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Welcome back to Chasing Eden Natural Health, God's Way, where
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we uncover the ancient wisdom and divine design behind the foods, habits,
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and rhythms that help our bodies thrive the way God intended. Today,
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we're talking about one of the oldest foods on earth
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and one of the most misunderstood. Bread. For thousands of years,
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bread has been called the staff of life. It's mentioned
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over four hundred times in the Bible. It's been a
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symbol of provision, communion, and community, from the humble, flatbreads
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of ancient Israel to the golden loaves of medieval Europe.
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Bread once nourished entire civilizations, but today something has changed.
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The bread on our tables, fluffy, white, shelf stable and
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mass produced, is a far cry from what our ancestors
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made by hand. The wheat itself isn't the same. The
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way it's grown, milled, and processed is completely different, and
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for many people it's no longer a source of nourishment.
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It's a source of inflammation, brain fog, and bloating. So
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what happened? In this episode, we'll explore the fascinating history
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of bread, from ancient grains to modern wheat. We will
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look at how enriched flour became the standard, why gluten
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intolerance exploded in the twentieth century, and what's really inside
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that healthy whole wheat sandwich bread. We'll also uncover the
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difference between freshly ground wheat berries and the pre ground
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flour lining supermarket shelves, and why many people in Europe
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can eat pasta and bread without any issues, while Americans
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often suffer from digestive distress. By the end, you'll see
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why the problem isn't bread itself, it's what we've done
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to it. For most of human history, bread wasn't junk food.
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It was a sacred, nourishing food. Ancient civilizations from Egypt
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to Misopotamia, Mesopotamia I guess to the Holy Land made
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bread from freshly ground wheat, barley, or spelt. These grains
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were grown without pesticides, harvested by hand, and milled right
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before baking. Doctor Barbara O'Neill often reminds her listeners that
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freshness is life. She says, quote when food is a lie,
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it gives life unquote. That was true for bread. When
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wheat berries were freshly ground, the flour retained its natural oils, enzymes,
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and over thirty vitamins and minerals, including vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, selenium,
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and B vitamins. And here's the key. Once ground, those
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nutrients begin to oxidize quickly. Within days, most of the
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vitamin e and enzymes are gone. That's why ancient bakers
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ground their wheat daily. They didn't have storage bins of
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flour sitting for months or years. They milled, mixed, and
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baked all within hours. That bread was dense, hardy, and alive.
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It was naturally fermented with wild yeast in bacteria what
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we now call sourdough, which made it more digestible and nutritious.
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Bread wasn't the enemy then, it was a blessing. So
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what happened to wheat? The real turning point came in
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the twentieth century. After World War II, scientists began to
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breed wheat for yield, not nutrition. Traditional wheat varieties like
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einkorn and emmer had grown tall and graceful for thousands
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of years. They contained simple ancient genomes. Incorn, for example,
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has only fourteen chromosomes. But in the nineteen fifties and sixties,
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a new strain called dwarf wheat was developed through hybridization.
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It was shorter, easier to harvest, and produced much higher yields,
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but it also contained forty two chromosomes that genetic complexity
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created new gluten structures that our bodies weren't designed to recognize.
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Doctor eric Berg explains that modern wheat contains higher amounts
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of gliadin, a component of gluten that can trigger inflammation
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and digestive issues in many people. It also spikes insulin
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more sharply because its starch is more rapidly absorbed. Doctor
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Josh Acts, in his work on ancient grains, points out
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that incorn wheat, the original biblical grain, has a simpler
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structure that's easier on digestion and naturally higher in nutrients
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and antioxidants. In fact, studies have shown that many people
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who react badly to modern wheat can eat roinncorn bread
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with no symptoms at all. So modern wheat isn't evil,
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it's just different. It's been bred for convenience and not compatibility. Now,
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let's talk about one of the most misleading words in history, enriched.
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When industrial milling came along in the late eighteen hundreds,
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large factories began separating the wheat kernels into three parts
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the brand, the germ, and the endosperm. To create the
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bright white flour that consumers wanted, they removed the brand
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and germ, which also removed most of the vitamins, minerals,
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and healthy oils. This left only starchy endosperm, a nutrient
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poor powder that could last on shelves for months. When
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people started getting sick with diseases like polagra and berryberry
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caused by deficiencies in B vitamins, the food industry had
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to fix it. So they started quote enriching the flower,
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which really just means putting a few synthetic vitamins back
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in after removing dozens of natural One doctor Barbara O'Neil says,
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quote they take out the life and try to put
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it back with chemistry. Unquote, it doesn't work. Real nutrition
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comes from whole, living foods and not artificial additives. And
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that's how modern bread, even the whole wheat kind, became
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a shadow of its original form. It's been bleached, bromated,
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and stabilized with chemicals our ancestors never even knew existed.
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So let's talk about what happens when you make bread
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the way our ancestors did with freshly ground wheat. When
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you grind whole wheatberries at home, you unlock a complete food.
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The brand adds fiber and minerals, and the germ provides
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essential fatty acids and vitamin E. The endosperm offers carbohydrates
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and protein. It's balanced, it's nourishing, and it hasn't oxidized.
