I decided that a good place to begin in researching the heart of our diet was from the heart of the Holy Quran - Surah Yasin. I found the following verse.
"And a sign for them is the dead earth, we bring forth from it the grain so that they eat of it." Surah 36:33
So just Like Allah created everything from the earth we too must go back to the most simplest elements in order to build our selves.
I went back to the beginning and started to re-educate myself on grains. These are things we all know but obviously have not properly understood otherwise we would be implementing them in our diets to a greater extent. Knowledge does not lead to action unless understanding has been achieved. So For now let me list some grains to get us back to the basics in our diet building.
Oh and I know beans is not grains but they are seeds that contains proteins and the feel good vitamin B6 just like grains.
At this point I was already very comfortable and busy trying to find simple, practical and a variety of ways to bring more grains in our diet. Some of them I will include on this blog.
What I noticed was that my children and I seemed to be automatically better in mood, I was less tired and felt much stronger.
Here are some of the beans and grains I immediately put into our diet.
Chick peas (many ways), semolina, cut out any breads that were just a waste and brought in more sang gak which is an Iranian bread that they make in a stone oven. I'm also making more brown and orange lentils and fava bean spread as snacks. Now there is always something to satisfy when the children are hungry. Just whip out the bread that I cut and freeze and then toast when ready to eat.
A also discovered that there are many beans that we can use to make felafel with. Suddlenly I have found so much more variety and health with a fraction of the time and the great thing is they are all come in dried packets so I just pressure cooker them for an hour and they are ready to use.
Just one discovery has made my life loads easier and without changing anything else. I feel a sense of confidence that my children are growing and their brains are functioning. I didn't even have to go and study all the minerals, vitamins etc that have always thrown me off. What I was looking for was a practical but certain way to build the diet. I go back and research the details when I want to go into detail and find out the payoff and rewards of this shift in attitude about food.
I have a friend who was looking for a way to boost her son's immune system. I had an answer that was simple. Check the amount of grains, beans and lentils you are using in your cooking. That's it, it gave her something to think about and put into practice. You see we know all these things but somehow we've been thrown off by all the information out there that we've forgotten the basics.
Eating grains is a very effective in weight management. Since you are providing the body with the roughage, minerals and vitamins that it essentially requires, what happens is that your body begins to utilize all the nutrients that it was previously lacking without feeling that uncomfortable full feeling. So if you need to gain or lose weight this is the necessarily the place to begin. It ensures that you are providing the basic, essential elements that your body was craving before.
 |
| Sangak in a stone oven |
 |
| Sangak, white goats cheese, radishes and Basil leaves (rayhan) are often eaten in Iran as a healthy lunch or snack. |
Comments