How do I prepare buckwheat?

[Bobby B]

Hi all. I'm looking to introduce something else other than rice for carbs and am hearing good things about buckwheat so I bought some. Raw and roasted (is there a difference other than taste?)

Anyway, how should I prepare them before boiling? Should I soak them in water? If so, for how long? What exactly does soaking do to them?

Regards,

Buckwheat Noob

[Joshua Naterman]

You don't need to soak them, you can just cook them like oatmeal or brown rice. 2 cups water to 1 cup groats! I cook 4 cups at a time usually, and that takes about 20-30 minutes.

If you soak, just soak overnight. This is the easiest thing to do, just flood them right before you go to sleep and drain when you wake up. Soaking germinates the seeds, destroying the chemicals that prevent our bodies from absorbing a large part of the vitamins and minerals in the buckwheat. Same goes for other seeds, especially beans. Beans require 12-24 hour soaks.

[Edward Kaspar]

just bought a 5kg sack off amazon 8) had trouble finding it in stores in the UK for some reason. anybody from the UK care to share where they buy their buckwheat from? thanks

[Bobby B]

Thanks for the info Slizz

just bought a 5kg sack off amazon 8) had trouble finding it in stores in the UK for some reason. anybody from the UK care to share where they buy their buckwheat from? thanks

Yeah it's a little tricky to get a hold of in my area too. I'm south of Sydney in Aus and I could only find it at one deli in town. They keep it on the floor in a massive potato sack. It's about $5 / kg. If we ever have a food shortage I'm goin straight back and picking up the whole sack. Between that and the coconut oil i could probably live of of it for a few months lol

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Ornaments, I get mine from Amazon. If you live in the U.S. it's great: http://www.amazon.com/Great-River-Organ ... 891&sr=8-2

BTW, buckwheat waffles are waay better than pancakes

Edit: OH, sorry! I see you're in the UK. Bummer... I will see what I can find tho.

Here's a link to an amazon.co.uk search result page: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos ... ur&x=0&y=0

Do any of those look good?

[Edward Kaspar]

thank for the replies guys yeah I ended up buying some off amazon in the end patrick, 5kg's for around £15, not too bad. I will search around local health food shops and food markets a well and see if I can find anything.

Joshua, from what i've read I understand your diet focuses mainly around buckwheat, spinach, oil and whey. is this correct?

[Quick Start Test Smith]

Ah, good to hear, Ornaments 5kg for £15 isn't that bad for the U.K. I guess.

[Joshua Naterman]

thank for the replies guys yeah I ended up buying some off amazon in the end patrick, 5kg's for around £15, not too bad. I will search around local health food shops and food markets a well and see if I can find anything.

Joshua, from what i've read I understand your diet focuses mainly around buckwheat, spinach, oil and whey. is this correct?

Incorrect.

My diet focuses on getting enough protein spread out through the day, enough carbs for my body (also spread out and dosed according to when I need them and how much), and as many different vegetables as possible. For this, I use frozen vegetables. Normandy blend, spinach, and asian stir fry blends cover everything except purple, which I get from blueberries in my blueberry buckwheat pancakes

Guys, you have to stop focusing on specific food sources. Start with the basics first:

1) Get enough calories.

2) Don't run more than a 400 calorie surplus or deficit at any point during your day.

3) Stop thinking in terms of 24 hours. What matters is that you have what you need when you need it, you can't make up for things later. That is the entire purpose of point 2.

4) Always have carbs with your protein.

5) Spread your protein out into as many doses as you can, evenly spaced and all small. 15-20g at the most in a single dose, not more than 1 dose per hour.

6) Eat 1 serving of vegetables for every 10-15 lbs of bodyweight. This will ensure that you are getting enough veggies.

7) Get all the colors of the rainbow over the course of each week. By this, I mean the color of the vegetables you are eating.

If you follow 1-3 100% of the time and 4-7 90% of the time, you can have fun and eat whatever foods you want (for example, eating nothing but cheesecake 1 day out of every 10, doing your best to not get ridiculously out energy balance with the cheesecake) the other 10% and be fine. For most people, including professional athletes, this is the way to go.

Cheesecake is just an example, don't go thinking there is something magical about cheesecake!

[Joshua Naterman]

I eat what I eat because I like it, and because it is cheap, and because it doesn't spoil on me in the summer heat when I am downtown without refrigeration for 10-16 hours out of the day. There are no magic foods, but there are reasons for my personal selections. The above are the most important.

