The Talk

This is another post about food.

I was eleven and in the bathroom, doing whatever eleven-year-old girls in the late '80s did (probably something involving a curling iron).  I know I wasn't texting or socializing via media. Maybe I was stealing a few private moments on the cordless phone, but what I did not want to hear was an innocent knock on the door followed by my mother's voice asking:  "Can we talk?"  I'll skip the awkward details of my "coming of age" conversation, but I will tell you it was a chat I did not want to have.  I did not want to think about why my body was changing or how my life would be different as a result, and I certainly couldn't process that everything was evolving, and that I had to evolve and adapt as well.

So, knock knock!  Can we talk?  Don't lock the door and turn on the shower - this is about food, remember?

As we go through life, we need nourishment to grow and maintain our bodily functions.  Our diet is a source of energy and nutrients necessary for daily life, but it can also be a cause physical and emotional complaints.  Total Body Analysis is all about shedding toxic layers to allow healing.  Some toxins we're born with and some we acquire over time from stressful situations, germs, the environment, and (you guessed it) food.   Processed, hybridized and pesticide-ridden items bring energetic frequencies into our systems that are not compatible with healthy human life.  Food can play another role in the hurting-versus-healing dichotomy:  Highly nutritive "healthy" whole foods can often be what I call "aggravators" - catalysts for disagreeable and sometimes life-threatening symptoms we experience and often try to treat with medication and/or elimination or "special" diets.  If a client is allergic to soy, for example, soy is an aggravator for her.  TBA allows us to antidote why she gets hives when she eats tofu, to address the root cause of her reaction to the soy, and when her body is ready, to detoxify (get rid of) the real problem.

In the modern world there are a variety of foods that can be aggravating as well as toxic to our systems. Over time, human beings have evolved and adapted to our environment, but more recently, we have been changing the food we grow and how it's propagated to feed our explosive population.  The result is crops that are easier to grow, harvest, and distribute, but are vastly different from what the human body has come to recognize as nourishment.  Although this hybridization and modification applies to myriad modern day crops, I am going to focus on the one most prevalent in many of our lives:  Wheat. 

Before we get into it about the glutenous grain, let it be known that I loooove baked goods.  Bakeries are one of the first (if not the first) things I check out in a new city, and our local cooperative bakery/café is one of my favorite places in the world.  I love the radiant heat of the ovens, the comfort of a cup of coffee and a soft, handmade breakfast treat, and the unmistakably appealing scent of toasty, powdery wheat alchemizing into... anything, really.

Wheat can be the culprit for a variety of ailments from digestive gas to "brain cloud" to muscle soreness. It may also not be simply that you eat wheat, but the kind of wheat, how it's been processed, and the amount in your diet.  Even if you are not having problems with wheat (or simply haven't noticed), for nutritional reasons alone, it is a good idea to consider replacing it (even whole grain sandwich bread for the kids) with a variety I've listed below.

Spelt!  Spelt is one of my favorite baking grains.  Its flour looks, feels, and smells like wheat, except it retains its ancient grain form - it hasn't yet been hybridized, its gluten is weak and can be much more easily digested, and many gluten sensitive individuals can easily tolerate it.  When baking bread, spelt can be hard to work with because its gluten won't give the structure of that of wheat flour.  But in muffins, cakes, and some cookies, spelt will fool even the most wheat-centric eater.  The only drawback is that in order to "unlock" all of its nutrients, spelt, like wheat flour and other grains, needs to be soaked or soured. Don't worry if you're not ready to climb down the rabbit hole of soaking and using sourdough starters, we can get to those in later posts.

As far as convenience and nutritional back for your buck, sprouted flour wins.  Sprouts=Vegetables.  Sprouted wheat or spelt = vegetable to your digestive system.  Sprouting the grains before grinding them into flour also reduces gluten and causes nutritive changes in the grain that produce digestive aids. No soaking or souring required here. You can purchase sprouted grain bread (and other sprouted goods) frozen in most large grocery stores.

If you use a lot of sprouted flour, buy it in bulk online (it is shelf stable for six months).  Or consider buying freshly milled spelt flour from a local farm or bakery and storing it in the fridge or freezer to preserve precious nutrients and prohibit rancidity.  Sprouted flour absorbs more moisture than unsprouted, so be careful in substituting in in recipes.  There are many great sprouted flour recipes in the internet.  I've included my own chocolate chip cookie recipe below. 

Coconut flour is a gluten-free "flour" made simply from the fruit of the coconut.  It's main source of calories is medium-chain fatty acids, which give quick and lasting energy without triggering insulin reaction like carbohydrate calories do. That means you won't crash after a couple of coconut flour scones for brekkie.  It's also high in fiber for that fully satisfied feeling after a meal.  Coco-flo can be found at most supermarkets, but cannot be directly substituted for regular flour; it needs lots of liquid and egg or a flax slurry to hold it together for baking.  Coconut flour does not have to soak or sour to get its nutritional benefits.  Like sprouted wheat or sprouted spelt flour, it can be used right out of the bag.  Don't be concerned about its price, because it absorbs so much liquid, you'll use at most one-third of the amount of wheat flour you'd normally need.

I employ all of the aforementioned flours and techniques, but, as I said, I loooove baked goods and this lends variety to my repertoire.

Here is a recap list of options for making a slow shift away from everyday "junk food" wheat toward a "cleaner" burning fuel for your metabolic fire:

Spelt Flour = Easiest to sub for wheat pastry flour (whole spelt for whole wheat, "white" spelt for all purpose or white pastry flour).

Can be soaked our soured for optimal digestion and nutrient assimilation.

Sprouted wheat or sprouted spelt flour = Digestible and nutritious right out of the bag.  Be careful subbing for regular flour as sprouted absorbs more moisture.

Coconut Flour = Gluten free.  Great (fat) energy source and can be used right out of the bag as well.

Enjoy these easy, sprouted flour muffins as a guilt-free and highly nutritious breakfast, snack, or dessert.

Sprouted Flour Muffins

  Adapted from Arrowhead Mills recipe

1 3/4 cup sprouted wheat or spelt flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup melted butter or coconut oil

1 cup milk of choice with 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar

1/2 cup maple syrup or sugar of choice

2 eggs

1-2 cups chocolate chips, nuts, or other addition

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.  Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk wet ingredients.  Stir wet into dry until combined and then add chips.  Bake 15 minutes and let cool until just warm.