Mill your own whole grains

You know, you can mill your own whole grains at home. Seriously. It's so cool to do. And the flour tastes incredible. You can bake breads, cookies, pastas, anything! It's just like buying regular flour from the grocery store. Only it is much MUCH better because with the grains being freshly milled, and the flour doesn't sit for weeks on end in some store. It's FRESH! Not to mention the fact that you are milling the whole grain, and not just the endosperm of the kernel. Which gives you the fiber and nutrients that aren't in the white flour at the store. Also, if you bake with your freshly milled flour, you are ensuring that your bread (or whatever you bake) is completely whole wheat (unless of course you add in white flour to your bread mix). Which is a lot better than what the wheat bread at the store has. The 'whole wheat' loaf of bread we can buy in the grocery store is not only made of old, processed whole wheat, but by the government regulations only has to be at least 51% (or mostly whole wheat) to be labeled as such.

So the benefits of milling whole grains at home are many, this is only a tiny bit of why it's good do mill your own at home. More on this a bit later. :)

Technorati Tags: Milling, Whole Grains, Flour

Whole grains versus refined grains

What are the differences between whole grains and refined grains? Let's look into that, shall we?

First off, whole grains are...well, whole. They have all of their parts - the bran, germ, and endosperm. Why is this important? Well, because the bran and germ contain much of the vitamins and fiber your body needs. Which are sorely lacking in today's American diet.

Refined grains, like white flours and white rice, don't have the bran and germ in them. When the grain is refined both of those essential parts are removed. Although, some of the "vitamins" and "minerals" are added back in after the milling process, nothing can completely replace what is lost.

Thus, the difference between the two is mainly nutritional value. Removing the bran and germ from whole grains is not a good thing because it is robbing you of the nutrients your body needs, and replacing it with starch and empty calories.

I don't know about you, but I'd rather give my body what it needs and live longer, than to eat refined grains.

I hope this imformation and the info to come is helpful to you and your family! Thanks for reading and God bless you!