The Truth About Enriched Wheat Flour (White Flour)

Open up your bread box and read the ingredients of your favorite bread. Chances are the first ingredient is going to be enriched wheat flour.

What does "enriched" mean?
Enriched flour is flour in which most of the natural vitamins and minerals have been extracted. This is done in order to give bread a finer texture, increase shelf life and prevent bugs from eating it (bugs will die if they attempt to live off it).

Why is enriched flour bad?
When the bran and the germ (the parts of the wheat that contain vitamins and minerals) are removed, your body absorbs wheat differently. Instead of being a slow, steady process through which you get steady bursts of energy, your body breaks down enriched flour too quickly, flooding the blood stream with too much sugar at once. Your body then has to work hard to absorb the excess and stores it as fat. This causes quick highs and lows in your blood-sugar level which can lead to type-two diabetes and obesity. All this and you're not even getting close to the amount of nutrients that whole grains contain.

Whole grains
Whole grains are richer in dietary fiber, antioxidants, protein (and in particular the amino acid lysine), dietary minerals (including magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and selenium), and vitamins (including niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin E).<


Health benefits
By eating whole grains you reduce the risk of some forms of cancer, digestive system diseases, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Don't be fooled
There are many products that seem healthy on the front but in reality they are not. If the bread you are buying says "soft wheat" or "multi-grain" make sure you still read the ingredients. Most of these breads are primarily made with enriched flour. Even if the word "enriched" is not there, if it does not say "whole" then it's the same junk. Don't get fooled by color either. Even if it's brown, unbleachedwheat flour is still missing the bran and the germ that contain essential nutrients as well as the fiber that aids digestion.

Look for products that say 100% whole wheat. Trader Joes carries spaghetti that is 100% whole wheat and tastes great. Even my father-in-law, Mr. Anti-health, likes it.

1 Corinthians 6: 19, 20
…You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

(Source: Internet )

Take an African Safari

There are endless ways to vacation in today's world. Air travel makes it possible to get almost anywhere in the world in thirty hours or less. The local park or the state right next door are no longer our only reasonable vacation options. We can go on huge cruise ships and explore the beauty of the seas or we can vacation in a cabin tucked away in the mountains. It is even possible and reasonable to go on an African safari for your next vacation.

I know, an African safari seems a little too exotic and certainly too expensive for a typical family trip. And you are right in that an African safari is not a typical way to spend a week or two as a family, but it certainly is becoming a more viable option as travel becomes easier and more reasonable.

Admit it. There is at least a little bit of you that has always desired to take an African safari, to explore some of the world's wildest and most unknown places. I believe that you should start to make plans for an African safari if only because you want to. Don't let yourself get stressed out with all of the details that seem unrealistic. Instead, allow yourself to commit to planning a trip simply because it is something that would make your life richer and more full.

There are many ways to start planning an African safari. You can always make a visit to your travel agent, if you have one, and allow them to help you begin making the dream of an African safari a reality. You can also utilize various travel and trip planning magazines that often give details and tips about how to go about planning and then enjoying great vacations like an African safari. And don't forget the incredible resource that you have in the internet. With a few hours of searching I'm confident that you can begin to make real progress on planning the trip of your dreams.

Consider taking your African safari with a group of friends or with members of your extended family. Turn your dream trip into something that you can enjoy with the people you love most. Many times there are group discount rates for just about every aspect of a trip: the airfare, the hotel, and even the African safari itself. So for this trip, the more the merrier.

If going on an African safari is something you dream about, why not make steps toward making the dream happen. Apply for a passport if you do not have one and begin setting aside money now even if your trip is still a few years away. Your African safari will be well worth all of the time and planning it takes
to make it happen. 

( Source: Internet )