This one is requiring me to do a little bit of research. Here's some of the information I found.
What is Flour?
Flour is a
powder made of
cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of
bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history.
Wheat flour is one of the most important foods in European and North American culture, and is the defining
ingredient in most European styles of
breads and
pastries...Flour contains a high proportion of
starches, which are complex
carbohydrates also known as
polysaccharides.
(source: wikipedia)
The most common grains in North American and European cuisine are wheat, oat and barley. Maize flour is common in Latin American cuisine for example.
So what exactly is Enriched Flour?
Enriched Flour (wheat) is wheat flour (no bran or germ) that has been enriched with thiamin, riboflavin and niacin and may include Vitamin D, iron and calcium that are lost during flour processing.
Enriched Flour (flour) is the same as the above except that the source of the grain is not identified. Other grains such as rye, oats, barley or soybeans can be used in the making of this flour.
(source: dietitian.com)
>>So basically what I'm gathering is that in the processing they strip the wheat of all its nutritional value..but then add a
few (few, being the key word) back. <<
Is that bad for me???
Highly processed white flour (alias "enriched wheat flour" or "wheat flour") is missing the two most nutritious and fiber-rich parts of the seed: the outside
bran germ (embryo). A diet of refined foods leaves many women malnourished, constipated, enervated and vulnerable to chronic illness. Popping fiber, vitamins and mineral
supplements, in the hope of compensating for what's missing from our diet, will not work. For just as "enriching" refined flour with spray-on nutrients can't make up for those lost during refining, health experts say supplements can never replace whole foods.
The more refined foods a person eats, the more insulin must be produced to manage it. Insulin promotes the storage of fat, making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, which can lead to
heart disease. Over time, the pancreas gets so overworked that insulin production grinds to a halt, and
hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or
diabetes sets in. Either way, the body is getting little or no fuel from the food you eat and tries to convert muscle and fat into energy.
Besides, refined/bleached flour and wheat products, is the fuel of infection and high blood sugar levels created by the consumption of these products decrease immune reservoir and response.
Don't be fooled by the term "enriched flour," because only four vitamins and minerals are added back, compared to the 15 lost, along with most of the fiber and other beneficial substances like antioxidants.
The constant refined sugar/refined flour intake places a continual stress on the adrenals to pump out balancing hormones. This, of course, ultimately weakens the adrenals making it harder and harder for them to respond as the "emergency system" they were created to be. When real adrenal failure sets it, you really have a problem. (
Source: womensfitness.net)
>>Whoah information overload... that's a lot of process, but yes, white/"enriched" wheat flour is BAD NEWS!<<
Then what is whole wheat flour??
Grinding the entire wheat grain makes whole Wheat Flour, including the bran and germ. Other ingredients may be included such as malted wheat, wheat flour and barley flour. It is also called graham flour and entire wheat flour.
Cracked Wheat is made by cracking the wheat grain into angular pieces and is similar to whole-wheat flour in composition, but the flour has coarse flecks of brown rather than a uniform size particle.
(Source: dietitian.com)
What does this mean when I'm buying a loaf of bread??
The choice that consumers have is whether or not they want "white" bread or "whole" wheat bread. White bread contains very little fiber, but is usually enriched. Whole wheat bread contains some fiber and how much depends on whether or not some white flour has been added as well. I usually recommend that persons choose bread that has whole-wheat flour as the first ingredient with no white flour added. If a person needs to eat a low fiber diet
then they should choose bread with white flour as the first ingredient with no whole-wheat flour added.
(Source: dietitian.com)
Come on is white bread REALLY that bad for me??
White bread is "dead" bread.
Why is the color of white bread so white when the flour taken from wheat is not?
It’s because the flour used to make white bread is
chemically bleached, just like you bleach your clothes >>team six pack interjection:
WHAT!<<. So when you are eating white bread, you are also eating residual chemical bleach.
Flour mills use different chemical bleaches, all of which are pretty bad. Here are a few of them: oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl and benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts. >>wha wha WHAT! This is crazy!<<
Chlorine oxide destroys the vital wheat germ oil. It will also shorten the flour’s shelf life and nurture insects.Besides, in the process of making flour white, half of the good
unsaturated fatty acids, that are high in food value, are lost in the milling process alone, and virtually all the
vitamin E is lost with the removal of wheat germ and bran.
As a result, the remaining flour in the white bread you buy, contains only poor quality proteins and fattening starch.
(Source: womensfitness.net)
If you don't believe all that... Here's two more articles saying basically the same thing:
How bad is white flour?
White Flour - Is it Worth it? opening line: "Nutritionally speaking, one of the best things you can do for your overall health is to eliminate white flour products." --- That's saying something!
JEBUS!! I had no idea it was that bad for me!! I mean I knew it had no nutritional value, but the fact that consumption of white flour contributes to weight gain and a whole rap sheet of problems is just shocking!
So here's a just a small list of foods I will NOT be eating (or sneaking small slivers of around the office!)
-cake
-donuts
-bagels
-flour tortilla shells/wraps, and chips
-pretzels
-pancakes(there is a recipe for whole grain pancake though)
-waffles
-pie crust
-crackers
-biscuits
-white bread (that includes english muffins,
hamburger/hotdog rolls, italian bread, french bread, potato bread etc.)
-pasta (only eat whole wheat)
-muffins
-pastries/danishes
-croissants
-cookies
-brownies
-pizza crust (trader joes sells whole wheat
pizza crust though! YES!)
