present in it. Fructose consumption does not cause glycemic peaks, because like all natural things it is balanced. However it is best not to exaggerate its consumption and, if we had to choose between the two we would include it with the complex carbohydrates.
On the other hand honey is assimilated rapidly, it has excellent properties but high quantities of fructose, so it is best not to have too much of it. It is, however, certainly better to use than sugar.
Simple Carbohydrates
Simple carbohydrates rapidly release sugar into the blood causing sudden fluctuations of glycemia.
This results in dangerous peaks and the consequent collapses of energy, causing weakness, hunger, a longing for sugar and coffee, which in the long run causes weight gain and for whom is predisposed, diabetes.
Sugar is quintessentially a simple carbohydrate; it is easily and quickly digested, creating the above mentioned fluctuations.
Bread and pasta, which we regularly consume, are also derived from white flour.
We include in the same category biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks, that should not be consumed too often.
In addition, having lost all the valuable nutrients in the refining process, pasta is less filling and we then tend to eat a lot more of white pasta than wholemeal pasta, consequently gaining weight.
For this reason diets that avoid carbohydrates and prefer proteins are fashionable at the moment, but this is a big mistake because as we will see in the chapter on proteins, an excess of simple carbohydrates causes weight gain and in the long run problems with the liver and kidney.
As with all things one has to make compromises.
Be careful also with caffeine and tobacco; they also cause glycemic fluctuations.
To sum up; the refining process that foods are subjected to causes a loss in their nutritional value.
Challenge °2
As we have learnt, most of the food we consume is a result of a lengthy process of refinery which makes it more tasty but decreases the nutritional value, so we risk not only in failing to maintain our ideal weight, but also, even worse, developing problems with our health.
The first challenge consists of substituting, every so often, the foods which we are used to eating with wholemeal foods such as bread and pasta.
At first we might not like them, as we are accustomed to a more delicate flavour, but it is just a question of developing new habits.
So consider opting for whole wheat bread and pasta, or variants like kamut pasta or spelt, or something new we want to try. We can also try to substitute every now and again rice salad with grains of spelt, millet, oats or amaranth and experiment with new varieties and new flavours that are beneficial to our organism.
Chapter 3
Protein (what are they and what do they do?)
Protein structures
Vegetable protein
Animal protein
Today's farming
Meat
Milk
Eggs
Fish
Becoming a vegetarian
Challenge n°3
âThe extreme aversion that some adults and many children show towards meat of any type is attributed to Fitch and an atavistic tendency, namely a primitive survival instinct from our prehistoric ancestors who did not eat meatâ
John Harvey Kellog
Protein
Proteins are the structural elements of living organs, meaning that they are the materials that make up cells; they are in fact composed of protein muscle and some of our organs.
Every day the proteins that we ingest are used to reconstruct our cells, produce hormones and antibodies, but, contrary to what we are used to thinking, the nutritional basic need of man is limited when it comes to protein. Protein, in fact, should make up only 10-15% of our daily food intake because it can influence our health and how we age.
The fact is, if an excess of carbohydrate is turned into fat, the protein does not get stored; whatever there is in excess gets expelled, forcing the liver and kidneys to work hard: In the long run, this tires them out and damages them, leading to illness and problems of various types.
For this reason an excessive consumption of protein is destructive, and in addition certain types of protein from animal sources are more acidic and difficult to digest.
For this reason acidification makes us more tired, with inflammation and an increase in free radicals, which are substances to be found in food that can cause various types of illnesses, early ageing and baldness (we will talk about this in our final paragraph).
It is scientifically proven that our needed daily intake is very limited and that it is more than sufficient to take 0,75 gr of proteins for every kg of body mass; so if we weigh 75kg, our daily protein need is about 56 gr of proteins.
In conclusion, therefore, we can say that it is not the lack of proteins that is a problem but the opposite - an excess of them.
Protein structures
Proteins are molecules made up of chains of amino acids, of which there are twenty in total. Eleven of these are not that fundamental to our body because our body produces some on its own, while the other nine are essential because we can only get them through food (two in reality are semi-essential because they are only important during our growing phase).
Proteins are divided into animal protein and vegetable protein.
Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids while the vegetable ones, although containing all of the twenty, can have little or few of the essential elements.
For this reason meat has always been considered as providing a complete source of protein.
The essential amino acids present in cereals and dry fruit complement themselves with the amino acids present in pulses; therefore, their complete characteristic is calculated on the basis of our daily intake and not on a single meal. The problem, however, does not exist for vegetarians that follow a balanced diet (in addition spelt and quinoa contain all the essential amino acids and if we eat pasta and beans, for example, we would have a dish with all the amino acids required.)
Recent studies, moreover, indicate that glutenin (a protein present in cereal seeds) contains all the essential amino acids as are present in animal protein. It goes without saying that the myth of complete or incomplete protein no longer exists.
Vegetable proteins
As we have just seen, proteins from vegetable origins present in pulses (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, soya, broad beans) can be considered incomplete, missing of one or more of the essential amino acids, but as we have just mentioned the magic aspect of nature is that they complete themselves with dry fruit proteins and cereals giving us a guaranteed necessary daily protein dosage.
The most difficult part to digest in pulses is their skin, the dry ones need to be soaked (between 8 to 10 hours) then cooked for a long time to make them soft and more digestible.
Adding carrots, celery, onions and alba kombu during cooking makes it all the more digestible.
Spices also come to the rescue; ginger, for example, aids digestion, while oregano and basil help to avoid feeling bloated.
Dried fruit and seeds are also a good source of proteins.
So, if we choose to follow a vegetarian diet there are fundamental foods to include in our alimentary regime.
Lentils are certainly the pulses that contain the least fat, peas provide energy and are perfect for sporty types, beans are rich in fibre, chickpeas are rich in minerals and broad beans full of antioxidants.
Soya bean on the other hand is the pulse with the highest protein value and it comes into use for a wide variety of dishes in vegetarian cooking, being in the form of milk, yoghurt, burgers and cutlets. Let's not fall into the trap of exaggeration; we must always vary our food. If we drink soya milk followed by soya yoghurt, later on a soya cutlet and finish with a soya dessert we are more or less eating the same food but in different forms.