198: The Benefits of Eating Real Wheat with Sue Becker, Part 1
After 10+ years of being gluten-free, I recently experimented with eating bread made with freshly milled, organic wheat. This is different from wheat flour you buy in the store which has been stripped of key nutrients and, as this week’s guest explains, is the real reason so many people cannot tolerate wheat. When you grind it yourself and bake it fresh, it retains an extremely high nutrient profile including B vitamins, Vitamin E, beneficial fiber and more.
After educating people for over 30 years on the benefits of milling, baking and eating real wheat, Sue Becker has seen miraculous turnarounds in people’s health and believes a major contribution to modern illness and disease started with the mass processing of flour in the early 1900’s.
In this week’s episode, Sue explains how modernly processed wheat (which basically leaves only the gluten and the starch) is the true culprit but that eating wheat with the fullness of its nutrients intact is one of the most healing foods God provides.
It was enough to convince me to try it! Come listen to this episode which may give you a completely new outlook on including REAL wheat in your diet.
EPISODE 198: The Benefits of Eating Real Wheat with Sue Becker, Part 1
Show Notes
(0:00) Intro
Hello my friend, welcome back to the club, how are you today?
Today’s topic might surprise - or even shock you - considering I have been gluten free for over 10 years and recommending a gluten free lifestyle especially to those struggling with any kind of health concern.
I’ve been experimenting with milling organic wheat - like I bought a machine that grinds wheat - and I’ve been making bread and we have been eating it.
I’ve had some cognitive dissonance over the years when it comes to eating wheat. We know it was a major staple of the Biblical diet.
The problem as we’ve heard it is that modern wheat is not the same as Biblical wheat. We’re going to talk a lot about this today but in a nutshell, a lot of the concern has been pinned on the fact that when wheat was hybridized in order to make it a smaller, sturdier, higher yielding plant, this changed the structure in a way that made the gluten proteins more pronounced and problematic and this is why we’ve seen such in increase in celiac disease and also gluten sensitivity in the last 50-70 years.
But in the holistic health space - going gluten free is like a baseline foundation and you just don’t hear much otherwise. But because I do look to the Bible as a compass - I guess I’ve had more unsettling in my spirit than some people would.
I knew I wanted to have Sue Becker on the podcast — I feel like it’s really important to share this information - to give you a fuller picture of the options, to offer another viewpoint and some really good evidence and testimony of how eating REAL wheat can be good for you.
Welcome Sue Becker to the Christian Health Club Podcast
(9:30) Start by sharing your background and how you got here.
Nine children
Wanted to help people and led to food science
Food microbiology
Always cooked real food (except for the bread)
In 1991 - Came across across a publication about the history of white flour.
Whole grains are the most nutrient dense foods that God has provided, but the preservatives of modern bread devoid all the nutritional components.
Why the fortification of flour does not suffice.
Realized that this was the missing link in their healthful diet
Began to mill all of the flour, made all goods from that flour, and saw the improvement in the health of the family.
America is the most constipated nation.
Constipation creates toxins in the body.
People began to inquire about how to mill their own flour
Began to wear herself out making bread for other people
How Bread Beckers came to be
support@breadbeckers.com
(30:45) Storytime
(32:10) Difference between store bought grain and milling one’s own grain
The process of commercial milling does not keep all the nutrients.
Nutrients begin to oxidize
Genesis 1:29
(41:15) Can you go into the nutrition that is intact when we mill it fresh?
Of the 44 essential nutrients for life only 4 of them are missing in wheat
Vitamin A, C, Vitamin B12, D, amino acid lysine.
What is in wheat?
All B vitamins
Dr. Abram Hoffer
All minerals
Importance of vitamin E
We lost about 86% of nutrients when they strip away bran and germ.
Soluble vs. insoluble fiber
Bioavailability and synergy
Gut fermentation
Isaiah 55:2
(55:14) Outro & Disclaimer
Additional Information:
Getting started with Bread:
You can buy the Wondermill and various kinds of wheat at Sue’s website.
It’s also on Amazon: Wondermill
You can also find wheat varieties here
I started with einkorn, spelt and hard white wheat
I use this bread machine
Recipe I use in my bread machine (in this order):
1.5 c hot water
⅓ c extra virgin olive oil
⅓ c honey
1 egg
2 egg yolks
2 t salt
4 c flour (from 2 cups milled grains)
1 packet organic yeast
*you can use any combo/blend of the grains - I started with a cup of einkorn and a cup of spelt.
Thanks for listening! Have a healthy and blessed week!