The Truth About Bread

Did anyone ever stop to wonder why some breads can sit on our shelves for weeks? If not, I'm one of those weirdos who questioned it. And then I started looking up the most popular brands; Wonder Bread, Sara Lee, Pepperidge Farms, Rustic Oven, Kirkland Signature, Dave's Killer Bread....you name it, I looked into most of it. And here's what I found.

Most commercial bread is a cumulation of additives. How it becomes bread, when they are all done making it, has become a mystery to me. Our country has become so big on processed foods, that an item as simple as bread is now no better than that Twinkie you experimented with, by leaving it on your shelf for a few weeks to see if it would decay, when you were 10 years old. 

And if you don't know what a Twinkie is, oh boy, I'll share all the fun ingredients of that bad boy another day. 

Bread is a common staple all over the world. For over 14,000 years, humans have relied on bread as a source of food. It's cheap, easy to make, tastes amazing, it's satisfying and fills people up. 

Bread is one of the first items a restaurant puts in front of us at the table. It's what we count on to eat when our stomachs are upset and nothing else sounds good. It's comfort food. And if you bake it fresh, that amazing smell could fill a house for hours.

Bread is simple ingredients. Add some flour, yeast, salt and water together and Bam! You have bread. But somehow America's corporations have turned a lot of our breads into some weird science project & we have become the guinea pigs. 

Now, there are some great bread brands out there too. I mentioned a few above. But unfortunately, big corporations are starting to buy up the better brands and are slowly changing the ingredients without our knowledge. It's always best to look at the ingredients of anything you buy and who is selling the product so you have some idea about what you are putting into your body. 

Now, let's talk about those additives. Remember I said bread is basically 4 main ingredients. This of course doesn't include if you want to add fruit, nuts, seeds or anything else to your bread. But here is the problem. Our commercial bread is so much more than those 4 basic ingredients. Some commercial bread has anywhere from 6-over 15 additives, many which cause cancer, affect diabetes, and are a direct cause of chronic illnesses. 

When I looked up some of the more popular brands, these 4 ingredients came up constantly and were by far the worst. Brace yourselves, because these High Risk Additives are no joke. 

1. Mono-and Diglycerides of fatty acids: these increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and some cancers. It also disrupts our gut flora and causes an increased risk of autoimmune diseases and inflammatory disease 

2. Ethoxylated mono-and Diglycerides: exactly the same issues as number1 but lets add a known carcinogen to the list. To save you the trouble of looking up the Definition of Carcinogen, I'll add it here: (A carcinogen is any substance, agent, or organism capable of causing cancer)

3. Sorbic Acid: Worsens diabetes complications, disrupts our gut flora and has a negative effect on the liver

4. Monocalcium Phosphate: This is a mineral that can disrupt bone mineralization. It is harmful for the kidneys & increases the risk of heart disease.

On top of these 4 High Risk Additives, many of these breads are also riddled with other additives that can further cause us to become exposed to chemicals that can cause certain cancers, metabolic issues and are associated with an increased risk of certain chronic diseases. 

So if most of our store bought brands contain at least 6+ of these bad additives, it's easy to see why a cumulation of these additives, combined with other products that contain similar additives, may explain why many of us have so many chronic illnesses. 

I for one, always try to listen to my gut. I have had bouts of Diverticulitis, so when something I eat causes gas, bloating, nausea or any other painful gut issues, I try and figure out what I just ate and how to eliminate it from my diet. I'll go into how I eliminated this issue in a future blog. When it comes to the breads we eat, I either make my own or purchase the best bread I can find without all the additives that can cause these gut issues. 

The good news is that these companies have to list all the ingredients on their products. But the bad news is they don't have to list that these additives cause diseases like cancer. So since most people don't know what these ingredients are, and can't even pronounce half of them, they tend to overlook what they are putting in their bodies. 

Keep this in mind. If bread has no additives in it, after 3 or 4 days, it should begin to mold. If your bread isn't molding by then, ask yourself what is in it to stop that natural process. When I make bread, we have a 3 day rule. But many Americans want their products to last longer. It could be an affordability issue. It could be they can't go to the store as often as they would like. Maybe they just don't have the time to bake their own bread. It's not for me to question someone else's situation. But may I suggest looking at it this way. Some things are worth avoiding and taking a little extra time out of your day for your health. My family learned that the hard way. We didn't really start looking at ingredients until a few years ago. Then my wife got breast cancer, I became hypothyroid, two of my dogs died of cancer, one of my dogs became a diabetic and one of my dogs now is hypothyroid like me. And the moment we went totally organic and read every label, we all started feeling better. I even wrote a blog the other day on how my hypothyroid husky grew all his hair back by simply cooking clean food for him and taking him off of commercial dog food. 

A general rule of thumb to start with, is slowly move into organic products. But I understand a lot of people can't afford healthier choices like organic foods. So below I'm going to share with you a very simple bread recipe that my wife and I make. She introduced it to me and I love it. It's 4 simple ingredients and costs about $1-$2 to make. And remember, it only lasts about 3 days so once you make it, eat it!

4 Ingredient Bread Recipe:

4 cups of unbleached flour (Can also be Gluten Free or wheat flour)

2 Teaspoons of Kosher Salt

2 Teaspoons of Sugar

2 Teaspoons of Instant Yeast

Mix the dry ingredients completely & then add warm water slowly, mixing as you go until the mixture is a bit wet but not mushy. I start with a cup of warm water, then keep adding about a tablespoon to my hands until I'm happy with the consistency.

