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Replacing White Flour with <strong>Whole</strong> Grains<br />
The ancient methods of using wild yeast were vastly superior, because modern quick-rising yeasts do not all<br />
die in the short, lower-temperature baking process. Therefore, yeast can continue <strong>to</strong> proliferate in the gut,<br />
giving rise <strong>to</strong> proliferation of yeasts, molds, and fungus. Even worse are the myco<strong>to</strong>xins, the waste products of<br />
yeast, molds, and fungi. Of particular concern is Candida albicans, a yeast overgrowth in the hundreds of feet<br />
of digestive tract and the blood, in about 95% of Americans according <strong>to</strong> most estimates.<br />
Yeast thrives in warm conditions and explodes with growth when sugar is added. Thus the “perfect s<strong>to</strong>rm” for<br />
health problems is created with the modern diet of commercial yeasts in every bakery product and sugar in<br />
most of our foods. Along with a yeasty environment, harmful bacteria also thrive, and these organisms create<br />
acidic waste products that flood the bloodstream and overwhelm the capacity of white blood cells.<br />
I have asked several natural health-care practitioners and nutrition experts what they think the worst nutritional<br />
threat is <strong>to</strong> the public health. White sugar and flour? Excessive meat eating and processed meat full of<br />
carcinogens? Trans fats and refined oils? Or something else? Knowledgeable practitioners tell me that yeast<br />
overgrowth is the most significant, most destructive part of the modern diet, because along with sugar and acid<br />
conditions and chemicals, it’s exceedingly hard <strong>to</strong> heal health problems with yeast overgrowth in the body.<br />
Yeast is very possibly the most destructive problem in the modern diet, contributing <strong>to</strong> the explosion in<br />
au<strong>to</strong>immune diseases, infectious disease, and allergies.<br />
And yeast very well may be the least known problem among the general population, even among those who are<br />
health conscious. Many people I know who try <strong>to</strong> eat fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and limit fast food<br />
and junk food have no idea how destructive yeast is and have, in fact, never heard about the his<strong>to</strong>ry of bread<br />
making and yeast as I have described in this chapter. For those who want more information and scientific<br />
background and evidence behind these very important nutritional issues, I recommend Dr. Gabriel Cousins’<br />
Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine and Dr. Robert O. Young’s Sick and Tired and The pH Miracle.<br />
In this chapter, you will learn <strong>to</strong> make sourdough bread with whole grains. When added <strong>to</strong> whole-grain flour,<br />
sourdough starter begins <strong>to</strong> ferment the grains and predigest their proteins, in much the same way that we<br />
learned about dairy products and vegetables benefiting from culturing in the last chapter. Thus sourdough<br />
bread is much easier on your digestive system than commercial-yeast breads, especially if you have difficulty<br />
digesting the gluten protein. Further, breads made from sourdough are lower on the glycemic scale, their sugars<br />
being absorbed more slowly in<strong>to</strong> your blood stream.<br />
What you will need, then, is some high-quality sourdough start. All are not created equal, because when you<br />
import Norwegian sourdough starter <strong>to</strong> the U.S., for instance, the start picks up yeast spores from the air and<br />
eventually becomes identical <strong>to</strong> a U.S. product. If a company is making a sourdough starter in a building with<br />
commercial yeast, that commercial yeast will eventually populate the sourdough starter. These are all<br />
frustrating issues in purchasing a start.<br />
When I first published this manual, I went through a series of providers of good sourdough starter for wholegrain<br />
breads. They are not easy <strong>to</strong> find. Because those providers became obsolete, we now maintain a page<br />
called Sourdough Start on GreenSmoothieGirl.com, under the Robyn Recommends tab. Please go there for up<strong>to</strong>-date<br />
information on where you can obtain a starter.<br />
The sourdough starter is a fermented grain product, and when you feed it, it will keep in the fridge indefinitely.<br />
However, you should keep it fresh by “feeding” it with equal parts water and flour at least once a week. When<br />
you make bread, never use all of your sourdough start. Whenever you use some of it, “feed” it by adding 1 C of<br />
flour and 1 C of pure water, stirring well and letting it sit on the counter until the mixture is bubbly. Then return<br />
it <strong>to</strong> the fridge. You may do this every day, or every few days, <strong>to</strong> build up your supply of starter for your next<br />
252 <strong>12</strong> <strong>Steps</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Whole</strong> <strong>Foods</strong><br />
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw