With everyone being more nutritionally conscious nowadays, we decided to take a look at why more and more people are swapping white refined flour for wholegrain.
White Flour
Everything that we remember as a child from buttery toast to our birthday cakes and muffins have always been made with white flour. In fact as adults when we taste these tastes again it’s just like being kids again. (Unless we had particularly nutritionally enlightened parents!) It’s no wonder that we have an addiction almost to these white flour goods but did you know how damaging these foods are to our delicate systems?
The thing with white / all purpose / enriched flour is that our bodies process it like sugar. Enriched sounds lovely but in reality the flour actually gets completely stripped of all its goodness during this process. Yes white bread and related products taste amazing but the actual flour is created by stripping the most nutritious parts of the wheat berry. In fact this is the only starch left in white flour. Not good!
White flour and digestion
White flour is just no good for your digestion. The starch is digested mega quickly thus causing a spike in insulin production. This then throws your whole body out of balance and can create a whole host of problems. In fact with the constant fluctuation of blood sugar which manifests through eating white flour products you could be potentially setting yourself up for diabetes and weight problems too!
Whole Grain
Whole grain and whole wheat flour is so much better for you than its white counterpart. This is due to the fact that whole wheat flour uses the whole wheat berry. This means that you are intaking all the goodness – the bran, the starch and the germ. When you eat the whole berry, there are no peaks and / or lows in insulin levels and your body stays healthy and balanced. Another great aspect of eating in this way is that you will stay full for longer than you would if you were eating white bread! No more rumbling tummies in the middle of the afternoon!
Whole grain is great for you if you have stomach and digestion difficulties and there are even studies to say that there is a link between whole grain and the prevention of cancer of the colon. When you buy your products always look for the word, “whole”. That way you know that you are getting the best; there are many brown products which don’t use the entire wheat berry and won’t be as good for you as “whole” products.
It might be hard in the first few months to wean your family, especially the youngsters off white bread and white flour products but over time it can be done. A trick is to make a half and half sandwich, half white bread and half whole grain, this will give your kids time to get used to the different taste and texture. It’s worth making the change for the health of both you and your family.
Eating whole grain foods instead of white foods is a great way to ensure your general nutrition levels remain healthy consistently.
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