Rot Gut; or the pitfalls of processed foods

"The contents of this [blog] are personal and do not reflect any position of the US government or the Peace Corps."

Well, it's been a little over a month since I've been in Guyana and I finally succumbed to my cravings and made myself a pizza last night. It was delicious! 
But my stomach rebelled. I slept not a wink last night with this awful fullness feeling that didn't resolve until about an hour ago. 

Up until yesterday, I had been making myself mostly soups and stir fried meals as well trying every thing, including some pretty shady street food, while I'm out without any issue. I then eat a "typical" meal and I end up feeling awful. Why? Well it could just be coincidence(is there such a thing?) or it could be that my body has decided that it doesn't need nor want processed foods. I believe most people know that just the process of refining food destroys most of its nutrients. With the most nutritious part of the grain removed, white flour essentially becomes a form of sugar. Here's what's lost: 

• Half of the beneficial unsaturated fatty acids
• Virtually all of the vitamin E
• 50%  of the calcium
• 70% of the phosphorus
• 80% of the iron
• 98% of the magnesium
• 50-80%t of the B vitamins

What I didn't know, until I looked it up this morning, is that flour used to be aged with time, improving the gluten and thus improving the baking quality. Now, it is treated  with chlorine  to instantly produce similar qualities in the flour! Plus the bleaching process results in a byproduct that has been shown to be toxic to rats. No thank you! And this is by no means is this brief blog a comprehensive discussion of why processed foods aren't optimal. I'd suggest doing some research online and see for yourself why you may want to stay away! 

If I have a cravings for pizza again, I think I am going to try using whole-wheat, barley flour or maybe even cauliflower. Not even kidding about that last one. When Matt and I were in Colorado this winter, we were sitting and watching a talk show and someone came on who made a cauliflower pizza. I'll have to try it and then let you know if it's any good;)

Until then,

Danny