Skip to main content

What the mouse knows and we don't?

Why does a mouse eat the germ of grain and leave the rest for us? what does it know that we don't?
I went to a GLND session where this was pointed out to me.  I had not taken note of this before; but I then realized that in the grain stores at home, the maize grains all have an elliptical hole at the top.

Apparently the mouse eats that part of the grain because of the importance of the grain germ to its body. The germ contains phospholipids; the essential oils that enable the building of the cell membrane.

What is a healthy cell membrane good for? Good health. Healthy cell membrane allows the passage of wastes out of the cell and the absorption of nutrients into the cell. Nutrients help to fuel the cell and hence the body.

What is  the  effect of unhealthy cell membrane? Basically disease, lethargy and lack of energy. When wastes build up in the cell, they cause disease. When the cell does not have the nutrients it requires then the body becomes lethargic.

So, does the mouse know all this? Perhaps only intuitively. But it does. And that's why the mouse eats the germ and leaves the starch and gluten for us.
What do we humans do instead when making maize meal? We strip the grain of all the essential nutrients and leave the starch alone. We then mill this, and later "fortify" it. This is a scam that we should resist. Of course the people in the business of making maize mill want it on the shelf for as long as possible, and that is why the germ is removed.

But eating this maize meal is really eating empty calories. It contributes little to the specific needs of our body, aside from filling our bellies. Wheat, polished rice have also been stripped of these essential nutrients.

It is up to us to know the importance of what we eat, and do it right.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Opportunities and challenges presented by the AfCFTA

President Kenyatta joined other African heads of state on March 21 in signing the #AfCFTA. What does this mean for Kenya? It means that Kenya's goods and services could have a broader market to sell to. It also means that locally made goods and services will face increased competition from similar products in the African market, especially if other countries have a comparative advantage. What is the projected net effect of these two sides of trade? Well, it's difficult to predict. It depends on which goods are on the schedule of reduction of tariffs both for other countries and Kenya. Pres. Kenyatta signs the AfCFTA Image courtesy of PSCU   Looking at other similar regional pacts such as North America's #NAFTA or the EU, we can see that trade between countries increases many fold. But as in the case of Mexico which saw the bankrupting of peasant farmers due to cheap corn and other agricultural produce from subsidized American farms, the aggregate effect might be po...

How well-meaning parents ruined us

Growing up, it was common for our parents to encourage us and tell us how we could be anything we wanted in life. "You can do anything you set your mind to do!" They would cheer us on. "Even the president?" We'd ask unconvinced. "Yes, you could even become the richest man in the world!" All this fascinated us. We vowed to ourselves that we'd in fact become people of substance who would be recognized in the entire world for our achievements. We'd ride in super-yachts like Abramovich and the rest of the mega-rich. We would produce life changing inventions, innovating our way to stardom. We'd become the next prodigy in music and sports. All this is well and good, meant to lift our spirits. Assessing our lives however, no matter how much effort we have put in to realize our dreams and visions, they have eluded us. We have become adept at doing other things though: commenting on FB posts, retweets, identifying the hottest political issue...

Look, I am become a diplomat

"You speak very good English, where did you learn?" a person I just met asks. "In Kenya, in school…" I calmly reply. "Wow! You speak English in Kenya?" He continues. "Oh yes, we do …" The conversation goes into how we do (not) live with lions as pets and how I don’t run like "all" other Kenyans they've seen on TV. If you are wondering, this is an actual conversation I have had with persons I have met here in the US. This is not to say every conversation I have had goes this way. On the contrary, in the greater Washington metropolitan area where I live, this is the exception. Any time I have to field questions about Kenya, however, I feel as if the responsibility to represent Kenya and communicate its brand is upon my shoulders. This is despite not getting any training on this aspect of my travel experience. Some other well-meaning people have said, once hearing I am from Kenya, that they visited Uganda, Rwanda, Bots...