Blog | grains

ANOTHER WONDERFUL GUEST POST FROM ELY KETTLE FROM EASY PEAS.

Do you know how many pieces of white bread you’d have to eat in order to get the same fiber content as one piece of whole grain bread? 8. 8 slices of bread! That’s 4 sandwiches per day just to compete with one slice of whole grain bread! Think of the impact on your weight 4 sandwiches a day (and hardly any fiber) would have…

 

The best way to eat and stay healthy is to eat your food as close to its original source as possible. Fruits and vegetables are better absorbed and contain much more fiber and nutrients then the juices from concentrate available at your local grocery store. Fresh fish contains much more fatty acids then the canned variety. Even black strap molasses contains far more nutrients and vitamins then white sugar. 

 

Grains are made up of 3 parts: the bran, the germ and the endosperm which is the starchy inner layer. White flour is made using only the endosperm. The process used to make white flour consists of stripping off the bran and discarding the germ to keep only the endosperm. The process also uses various bleaching methods to make the flour white. Yes I said bleach. As in the same chemical used to whiten clothes. And you better believe some of this residual bleach is getting ingested directly into your blood stream after having that squishy piece of white bread. One of the bleaches, chloride oxide, combined with the protein left in the flour actually produces alloxon, which is a poison used in laboratories to give rats diabetes! Sounds appetizing, doesn’t it?

 

What else happens during this bleaching and refining process? Well you can say goodbye to about 30 different nutrients. The response from bread manufacturers has been to introduce “fortified” white breads that are just as healthy as whole grain bread. Or so they say. Enriched white breads only have to add back 5 nutrients in order to be called enriched. Yikes.

 

Whole grain bread has a slew of benefits. Firstly it has a huge effect on blood sugar. Since refined flour contains hardly any fiber it is essentially ingested as a sugar. What that means is that a piece of white bread is ingested and converted into sugar right away. This instant surge of sugar in the blood stream causes the pancreas to work double time to produce insulin in order to bring the blood sugar down to a workable level. Oh and what does stored and unused sugar become? Fat! Because of the sudden increase of insulin in the blood stream a significant drop in blood sugar ensues within an hour or two and causes false feelings of hunger, shakes, lethargy, weakness (hypoglycemia). Hence why people tend to go for that chocolate bar or coffee shortly after lunch, restarting the whole rollercoaster ride of sugar and insulin. Prolonged sugar highs and lows eventually lead to diabetes and adrenal exhaustion. Did you know that women with the most severe menopause symptoms typically suffer from adrenal exhaustion?

 

Eating whole grains lowers the risk of obesity, juvenile diabetes, heart disease and cholesterol levels. Whole grains are higher in vitamin B6, E, Magnesium, Zinc, folic acid and chromium. They are higher in phytochemicals and antioxidants. 

 

Cake + Loaf makes some of the healthiest (and tastiest) whole grain breads using not only unrefined and generally organic flour but also using various seeds. This combination of whole grains and seeds not only increases dietary fiber but also increases essential fatty acids and boosts the nutritional value of your bread. 

 

Preference for whole grains is typically a result of what was offered most during childhood. Switching early will make children much more likely to continue choosing whole grains as adults. Making the switch from white bread to whole grain is easy when it tastes so good and fresh. Your heart, digestive system and scale will thank you.