WEB POSTED 06-26-2001

OUR DAILY BREAD
Killing Ourselves With The Staff of Life!

We are all familiar with the fact that the bread which we eat is widely referred to as "the staff of life". The staff referred to, of course, is the stick or cane which some people must use in order for them to stand, and particularly to walk. So, according to the term, just as the staff with which we walk supports our weight and enables us to progress from point to point, so bread, used properly, supports the cells and organs of our body so that they may function properly. One indication of the importance of bread in our diet is the fact that it is mentioned in the Bible more than 400 times, and no other food even comes close!

Notice that in our normal course of speech, the provider for a household is referred to as the "breadwinner", never the "meatwinner", nor the "ricewinner". Bread has, as a natural partner, water. You can live longer without eating than you can without a drink of water, while as long as you have a sufficient amount of both of these, you may not be pleasing your taste buds, but you can live a long time. But both of these must be ingested properly. Water is a crucial support of life, but you can also drown!

But back to the "staff" symbolism. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad once compared bread, "the staff of life", with his staff members, and concluded, "Those who can help you the most can hurt you the most." In his book, "HOW TO EAT TO LIVE", he stated, "Eat wheat � never white flour, which has been robbed of all its natural vitamins and proteins, sold separately as cereals."

This is a telling biological principal. Once the white flour is grafted from the healthy original grains, it is pure poison! (Sound familiar?) White flower is, today, more widely used than all of the natural grains (wheat, rye, etc.) combined. The immense popularity of the poison white flour over the healthy original grains, from which it was grafted, is in keeping with the doctrine of white supremacy. This is not an attempt at what the shrewd oppressors tell our people is "reverse discrimination" � teaching "Black Supremacy" to combat "White Supremacy". There is no power in the color � the color is an indicator!

Even the pure grains, untampered with, do not provide us with all the good which they contain, unless properly prepared. Messenger Muhammad writes, "Whole wheat bread, cooked thoroughly, is the best bread....rye bread is all right for the hard-working man. Even at that, it should be cooked twice."

This teaching answered a question which had haunted me for many years. I had many relatives, friends and acquaintances who worked in bakeries in various cities over the years. Invariably, they liked to grab the freshly baked bread, flood it with butter and gulp it down. I noticed even then, and have reflected on it repeatedly since, that all of them, at very young ages, suffered from various heart problems and high blood pressure. Messenger Muhammad writes, "There is no such thing as stale bread. Let no bakery or anyone fool you." With his guidance, I began research which showed that bread is not completely done until 24 hours after it is removed from the oven. During that time, it is still undergoing the chemical transitions which complete the cooking cycle. Fresh pancakes are no good, nor are waffles, unless they are at least 24 hours old and then re-heated. The same goes for biscuits.

"After it is cooked," The Messenger writes, "do not eat it until it has set a day or two; even three days is not too long to wait for it. It is never stale because of age if kept in the right place....Bread should be cooked thoroughly and slowly, and if you have plenty of time, cook the bread two or three times and then eat it....Do not eat freshly baked cakes. Give them a day to dry out, after baking."

The same goes for cookies, etc.

The wise scientists of this civilization observed the wisdom of cooking bread more than once, and utilized the knowledge in the creation of such things as toast and dressing!