Friday, April 1, 2011

Wheat Bread Vs. Dead Bread (1)

I think some of us just eat because we are hungry.  We don't really worry about what we are eating or why.  We probably don't even think about it.  The kids are hungry.  Throw a chicken nugget at them or some french fries.  You're hungry, you grab something sweet because it's laying out on the counter and it'll "hold you over" until dinner.  And then dinner time rolls around and you throw some white pasta or rice on to boil and don't think about the fact that there is very little nutritional good to any of it.

The real reason we eat is to fuel the body.  To give us energy ~ good energy, not a sugar high.  God gave us all kinds of good, healthy yummy foods to enjoy.  Things that are good for us.  They are nutritional.  When we get hungry our bodies are telling us that we are running low on those nutrients.  That's how God designed it.  I'm just glad that God made food something for us to enjoy.  I like to eat.  I think it's fun.  That sounds weird, but I enjoy my food.  I want my kids to enjoy their food too, but I can't enjoy watching them eat anything when I know that there isn't any nutritional value in what they are eating.  And what's worse than watching them eat foods that are low in nutrition is watching them eat food that is actually BAD for them.  And white bread is one of the those things. 

I remember my dad calling white bread "Dead Bread".  And then, I'm sure you know the old saying that goes, "the whiter the bread the quicker you're dead".

Most people think that it's OK to eat white bread, but wheat bread is better. Actually this is NOT the case.  It is, in fact, BAD for you to eat white (dead) bread.  And here's why:

White bread is made from refined white flour containing several unwholesome elements and very little in the way of nutrients and dietary fiber. 

Refined white flour is produced from the whole wheat grain which is then refined and processed which removes all traces of the husk, or bran and along with it all of it's nutritional value.  Then it's bleached using chemical bleaching agents which contain chlorine and dried at high temperatures to kill any remaining healthy elements.Then gluten and sugar is added.  Neither are good for you and more and more people are becoming allergic to gluten.  There are absolutely no healthy benefits to eating white bread.

The above is how white bread is not beneficial to you.  Below is why it's bad for you:

As with white pasta and other products made from refined white flour, white bread contains a large proportion of high GI (glycemic index) carbohydrates that cause sugars to be released quickly into the bloodstream. This causes a rapid rise in blood sugar levels which triggers a similarly rapid release of the body’s own sugar regulating hormone, insulin.  Type II diabetes is brought on by too frequent imbalances in blood sugar levels causing insulin production to become overworked. 

Also a negative health probably.....white bread can cause raised levels of bad LDL cholesterol in your bloodstream which can lead to problems such as heart disease due to the narrowing of arteries. When levels of LDL cholesterol become too high the walls of your artery thicken and blockages can occur, leading to blood clots and high blood pressure.

It stifles digestion and  results in greater fat storage. Not only do you end up collecting more fat, but you tend to feel sluggish after eating it and therefore you don't work as much of it off.

This lack of dietary fiber presents a problem.   Your digestion tract, especially the intestines, is the part that finishes the job of allowing waste to leave the body. When there is little or no dietary fiber present in your diet, your colon will be unable to remove all waste products from the body. This, in turn leads to other diseases and health problems.

1 comment:

  1. I much prefer wheat bread! Always have! And it's interesting how whole wheat pasta has only recently become 'popular.' I never bought it until last year. I'm glad that it has become more popular while Jaiden is young and I'm still fairly young in my cooking career. I love trying to cook as healthy as possible!

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