Bread--Navigating the Choices

At breakfast this morning, my oldest girl said, "Mom, there's mold on my English muffin."  Hardly ideal, since she had already eaten the other half, but I packed her off to school with a "if you throw up, tell the nurse it is the moldy bread." 

That mother-of-the-year award
doesn't win itself! 

But in some ways, I am glad that the English muffin was moldy.  To me, it indicates that the bread was not so pumped with various chemicals or stripped of its nutrients that it became immune to the natural decay of fresh foods.  And, I should note, this is not the first time this has happened with these English muffins (...really, you think I would have looked before giving the muffin to my girl!). 

With so many choices in the bread and bakery aisles, what makes a good bread?  How do you know what to shop for?

Bread Basics

At its most basic, bread is simply composed of flour, water, yeast and salt, with sometimes the addition of sugar and oil.  But enter any store and the basics go out the window.  In her What to Eat, Marion Nestle quotes the master baker at BreadLine:

"The difference between good bread and bad bread is the most expensive ingredient--time.  What the big bakeries do is to replace time with stabilizers, dough softeners, preservatives, and other chemicals so the bread develops quickly and evenly and stays on a supermarket shelf looking and feeling fresh--even when it isn't." (page 484)

Big bakeries add water and air to dough to get more bread made for every pound of flour.  They add dough conditioners and additives like sodium stearoyl lactylate, monoglycerides, diglycerides, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, and diacetyl tartaric ester of monoglyceride (Pandora's Lunchbox, page 102).  In an attempt to "clean up" labels, some bakeries turn to enzymes like lipase, glucose oxidase, and xylanase to replace conditioners (Pandora's Lunchbox, page 122).  However, since these enzymes are inactivated in the baking process, they are not always listed.  Some of these enzymes are the product of genetic engineering, so a way to avoid some of them is to go organic (not 'all natural', which has no legal definition).

Bread for the Family

In an ideal world, everyone would make bread at home, controlling all of the ingredients.  However, even with a bread machine, this is hardly practical for most families (and even when I do make bread, I can never slice it thinly enough for sandwiches!).

Specialty bakeries do offer breads with short ingredient lists.  For example, Spring Mill Bread Company even grinds their own wheat for their breads.  Again, however, a special trip to the bread store may not be an option.  Sometimes, I just need a loaf to make sandwiches for everyone's lunchboxes.

What are your bread-in-a-bag options?  Time to check out the bread shelves at Giant and Whole Foods for good options.  But first a little more about the ingredients:

Flour--The best is whole wheat flour (whole grain flour).  This flour contains the bran and germ of the wheat, retaining most of the fiber and key nutrients (see previous post for overview).  Regular wheat flour has been refined and is missing most of the fiber and nutrients.  Enriched wheat flour means that some of the nutrients have been added back (niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, folic acid, and iron).

An element of time comes into play with flour.  Wheat flour starts out brown, but, over time, naturally turns white.  Bleaching and bromate treatment whitens the flour more quickly.  These chemicals disappear or become inactive with baking and storage, but may leave a chemical taste.  So white flour that is labeled as unbleached and unbromated is just aged longer.

Bread flour has a higher gluten content than the regular all-purpose flour.  Gluten are proteins that form networks in dough that traps gas released by yeast, creating the puffy-ness of bread.

Fiber--Some breads are high in fiber due to whole grain/whole wheat flour, but others have purified cellulose added to up the fiber content.

Organic or not?--Remember, organic is not necessarily healthier.  Yes, you avoid genetically modified ingredients, but sugar is still sugar, whether honey or HFCS. 

Shopping for Bread   

Somehow it seems appropriate that I am writing this post during the week of Halloween, but not because the moldy English muffin was scary.  It is the bread options that are truly frightening! 

In my grocery store search, I concentrated on wheat and whole wheat breads, checking out a few multigrain breads along the way. 

Rule 1--Read the ingredient label.  Ingredients are listed in order of most to least, so this gives you an idea of how much of any ingredient is in the bread.  A good measurement to keep in mind is that most loaves have about 1 teaspoon of salt per loaf, so any ingredient listed before salt is likely greater than one teaspoon.

