NUTRITIONAL COMMENTS
Kokimo Kitchen has been established in Canada to address the nutritional needs of those who chose to follow a vegetarian lifestyle, and of those moving toward vegetarianism, whether because of health concerns, devotion to animal rights, a sense of social or environmental concern, or religious dietary requirements. The benefits of a plant-based diet are numerous and include weight control (plant foods generally contain virtually no fat and keep the body fueled and satisfied for hours), and disease prevention (plant foods are high in fibre and low in fat lowering the risk of heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers). A plant-based diet is also economical and environmentally sound. There is an increasing concern today about the effect that the consumption of processed foods and meats have on our general health, aggravated by fast paced lifestyles with the tendency to eat haphazardly on the run to the detriment of obtaining adequate essential nutrients, and by over indulgence of foods containing excess sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. To address the need for fast but healthy foods, Kokimo Kitchen strives to provide foods that are not only convenient to use, but most importantly are nourishing to the body. Kokimo Kitchen uses only whole, natural and traditional foods such as brown rice, whole corn, buckwheat, and mung beans (lentils), organic wherever possible, gluten free, and freshly prepared before shipment. Great care is taken to freshly mill the grains and lentils to preserve nutrients. The simple and natural foods prepared by Kokimo Kitchen contain no unhealthy fat and are an excellent source of protein and complex carbohydrates, essential vitamins and minerals, and dietary fibre. The foods are easy to digest and thereby provide maximum nourishment to promote optimum health. The following shares the benefits of some of the ingredients used in the plant-based foods used by Kokimo Kitchen. PROTEIN Protein is an essential part of nutrition, comprising 20 percent of our body weight. Only water is more important to the body's physical composition. Protein is necessary for the formation of our muscles, hair, nails, skin, eyes and internal organs, especially the heart muscle and brain. As a macronutrient, protein is utilized for the formation of hemoglobin (red blood cells) and antibodies, which help fight infections. In addition, growth and maintenance of body tissues depend upon our obtaining adequate protein, and it is important to note that during childhood, pregnancy and lactation extra protein is required. Kokimo Kitchen foods are an excellent source of protein created through a traditional combination of grains and lentils, proven over the ages and various cultures to provide the eight essential amino acids which form a completely useable protein to sustain the body's health. For example, rice is relatively low in the amino acid lysine, but lentils (pulses) are rich in this same amino acid, thereby complementing the lack in the grain. The body, having innate intelligence, will even combine these amino acids itself if the complementary amino acids are eaten at different times during the day. CARBOHYDRATES The process of photosynthesis in plants produces carbohydrates, and this is the primary source of energy in nature's plant foods. When we consume plant foods, these complex carbohydrates are used as the body's main source of energy and play an important role in the functioning of the internal organs, the nervous system, and the muscles. Unfortunately, in today's society there is a tendency to consume too many simple carbohydrates through the consumption of refined flours and sugars lacking in nutrients and fibre, and the effect of such a habit has been implicated in such diseases as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular problems and tooth decay. The complex carbohydrates found in the unrefined whole grain flours and mung flours used in Kokimo Kitchen foods have a low glycemic index, provide an abundance of essential vitamins and minerals, ample fibre for good intestinal health and reduction of cholesterol levels, and an immediate and time-released energy source as they are easily digested and then continue to be metabolized in the bloodstream. Complex carbohydrates also help to regulate protein and fat metabolism, fight infections, and promote tissue growth. MUNG BEANS Mung beans are a small round bean bearing olive green, brown or black skin. There are some 2,000 varieties of mung beans. In the family of pulses, mung beans are a vital source of protein for vegetarian diets and for those who want an alternative to meat protein, without the saturated fat but with a lot of dietary fibre. Mung beans are one of the most cherished foods in many Asian countries, and the awareness of the importance of this food for humans is just beginning in North America . It has been estimated that mung has been cultivated in the warm climate of south India since 2800 BCE and has been its staple food for thousands of years where, as a predominantly vegetarian society, they recognize the nutritional value of these pulses. Over the years, mung has been introduced to such countries as China , Malaysia , Thailand , Vietnam and Philippines . Its versatility lends itself, in its whole (with skin), peeled, split, or ground forms to make savoury noodles and thin or thick soups, and it is often used as a curried accompaniment to rice; mung is also made into sprouts and sweet snacks and desserts. Mung beans when cooked have a buttery texture and nutty flavour and are easily digested, containing few oligosaccharides as found in larger beans which tend to cause abdominal gas, bloating and flatulence. Mung bean products therefore are suitable for children or those with delicate digestive systems. Mung beans are highly nourishing, containing approximately 25 percent protein, and are a good source of the B vitamins thiamin (B1), pyridoxine (B6) and folate (folic acid) (B vitamins overall are essential for energy production and our nervous system), as well as essential minerals iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese. Mung beans are also rich in complex carbohydrates, an important energy source for the body. Kokimo Kitchen freshly mills split mung beans into a fine textured, gluten free, unrefined flour, and combines it with unrefined whole grain flours to make nourishing foods which can be quickly prepared. BROWN RICE Rice is intimately involved in the culture and economy of about half of the world's population, particularly in Asian countries. It is probably also the oldest grain cultivated, and multiple uses have been made from both the kernels and the plant's straw. The origins of rice have been debated for some time, and the plant is of such antiquity (one species living some 15 million years ago) that the precise time and place of its first development will perhaps never be known as this grain has ancient varieties in South Asia, China, Africa, Australia and the Americas, although it is theorized that rice was first domesticated in Southeast Asia. The