Bread has been a part of menu for the mankind for thousands of years now. Though the recent low carb diet craze did bring some disrepute to this oldest menu item, the bread is definitely not going to go off the platter soon.
If you think you need to take off bread from your daily intake consider looking at the vast varieties of breads that have been created. With a few efforts you will definitely find the bread that will do you more good than bad.
How to choose healthy bread?
Obviously the first thing to look for is the ingredient list as you should do for every eatable you buy. Best buy would be the breads that contain whole grain flour or stone ground flour rather than enriched flour. The breads that use natural sweeteners like molasses or honey should be preferred over the ones sweetened by high fructose corn syrup. Salt and sweeteners should be the last in the ingredients list. Choosing fresh bread that does not contain additives and preservatives is better if you consume high quantity of bread.
The most basic ingredients of the bread are whole wheat flour, water and salt. Apart from this good quality bread should also have few grams of protein and fiber content per slice. Usually the absence of proteins and fiber results because of excessive processing the bread goes through. It may also indicative of lack of all other nutrients in the bread. Typically a bread slice contains about 100 calories and consists of few grams of protein, some fiber, good amount of calcium as well as iron and around 20 grams of carbohydrates. Apart from healthy unsaturated fats, the protein and fiber content per slice goes up if flaxseed in added to the bread.
French Meadow Bakery makes bread by the name "Men’s Bread" that contains filtered water and all organic ingredients like whole wheat flour, flaxseed, pumpkin seeds, oat fiber, low fat soy flour, wheat flour, sesame seeds, raw fava beans sprouted, sunflower seeds, millet, pea protein, soy germ, sprouted quinoa, sprouted amaranth, sprouted spelt, sprouted kamut, wheat gluten, sprouted barley, sprouted oats, sprouted wheat, unrefined sea salt. This kind of bread slice contains 5 grams fiber, 8 grams protein and over 13 kinds of vitamins and minerals different whereas its carbohydrate content is only 11 grams.
Bread consumption can help you increase your protein and fiber intake, and provide quality carbohydrate to fuel your muscles, in addition to give you healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals.