Bread - To eat or not to eat?

Welcome to another post on the “Rejuvenatedlifebyashe”. Thank you to all my readers especially those who have adopted one or more of my recommendations and gave feedback. I’m so excited by the number of people who have joined me in the olive oil and honey therapy. The changes you are happy about is just the beginning. I am more glad for those in Nigeria who have more than enough reasons to avoid hospitals.

“Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself.” Naval Ravikant.

This week, let us all try to have at least five helpings of vegetables and fruits everyday. There are so many to choose from, be adventurous. 

How many of you are in love with bread like me? Does it not hurt to see the prejudice it suffers in the hearts of so many dieticians and nutritionists? Is it that bread is truly a big bad wolf or is there a lot more to it? Hmmm…… to me, the answer is in the whiteness of the bread. The whiter the bread, the more dangerous it is to health. Let’s go there…. 

Bread is a staple food made from dough, a mixture of flour and water, usually by baking. Bread has been a prominent food in most of the world from ages past. The main ingredient is flour and that is what determines the colour of the bread. Today, my reference to flour is WHEAT FLOUR only. 

Flour is a natural product made by milling wheat to release the flour that is sitting inside. Like most natural plants and fruits, wheat has three main parts, the protective outer layer (bran), the seed from which new plants grow (germ) and the main food source (endosperm). The endosperm is essentially flour sitting inside the seed waiting to come out.

During the milling process, the three components are separated and recombined to make different types of flour. So how does something so natural and wholesome become bad for health? 

After flour is milled, it’s generally a nice off - white colour. Whilst it may not be a bother to some, many consumers prefer a pretty pure white flour. So in most parts of the world except the United Kingdom and Europe (no wonder Europeans eat them daily without a problem), where it is illegal to bleach flour, flour is bleached similar to the way white shirts are bleached. 

When flour is bleached, the texture is refined to a finer flour and the natural yellowish/ off - white tone is removed. Voila! The result is an ultra - white and ultra - fine flour that can rise faster in loaves of bread and maintain a sharper colour in baked goods. 

Benzoyl peroxide and chlorine gas are two out of about twenty chemicals adjudged safe to bleach flour in most countries. A lot of questions have been raised on the safety of their long term use in foods. These preservatives remain in the flour after the bleaching process and inevitably, in whatever it’s baked with.

On the other hand, unbleached flour is still naturally bleached simply because it’s exposed to oxygen. When flour is exposed to air, it naturally whitens to a certain extent but the texture remains the same and the process may take up to two months.

My conclusion is that it is totally unjust to declare bread and other baked goods BAD when in fact, it can be either good or bad depending on the type of flour used.   Rather than throw away the baby with the bath water, if you like bread like I do, make sure you buy bread made from only naturally bleached flour but if that is tough, bake your own so you can be in control of the flour used.

You don’t have to be an expert baker to make bread, simply buy a bread maker. All you have to do is put in all the ingredients and the machine does all the work till your fresh loaf is ready. Yum……Can you smell it already? 

I have used different brands of flour over the years. I used to be partial to the French and Italian ones until I tried the “Balcheldre Watermill”. They are stoneground and bread has never tasted SO GOOD. Get ready and let the adventure into making and eating bread that will add value to your health begin.

To make bread more healthy, add pumpkin puree, banana, oats, nuts and seeds. Also, substitute sugar and butter with honey and olive oil.

My personal case for bread is done. Go for it!

“The greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you”.

           Till next week, cheers.  😘