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Wholefood is a term whose philosophy is very simple to understand. Wholefoods are edible substances which are as close to their "whole" or natural state as possible. They have not been pre-processed in any way which would disturb their nutrition or flavour. Mostly they come just as nature made them, raw. They are therefore free of all processing additives or subtractions. If processed at all, the methods used would have been the traditional and natural ones, such as "sun dried" sultanas, "cold pressed" oils, or "stone ground" flours.
The overall idea of wholefoods, is to buy foods which are -
· as whole and in their most simple form as possible
· in season from as close to the source as possible
· as chemically and additive free as possible
· in bulk and not pre-packaged.
The way of wholefood cooking is to deal with (mainly) primary substances, that is, to start off with each food in an unadulterated state - as much as is practical. Most pre-packaged shop-bought foods are compound foods, that is, basic foods mixed with other basic foods. However, in selecting their basic ingredients and whilst performing this combining task, a lot of things happen which disturb the natural equilibrium of the original foods. The manufacturer believes they are saving you time and trouble by partly processing the ingredient or partly making the meal for you. Of course, all their bland, nutritionally-stripped primary ingredients and mass processing methods necessitate putting in lots of extra little things such as preservatives to stop the food going off too quickly, colourings to make it look like it is what it is supposed to be and (after all those), artificial flavourings to make it into something tasty! To a person with real and intelligent taste buds, this whole process actually makes the food distasteful! | | This will save money by more bulk buying and less packaging; allow you greater choice of variety and quality; make for a fresher mixture; preserve much more of the nutrition; open up possibilities for more individualist and broader tastes; make storage at home easier for those raw products. In the end result, you are the creator, you are the consumer, you are the benefactor. Complete satisfaction!
Including great slabs of micro-nutritional detail is not one of the aims of this book. The small amount of nutritional analysis provided is included only to give the reader a general grouping of substances within the food types. For instance, someone may have been told by their health practitioner to eat more iron, less fats, more glucose etc., so these facts will help them prepare a balanced wholefoods diet along those lines. Learning about the recognised food substances can also help a novice wholefoods cook gain insight into creating an approximately nutritionally balanced diet.
But remember, long before scientists devel-oped microscopes or photospectrometers for analysis of food substances, our ancestors had been successfully using their instincts and intuition to understand the nutritional and medicinal benefits of food. Eating food in a more healthy way is not an issue of reading the sides of every packet you buy and calculating the daily protein, carbohydrate, vitamin and mineral intake levels. Let's face it, when was the last time one of your dinner guests commented on the proportion of folic acid in their meal? Or when has anyone ever knowledgeably stated on completion of their first course - "I think that soup had just a bit too much Vitamin B12 for my digestive system at present"! 99% of consumers don't really understand the meaning of the information provided on the back of packets and, like me, really |