Did you know?

Posted at 22:11 in Uncategorised

That the majority of store bought bread in America, if sold before 1973 would have been labelled as “Imitation Bread”? 

In 1938, the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act imposed strict rules requiring that the word “Imitation” appear on any food product that was not real food.  The rationale behind that was because there are certain foods that everyone knows, such as milk, cheese and bread, and that when people buy these foods, they should get the foods they are expecting.

The food industry argued for decades to have this ruling overturned until it succeeded in 1973.

I’m not sure if such a ruling was in place in the UK, but how scary that most of the bread that is sold today is not actually bread?

Bread should be made up of 4 ingredients – flour, yeast, water and a pinch of salt.  Take a look at the ingredient label on any loaf of bread picked up in a supermarket and it will have a lot more listed than just those four. 

I stopped buying white bread a long time ago and I also started limiting myself to how much “bread” I ate this time last year.  Mostly, my bread consists of wholemeal pittas and wholemeal flatbreads with the occasional rye bread for a change.

However, I still buy wholemeal bread for the rest of the family and I happened to take a look at the ingredient label on my Hovis Thick Wholemeal loaf that is in my cupboard.

The ingredient labels reads:

Wholemeal flour, Water, Caremelised Sugar, Yeast, Fermented Wheat Flour, Salt, Vegetable Fat, Wheat Protein, Emulsifiers: E472e, E471; Soya Flour, Flour Treatment Agent: Ascorbic Acid

Rather than the 4 ingredients bread is supposed to contain, my loaf contains 12.

Why should bread require vegetable fat and sugar adding to it?

Something I am learning from reading In Defense of Food is that the way forward in our eating is to eat as our ancestors would.  If my Great Grandparents were alive today, I imagine they would not recognise 99% of “food” sold in our supermarkets.

Because it is not really food!

As you all know, I am a huge advocate of eliminating or at least limiting processed foods in our diet.  Imitation foods, such as margerine, most yoghurts and anything “ready made” was restricted from my diet around this time last year when I started to take more of an interest in what I put into my body. 

The key to avoiding processed foods is to shop in the outer perimeter of the supermarkets.  This is where all the real food is kept – fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh meat, cheese, milk and eggs.  The processed and convenience foods tend to take up the centre of the supermarket – bread, biscuits, cakes, sweets, meals in tins, sauces in jars, entire dinners frozen in pathetic little containers.

With a tiny bit of effort and planning, everything in the middle of the store can be made by your own hands at home, with a fraction of the ingredients and probably a lot cheaper too!

I’m not saying to never eat anything that has been processed – that would be extremely difficult.  How do you know, if you go out for a meal, whether your vegetables have had margerine rather than butter added to them?  When you go to a friend’s house for lunch, you can’t very well take your own bread for her to use can you?

However, since limiting my intake of processed foods, my energy has been abundant, my hair, skin and nails have been in better condition, my sleep has been better and my weight loss rocketed even though I was only restricting by 250 calories a day!

Give it a try and see how much better you feel!

Thanks to those that send me well wishes, either here on my blog, on WLR or via email.  I am going to see the doctor at work tomorrow and ask him to check my chest for me – it’s wheezy and I can’t stop coughing.

Food has been a bit hit and miss today.  I didn’t wake until 11am so didn’t eat breakfast.  I did however, have a delicious Sunday lunch at my folks’ house.  Sadly, I forgot my camera so have no food pictures for you today – booooo!

L: 150g chicken, 3 tiny roast potatoes, stuffing, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, sprouts and gravy, with a small slice of strawberry gateau for dessert.
D: Grilled cheese flatbread with cherry tomatoes
S: Latte made with skimmed milk

Drinks: 0.8L water, 4 cups green tea, 1 skimmed latte, 1 small glass rose wine and lemonade

Calories: 1269
Protein: 77g (25%)
Carbs: 123g (37.4%)
Fat: 43g (31.7%)
Fibre: 15.5g
F&V: 5

Exercise: None

My water intake is way too low today and as a result, I have had a fuzzy head most of the day.  My protein intake is also way lower than I normally prefer but I have been merely eating because I *have* to all weekend. 

I hope you have all had a fabulous weekend!