Hidden Dangers In Refined Grains

In last week’s Health Tip, we began our study of grains by stating that even whole grains, when cooked become dead foods! Why? Because they have had their life force removed by the simple act of cooking. This is true of any food that has been cooked! We also provided a little experiment anyone can do to prove cooked foods become dead foods by cooking them. This week we will talk about refined grains, and we will begin by defining what a “refined grain” is.

What Is A Refined Grain?

The word “refined” when used in connection with grains means that the bran (the fiber-rich outer layer) and the germ (the nutrient-rich inner part) of the grain have been removed during milling. This processing leaves only the endosperm (the middle part). While this refining process makes grains easier and faster to prepare and consume, and requires less chewing and digesting, it removes vital nutrients (germ), along with the extremely important fiber (bran). Whole grains, because they have not gone through the refining process, still contain the bran, the endosperm, and the germ, and thus are good sources of fiber, B vitamins, iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin E, and selenium. Whole grains also contain plant chemicals called phytochemicals (phyto = plant), which have many health-promoting effects. When a grain is refined, it removes a significant percentage of these nutrients. Whole grains include: whole wheat, barley, brown rice, bulgur, oat groats, quinoa, rye, amaranth, buckwheat, millet, and spelt. When purchasing, how can you tell the difference between a whole grain and a refined product? Look on the ingredients listing. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. If white flour is the first ingredient, there is more white flour than any other kind of flour in the product. “Wheat flour,” “unbleached wheat flour,” or “stoned wheat” are not the same as WHOLE wheat. Whole grains, if not consumed too frequently, do the body “good.” Whole grains are more nutritious than refined grains; they have more texture and flavor, as well as being more filling than refined grains. On the other hand, refined grain does the body “bad!” On the Hallelujah Diet, whole grain cereals and breads (like Ezekiel 4.9 brand, for example) along with brown rice and other whole grains, as well as whole grain pastas are recommended in limited amounts.

Refined Grains Are Devoid Of Fiber

In order to turn a whole grain of wheat into a refined grain, the outer shell (husk) is removed. This outer shell is the fiber (bran) part of the grain. There is a similar difference between brown rice and white rice — the outer shell or husk of the grain has been removed. The outer shell or husks of grain play an important part in the digestion of grains and the speed of transit through the 30 feet of human digestive tract. Webster defines “fiber” as: "bulk, roughage, the structural parts of plants that are wholly or partly indigestible, acting to increase intestinal bulk and peristalsis." The word "husk" is defined as: “the dry external covering of seeds;” and “bran” as: “the partly ground husk of wheat or other grain, separated from flour meal by sifting.” Another definition of “fiber”: A substance in foods that comes from plants, that helps with digestion by keeping stools soft so that it moves smoothly through the colon.” Now let me share what I am getting at here. Your digestive tract from your mouth to your stomach and through to the end (alimentary canal) is approximately 30 feet long. Fiber plays a very significant role in moving food on its journey! When we consume a whole grain containing fiber — in its whole natural form as supplied by nature — the food moves quite rapidly through the alimentary canal. However, when the fiber has been removed, as it has been in all refined grains, food moves very sluggishly. Two more definitions: Webster defines “alimentary canal” as: “a tubular passage functioning in the digestion and absorption of food and the elimination of food residue, beginning at the mouth and terminating at the anus.” And “peristalsis” means “progressive waves of involuntary muscle contractions and relaxations that move matter along certain tube-like structures of the body, as ingested food along the alimentary canal.”

Food For Thought

Refined grains, just like we have previously seen with foods of animal origin and refined sugar origin, are devoid of fiber. Without lots of fiber, there is nothing to promote peristaltic action. Foods containing little or no fiber move very sluggishly through those 30-feet of tubing called the alimentary canal. Animal flesh, because it contains no fiber, takes 3 to 4 days to exit the body, moving slowly and putrefying as it travels in the body's warm, most atmosphere of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. This creates all kinds of colon problems, along with offensive body odor. Most people, once they stop consuming animal source foods, no longer require a deodorant, and often experience colon problems simply going away. Refined grains create different problems. Because they contain no fiber, refined grains contribute to constipation. This, of course, leads many people to use drugs or laxatives that artificially stimulate the colon — often through the use of the very fiber that has been removed from refined grains! The Standard American Diet (SAD) is almost completely devoid of fiber. When a person switches to the fiber-rich Hallelujah Diet, loaded with natural plant fiber, they usually see their constipation problems, as well as digestive and colon problems, simply disappear!

How Refined Grains Affect Weight

Today, many people wrestle with trying to control their weight. Nearly 70% of our population is considered overweight, and an ever-growing segment of our population is being classified as “obese.” Foods containing fiber provide “bulk,” which cause people to feel full for a much longer period than refined foods can, foods devoid of fiber. Consuming high fiber foods is important for weight management. The only type of grain people should ever consume is whole grain, not only for their nutritional value and for the prevention of constipation, but also to help with weight control.

All Hallelujah Diet Foods Are Rich In Fiber

The Hallelujah Diet is based on God’s Original Genesis 1:29 diet, a diet that consists only of foods that originate in the garden — and all garden foods are rich in plant fiber! In fact, garden foods are the only source of fiber. There is no fiber contained in anything else we consume as food! Physical problems occur when we go outside of the Garden to obtain our foods. In fact, almost every physical problem people experience today (other than accidents-related problems, of course) are caused by consuming fiberless foods found exclusively outside of the Garden! On the flip side, we have received tens-of-thousands of testimonies here at Hallelujah Acres from people reporting that when they stopped consuming these fiberless, outside-the-Garden foods — and went back to consuming the high fiber Garden foods found inside the Garden — they recovered from over 170 different physical problems. Don't you think God knew what He was doing when He planted a Garden "eastward of Eden" before He ever created man? Don't you think He knew what He was doing when He gave man (male and female) 30 feet of digestive tubing called the alimentary canal, which requires fiber to move food through? And don't you think God knew what He was doing when He placed His human creation into that Garden and told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:29 that all of the foods necessary to nourish their physical bodies were to be found in that Garden? I do! After being told I had colon cancer in 1976, I adopted a 100% plant-based diet, loaded with fiber. I also adopted a daily regimen including large quantities of 100% raw (enzymatically alive), freshly extracted vegetable juices. After one year on a 100% raw, fiber-rich diet, I added 15% cooked, plant-sourced foods back into my diet. My diet has been at least 85% raw plant sourced foods, along with some cooked foods, along with an abundance of vegetable juices every day since 1976. I am so excited that as I approach my 80th birthday, I still have the physical abilities I had as a 20-year-old, and a mind superior to when I was a teen. Please, for the sake of your own health and that of your family, let’s return to the Garden as the source of nourishment for the glorious physical bodies God has given each of us — and let’s stop eating according to the dictates of this world, of which the Bible says: "the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." (1 Corinthians 3:19) To be continued . . . . If you are not already on the Hallelujah Diet, click here to give it a try! Multitudes have made this diet change that we teach here at Hallelujah Acres, and experienced normalization of weight, as well as the elimination of almost all their physical problems.