The Nutritional Institute

I’ve just picked up a loaf of what appears to be ‘healthy’ brown bread, the type that flies off the shelves at the supermarket. I stopped to take a look at the ingredients. Why? Well because I don’t actually buy or eat this bread and I’m intrigued…

Here is the ingredients list (in such fine print it’s barely readable, you almost need a magnifying glass):

• - Brown bread wheat flour (I bet this is the cheapest, lowest grade, overly processed, overly heated, properly annihilated flour on the market - I call this bum blocker flour because that’s exactly what it does)
  - Water (it doesn’t state filtered water, so could this be chlorinated municipal water?)
  - Yeast (not the real stuff that is used to ferment and break down the grains - the quick rising unhealthy stuff that potentially leads to Candida overgrowth)
  - Salt (of course, this will be the cheap, anti-caking table salt with no nutritional benefits, and linked in some people to high blood pressure)
  - Sugar (supersonically refined and the cheapest there is, plus why do we need sugar in bread - addiction, so we come back for more)
  - Soya flour (because this is so far down the list, who knows if it’s necessary to state if it’s GMO or not)
  - Vegetable fat (the refined trans fat type - yes, we love this stuff oxidising our arteries)
  - Preservative calcium propionate (used to prevent the growth of mould - dah, things are supposed to decay)
  - Emulsifiers (an additive used to stabilise processed food because it needs to stay on the shelves for more than a couple of days before possibly hardening - do these breads actually go stale?)
  - Flour improvers (food additives to combine with the flour to increase the speed of the dough rising)
  - Mineral salts and vitamins (well they just have to squirt a few of these in to make this product appear potentially healthy!)

Boy, am I glad I don’t consume this stuff anymore. I did as a kid when I had no choice. This is what most kids are tucking into every single day of their lives. I see it at my son’s play school and he is only three years old! There is absolutely no nutritional benefit eating this sort of bread. It will do nothing but potentially block up your colon and constipate you, or irritate your gut and give you loose stools. If it hasn’t happened now, just wait for it if you continue to consume this stuff. It makes your gut sluggish and inflamed and it therefore underperforms. Additionally, if you continue eating it over time, you may end up being either wheat or gluten intolerant.

Real bread
We need slow rising, naturally fermented breads to break down the hard-to-digest phytates in the grains. Remember that us humans aren’t really evolved to eat grain - that’s the job of birds, so we need some assistance in the digestibility stakes. By partially digesting the grains (during the fermentation process), it makes it easier for our system to assimilate it. That’s not happening with store bought, mass produced processed breads.

Good bread should consist of a maximum of three ingredients, of which all are completely pronounceable: stone ground flour, water and salt. That’s it. You may have the occasional seeds added to it, and that’s okay. The great thing about this naturally fermented bread is that it fills you up. You don’t need 15 slices to feel satiated. So you’ll eat less of it.

The name of this naturally fermented bread is sourdough - it means that the bread is risen by the wild yeasts and bacteria from the air around it - it has a characteristic slightly sour flavour and smell, typical of the fermentation process. Asking you to make your own may be pushing it. It is a lengthy process of a few days, which most people don’t have time for. To purchase a traditional sourdough bread, look for it at a food market, health store or specialty/traditional bakery. You may be paying a bit more for a loaf, but you’re eating less and you’re honouring your body by consuming something it can identify and assimilate.

For a more detailed insight to wheat, gluten and your choices of bread in relation to your own health, read Chapter 6 (Food Sensitivities) in our book Wholesome Nutrition.