The Staff of Life
by Edwin S. Douglas, Founder,
American Living Foods InstituteThe Importance of starch in the human diet is greatly underestimated by many advocates of living food lifestyle. Starch is definitely the staff of life. In this article, we will present our reasons for reaching this conclusion, and contrast the difference in the effect on the human body of fruit foods (simple carbohydrates) and starch foods (complex carbohydrates).
FRUIT FOODS (Simple Carbohydrates)
Fruit foods are not able to provide sustainable energy. They are body cleansers, not body builders. Vegetable foods are the body builders. The human body is not ideally suited to a predominately fruit diet, despite some theories to the contrary.
Too much reliance on fruit foods can result in moderate to severe mood swings, mental disorientation, physical coldness, constant cravings and abnormal weight loss. Fruit foods temporarily elevate the blood sugar level and are easy to digest, they can provide the illusion of health and well being. The blood-sugar highs produced by excessive fruit consumption can become physiologically and psychologically addictive.
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COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES...FROM
STARCH FOODS ARE LIKE
TIMED-RELEASE ENERGY CAPSULES.
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Unfortunately, people who eat predominately fruit diets often suffer from progressive nutritional deficiencies which may not become evident for months or years. They also often experience severe cravings for pasta, bread, pastry or chips. These cravings frequently lead to binges, followed by unpleasant periods of detoxification and withdrawal. The body has a natural longing for starch foods, and to ignore this instinctive hunger is pure folly.
STARCH FOODS (Complex Carbohydrates)
In ancient times the primary sources of starch were root vegetables and tubers such as raw yams and potatoes , and high-starch nuts such as acorns and chestnuts. The importance of root vegetables was recognized by Dr. Norman Walker, the famous nutritionist, who emphasized that they are rich in essential minerals and vitamins. In his book, "Diet and Salad", he recommended that we include raw potatoes, yams, parsnips, rutabagas and turnips in our diet by grinding, grating or chopping them and adding to salads. Most people don't find these raw starch foods appetizing.
In today's world our primary source of starch is grain, which we are conditioned by a lifetime of use to prefer. Grain is a relatively recent addition to the human diet, and in it's uncooked form is somewhat less ideal than raw roots and tubers. However, when properly activated, germinated or sprouted, grain is a quite acceptable and convenient source of essential complex carbohydrates.
Complex carbohydrates derived from starch foods are like time-release energy capsules. They metabolize more slowly than fruits, providing energy to the body over a longer period of time and increasing physical endurance. The slower rate of metabolism also reduces hunger. Starch foods are satisfying and fulfilling precisely because they are an essential source of nutrition in the human diet.
HISTORY OF STARCH CONSUMPTION
Our ancestors, who were well known for their powers of physical endurance, instinctively chose starch foods as a predominant part of their diet. For example, American Indians consumed a wide variety of starchy roots and tubers. Among them were Sassafrass root, Wild Parsnip, Squaw-root, Salsify root, Day Lily tubers, Chufa tubers, Bugleroot tubers, Jerusalem Artichoke, Arrowhead tubers, Indian Cucumber tubers, Groundnut tubers and the roots of the Wild Potato Vine.
Other plants with roots and tubers eaten by early native Americans include Miner's Lettuce, Alpine Bistort, Dandelion, Chicory, Thistle, Bullbriar, Great Bulrush and American Lotus.
Objective research into the habits of our primordial ancestors indicates that roots, tubers and starchy nuts comprised the foundation of their diet, followed in descending order of importance by leafy greens, raw fruits and vegetables and finally high protein nuts and seeds.
STARCH AND GREENS
Along with starch foods early humans included a significant quantity of leaves and green shoots in their diet. These green vegetables are high in vitamins and minerals, which are lacking in other foods. A few of the North American edible leaves and shoots which were eaten by the indigenous population are: Chickweed, Winter Cress, Peppergrass, Watercress, American Brookline, Miner's Lettuce, Purslaine, Cornsalad, Dandelion, Chicory, Lamb's Quarters and Pokeweed.
Starch foods combine extremely well with green salads and, if activated, germinated or sprouted, can be combined with protein foods from time to time. For example, activated grain bread can be combined with a spread made from nutmeats or activated seeds. Allow a little longer time for digestion since this is a more complex food combination.
IMPORTANCE OF VARIETY
Dr. Herbert Shelton in his famous book, Superior Nutrition, states clearly that whole plants alone do not contain all the food factors required by man in correct correlations. "Only by eating a variety of plant foods, so selected that the total diet of fruits, nuts, and vegetables can supply all the food factors required, can he be well and adequately nourished. The mono- diet is a fallacy...so far as the higher animals and man are concerned. Variety we need, but not the whole variety at any one meal."
He recommend that fruit be eaten as a separate meal, and that other meals consist of vegetables combined with either a starch or a protein.
OUR INSTINCTIVE NATURE
When the human body is purified of accumulated toxins it instinctively gravitates toward starch foods and green vegetables, as well as a modest amount of fruits, nuts and seeds.
Our wonderful body speaks to us if we but listen to it. Empirical evidence, which is gathered from our own actual experience, is far more accurate than theories, no matter how much we'd like to believe in them. We humans have an unusual tendency to try to force our theories to work, because we believe they should work, even when they don't.
Raw food and living food diets are often seriously deficient in starch foods. This is one of the major reasons why very few individuals can sustain such a diet for long periods of time. Our bodies instinctively crave starch foods, and if we don't consume them in their natural form, we will eventually gravitate to them in their cooked form.
COOKED STARCHES
Just as with all other natural foods, the cooking of starch foods converts them into inorganic and indigestible fillers. They fill but do not nourish. Their enzymes are denatured, thus depriving them of the key elements required for proper digestion and body maintenance. Dr. Walker warns that cooking of starch foods reduces or eliminates the value of their vitamins and minerals. Starch foods are not fattening when eaten in their natural, uncooked state.
PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS
We should also consider the psychological benefits of access to healthy and delicious substitutes for bread and pastry products. Having a piece of living banana bread, a slice of living pizza of a dish of living spaghetti can make the difference between a living food diet which provides a feeling of satisfaction, contentment and fulfillment, or one which precipitates swings between bingeing and detoxing.
Recognizing the major need for starch foods in human nutrition, the American Living Foods Institute has developed a variety of living breads, cereals, pastas, and pastries as well as starchy entrees and side dishes. These fill a crucial physiological and psychological role in the ALFI New Paradigm Living Food System.
LIVING FOOD PYRAMID
Based on our extensive research into the original human diet, we have developed a Living Food Pyramid which is illustrated below.
We hope you will provide your body, as Dr. Shelton recommended, with a complete array of living plant foods so that you can enjoy the radiant health your body is designed to experience.
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| Proteins|
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| Fruits | Vegies |
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| Starches | Greens |
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