unfortunate trend of polishing and milling many layers destroys the outer hull, the bran and most of the germ of the rice kernels. The rice is further bleached to a pristine whiteness (a condition considered more prestigious), and these processes have led to the loss of most of the vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, leaving a product which can hardly be called food given its lack of ability to nourish the body. In fact, people eating a highly polished rice diet have a tendency to develop a thiamine deficient disease called “beriberi” which affects the heart and nervous system. Whole grain brown rice has only the outer inedible hull removed, and this process is least damaging to its nutritional value. Brown rice is a complex carbohydrate containing seven to eight percent of good quality protein which is easily used by the body, and is a good source of the B vitamins thiamin (B1), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), and pyridoxine (B6), the minerals iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, and is an excellent source of manganese, a protective antioxidant. Brown rice also contains about six percent essential fatty acids. Kokimo Kitchen finely mills brown rice kernels, and combines it with mung flour and other unrefined whole grain flours to make easy to prepare foods which enhance and sustain good health. CORN Over a period of some seven thousand years, the indigenous peoples of the Americas transformed wild maize, through special cultivation techniques, to produce a domesticated plant which is considered by them as one of three sacred foods (“three sisters” consisting of corn, beans and squash), which have traditionally sustained these societies. In addition to its beneficial effects on the digestive system and the heart, the fibre found in corn can help stabilize blood sugar levels. As a complex carbohydrate, whole grain corn has a sweet flavour and contains five percent protein, is low in saturated fats, is a good source of the B vitamins thiamin (B1), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), and is an ample source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, manganese and selenium. Kokimo Kitchen uses milled whole grain, yellow corn flour in some of its products. BUCKWHEAT Buckwheat is not related to wheat and has no gluten. Although it looks and tastes like a grain, it is not a true grain but rather it is a fruit of a plant belonging to the family of sorrels. This “pseudograin” is indigenous to Russia , and is a popular food used in the cuisines of China , Japan , Korea , eastern Europe, Finland , Austria , northern Italy , and France . As early as 1620, the Dutch immigrants to America brought seeds with them for cultivation. Buckwheat has a robust, sweet nutlike flavour and has a warming effect on the body. It contains 13 percent high quality, usable protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids in good proportions. Buckwheat is also a complex carbohydrate which is absorbed slowly into the blood system, improving glucose tolerance among the carbohydrate sensitive. Additionally, this cereal grain contains about eight percent of mostly beneficial unsaturated fats, a small portion of vitamin E, a generous portion of many of the B vitamins, including thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pyridoxine (B6), and folate (folic acid), is an excellent source of vitamin K (necessary for proper blood clotting), and the minerals iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese and selenium, as well as some calcium. Buckwheat is a particularly good source of rutin, a bioflavonoid which strengthens capillaries and their ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to organs and tissues. Kokimo Kitchen uses a finely textured, whole groat buckwheat flour in some of its products. MINOR BUT IMPORTANT INGREDIENTS Only the finest natural ingredients are used in Kokimo Kitchen plant-based foods, such as a full mineral crystal salt and organic cane juice sugar. It is to the detriment of our health today that the earth's natural salts, gathered from both land and sea, have been chemically cleaned and reduced only to sodium and chloride, thus removing important essential minerals and trace elements which are considered as impurities in the salt. The resulting pristine white “common table salt”, or sodium chloride, having lost its integrity as a whole food, now creates in our body an unnatural internal environment producing a disruption in the fluid balance and adversely affecting the water exchange between the body's organs, as well as between the extra cellular fluid and the intracellular fluid, resulting in edema and weight gain. If the amount of sodium chloride in our body is too high it will re-crystallize using animal proteins to form uric acid which is then deposited in the organs, bones and joints causing rheumatism, arthritis, gout, and kidney and gall bladder stones. Kokimo Kitchen uses only pink Himalayan crystal salt, which is the purest form of natural salt available today, mined from an ancient seabed in the foothills of the Himalayas . The fine crystalline structure of this special salt enables the trace minerals, so essential to good health, to be easily absorbed through our body's cellular membranes, thus differing from the unnatural and shaped crystals of common table salt and the irregular shaped cells of sea salt. Himalayan crystal salt is free of impurities, having formed over a period of millions of years under great tectonic pressure, and contains up to 84 elements, the same elements found in human blood. Unrefined grey sea salt also contains these same elements, however the environmental pollution of our oceans today raises concerns about the many harmful toxins that could be contained in unwashed sea salt. The use of Himalayan crystal salt in Kokimo Kitchen products ensures that our body will be obtaining a balanced supply of essential minerals. The other minor ingredient that is used in some of Kokimo Kitchen products, is powdered, organic cane juice sugar. Refined white sugar is produced from sugar cane that has been processed and chemically stripped of its nutrients, thus turning it into an anti-nutrient, that is, it actually robs our body of vital minerals in the digestion process. Organic whole cane sugar, on the other hand, is produced by pressing the juice from the cane and boiling off the water. The resulting granules retain some riboflavin (B2), a small portion of niacin (B3) and pantothenic acid (B5), as well as a good portion of the essential minerals calcium, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, and potassium. IMPORTANT NOTES Kokimo Kitchen foods are freshly prepared before shipment, and to protect the nutritional value of the ingredients, the packages should be refrigerated, or ideally frozen, after opening. The health information contained in this website is for educational purposes only. Consult your physician regarding the applicability of any information provided as it relates to your symptoms or medical condition.
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