Clean eating with Cereal Alternatives
In HOLISTIC NUTRITION we look for the digestibility of a food item. Cereals like wheat, rye, spelt, emmer or kamut are not easy to digest. If you suffer from a weak digestion power or want to loose weight, then CEAREAL ALTERNATIVES like Millet, Amaranth, Quinoa are best for you. They are easier to digest than cereals, which are very complex on their chemical structure. CLEAN EATING with Cereal Alternatives is the best.
Since human beings settled down and practiced agriculture, cereals has become the main food. For athletes and anyone who is in motion, they are a good source of energy. The ground whole grain with shell and germ is very rich in B vitamins, fiber, high-quality protein, quickly available carbohydrates and valuable minerals such as potassium, magnesium and phosphorus. This strengthens nerves, skin and hair and nourishes the good intestinal bacteria.
Cereals are difficult to digest
Unfortunately, most people don’t tolerate cereals anymore. This is mainly due to today’s cultivating with focus on resistance and maximum yields. This lead to mayor change in the composition of proteins and carbohydrates of the grains. Of all the cereals, wheat has changed the most with around 400 percent more Gluten (Gluten protein) than the original form. For digestive disorders and illnesses, Clean Eating with Cereal Alternatives is the best.
Cereal Alternatives: Best For Weak Digestion Power
This not only makes it difficult to digest. If the digestive power is weak due to stress or simply because of wrong eating habits, this much of Gluten will not be digested properly. Indigestion creates sticky slags that clog the intestines and lymphatic vessels and harm the good intestinal bacteria.
If you have weak or weak digestive power, you should avoid wheat and spelled as well. They naturally contain a lot of Gluten. Kamut and Emmer, which are ancient wheat varieties, are slightly easier to digest. Better go for Cereal Alternatives. Although their Gluten content is much lower than wheat, if you have digestion problems, your digestive enzymes may be too weak to break down these proteins.
This also applies to oats, rye and barley, which do not contain Gluten, but other cereal proteins, which are also difficult to digest. Cereal products such as bread and rolls, which are fermented with yeast or sourdough, often have an acidic effect, which promotes hyperacidity.
The best Cereal Alternatives
Luckily, there are plenty of other Cereal Alternatives: flour, flakes and semolina made from rice, millet, amaranth, tiger nut, buckwheat and quinoa, which you can use for cooking and baking. It’s best to eliminate corn from your diet; in most cases it is genetically modified and therefore difficult or impossible for us to digest. This applies as well to soy, which we should only consume in small quantities.
It’s best to use natural, organic products. The gluten-free ready-made products from the supermarket often contain too many starchy flours from corn or potatoes and strange ingredients like whey, potatoes, egg and milk powder and cellulose. This makes them difficult to digest and contains things, that our body don’t need at all and can’t digest properly and are harming in particular our good intestinal bacterias.
Cereal Alternative: Buckwheat
It is originally a Japanese herb, that also grows in Europe and USA for several centuries. The flour can be prepared like wheat and belong to the best Cereal Alternatives. It is very nourishing, especially for our brain and nervous tissues. Buckwheat contains many amino acids, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, silica, B vitamins, vitamin E and copper and lecithin. From an ayurvedic perspective it is slightly acidic and should be avoided in allergies or hyperacidity.
Cereal Alternative: Amaranth
One of the staple foods of the ancient Incas and Atztecs, whose grains are similar to millet. Amaranth is naturally dry, but when cooked soft it is easily digestible and nutritious. It contains lots of fiber, zinc, iron, magnesium and calcium. Delicious as porridge or popped for breakfast. It is really one of the best Cereal Alternatives.
Healthy and Tasty Cereal Alternatives
Cereal Alternative: Tigernut
This Cereal Alternative comes from the small root nodules of tigernut grass from the Mediterranean region. The milk tastes delicious and is a delicacy in Andalusia. It is considered alkaline and, when cooked, is easily digestible and sometimes a bit sticky. Tigernut is rich in fiber, calcium, magnesium and potassium, digestive enzymes and B vitamins. Because of the many fibers it fills you up quickly, so it’s wonderful for diabetics and those who are always hungry and of course also for our good intestinal bacteria. The flour can be used for cooking and baking. The sweet puree goes well with porridge.
Best Cereal Alternative: Millet
Millet is the winner, when it comes to Cereal Alternatives. It is one of the most ancient staple food of humanity, that grows in many varieties all over the world. Brown millet, wild millet and golden millet contain most of the valuable ingredients. They are rich in iron and B vitamins and folic acid. Millet has a nourishing effect, especially on the skin, hair and nerves, is alkaline and deacidifying and cleansing. Millet is cooked as a porridge, preferably with Ghee, as this neutralizes the drying effect.
Great Cereal Alternative: Quinoa
This wonderful grain which belongs to the best Cereal Alternatives, originally derives from the Incas. The seed tastes similar to millet. It is alkaline, deacidifying and very digestible. Quinoa contains all essential amino acids, which makes it particularly valuable for vegans and vegetarians. It also has a high proportion of antioxidants, B vitamins, calcium, potassium, iron, copper, magnesium and lots of fiber, which of course pleases our good intestinal bacteria. You can cook and even bake with it.
Great Cereal Alternative: Lupines
Nowadays Lupine flour, as a grain alternative, can be found in many gluten-free products, especially in baked goods, such as bread, rolls, cookies or cakes. Lupins were already consumed in ancient Egypt and contain a lot of proteins. They belong to the legumes. Since they contain poisonous bitter substances, so called alkaloids, they are now bred in the form of sweet lupine. They are also rich in vitamins A, B1, magnesium, iron, calcium and potassium.
RICE
Rice comes from the area of ancient China, at least 7,000 years ago. There are many different types of rice around the world. In holistic health systems such as Ayurveda, the easily digestible Basmati rice is considered as one of the best Cereal Alternatives, used especially for those, who has a poor digestion. It is easier to digest than the whole grain rice or risotto because these varieties have a thick shell.
In healthy digestion red whole grain rice is best, because it contains the highest proportion of vital substances such as B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, zinc and essential amino acids, which are usually found in the shell. Rice is alkaline, deacidifying, cooling and easy to digest when cooked, while cold rice is always more difficult to digest.
Proper Preparation of Rice
Rice should always be cooked soft and served warm and fresh. In contrast to whole grain rice, natural or wild rice, the white polished rice hardly contains any minerals. But it is easier to digest as the hard shells have been polished away.
Parboiled rice is a good alternative, in which the ingredients of the husk are pressed into the rice grains using hot steam. This way the rice still contains 80% of the original minerals.
Don’t reheat rice. Due to the high starch content, sticky compounds are form when the rice cools down. This also applies to pasta. An exception is, when rice is cooked with Ghee, as in Kichadi, one of the main ayurvedic medicinal dishes.
Great Cereal Alternatives: Glasnoodles
If you want to loose weight or do some cleansing of your body, for the noodle experience, glasnoodles are better than the pasta from cereals. Mostly they are made out of mungobeans. You get them especially in asian vietnamese restaurants.
