Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Farmers Go Local With High-Quality Grains

A movement of small-scale grain farming, stone-milled and locally sold, is growing around the world. Some of these farmers are growing older varieties of wheat native to their areas.

Some of these agricultural visionaries see the high price of oil as an opportunity. The industrially farmed, factory milled grains available worldwide have to be transported using gasoline, the difference between locally grown and remotely grown grains has shrunk.

This is good news for those of us on the Spartan Diet, because it's becoming easier to find locally grown healthy grains, or breads made from local grains, which are much more likely to be "wilder" from a Spartan Diet perspective.

Industrial grains aim (as all industrial foods do) for maximum shelf life. Producers achieve this by blending grains for gluten consistency and removing most of the nutritional parts. The grain flower most people eat every day has been stripped of nearly all its nutritional value (including most of the bran and germ) and overall quality. Entire generations raised on this compromised grain have been robbed of the nutritional benefits of whole grains, which is one of the reasons why so many people are so incredibly fat, weak and sick.

If you're on the Spartan Diet, or just want to improve the taste of your food and boost your health, look for foods made from locally grown grains, or buy the grains and mill them yourself.

For the truly hardcore (such as some of the people mentioned in this article), grow your grains in your own yard!