Most people eat white bread on a regular basis.  Sure, you may have heard that wheat bread is better for you than the white bread is, but you may not have been convinced to make the switch.  Even though you know it’s better for you and the method of production is better for the earth, making the switch can be difficult.  If you’re dealing with this problem, here’s a closer look at the differences between these breads that may help you realize that making the switch is the right choice.

First of all, you’ll find that the taste, texture, and even the way that the brown bread looks are quite different than white bread.  If you have been eating white bread all your life, you’ll find these differences a bit hard to take and making the switch can be quite tough.  Sometimes trying to start out by using some lighter brown breads that are totally whole meal breads can be a great way to start making this switch.  Eventually you may find that you actually end up liking the brown bread more than the white.

While you may have heard that the brown bread is better for you, you may not know why this is the case.  You see, when white bread is made, it is made from flour that has the germ and bran removed from it.  The bran and germ happens to be where much of the nutritional value happens to be.  That means that white breads have less niacin, fiber, zinc, thiamin, and healthy fats in them.  Often white breads must be fortified when they are made, which means that the nutrients often get sprayed into the bread.  It seems a bit ridiculous to take out the nutrients and then have to put them back in, in a form that is man made.

After the germ and bran is taken from the flour, it then is bleached.  The bleaching process can be done with chlorine dioxide gas, potassium bromate, or in some cases benzoyl peroxide.  These chemicals used to bleach the flour can actually be quite dangerous, and yet they are being used to make food.  So, even before the chemicals are put in by the baker, there are definitely some big disadvantages to eating the white bread.  Also, the refining process for the flour ends up using up more energy as well.

You should also remember that even though bread looks brown, it may not be whole wheat bread.  You’ll want to take a look at the ingredients to make sure.  The very first ingredient should either be whole meal flour, or whole wheat.  If it says wheat flour or enriched wheat flour, this is the very same flour that is used to make white bread.  When you are buying bread to eat, the fewer ingredients in the bread, the better.  Make sure that whole meal flour is used as well.  With whole meal and few ingredients, the bread will be much better for you, as well as the environment.

Photo by: Irochka -
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