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Refined & Processed Warm greetings to you on this cold day, Today we will look at an article from "the Life science" course written by Mike Benton on refined and processed foods. Every day the scientists looked in on their cage of mice. Each time one or more dead animals had to be removed from the cage. After about 60 days, more and more mice were dropping dead. One of the scientists looked worried. " I don't know how much more of this experiment they can take. We may end up killing all of them in the next few weeks if we don't stop" The other scientist nodded his head. " It seems cruel, I know" he said, "but I think we're discovering something important here. This diet we've got them on should tell us a lot more about proper nutrition - or rather, what poor nutrition can do to an animal." The second scientist sighed. "You're right. Here's their meal for today." "The same as yesterday?" "Yes, and the same as the day before and the day before that. You know that's the only food we're feeding them for 90 days." The youngest scientist took the food and tore it into pieces and dropped it among the mice. They moved sluggishly towards it and sniffed it. Some were huddling in a corner, sick and barely able to move. He finished feeding the mice their experimental diet. He brushed the crumbs from his hands. " Guess I better get another loaf of bread to feed them again tomorrow. Same brand?" "Doesn't matter," said the older scientist, "Just so it's white." After a 90-day diet of white bread, 40 of the 64 mice were dead. The survivors had developed many of the diseases of "modern" man- heart problems, anemia, and extreme nervous disorders. White bread, breakfast cereals, flours - all refined grain products contribute greatly to our nations ill health. Yet studies indicate they make up one third of the average person's total carbohydrate intake each day. A refined grain, or its product, is made by processing a natural whole grain so that some of its nutrients are lost. Flours, breads, cereals, noodles, and pastries - almost all grain products have been refined in some way or another. White rice, corn grits, wheat flour, a piece of toast, a cookie, the bowl of snap-crackle-and pop each morning - are all examples of refined grain products. ALL are harmful additions to the diet. Refined grains and their food products are substandard foods for several reasons: 1) they are excessively starchy, in fact, they are the most starchy foods eaten by humans. All starches even unprocessed and unrefined ones, are handled with difficulty by our digestive system. When refined, their starchy nature is emphasized. 2) They are almost always eaten in a poor food combination - such as sandwiches, or sweeten pastries, or bowls of cereals. Invariably, they are mixed or cooked with other starchy foods or heavy proteins, or fried in fats. 3) They are acidic in nature, due to their mineral content, and consequently they acidify the body and predispose it to excessive mucus formation. 4) They are practically devoid of natural fiber and low in moisture, hence constipating. 5) They must be cooked, altered, and otherwise processed before being eaten. And perhaps most important of all, refined grain products are nutritionally unbalanced. It is because of this imbalance that these foods are responsible for several degenerative diseases. Calcium leaching from the bones and teeth occur because of the altered phosphorus-calcium balance in these products. Sugar and refined grain products are primarily responsible for all tooth decay in this country, as well as the major cause of brittle bones in the elderly. In natural organic foods that are eaten in their whole and unprocessed state, all the elements for proper nutrition are in their proper balance. This balance is completely destroyed in the refining process of the grain. For example, the mineral cadmium always exists along with the mineral zinc in foods. The zinc acts as a balancing mineral for the cadmium and prevents it from being absorbed in too large amounts by the body. Cadmium, in excessive amounts is hazardous to human health ( it is one of the poisonous elements in cigarette smoke ) When grains are refined, the zinc mineral is destroyed but the cadmium is not; so we get massive absorption of cadmium without the balancing effect of the zinc when we eat refined foods. To be continued... Stay well and warm, The crazy nut Team