Cereal ... good or bad?

Hello blogger world. It's been a while. Not much time these days to share all that is on my mind, but I had to take a few minutes out of my busy day to share this.

I've been reading a new book about autoimmune diseases called, "Autoimmune - The Cause and The Cure" by Annesse Brockley and Kristin Urdiales. While I am a bit skeptical about the word "cure" when it comes to all types of autoimmune diseases, I do realize that a drastic change in diet and lifestyle can greatly benefit ANYONE and EVERYONE, regardless of whether or not they suffer from an autoimmune disease.

Here I want to share a small bit of the book in the section about rebuilding your gut.

It starts off by explaining how all dry breakfast cereals are made. They make a thick mash out of the grains, etc. and then put them in an extruder - this machine forces the grains out of a hole the shape they want the cereal to be (o-shapes, flakes, animals or shreds).

Now to quote the book:
"This process of 'extrusion' destroys many of the nutrients that are present and renders the amino acids toxic to our bodies by denaturing the proteins.

"In his book, Fighting the Food Giants, Paul Stitt cited a cereal company study in which four groups of rats were each given a different diet (Stitt, 1980). The first group received plain whole wheat, water, and synthetic vitamins and minerals. The second group received puffed wheat (an extruded cereal), water, and the same synthetic mix of vitamins and minerals. The third group was given only water, and the fourth group was given only water and the synthetic vitamins and minerals.

"The rats that were part of the group that received the whole wheat lived for over a year on the diet. The rats that received the water and the vitamins lived about two months. The rats that were only given water lived for a month. The most surprising results came from the group given the puffed wheat. The rats that received the puffed wheat, vitamins, and water lived for only about two weeks. Upon autopsy, researchers found signs of insulin shock, with dysfunction of the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and the degeneration of nerves of the spine.

"In an additional study, University of Michigan researchers separated their rats into three groups (Fallon, 2008). The first group received corn flakes and water; a second group received the cardboard box the cereal came in and water; and the control group received rat chow and water. The control group remained in good health during the experiment. The rats fed the corn flake box and water died of malnutrition. The rats given the corn flakes and water, however, died before the rats that just ate the box! Additionally, the rats given the corn flakes displayed schizophrenic behavior before they died; throwing fits, biting each other, and finally going into convulsions."

I have not checked into the sources she refers to, but I plan to when / if I have time. And yes, I realize these are rats, not humans, but still the results are alarming enough to cause concern. 

We ditched cereal a long time ago. For the last 10 years or so, we have had cereal a few times a year ... some organic, whole grain varieties that we get real cheap at the discount store that we have as a snack or part of a meal in a pinch. I think we'll skip it from now on. Sounds like even a few times a year is not worth it!!

There are so many other options for breakfast besides cereal. We usually just have leftovers. If nothing is leftover, we have oatmeal or toast & eggs or some other quick, healthy alternative. Lately I started making real sourdough bread ... great for breakfast or any time of the day. Maybe I'll post about that some day when I have time.

There is so much more I want to say here.