WHITE BREAD! A CONVENIENCE FOOD THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN A FREE PASS!

I hope you have noticed, I give white bread a beyond-low rating concerning nutrition as part of our everyday lifestyle. To be truthful, to even call it a food is completely disrespectful to all of the other real whole foods. Pioneering nutritionist Adelle Davis said it very well in 1947 when she wrote, "...almost all commercial bread is made of highly refined flour loaded with chemical softeners, whiteners, agers, fresheners, preservers and mold- and fungus-growth preventers.”

Are you scrutinizing the ingredient labels’ on your bread products to improve your health as well as the health of your family?

Healthy whole-grain/multi-grain bread should be rich, chewy, and may even be considered “thick”.

Take a look at the ingredient label on your bread bag, is it full of: partially hydrogenated oil (this oil is devastating to your health), caramel coloring (to color the cheap non-whole Wheat bread made with refined flour), Calcium sulfate (remember plaster of Paris), and Calcium Propionate (mold inhibitor)?

What kind of nutrients can we expect to receive from this “impoverished” food? Refined white flour is stripped of the most nutritious parts of the grain kernel. The fiber is lost, along with essential fatty acids and most of the vitamins and minerals. The truth is, more than thirty nutrients are removed during milling. This refined flour is then required by law to be enriched meaning that five nutrients are added back (iron, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, and — recently added to the list — folic acid).

NEWS FLASH: White bread, made with refined white flour, is no better for your health than drinking sodas and eating candy bars!!! If you and your family are consuming bread that lists the first ingredient as “enriched flour” you should throw it away and try again, because it is NOT beneficial but it IS very detrimental to your health. Whole-wheat bread would be the lowest quality of bread I would ever consume on a regular basis (if I consumed bread on a regular basis, which I don’t), and if you have no gluten issues you should try to experiment with multi-grain, 7-grain, 11-grain and even breads that are refrigerated and frozen as they have no preservatives added.

Hopefully you are asking yourself; “how has white bread become such a prominent food in our society?” Good question and here is the answer.

ATTRIBUTES OF WHITE BREAD

1) Cheap (the quality of our food should be the LAST place we are pinching pennies)

2) Quick (we ARE the fast-food nation)

3) Doesn’t spoil quickly (can sit on the shelf longer)

4) High in sugar content (fits our “carbohydrate-friendly” societal needs, plus white bread is high on the Glycemic Index chart)

5) Easy (doesn’t need to be refrigerated or frozen)

6) The misconception that a calorie is a calorie (white bread is just another way America is over consuming and creating a state of malnourishment while over-eating).

I know the saying; “never say never”, but if there were ever a time to use it, this would be it, NEVER consume white bread!