Unscientific Personal Thoughts on Bread

As I have mentioned before, we like bread.  We like bread that isn't brittle or dry.  We eat bread for sandwiches or toast.  I am not making bread (or buying it from the bakery) each and every day.  (The bakery even claims it should be eaten fresh, not day-old.)  There is a problem.  Bread that "keeps" is typically loaded with preservatives and stuff.

I have always thought wheat bread was healthier, but now my thinking is shifting.  You hear about all the gluten-intolerances?  Kinda like the dairy intolerances?  Some seem to develop with time... One theory is that they develop due to overexposure.  The push for whole-wheat and whole-grain bread has overloaded our bread with extra gluten to keep it soft and squishy, as so many of us like it.  And our bodies can't take it anymore; they are revolting in various formats.

I have minor joint issues that flare up from time to time.  Not enough to interfere with anything, but enough to be extremely annoying for a very short period of time.  I suspect, but do not know, that it they are diet-related.  The symptoms and the duration of them have improved over the past few years since shifting towards a more whole foods diet.  Almost anything can be blamed on gluten issues, so it is something to consider.

Now, in addition to scanning the ingredient labels on bread packages for HFCS, I also look to see if vital wheat gluten is in the top handful of ingredients.  Go ahead and look yourself.  Almost all "appealing" whole wheat bread found in they typical grocery store contains additional gluten as one of it's top ingredients.  My goal is to look for it after the "contains 2% or less of the following" part.

The other slightly unfortunate thing is that nearly all store-bought bread contains soy, in one form or another.  Why do we want soy in our bread?!  Soy jacks with your hormones.  Sheesh.  Anyways, that was a sidenote.  Investigate if you wish.

I know, I know, I should just make my own bread.  Or give it up altogether.  Seriously, it would be good for me to!  I am trying to move our family towards less reliance on grains, but that is slow going.

So, ya wanna know the reason I bought white, non-whole-wheat bread at the store the other day (when I wasn't at Costco to get my typical kind)?  Because the ingredient label read as such: wheat flour, water, buttermilk, sugar, butter, yeast, soybean oil.  I'll take 6 out of 7.  Then came the "contains 2% or less of" part: wheat gluten, barley malt, honey, salt, vinegar, cultured corn solids, cultured wheat flour, yeast extract, soy flour, soy lecithin, whey.  Mosty of those items I know, which is more than I can say for many other breads on the shelf.  Trust me, I checked.  It is higher in calories that other bread, but perhaps that will encourage us to eat less of it!

Obsessive?  Yes.  I just like learning about food.  I just don't always like what I learn :)