White Bread Vs Whole Wheat
No one is responsible for what we eat, and continuing to eat healthy is a conscious decision that we must make a few times a day. For us Americans bread is a staple and is a great place to start healthy eating habits. I will attempt to explain the health benefits of eating Whole Wheat versus White bread.
Bread, just like any other type of food is an acquired taste. Starting out, children are so much more adaptable of accepting different kinds of foods, than the already made up minds of adults. No you know as well as I do that this does not mean that children LIKE as many foods as adults because children are renowned as picky eaters. But if you only expose them to healthy, whole grain foods they won’t have the opportunity to develop a taste for white bread or other non-nutritious foods.
Adults, however, must learn to change their diet preferences because of pre-programmed knowledge. Now something that helps us with the decision is understanding why whole wheat is superior to white bread and can help us feel good about the compromise and encourage us to make it the standard for our diets. Who knows - you may even like it!
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
Two of the biggest differences between white bread and whole wheat are the processing and the nutritional value.
Flour is made from wheat berries. The wheat berry is made up of the bran, the germ and the endosperm. All parts are filled with nutrients and are used in whole wheat flour.
White bread on the other hand, uses only the endosperm - the starchy inner layer. There is a total of 30 nutrients missing in white bread. The nutritional difference is huge and has measurable impact on our health.
Many of us eat certain bread strictly for taste reasons. This is not wrong but shouldn’t we also consider the health benefits of what we put in our body as well?
HOW CAN SWITCHING FROM WHITE TO WHOLE WHEAT HELP?
The fiber content of whole wheat bread has numerous health benefits.
Fiber helps the digestive system. It also creates a ‘full’ sensation and thus can help with weight control. Research has been conducted by Harvard and other organizations that show men and women who eat high-fiber foods have less heart attacks and strokes than those who don’t.
There is also an increased risk of diabetes in children who eat refined white flour - a risk that has been proven by the increase in cases of childhood diabetes.
WHAT DO WE LOOK FOR?
Watch out for words like ‘wheat flour’ or ‘enriched wheat flour’ as they can be mostly made from white flour with just a small amount of 
whole wheat added in. This is one of those ways that companies realize sales benefits for claiming to be healthy. To me this is a bit dishonest.
Look for ‘whole wheat’ or other whole grains, like oat. And don’t be mislead by the name of the product. Names like wheat, whole bran, stoned wheat, 12 grain and others are still mostly white flour. The only way to know for sure is to read the label. Reading the labels of the food we buy should become a habit.
I hope this article has helped inform some of you, and start to put the bug into your minds about choosing the healthy alternatives when you are at the grocery store. Eating healthy is a whole new adventure that many of us must get accustomed to. I appreciate you taking the times out of your busy schedules to read Analyzing Diets.com. See ya next time.
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