If you are a pizza and/or pasta lover consider this: do you know how white flour is actually made and what is the impact in your health? White flour is the most popular flour used to produce bread, pasta and different kinds of pastries. It certainly has a significant difference in taste from the wholewheat flour but the differences do not stop there.
Before I say anymore about any type of flour I need to clarify a couple of points here.
- Many of us know that grains naturally contain many antinutrients and enzyme inhibitors that can be harmful in the long run for our digestive system. This problem (thoroughly explained and analyzed in the sprouts and grains article) can be eliminated by simply soaking the grains at least overnight; this simple step neutralizes most of the bad stuff. Both conventional wholewheat and white flour are coming from non soaked grains (Time is money in a mass production unit) and therefore can result in severe devastating conditions long term. Soaking grains prior to use is a necessary step before cooking them in any way. But even if we pretend that the soaking problem is resolved, there more issues to take into account.
- Wheat is by far the most popular grain used for breads, pastries and pasta. Many people are allergic to the gluten found in wheat and some more grains (rye, oat, barley). Gluten is a protein which is particularly difficult to digest and puts in schizophrenic stress our digestive system whether we have an allergy to it or not; people with more sensitive guts will develop the allergy. This condition can go undetected by most conventional doctors because firstly they are not trained to diagnose it and second because this intolerance can manifest in a variety of symptoms. Diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Celiac Disease and more unexplained autoimmune conditions all are heavily associated with gluten and consumption of dry grains. Alternative flours from other grains are available but bare in mind that a big part of gluten is broken down with soaking and/or sprouting.
- In USA, wheat and especially corn are genetically modified. This new “race” of grains has been shown in research studies to be toxic for the kidneys and induce chronic disease. This part of literature was completely ignored when decision were made for the future of agriculture in USA.
Back to the flour comparison. You see, white flour is a very refined product and research indicates that it is one of the reasons for the modern epidemics of obesity, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders and autoimmune diseases. For white flour to be produced only the central part of the grain is used, about 75% (bran and germ removed). The shell, which is discarded, contains many potential nutrients, fiber and vitamins, most of which will be released upon soaking. In some countries wheat flour is enriched by law with thiamin (vitamin B1) and niacin, to make up for the loss of nutrients.
The next step is to bleach the flour using potassium bromate, benzoyl peroxide or chlorine dioxide gas. Potassium bromate is also known as Bromic Acid or Potassium Salt. It’s an oxidizing agent, can be fatal if swallowed, it is harmful if inhaled or absorbed through the skin and may also cause kidney damage. Benzoyl peroxide is another irritant that can kill animals and cause death or lower growth rate in plants. Chlorine Dioxide is also a pesticide and even though it breaks down very quickly, it is ranked in the USA as one of the compounds most hazardous to the environment.
For the production of wholewheat flour 100% of the grain is used. As I said earlier, wholewheat contains many potential nutrients and indeed if soaked before cooking it is a great nutritious food. The problem here is that many wholewheat breads are not wholewheat at all. Color additives are used to give to the bread the brown color which for most people means automatically wholewheat. Reading the label before you buy can save you a lot of trouble. Breads that are not coming from real wholewheat flour will say in the label enriched or simply wheat flour which is exactly the same type of flour used for white bread. Also if you see caramel as an ingredient, this is an indicator that the color you see is totally or partially artificial.
The point here is to switch to more friendly for our systems breads and flours in general. An awesome alternative for bread is Ezekiel or Essene bread, a recipe and tradition lost in time when people still remembered that grains must be soaked first before cooking. Other excellent alternatives of grains and flours can also be used for cooking after soaking.
