Most people probably find bread to be a boring subject, hardly worth thinking about. You eat it in the morning, perhaps in the form of toast, with butter or jam on it. You use it to make sandwiches at lunch. You eat it at dinner, sometimes sliced and sometimes in roll form. It’s a staple of the western diet. Yet the choice of bread doesn’t often receive a lot of thought. There are a wide variety of breads available to consumers, both in markets and bakeries. Some of them are extremely nutritious, and some are less so.
White bread is a standard on American supermarket shelves. The white bread commonly sold in markets in loaf form is light and sweet. It tastes nice enough, but as far as having nutrients goes, it has nothing on whole wheat and multigrain bread. White bread is stripped of its bran and germ, and along with them goes many of its essential minerals.
In order to make the dough more effectively rise, the baker will then add plenty of sugar to it. The final result is a spongy, soft, sweet white loaf. These types of loaves have long been popular in the US and other countries, and compared to whole wheat loaves, they are more or less devoid of nutritional content.
Instead of white bread, try out some whole wheat or rye bread. These breads have retained their natural bran and germ and are far healthier than the average white loaf. Some white breads are enriched with necessities such as iron, riboflavin, and folic acid, but these loaves still contain far less nutritional punch than a loaf of whole wheat, multigrain, or pumpernickel. Sourdough is another healthy option. This distinctively tangy bread contains Lactobacillus bacteria, which acts as a natural rising agent and removes the need for the addition of sugar.
If you have children, you should get them started on whole wheat and other healthy types of bread. It is far more difficult to change your eating habits for the better as an adult than to begin eating healthily as a child, and if you are a parent, your children’s health is your responsibility.
