I fully intend to try it (I'm sure I'll end up hooked) someday Tee. Right now it's more than I can handle. Sounds ridiculous doen/t it? But with the house to build plus I recently found out I'm a celiac so no gluten for me! That gets way more involved than people think so it will require careful research on my part as to which seeds I can sprout & eat safely. There is an iodine factor there too. More than i can deal with at this moment. Changing over to gluten free shopping, cooking & eating is sapping my time.
I'm 54 Tee soon to be 55 & I'm guessing we graduated around the same year.

I get that, Ann. I'm a 24/7 caregiver, the sole one right now, and there are times when you just can't take on another project plus have to give up some that you really enjoy.

Sorry that I made you older than you are. I'm 7 years ahead of you.

You have brought up a good point with this and I'm happy you did. People who are intolerant of gluten should investigate any grains they might want to sprout. Here is a partial list of gluten-free grains:

Quinoa
Millet
Buckwheat
Sorghum
Amaranth
Teff
Montina
Wild Rice

and corn is gluten-free

No problem with the age thing Tee. I've never been one to get hung up on age stigmas. And sometimes I feel 70 & 16 all at the same time!
And my dh is 9 yrs. my senior so it all evens out.

I agree about age. Very pleased that the discussion led to the gluten-free issue. I had not thought to include that in the article. It's a very important issue that is getting much attention right now.

Yeah, seems like if you don't have it yourself, you know someone who does.

I expect there is going to be more of this too. We're having problems with our food.

We certainly are ... in more ways than one.

Yes. And although there are lots of "gluten free" products out there in the supermarkets there are problems with those. Such as cross contamination. We all know how flour just plain "gets around". Now, you take Rice Chex or Oatmeal & many other things which are processed in facilities where they process flour ~~~ the machinery is full of flour ~~~ the entire facility is full of flour. It takes only 1/8 tsp. of gluten to "gluten" a celiac. Think about it.

You are right ... there is no telling what we get in some of our "food", sad to say. I do not have Celiac Disease, but I am aware of how severe it can be and the accompanying pain and misery. My issue years ago was with a severe case of Candida albicans in the gut. When your gut is messed up in any way, you are messed up ... and severely miserable. Unfortunately, the great majority of doctors at that time weren't inclined to even believe that Candida was a real condition. We need to have as much info in our nutritional "arsenal" as we can these days.

I understand what you went through! It is similar now for celiacs. The symptoms are indicative of so many other maladies. It isn't a cut & dried situation. The tests are not even cut & dried. There are great #'s of false negatives. And once you discover what your problem is & go gluten free then the test requires you to gluten yourself. NOT BLOODY LIKELY!!!!!!! I'm walking the road & there's NO WAY I'm walking backwards for anyone.
You see, it is estimated that 25% of celiacs have or will get celiac rash. That would be me. Curse/blessing that mine manifested in such manner. And I use both those words emphatically! Curse: the rash will drive you straight up a wall. It itches & burns intensely & continually in a manner which defies any attempt at description. Nothing helps it. No cream, lotion or pill except a pill which has so many side effects that your blood has to be monitored every 2 weeks & it can easily damage your liver. No thanks. And each rash takes a full 3-4 weeks to resolve & there are no short cuts. Blessing: Celiacs who get the rash have less intestinal symptoms & damage. Instead, the immune system attacks the skin more than the intestines. The damage from celiac disease can cause cancer among other things.
Now we get into the really big problem ~~~ you have to go to a dermatologist to do a punch biopsy for a diagnosis of celiac rash. And derms don't want to do it. They don't really know about it. They don't know how to recognize it. The vast majority of derms have not done this procedure. It MUST be done precisely. If they don't do it right you get a false negative. Here's the real kicker: even when performed perfectly the test returns a 37% false negative.
The good news: There is a cure for celiac disease. The gut will repair itself. The skin will stop reacting. The cure: go gluten free. Period. Totally gluten free. No drug will cure this. Only getting yourself & keeping yourself gluten free will cure it. But that will cure it.

Maybe I ain't allergic to the sun?????? All that itching, I know about itching. Doctors don't know anything that's "why they call them "practicioners" That is what hubby tells me. By durn he may be right.
I used to work in a Food manf. place and yes, you'd be surprised what you eat in processed food.

Maybe you aren't, Charleen. It's so difficult to get an accurate diagnosis for so many things.

Nicely written article, Tee. It reminded me the days back in the 70's when I used to sprout seeds in a kitchen cupboard. I got to wondering how and why we ever drifted away from doing that. Thanks to you, we're going to be eating sprouts again!

Thanks, Larry. Much appreciated. The same thing happened with us as far as drifting way from sprouting for a time. I'm not sure why either, but I'm certainly glad I got back to it. As I see it, it's a simple solution to a lot of problems as far as good fresh greens in the winter ... easy, relatively inexpensive, organic, and enormously healthy. I personally think it's kinda fun to boot.

and I can't wait till I can be doing it too!

I saw a very interesting video the other day (are any of you familiar with the TED conferences?). This man has been working towards getting people to start growing their own food again.

Anywho, he made one point that really resonated with me. We don't trust our food anymore. We don't trust our food sources, we don't trust manufacturers, we don't trust large scale farm operations. Like what Charleen alluded to, we don't know everything that is in our food - preservatives probably being the least of it and e-coli being one of the worst.

It makes me mad that Farmer's Markets here in Tennessee are so heavily regulated - have you ever heard of tainted food killing people from a Farmer's Market, like eggs with Salmonella, spinach and bean sprouts with e-coli, etc.? Nope, that's from the mega agri-business farms.

Okay, stumbling back off of my soap-box!

Get back up on that soapbox Sheryl & I'll stand up there beside you!

Proud to have you, girlfriend!

You all might enjoy this talk - or not, lol. The subject is near and dear to many of our hearts, but the speaker..... well, he's okay. Not the most dynamic guy, but thoughtful, for sure.

If you aren't familiar with the TED talks, they are all +/- 20 minutes, this guy runs about 18.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

I had to leave and just getting back here. Great comments and I am in agreement. Thanks for the video, Sheryl. That's one reason simple sprouting can be so important. My personal feeling is that we need to rely on simple foods. And the simpler, the better.

I agree about the Farmers' Markets. I shop at ours ever Saturday during its season. I have met a lovely Mennonite couple from another state who are vendors there and they bring down fresh organic eggs, fresh honey wheat bread and fresh egg noodles. They continue to do so through the winter and their customers meet them at a location to pick up the food. They also sell halves and quarters of organic beef and do bring raw milk to some of their customers. They have stopped doing it openly because of the regulations in their home state. Our market is pretty laid back so far but it's only 3 years old so regulations are minimal. Vendors have organic chicken, pork, beef, rabbit.

I'd better stop or I'll be on my soapbox for sure.

I'm on that soapbox with you Tee.

Sure wish we had an Amish couple around like yours. I'd be in hog heaven...maybe organic heaven.

DH is just now reading Michael Pollan's first book so he's the food police right now.

Our county has come a long way in the time we've lived here. One of the grocers has an entire organic aisle and we do have a very nice health food store that carries fresh produce and lots of good "stuff"