Read This Before Ever Buying Bread Again

If you and your family love to break bread but at the same time do not want to poison yourself then let us help you find the healthiest bread on the market, the breads to avoid, and why!

Bread is being blamed more and more for many health problems, it mainly has a bad reputation because grains are not easy for your body to digest and can overwork your pancreatic enzymes, an overload of gluten and contains the anti-nutrient phytic acid. The wheat crops in this country have been through some serious genetic manipulation to make them profitable for the food industry and less healthy for us.

The main problem with wheat (unless you have a gluten sensitivity) is that as a culture we eat too much of it. If you take a minute and think what a typical American diet consists of… a bagel for breakfast, a sandwich or roll for lunch and pasta for dinner. That is a lot of grain in just one day. Even larger amounts are consumed if we take into consideration common snacks like crackers and desserts like cookies. Additionally, commercially available grain-based products that line grocery store shelves and are served at restaurants are unhealthy. They are full of ingredients that are not food, like azodicarbonamide (the same chemical in yoga mats and shoe rubber), other chemical dough conditioners, added sugars, artificial flavorings or coloring and GMOs. Flour can be treated with any of the 60 different chemicals approved by the FDA before it ends up on store shelves – including chemical bleach! Also, the industrial processing destroys nutrients, such as Vitamin E and fiber. Remember, it only takes 4 ingredients to make bread – flour, yeast, water and salt, there is really no need for all that other stuff.

We all enjoy the occasional slice of bread, it would be nice to do this without subjecting ourselves to all these suspicious ingredients. 

Below are examples of Store-Bought Breads To Stay Away From: 

Ingredients – What to look for and Avoid when buying Bread:

Dough Conditioners – these are only used to make bread in big machinery, it’s to make the process cheaper and faster for the food industry. Many dough conditioners start with manipulating fat like soybean oil or corn oil, which is also most likely GMO. Many dough conditioners like azodicarbonamide (which is banned all over the world), DATEM, monoglycerides, diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate are linked to health issues. Nature’s Own, Arnold, Wonderbread, Martin’s, Sara Lee, and many other popular brands are guilty of using dough conditioners.

Preservatives – Bread is meant to be fresh and eaten within a few days, unless baking from frozen. Preservatives to look out for are calcium propionate, which is linked to ADHD. Pepperidge Farm uses this ingredient to “retard spoilage.”

GMOs – A majority of commercially available breads contain one or many genetically modified ingredients like soy lecithin, soybean oil, corn oil, corn starch or soy flour. GMOs have not been tested long term on humans. What we do know is that the pesticides sprayed on them are absolutely toxic and considered to be poisonous. Some GMOs are created by inserting a toxic pesticide into the seed itself to make an insect’s stomach explode when they try to eat it.

Added sugar – Warning: This is the one you need to look out for. A teaspoon of honey is great to bring out the sweetness in whole wheat bread, but most manufactures are using artificial sweeteners like “Sucralose”, high fructose corn syrup, GMO sugar made from sugar beets that are not the best forms of sugar and can pose health risks. Nearly all commercially baked brands have some form of added sweetener, especially watch out for “light” breads, which often contain more added sugar like “Arnold Bakery Light.”

Artificial flavors and coloring – These ingredients are made from petroleum and are linked to health issues such as hyperactivity in children, allergies and asthma. The FDA requires that this is labelled so should be easy to find. However, ingredients like “caramel coloring” can make think that this ingredient is a real food. Most industrial caramel coloring is made by heating ammonia and is considered a carcinogen when created this way. Martin’s potato rolls have Yellow #5 and Yellow #6, and Thomas’s English Muffins have caramel coloring.

Don’t panic, you don’t have to get out the bread maker or learn to make bread from scratch. There are many healthy bread options available. You just need to know what to look for!

Sprouted Grains are technically vegetables. To sprout a grain, you just soak it until it begins to sprout into a little plant. You then ground up the sprouts to make bread. The sprouts are much more easily digested than starchy flour, and contain more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than whole grains. Phytic acid is destroyed when the grain sprouts, so your body is able to absorb the nutrients in these grains which makes them that much better for you!

Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread by Food for Life is made up from six different organic sprouted grains and no flour! All 9 essential amino acids are found in this combo of sprouted grains, these actually make up a complete protein. There are no preservatives in these breads so you can keep them in the freezer and take out portions as and when you need them. Sesame seed bread, english muffins, whole grain tortillas, corn tortillas by Food for Life. Without doubt they are the healthiest breads on the market. They are available in most health food stores and some conventional stores in the freezer section.

Manna’s Sunseed bread and Dave’s Killer Bread Sprouted Wheat are both a healthy combo of organic sprouted wheat and seeds.

Ancient Grains (spelt, quinoa, amaranth, millet, sorghum) & Gluten-Free – Unlike wheat, these grains are called ancient because they haven’t changed for thousands of years. They are packed with nutrients and many of these grains can be used to make gluten-free bread. Always check that the bread you are buying is labeled as “gluten-free” if you are avoiding gluten because not all ancient grains are gluten-free and they may be blended with wheat. Manna makes a good gluten-free bread with brown rice, sorghum, millet, amaranth, quinoa and chia seeds. Please note, almost all gluten-free breads contain added sugar in the form of honey, molasses, agave nectar or evaporated cane juice.

Here’s A Quick List Of Healthier Breads:

Sprouted Grain Breads
Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread – Food for Life (all varieties – 7 grains, sesame, genesis, flax, cinnamon raisin, tortillas, muffins)
Sunseed Bread – Manna
Banana Walnut Hemp Bread – Mann
Sprouted Multi-Grain Bread – Rudi’s (contains added sugar)
Sprouted Wheat Bread – Dave’s Killer Bread (contains added sugar)
Sprouted Wheat Multi-Grain Bread – Alvarado St. Bakery (contains added sugar)

Gluten-Free Breads

Buckwheat Bread – Happy Camper’s (contains added sugar)
Gluten-Free Rice Almond Bread – Food for Life (contains added sugar)
Gluten-Free Exotic Black Rice Bread – Food for Life (contains added sugar)
Gluten-Free Super Chia Bread – Nature’s Path (contains added sugar)
Good Morning Millet Toaster Cakes – Ancient Grains Bakery (contains added sugar)
Gluten-Free Deli Rye Style Bread – Canyon Bakehouse (contains added sugar)

Ancient Grain Breads

Gluten-Free Ancient Grains Bread – Manna (contains added sugar)
Spelt Ancient Grain Bread – Rudi’s (contains added sugar)
Good Seed Spelt Bread – Dave’s Killer Bread (contains added sugar)

Remember to always choose bread that is made with real certified organic ingredients. The wheat that is used to make most bread is heavily sprayed with pesticides. By choosing certified organic products you will avoid exposure to GMOs and save yourself from the chemical additives that can wreck your health.

Source: Food Babe via We Support Organic – H/T: RealFarmacy