For the last couple years I’ve been on this health kick. Our local family network hosts a presentation every other year by Dr. Dana McPhee. I would say his view points could spark quite a controversy – for example, he states that cows milk is for cows – which I pretty much agree with. We are the only wacked-out mammal that drinks the milk from another mammal – but, I still buy skim milk for me and my family – only buying soy milk as a treat (yum!). Dr. McPhee says something to the effect of, the protein cows milk contains actually leaches the calcium from your bones and outweighs the calcium that it contains. However, the main point I took from his presentations have been to look for the keyword, “whole wheat flour,” and to avoid, “enriched flour,” when evaluating bread products.
So, I’ve been happily buying varieties of whole wheat breads the last couple years. I love the taste now, and can easily tell if something that enters my mouth is enriched or not. However, it wasn’t until I recently read a sub-article of a column of an article of a book excerpt in bicycling magazine. The excerpt is from, “5 Essentials for a Winning Life: The Nutrition, Fitness and Life Plan for Discovering Within.” I was hoping for more words in the title, but thats all they had. In any case, they pointed out kind of an obvious point. “…avoid products with corn syrups and HFCS [high-fructose corn syrup], and instead look for cereal, juices, pasta sauce, salad dressings, and so on that have no added sugar.”
So, I recently put two and two together, and re-examined the label of my usual loaf of whole wheat bread. Whole wheat flour, high-fructose corn syrup. WHAT THE?! I had to examine about 10 different brands of whole wheat bread at the local Price Chopper until I found the $4 loaf of organic bread – the only one that didn’t have HFCS (it had honey instead). When I got home I looked at the loaf I already had from Trader Joe’s – no HFCS, and only about $2.50. I guess I’ll be buying all my bread from Trader Joe’s now.
So, the moral is – look beyond the whole wheat flour, find the sweetener, and make sure it doesn’t suck.
More info:
- Wikipedia: High fructose corn syrup
- Wikipedia: Carbohydrate (read up on simple vs. complex – you want complex)
- USDA Food Pyramid, now customized for you
- Bicycling Magazine (couldn’t find the article online – it’s in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue)