[Soliloquy]

You can order them online, get one from a friend, or just catch one yourself! I'll post directions on how to catch one I the thread I linked to above. It takes about 7 days.

All grains have phosphorous, an important nutrient. But, it is bound up as phytate, which is an enzyme-inhibitor. Most animals can digest phytates and get the nutrients but we cannot. If seeds/grains didn't have enzyme inhibitors, they would sprout immediately upon being released from the plant and probably die. The seeds need to stay dormant until spring when the conditions are right. The enzyme inhibitors are slowly neutralized with the rains of spring, the ideal time to sprout. That's a simple explanation, anyway.

In your gut, the enzyme inhibitors do just what you'd think--they prevent your digestive enzymes from doing their job! Whole grain foods that are not sprouted, soaked overnight in acidic liquid, or soured (the acid from lemon juice or the live cultures of yogurt and sourdough neutralize the phytates) are NOT good for us! It is a huge frustration of mine when I see all these ads for "healthy whole grain" foods. When you eat whole grains that are not properly prepared, your body loses minerals.

Prior to about 1880, commercial yeast was not available and sourdough was the only kind of bread available. Commercial, quick-rise yeast is one of the many modern "conveniences" that are destroying our health.

Grains need to be in contact with the phytate-neutralizing substance for at least 7 hours. So, soursough bread needs to rise at least 7 hours, even if it's high enough in less time.

Another option is to make sprouted grain bread. There's a thread in this forum right now asking about Ezekiel bread, a brand of sprouted bread.

You can also make "2-stage" bread. SonshineMama used to make this before she went gluten-free. I'm sure her recipe is in here somewhere.

For pancakes, waffles, muffins, b-day cake, oatmeal, etc. We mix the grain/flour with yogurt or kefir overnight and then cook it in the morning.

Some good books on this are:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz
Full Moon Feast (can't remember author)
Rejuvinate Your Life by Serene Allison
Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price (truly an eye-opening book!!!)

If you google "traditional food diet" or "weston a price foundation" or "price pottenger foundation" you should get good info as well. There are some great TF bloggers out there.

Lmk if this doesn't make sense. A whole weeks of not enough sleep here