Others include:

Buckwheat has no gluten, has 9-10g of dietary fiber per 1 cup serving (I have 8-10 per day), 11-12g of very good protein, and is slow digesting. For the money, if you like how it tastes when cooked 'correctly,' there is not a better or more affordable carb source out there.

Whey is cheap protein that does not spoil on me. The end. If I had a reasonably sized, portable way to haul around chicken or beef all over downtown without it being a huge hassle as well as spoiling on me, I would at least carry some. As it is, that just isn't practical for me at the moment. There is no reason to use whey instead of meat if it is good meat.

Because I have such a small amount of meat, I get my fats from eggs, nuts and oils. These are spread out as outlined above, to make sure I have enough calories at the right times. Sometimes I have them as snacks on their own, sometimes with meals. Depends on what I need.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

2) Don't run more than a 400 calorie surplus or deficit at any point during your day.

3) Stop thinking in terms of 24 hours. What matters is that you have what you need when you need it, you can't make up for things later. That is the entire purpose of point 2.

Josh, I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean, if you are, for example, scheduled to get 3600 kcal in a day (i.e. 150 kcal/hour [3600/24]) then you should never be more than 400 kcal from that?

[Nic Branson]

Cheesecake is just an example, don't go thinking there is something magical about cheesecake!

But...but I want magical cheesecake!!!!

This is very similar to how I go through with my clients from everyday people to athletes. Solid advice! Josh is the man. Look forward to the cheese cakes, don't get so strict you binge from never eating something you really want. Now to address my 1lbs of bacon and 6 egg breakfast client here.....

[Joshua Naterman]

2) Don't run more than a 400 calorie surplus or deficit at any point during your day.

3) Stop thinking in terms of 24 hours. What matters is that you have what you need when you need it, you can't make up for things later. That is the entire purpose of point 2.

Josh, I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean, if you are, for example, scheduled to get 3600 kcal in a day (i.e. 150 kcal/hour [3600/24]) then you should never be more than 400 kcal from that?

Yes! It appears you do understand what I mean

Now, keep in mind that when you are sleeping your metabolism is a little slower, perhaps 10%. So for you, you're actually looking at metabolism x 0.90 = about 135 calories per hour during sleep. If you get yourself to a 400 calorie surplus right before you hit the sack you will have a good 6 hours of sleep before you get below the 400 calorie deficit mark. Depending on what you want from your working out you would either eat for an extra 135 calorie surplus per extra hour of sleep beyond 6 or you would just eat 135 extra calories at breakfast for each of the extra hours.

[Quick Start Test Smith]

2) Don't run more than a 400 calorie surplus or deficit at any point during your day.

3) Stop thinking in terms of 24 hours. What matters is that you have what you need when you need it, you can't make up for things later. That is the entire purpose of point 2.

Josh, I don't understand what you mean by this. Do you mean, if you are, for example, scheduled to get 3600 kcal in a day (i.e. 150 kcal/hour [3600/24]) then you should never be more than 400 kcal from that?

Yes! It appears you do understand what I mean

Now, keep in mind that when you are sleeping your metabolism is a little slower, perhaps 10%. So for you, you're actually looking at metabolism x 0.90 = about 135 calories per hour during sleep. If you get yourself to a 400 calorie surplus right before you hit the sack you will have a good 6 hours of sleep before you get below the 400 calorie deficit mark. Depending on what you want from your working out you would either eat for an extra 135 calorie surplus per extra hour of sleep beyond 6 or you would just eat 135 extra calories at breakfast for each of the extra hours.

O.K. So you either make up for the kcal not eaten during sleep hours before or after sleep. I guess you're always going to have that sleep kcal deficit to make up for if you are a regular human and sleep enough. That actually sounds pretty good. If I get somewhere between 8.5-9 hours of sleep (which I am trying to get), than there's only a few extra hours to take care of.

That clears it up a lot. I think I'll get some casein to use instead of the super low quality pork and use that and buckwheat waffles/slow carbs (which have a good bit of fat in them too) for my last meal of the day. Thanks Josh.

Btw, NutriTiming is a very useful website.

[Bobby B]

If anyone isn't sure about the different techniques/reasons for proper food prep (like I was) I just came across a nice right up at:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-traditional-food-preparation-and-preservation/

[Nigel Leeming]

I'm in the UK, got some at Tesco in the health food section, in with the beans & pulses. Not cheap though, £1.75 for 500grams.