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Doctor Axe and human biologist Scary Breca both emphasize the
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importance of nutrient density in real foods. Gary Breca calls
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it quote cellular nutrition unquote feeding your body at the
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cellular level with living compounds. Freshly ground wheat provides that
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pre ground flower does not. Fresh flower smells nutty, almost sweet,
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like warm hay or almonds, but by the time commercial
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flour reaches grocery store shelves, it's been stored, stripped, and
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fortified to appear nutritious again. Many home bakers today are
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rediscovering the ancient art of milling their own grain using
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heritage varieties like einkorn, spelt or camet or is it
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commute kam ut contain the full spectrum of natural nutrients
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and a gluten structure that the body recognizes as food
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and not a foreign invader. So here's where it gets
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really interesting. Many Americans who can't eat bread or pasta
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here in America can eat it just fine in Europe.
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So why do you think that might be Well. Part
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of it comes down to the wheat itself. Europe still
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grows more traditional wheat varieties, and many small bakeries use
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long fermentation natural sour dough instead of a quick rising yeast.
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That fermentation breaks down gluten and predigest the starches, making
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bread easier to absorb. Another key difference is the pesticides.
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In the US, most conventional wheat crops are sprayed with glyphosate,
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the active ingredient in roundup, right before harvest to dry
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the plants. This process, called desiccation, leaves chemical residues on
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the grain. Doctor Barbara O'Neill and Gary Breca both worn
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that glyphosate disrupts gut health by killing off beneficial bacteria.
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When the microbiome is compromised, digestion and nutrient absorption decline,
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leading to bloating, fatigue, and even autoimmune reactions. Europe banned
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pre harvest glyphosate use in many regions years ago, So
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when Americans travel abroad and enjoy bread without issues, it's
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not magic, it's microbiology. Our gut recognizes real food, and
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it struggles with chemical impostors like glyphosate. Now, let's look
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at gluten intolerance, which is one of the fastest growing
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dietary issues in modern hit. Fifty years ago, gluten free
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wasn't even a phrase. Bread was daily life. So what changed?
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Three main things? The wheat itself. Modern hybrid wheat has
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new gluten proteins that are harder to digest, the process
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rapid fermentation and commercial yeast skip the natural predigestion sourdough provides.
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And the chemicals gliposate and other pesticides disrupt gut lining
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and mimic gluten sensitivity. Doctor Eric Berg explains that the
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intestinal lining is designed to regenerate every few days, but
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when inflammation is constant from processed foods, stress, and toxins,
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the gut can't repair properly. That's when people start reacting
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to gluten, dairy or other foods that never cause them
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problems before. Interestingly, people with gluten intolerance often can tolerate einecorn, spelt,
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or heritage sour dough breeds breads, not breeds breads. That's
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because the gluten is different it's simpler, it's less inflammatory
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and partially broken down during long fermentation. So for many
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people the problem isn't gluten at all, it's the modern
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processing methods. So throughout scripture, bread symbolizes life and provision.
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Jesus called himself the Bread of Life, a reminder that
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food and faith are deeply connected. Bread wasn't meant to
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sustain the body, and point us to the one whose
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bread was meant to sustain the body, and point us
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to the one who sustains the soul. Bread wasn't meant
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to be something for us to be afraid of, or
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something that we felt guilty about eating. It was actually nourishing.
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It was known as something that was protein rich and
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be vitamin rich and vitel an e rich, and it
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was a good food. We've now come to a point
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in history where we have manipulated something that was so wonderful, nutritious,
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guilt free in the past, and we've taken it into
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the modern world where we were now afraid to eat it.
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We don't want to eat it because we're afraid of
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the consequences. We've turned a sacred food into an industrial product.
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Doctor Barbara O'Neil says, when you go back to the
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old paths, you find life again. That's true, not only
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spiritually but physically. When we slowed down and source real
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ingredients for our food and our diet, and we bake
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the way our ancestors did, we rediscover that bread isn't
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the enemy. Disconnection is. So what can we learn from
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all of this? Well, I said it, Bread isn't bad.
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It's broken, but it can be redeemed just like us.
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If you want to experience bread the way it was
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meant to be, try grinding your own wheat, baking sour dough,
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or sourcing ancient grains like inecorn or spelt. Your body
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and your taste beds will thank you. I've tried incorn
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flour myself. I actually buy it on a regular basis.
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You have to get used to using it because it's
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a little bit more of a delicate flower. It's a
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finer flower and it doesn't take as much water as
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the conventional flower that we're used to using, So you
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do have to make a few adjustments in using it.
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Look up some recipes, but I think you'd be pleasantly
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surprised at the texture and the flavor and the way
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that your gut isn't going to most likely isn't going
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to respond to bread and things made from the eincorn flour. Remember,
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real health isn't about restriction, It's about restoration, and it's
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about returning to God's original design. If you enjoyed this episode,
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be sure to subscribe to Chasing Eden Natural Health God's
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Way wherever you listen to podcasts, and please visit Chasingeden
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dot net for natural health articles. Until next time, I'm
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Carolyn Thompson reminding you stay curious, stay grounded, and keep
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Chasing Eden.