"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from other persons. Each of us has cause to think deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."
--Albert Schweitzer
Most bread sold in stores is pretty worthless.
Nutritionally, speaking. Food packaging is filled with misleading
information. When you see “multi-grain”
on a package of bread, it means nothing. When you see “high fructose corn
syrup” as one of the ingredients in bread, buy something else. High fructose corn syrup is an added sugar
linked to obesity and diabetes.
My first
book, Healthy Living with Diabetes: One Small Step at a Time, was motivated
by my work helping older adults with diabetes gain control through health
literacy. To simplify food choices for readers, I developed “The Nancy Rule”
for buying bread and pasta. This is still
a great rule, whether you have diabetes or not. “The Nancy Rule” is this: (1) 4 or more grams of dietary fiber per
slice or per serving and (2) the first ingredient includes the word “whole”.
For most
people, at least half of the grains we eat should be whole grains. When you look at the nutrition fact labels of
packaged foods, ingredients are listed by order of weight and in decreasing
order. So the first ingredient listed is
very important. If the first ingredient
is “wheat”, that is not the same as “whole grain wheat”. The word “whole” is key. Whole grain means you are getting the bran,
which is the outer part of the grain.
When you process grains to remove the outer coating of the grain (which
is where the bran containing good stuff like B vitamins and dietary fiber is) you
have a product that is shelf stable for weeks and months instead of days.
Read food labels and make sure most of the breads that you buy meet “The Nancy Rule”.
With love,
Nancy
Heinrich, MPH
Founder and
Wellness Architect
Growing
Healthy Kids, Inc.