Rule 2--Read the Nutrition Facts panel.  Keep in mind that gram amounts may be rounded up or down.  A bread with 1 gram of fiber listed may actually have less than a gram.  In my search, I focused on fiber, sugar, and protein, with an occasional eye to sodium.

Whole Foods Shopping

Let's start with the English muffins of mold fame: 

Whole Foods brand 100% Whole Wheat English Muffins
15 ingredients.  Not fabulous, but the first 4 ingredients are water, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, cultured wheat flour.  One muffin has 3 grams of fiber, 7 grams of protein, and only one gram of sugar. 
Moving on to the whole wheat bread I usually buy:

Vermont Bread Company Soft Whole Wheat Bread
14 ingredients.  First four ingredients:  whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, canola oil.  2 grams of fiber, 4 grams protein, less than one gram sugar.

Not bad, but it seems I could do better.  I checked another Vermont Bread product, Organic Whole Wheat bread.  Still 14 ingredients with organic whole wheat flour as the first.  Fiber and sugar were the same as the non-organic option, just a little less protein (2 grams).  Mainly, this bread just gets me organic ingredients.

Sadly, those breads seemed to be the best choices.  With a brand name like Ultimate Grains, I was sure their 100% Whole Wheat or Ancient 12 Grain breads would be winners.  First three ingredients for each:  whole wheat flour, water, sugar.  Each slice has 4 grams of sugar!  The equivalent of one teaspoon!

The theme of added sugar continued.  Whole Foods Organic 100% Whole Wheat, 365 Organic Touch of Honey Whole Wheat, and Whole Foods Wheat Sandwich breads all had sugar as their third ingredient.  For all of these, I didn't even count the number of ingredients.  With this much sugar, back on the shelf these loaves went.

The only way to get a shorter ingredient list was to move to the fresh breads at the Whole Foods bakery counter.  Their organic rustic wheat bread has only 7 ingredients.  Wheat flour is first ingredient with whole wheat flour third, so the fiber content is probably not too high (there is no nutrition facts label for this fresh bread).  But I considered it a victory that there was no added sugar! 

Giant Shopping

Since not everyone can shop at Whole Foods regularly, I also went to Giant's bread aisle. Every single whole wheat bread I picked up had added sugar or HFCS as the third ingredient!  Schmidt's Old Tyme 100% Whole Wheat, Pepperidge Farmhouse 100% Whole Wheat, Nature's Promise (Giant's Organic brand) and more offered fiber wrapped in a coating of sugar, with many loaves offering 4 grams of sugar per slice.  There was one exception--Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat.  It's 4th ingredient is brown sugar with less than one gram of sugar per slice. 

Right before I walked out, I did check a few white breads.  My thought was that, perhaps, it would be better to eat white bread without the sugar than whole wheat with.  However, disappointment followed me.  The white breads were also high in sugar content.

A Needle in a Haystack--The Best Bread for Your Family

The experience at Whole Foods and at Giant made me angry.  I thought of how many customers (moms!) who are buying various whole wheat breads, thinking they are making a healthy choice for their families.  And while the fiber and other whole wheat-provided nutrients are important, children and adults don't need all of the added sugar.  Honestly, when I started my grocery tour, I had no idea that added sugar would be such an important issue.

My best advice is to find a time when you have few extra minutes at the grocery store.  Take the time to read the ingredient lists and the Nutrition Facts on multiple breads.  Find one that works for your family.  This little bit of extra time at the store will pay off in the end.  You can keep buying the same bread, knowing it is a good fit for you and your family, flying down the bread aisle as you grab-and-go.

Baking Bread At Home

Knowing that I would be writing a post on bread, I thought I should actually make some.  For some reason, yeast breads intimidate me.  Something about the time, rising, and kneading.  So I decided to get out my husband's bread machine.  He occasionally makes bread with it, but uses boxed mixes.  Frankly, I have never been impressed with his results. 

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

Since breaking out the machine, I have made white bread, French bread (also white), and whole wheat bread from scratch.  All yummy!  While the whole wheat bread was good, I think my family liked the white and French breads better.  Happily, the white breads just have a small amount of sugar (I need to fiddle with the whole wheat recipe--4 Tablespoons of sugar per loaf is a lot!).

