Yankee Doodle went to town; Riding on a pony;
Stuck a feather in his cap; And called it Macaroni.

How many times in a week are you eating pasta?

They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.  (Psalm 73:4;NIV)

I know there are lots of folks reading this who say they love to eat pasta!  It’s easy to prepare and relatively inexpensive.  However there is a very dark side to this glaring white food that Americans tend to have a love affair with.  White pasta is made from white flour.  White flour is what’s left after stripping virtually all of the nutrients and fiber from a whole kernel of wheat.  Then the missing nutrients are added back into the flour in the form of synthesized chemicals…and they call it “enriched!”

Studies now show that a chemical called alloxan, is used to make the already devoid white flour look “clean and beautiful.”  This alloxan destroys the beta cells of the pancreas. That’s right; you may be devastating your pancreas and putting yourself at risk for diabetes, every time you’re eating that “beautiful” white flour product.

Anyway, after all that processing we have a dead, lifeless powder that won’t go rancid and can be used as a perfect binding agent to hold together sugar, sodium, artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, additives, and other chemicals.  Products made with white flour are nutritionally useless, yet we’re told to eat 8-11 servings of them per day. The public has been programmed to believe that white flour products are “healthy” because they are low in fat, cholesterol, and calories. So people eat lots of pasta and bagels, believing they are eating healthy because these foods are “fat-free.”  However what food manufacturers aren’t telling you is that white flour products have zero nutritional value and can lead to poor health.  (Remember the whiter the bread, the faster you’re dead!)

A very common issue brought on by consuming white flour products is constipation.  Now, I know this isn’t a popular subject or one that’s talked about at the dinner table (so my mother always told me), but hey, I went to nursing school, so talking about bowel habits is no biggie for me.  Eating white bread, bagels, and pasta will only make all of these situations much worse.

I’ll offer you a challenge…try cutting out all white flour products for one week and see what you notice.  You may be “grouchy” at first, but then you may be pleasantly surprised at what you experience after eight to ten days of not putting this denatured, devoid, bowel-clogging concoction into your system.

Today’s recipe offers an alternative to the typical “mac-n-cheese.”  Now, it won’t taste like the “blue box”, but see what you think.

Prayer Power
Lord, thank You for wisdom and knowledge to be able to sort out the best food choices for ourselves and our families.

Link of the Day
Mock Macaroni and Cheese

Blessings on you as you examine how much “white flour” you’re eating.

“How often when they find a sage, As sweet as Socrates or Plato; They hand him hemlock for his wage, Or bake him like a sweet potato!”  Don Marquis

When was the last time you ate a sweet potato?

Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.  (Daniel 1:12; NKJ)

What is Thanksgiving dinner without the lovely sweet potato?  Sweet potatoes are one of the best foods we can eat.  And NO, they are not “fattening.”  There’s probably no vegetable with a higher beta-carotene content than the sweet potato.  The carotene content actually increases as the vegetable is stored throughout the winter.

The sweet potato is also a good source of iron, potassium, niacin, and vitamin C.  It is also very rich in vitamin B6 and magnesium, another very important mineral.  Sweet potatoes are high in fiber content, contrary to regular white potatoes.  White potatoes are mostly starch.  Look at all the wonderful strands of fiber in the sweet potato.

The fiber content in the sweet potato makes it a low-glycemic food, meaning it doesn’t elevate the blood sugar unnecessarily like the white potato does.  Sweet potatoes are a friend to those who want to maintain a healthy weight.  White potatoes will cause the blood sugar to elevate, thus causing a release of insulin to lower the blood sugar, eventually causing the body to store fat.  Not something you want to happen.

If you’ve never eaten a baked sweet potato warm from the oven with real butter on it, you’re in for a real treat!  Now at Thanksgiving time, somehow the sweet potato gets adulterated with tons of brown sugar and heaven forbid, marshmallows!  Have you ever wondered what’s in a marshmallow?  Anyway, years ago I worked on creating a healthy, but tasty, sweet potato casserole for the holidays.  I think you’ll enjoy it.  Let me know what you think.

Prayer Power
Lord thank you for creating such wonderful tasting foods.  We give you honor and praise as we continue to reflect on this bountiful time of year.

Link of the Day
Sweet Potato Casserole

Blessings on you as you enjoy a sweet potato.