Once it's mixed, put a towel over it and put aside somewhere warm for about 2 hours. This gives it time to rise. If it isn't in a warm space, it will not rise. During the winter, we put it on our mantle over our fireplace. Works like a charm

Once it rises, split it into two and put it into two pyrex bowls that you have rubbed down with whatever type of butter you want. I LOVE Oatmilk butter but can't find it anymore. Don't like dairy? No problem. You can use Vegan butter. I have looked into butters and most of them are bad for you due to Saturated Fat and Calories. My rule for ingredients is, as long as there's no harmful chemicals in them, I can deal with the fat and calorie issue. I'm also allergic to soy. So if you are too, there are great butters out there without soy. Just look at the label.

Once you break them into 2 pieces, let them sit for about another 30 minutes. My rule here is this is when I preheat the oven. And when it's done preheating, I put the bread in the oven.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Put the two bread bowls on a cookie sheet and heat for 10 minutes. Pull the bread out, rub the top down with butter and put back in for 5 more minutes.

Pull the bread out again, rub the top with butter and then turn the oven down to 375. 

Put the bread back in the oven for 10 more minutes, pull it out, rub it down with butter one more time then put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes. 

Pull it out, let it cool and enjoy. :-)

Total Cook Time: 30 Minutes

This recipe is no fail. The only issue you may possibly have the first few times is to add too much water. Been there, done there, and at one time had a pic of the pile of mush I created. We got a good laugh out of it. But if you really follow recipes to the T and want to be a stickler for the water, do a 2 cup of warm water rule and play with it from there. It took about 4 times for me to get a feel for the dough. But once I did, I now no longer measure for water. 

Now some people may say, well I like my certain brand of bread and I don't want to change. And that's fine. No one should tell you what to do. But remember this. Most of the time, you're not just eating the bread. You're probably making a sandwich, eating a bag of chips and drinking a soda with that sandwich. So to drive hime this pint, lets experience a typical American lunch:

Store bought bread: Minimum 6-8 Additives that cause issues that are listed above.

Cold Cuts: Salami, Posciutto, Bologne, Ham, Turkey and so on....most of these contain Sodium Nitrite which are carcinogenic to humans and are known to cause cancer. In 2015 The World Health Organization classified all processed meats (hot dogs, bacon, cold cuts, etc.) as carcinogens. 

Cheese: Oh my God, I haven't found a shredded cheese yet that doesn't have Powdered Cellulose in it which is an additive to keep it from molding. If you ever look at a pack of shredded cheese and see that speckle of white powder on it, that's not mold. It's powdered cellulose. Sounds delish, right? The Brick & Sliced Cheeses typically have food coloring in them. But they are a better option than shredded. So they obviously don't last as long, which is good. Of course cheese is high in saturated fat and calories so this would affect people with high cholesterol and diabetes. And honestly, I still eat cheese but a lot less of it knowing what I do now. 

Mayo: many contain Sorbic Acid that destroy the gut. For my Soy Allergy people like me, many Mayo's have Soy in them. So check the labels. 

Vegetables: unless you're using organic vegetables, there are so many pesticides, fungicides and herbicides sprayed on our fruits and vegetables, I would need a month to list them all. Many cause cancer, disrupt our metabolic system and cause chronic diseases. 

Non organic chips: Most don't have many additives listed on the packages. But even though there's no additives in the chip process, I would question what chemicals they're putting on the non organic corn they're using before they make the chips. The most popular chemical sprayed on corn, that has been all over the news lately is Glyphosate, also known as the main ingredient in Round Up. A chemical used to kill weeds. My rule of thumb here is, anything created to kill something, I don't want in my system. 

Soda: This is going to be a whole other blog. Most sodas contain food color, sodium benzoate and other additives. These additives all cause cancer. When I found out my favorite Ginger Ale, that I only drink when my stomach is upset, had these ingredients in it, I was devastated. But there are other brands out there without these additives. 

So in our simple lunch meal, our bread, meat, non organic chips and soda all have cancer causing chemicals in them. Not to mention chemicals that can cause all sort of metabolic and chronic health issues. 

I can go on and on about all this stuff. It's literally endless. 

For all the people out there saying, who cares, you gave up sandwiches. I guess it wasn't that hard for you. Let me explain something. I’m Italian. And when I mean, I’m Italian, I mean I had a 23 & Me genetic test done, because I thought there was no way that I didn't have other nationalities in me. And then that test came back as one big blue Italian dot. Our Italian heritage goes back generations. And when I say that when I walk into a delicatessen, I can feel my ancestors looking down on me, that's not a joke. So being here, warning you all about the chemicals in foods like cold cuts and bread, means I don't do this lightly. Before I knew what I know now, I ate sandwiches daily. I LOVE them. Having to give up sandwiches, cut to my soul. I came from a family of butchers and people who owned delicatessens. They ate processed meats their whole life. And then my grandfather died of bladder cancer, my grandmother died of pancreatic cancer, her son, my uncle, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and my dad has survived colon cancer. And 3 three years ago when I started suffering from diverticulitis, which could lead to problems like cancer in the future, or the loss of some of my intestines, knowing I had to give up cold cuts almost ended me. So for a long time I thought having cancer in my family was a genetic problem. Turns out, it’s most likely due to the food we were eating all our lives.

I'm going to end this blog with this small bit of advice. And remember, I'm not a doctor, researcher or scientist. I'm just a concerned citizen who is sick of being poisoned by our food. 

All we can do is try to change one thing at a time. If we slowly stop buying these high risk products maybe these companies will put better ingredients into them. Until then, all we can do is change our behaviors and if we see an improvement in our health, we know we're making better choices. 

I wish the Best of Health to you all. :-)