Then you place a 1 to 2" layer of seed or bean in a Mason jar, cover jar with nylon square, and secure square over mouth of jar with a rubber band. Fill with water a few inches above your layer, and let soak for 2 to 8 hours or overnight (the larger beans need a lot longer than small seed such as alfalfa or clover). Drain jar and invert at a 45 degree angle in your dish drainer (or in a large plastic margarine tub in your kitchen sink). Rinse with water and drain several times a day. When sprouted in next few days (again, depending on size of bean or seed), rinse and drain, put a lid on jar, and refrigerate. Use within 3 to 5 days.

What can you do with these dietary nuggets? Use mung beans in eggs foo yung, and certainly in stir-fries. You can toss into soup during last few minutes, put alfalfa sprouts into an omlet, even make bread. Incorporate in meatloaf or burgers. Throw sprouts into your juicer with either fruit or veggie blends, for a beverage so loaded with nutrients it might even add spring to your step! But quickest, easiest way is to include them in a big green salad.

With fast food and packaged frozen dinners which comprise so much of American diet, people simply aren't getting enough fiber. Our foods are mostly processed. When was last time, other than salad or an apple, you enjoyed anything raw?

There are many websites on raw food diets. Researchers say that best course is a combination of foods, both raw and cooked. There are even some who advocate a completely raw diet, including raw fish and meat. http://www.rawpaleodiet.org/ "Say It with Sprouts" is an article devoted to mung bean sprouts: http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa092101a.htm "Types of Raw Food Diets" discusses variety of diets, at http://www.living-foods.com/articles ypesofraw.html The Raw Food Directory has a wealth of resources to guide you: http://www.buildfreedom.com/rawmain.htm And don't miss a colorful, whimsical site with over 400 pages of sprout information: http://www.sproutpeople.com

The other detail we'd like to include: sprouts are probably all-time best nutritional value you can obtain for negligible price. True, you can forage for wild foods, but you have to be able to identify what you're bringing home to eat. I priced alfalfa sprouts at my local grocery: $1.99 for 4 ounces. You can sprout your own at home for a few cents, and know they are fresh and wholesome.

Dr. Ann Wigmore was one of first raw foods proponents. She recommended Energy Soup, base of which is sprouts. Even your children can develop a taste for sprouts. Mix a half cup of alfalfa sprouts with peanut butter for sandwiches. "Mmm! What's this crunchy stuff?" they'll say, as natural vitamins are helping their bodies to grow strong. Toss sprouted garbanzo beans (chickpeas) into your next taco filling. Sprinkle clover sprouts into breakfast cereal, omlet, or pancake batter.

Up for a new/nutritious eating adventure? Try sprouts!

Those who ate least amount of whole grains had a 60% higher incidence of developing type 2 diabetes than those eating highest level of whole grains. But there’s even more evidence. And, this is a real shocker. Obese men who ate highest amount of whole grains, and were also physically active, developed 52% less type 2 diabetes, even though they were overweight.

Two other recent studies focusing on women and whole grains confirmed these same Harvard findings: whole grains can help protect from diabetes and possibly other degenerative diseases.

Why?

Whole grains are low glycemic carbohydrates. This means lower blood sugar and less insulin production. But refined grains are high glycemic carbohydrates that more than double blood sugar levels. This causes an insulin surge to clear sugar out of blood. After a while, body is no longer capable of handling this blood sugar onslaught. That’s when a person becomes a type 2 diabetic. Then high blood sugar can increase risk of diabetic related heart disease, kidney failure and blindness.

The Harvard research team’s conclusion to this study was to recommend that people eat more whole grains. They said, "Whole grain products” have “the potential to reduce substantially incidence of type 2 diabetes and possibly other chronic diseases when sustained over time.”

Makes a lot of sense to me. Whole grains are in their natural, nutritious form, just way they were meant to be. You see, “It’s not nice to try and fool Mother Nature.” And, in her never-to-be-humble opinion, she doesn’t mind telling us, “I told you so!”