Mr. Rawles:
I do believe R.J. may have some valid points but the way it is presented was very disturbing. RJ is making it sound as though the food (grains, rice and corn) will cause health problems. We already have health problems with the majority of the population. Hopefully all the preppers are changing their ways eating and living healthier.
I do believe that R.J. thinks those of us that are putting food into storage for the future are putting processed food away. That is very far from the truth. Everyone that I have talked to are putting the basics (grains, rice, corn, protein) away. Very little comfort food (processed food) is on the shelves. (It takes up too much room)
My great grandmother lived to be 98 years old, lived in the mountains of West Virginia and her diet consisted mostly of dried beans (pinto) and corn bread. Very little meat was used and very little sweetening was around. And she worked hard and lived without running water and electricity. I hope I can match some of her longevity. She died in a farming accident not from health problems. Blessings to you and your family. – J.A.N.
James,
I just read the article about “healthy” food storage. While the author is correct about sugar and soy, perhaps I am missing something but I have to disagree with the overall theory that grains, legumes, and corn are bad for you. Since the time of Adam mankind has always tilled the earth, getting our sustenance “by the sweat of our brow.” Peoples of that time lived for hundreds of years but I have yet to see any evidence that they needed to soak their grain in yogurt to do so. As a person with Celiac I know first hand about Gluten, but wheat is only one of many grains and there are different kinds of gluten. Potatoes have gluten.
How are whole grains, legumes and corn considered a “refined” grain? I have always read that unless one of these is stripped of its natural nutrients it was a “complex” carbohydrate the human body gets long-term energy from. Does the fact that game must be cut up and cooked make it refined also, because it cannot solely be eaten in the raw? If the mere necessity of having to soak beans or remove hulls from grains to eat them makes them bad for you, then what about the coconut? Coconut hulls have to be removed for consumption also but it makes them no less nutritious, and the benefits of coconut oil have been discussed on this blog.
Native Americans were eating corn and beans when the Pilgrims arrived, along with fish and game. Perhaps what the author is missing in the fad/raw food theory is that all these foods eaten by themselves are incomplete, no matter how they are prepared, but eaten together they neutralize the bad and maximize the good. That is what the term “Balanced Diet” means. The Native tribes the author describes also do a great deal of physical movement, labor and calorie burning. Perhaps it is the circulation that improves dental health, or keeps the cholesterol from hurting their eyesight? Some peoples like the Mayan had worn teeth because of how they prepared their food, grinding corn with stones. I’ve spoken to elders who grew up on farms and ate corn right off the stalk and chewed raw wheat like bubble gum. They are in better health for their age than most of us at our ages.
In a TEOTWAWKI life I am going to be much more worried about the need for antibiotics, a common cold or being shot by looters. Having three family members who have died of cancer I do not mean it lightly when I say: If I live long enough to develop cancer from my food storage I will be truly blessed.
Thank you for the information, but I am happy with what the good Lord provided for his children and I won’t be throwing out my grains, legumes and corn any time soon.
Thank you, – Rebekah