Would the Diet book be worth it for me? More...

Submitted by happyvegan on May 26, 2007 - 3:04pm
Body: 

My dietary history is that I've been a whole foods vegan for almost 7 years. I've recently been converting to a raw foods diet (I've been about 80% raw on average for a little over a month)with the only cooked foods being beans or green vegetables. No (or almost no) starchy veggies or bread (even though I make 8 loaves of the best homemade whole wheat bread you'll ever taste every single week for my family). Is the Whole Woman diet something drastically different than this type of dietary lifestyle to where it'd be worth the money to buy, or would my money be better spent getting the exercise dvd? I have Saving the Whole Woman, but I was thinking that the dvd would make it easier for me to understand the postures by seeing them in action.

Quick prolapse history: small rectocele starting with my first birth (forceps/episiotomy hospital fiasco) that after my recent (third) birth has become a pretty impressive rectocele, plus a small cystocele, and my cervix is definitely lower than it should be. My second and third births were perfect births, no complications, no tearing, completely unassisted homebirths (just me and hubby) with labors less than 3 hours and no pushing at all...my body literally evacuated the babies, not unlike having a bowel movement (that should be embarrassing but it's not...it made the birth easy! :)

My youngest is now 8 months old and the prolapses have just been getting worse for the last several months, and I'm a little freaked out (but so relieved I'm not alone!). I'm not sure why the 'celes have gotten worse, but perhaps I just did too much too sook after having the last two babies...I felt great and was up doing normal stuff after an hour. Plus, and I hate to think this is a cause, but I've been breastfeeding nonstop for 7 years this August.

Anyways, that's my story. Let me know if there's more to the diet book than what I'm already doing.

Thanks,
Shayla

Christine

May 27, 2007 - 7:44pm

Hi Shayla,

Sounds like you have your diet well-managed. The book is really for those who want information about why eating low on the food chain is important and how to go about doing it.

:-) Christine

Grandma Joy

May 27, 2007 - 10:30pm

Hi,

I rarely, if ever, eat bread. However, I just bought organic whole wheat flour and made whole wheat bread Saturday. It was good but not as good as what yours sounds like, so would you please post the recipe for "the best homemade whole wheat bread you'll ever taste"? I really feel like mine needed some flavor??

Thanks,
Grandma Joy

happyvegan

May 28, 2007 - 11:56am

The most important thing I can say about making bread from scratch is that you need hard *white* wheat. Make sure it's not hard *red* wheat or *soft* white wheat. Hard white wheat is still whole wheat, but there are less tannins in the outer part of the grain, meaning a more delicate taste and a lighter, fluffier loaf of bread. It's all I use, and I grind it myself.

I got the recipe from my homeschool group. One of the mamas has developed this recipe over the years and was nice enough to share with the rest of us. This recipe is assuming you have a bosch mixer or a stand mixer of some kind. It can be adapted for hand kneading, although I can say from experience that it can take up to 20 minutes of hand kneading to develop the wheat gluten in whole wheat bread...it's a workout! Okay, on to the recipe:

4 1/2 cups of warm water
1/2 cup molasses, honey, or pure maple syrup
3 tbs sea salt
3/4 cup olive oil (I use ground golden flax seeds instead)

Put the above ingredients in your mixer and mix a little.

Add 2 cups flour.

Mix a little.

Add 3 tbs *instant* yeast (SAF brand is the best)

Mix a little more.

Add 1/2 cup (a little less than) gluten.

Turn mixer on.

Start adding flour in 1-2 cup increments while mixing on low (speed 1 on bosch). Add flour until the dough starts cleaning the sides of the mixer, about 10 cups, maybe 12. The dough will feel stickier than white bread dough. Switch to speed 2 on the bosch mixer and mix for 5 minutes. Let rise in mixer for 20 minutes.

Dump dough out on counter. Slam on counter 7 times, divide into 3-4 even portions and slam each one 7 more times. Shape into loaves, put in 3 9-inch loaf pans or 4 8-inch loaf pans. Let rise about 30 minutes (until you poke a corner with your finger and it doesn't spring back) and then bake until done at 350 degrees. Let cool 1 hour before cutting. Enjoy.

Hope this helps. We go through loaves and loaves of this stuff, and even people who don't like whole wheat love it. And even if you continue to use your own recipe, make sure to get hard white wheat (Montana Wheat makes a good one: Prairie Gold...Montana brand hasn't got their organic certification yet but they have tested chemical and pesticide free for several years). It'll make a huge difference. :)

happyvegan

May 28, 2007 - 12:13pm

Thanks for letting me know. We're on kinda limited funds and I want to get the things I truly *need*. I'll order the dvd instead. :)

Grandma Joy

June 5, 2007 - 11:23pm

My recipe is pretty much the same as yours except I did use red wheat. I will try the white wheat as I would like it to be "lighter". It was good but heavy, like the old fashioned European breads.

Thanks,
Grandma Joy