I don't know why anyone would be still eating white bread and cooking up white pasta anymore. I realized that not everyone knows the real story behind the choice they are making, so I thought I'd share it with you in this greening your diet series. What better way to green your diet then to add vitamins and nutrients along with it!
Wheat is made up of 3 basic parts, starch, germ & bran. All together this is good healthy stuff. Somewhere along the way though it become desirable and better to eat whiter foods, the whiter the bread the better. Big no no, and we are only now figuring this out publicly. This is not new information by any means, people have been eating nutritious and unscrewed around with bread & pasta for thousands of years, but there definitely, in this country at least has been a moving away from the white bread sammies of years past.
When wheat is processed to make white bread, pasta, cereals and other foods it is heated to a level where the germ & bran fall off, leaving behind the white part, the pure white "goodness", the starch. By doing this you the eater are receiving next to nothing nutritionally. All the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are in the germ & bran. Making white bre
ad removes the only part worth anything. Big companies know this, so after doing that, they enrich (I love that they use the term 'enrich' as if what they are doing isn't totally wrong!) the starch with vitamins, fiber and iron, but never close to the amount of nutrition originally in whole grains. Wanna know another reason they do this? If you guess money, you'd be right! Starch alone, without the oh so nutritional germ & bran is more bug resistant and has a much longer shelf life. These two things are like dollar signs in a manufactures eyes.
The environmental toll to process already perfect wheat is staggering, the task creates waste, uses fuel to run machines and is likely using unnecessary chemicals to "enrich" what is left of the wheat after they've processed it to be nice and white for their consumers.
So, what to do? Stick to WHOLE GRAINS, meaning they haven't been processed, WHOLE being the keyword there. Whole wheat bread is great, but make sure you don't see "enriched with niacin, iron, fiber or vitamins" on the label, not to mention if you see this lovely ingredient, molasses, which only serves to darken white bread to make it appear more like whole grain bread. See they've got you! It's really you against the world in that bread aisle. Come armed with the knowledge I've given you and you'll do fine! Here are some pointers to remember
*Bran & Germ = only nutritional part
*Look for 16 grams or more of WHOLE GRAINS and NO refined grains
*16 grams of whole grains = 1 serving
*Refining = Bad
*Molasses = Bad (it's used only to color the bread so it looks more brown)
*WHOLE GRAIN or WHOLE WHEAT should be top 1 and/or 2 on the list of ingredients
*Ingredients should NOT include the word "enriched", if you see that even after the words whole grain or whole wheat you're only getting a percentage of whole grains and the rest is white enriched flour! Beware!
*This effects ANYTHING made with wheat flour, breads, muffins, bagels, pasta, cereals, crackers, the list goes on.....
Make every bite count!
(Image:www.wheatfoods.org)
(Image: bread slices: arm1.static.flickr.com)
Okay, so you’ve finally switched your wardrobe to organic fabrics and vegetable shoes. You’re looking good and feeling great. But part of that is because you just got up and went to the gym before work this morning, and what did you wear? Rubber soled gym shoes. Unfortunately vegan shoe lines have yet to tackle athletic footwear, but there is hope. Nike, although once having the reputation for being an environmental and social enemy, seems to be making strides in more sustainable production practices.
New babies born near my parents house in Connecticut. So precious!
The never ending bottled water topic, switching to a reusable water container is one of the easiest switches you can make in your life to make it a bit greener. This is one of those switches that is not only earth friendly but is easier on our wallet as well.
and that I love, and those that I simply love and can’t live without and refuse to use any other product.
Ok, so you've taken my advice and enjoyed some organic wine, switched to whole grains and lessened the meat in your diet. You think I am done with you, no way!
at Whole Foods. Check them out, they are worth it! They come in a wide array of bright colors and are totally affordable.
Fashion uses more water than any industry other than agriculture. At least 8,000 chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles and 25% of the world's pesticides are used to grow non-organic cotton. Dyes run off and contaminate water supplies. Who knew women would actually kill for an outfit??
I don't know why anyone would be still eating white bread and cooking up white pasta anymore. I realized that not everyone knows the real story behind the choice they are making, so I thought I'd share it with you in this greening your diet series. What better way to green your diet then to add vitamins and nutrients along with it!
ad removes the only part worth anything. Big companies know this, so after doing that, they enrich (I love that they use the term 'enrich' as if what they are doing isn't totally wrong!) the starch with vitamins, fiber and iron, but never close to the amount of nutrition originally in whole grains. Wanna know another reason they do this? If you guess money, you'd be right! Starch alone, without the oh so nutritional germ & bran is more bug resistant and has a much longer shelf life. These two things are like dollar signs in a manufactures eyes.
As Mother's Day approaches I've been thinking about all the new or soon to be Mamas out there and what they are facing when choosing diaper systems. Disposable diapers make life much easier than cloth diapers I can imagine, but the effect on the environment has got to make a few new Moms shudder.
Mother's Day is coming up this weekend and I am sure many of you are still figuring out what to get her! What a perfect time to send your mama a eco-friendly gift that she'll treasure. There's still time to shop online, so get clicking!
Kaiahouse.com has tons of great picks, but check out the amazingly scented Red Flower candles or treat her to a sampling of 6 Red Flower candles for $60. http://www.kaiahouse.com/
I thought it was time to send a recipe your way again, I know the weekend is over, but there's nothing like midweek baking to keep you going till the next weekend! This recipe packs protein and fiber, along with delicious flavor. And of course, use all natural organic ingredients please!