And I think making white bread at home is fine, since we eat whole wheat breads the rest of the time.  After all, something about warm bread with dinner is divine.  And it makes me think of this quote of Marion Nestle's:

"Bread is the one place where my nutritional correctness weakens.  No question, 100 percent whole wheat bread is the better nutritional choice, always and often...But I cannot think of anything that tastes as good as a painstakingly made, freshly baked white bread..." (What to Eat, page 494)



References
All quotes and sources are linked in the above text.  General nutrition information came from Whitney and Rolfes' Understanding Nutrition, 13th ed. and from Nutrition for Sport and Exercise, 2nd ed. by Dunford and Doyle.

Fiber and Goldfish

My girls love Goldfish.  I can see their weddings now...crystal bowls of Goldfish on every table!  I buy Goldfish for an occasional snack, but I am faced with the choice--regular cheddar or "made with whole grain"?  Of course, Goldfish are not the only "made with whole grain" product, as walk down any grocery aisle will prove, but does it matter?  Is "made with whole grain" something to pay attention to or simply a marketing ploy?

What is Whole Grain?

Grains include wheat, corn, rice, rye, oats, barley, millet and more.  Whole grains have three components: endosperm, germ, and bran.  When the Little Red Hen (or anyone else) grinds the wheat to make the bread, she has two choices.  If the wheat seeds are simply ground, the resulting flour contains all three components and is whole grain flour (whole wheat flour).  If the Hen grinds the seeds and removes the chaff--aka the germ and the bran--the result is white flour.  However, the germ and the bran are the main source of fiber in grains, thus white flour has very little fiber.  Additionally, the resulting white flour is missing many important nutrients due to the loss of the germ and bran.  To counterbalance some of this nutrient loss, in the United States and other countries, flour makers are required to add back specific nutrients.  In the US, flour makers add several vitamins (niacin, riboflavin, thiamin, and folic acid) and iron to white flour.  On labels, you will see this addition often labeled as "enriched flour".  But don't be fooled  It isn't the manufacturer trying to help you out, it is Uncle Sam telling the miller what to do.

What is Fiber?

Let's back up to looking at carbohydrates again.  Carbohydrates (CHO) can be simple or complex.  The simple CHO are the sugars (mono- and disaccharides).  The complex polysaccharides include starches and fiber.  Plants store energy as starches.  Starches are composed of long chains of glucose molecules.  Grains are the biggest source of starches.  Fiber provides structure to plant foods (fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes) and are also composed of long chains of glucose molecules.  The difference, however, is that our bodies do not have the capacity to break the bonds holding fiber's glucose molecules together. 

There are several kinds of fibers:

Soluble Fibers--found in oats, barley, legumes and citrus fruits, this kind of fiber is associated with the prevention of heart disease and diabetes.  Basically, this fiber increases elimination of bile acids, forcing the liver to use up cholesterol to create more bile acids.  The result?  A decrease in cholesterol levels.

Fermentable Fibers--these fibers are fermented by bacteria in the colon.  The bacteria create short chain fatty acids.  These fatty acids serve as an energy source for the cells of the colon.

Insoluble Fibers--found in the bran of whole grains and vegetables, these fibers help prevent constipation and help maintain healthy bowel movements in a variety of ways.

Why is Fiber important?

Beyond the disease prevention and bowel health, fiber helps provide a feeling of fullness since it is not digested in the stomach and lingers there.  Fiber slows absorption, leading to smaller increases in blood sugar post-meal.  As mentioned in a previous post on sugar, glycemic index is measure of the blood glucose response.  White bread has a GI of 70 to 90, whereas whole wheat bread has a GI of 50 (remember, lower is better).

How much Fiber?

Currently, Americans consume about 15 to 19 grams per day of fiber, with the recommendations for adults under the age of 50 to be 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men.  Clearly, most of us are not getting enough!  (If you want to calculate your exact need, use 11.5 grams per 1000 calories--so a 2,000 calorie diet needs about 23 grams of fiber per day).  

Beyond fish: bunnies and cows

To achieve a higher fiber intake and meet the recommended fiber intake, the recipe is simple:  eat the suggested amount of fruits and vegetables, enjoy legumes regularly, and eat whole grains.  

Rather than trying to keep track of my daily fiber intake (because, really, who has time for that?), I find MyPlate's recommendation helpful when it comes to eating whole grains.  MyPlate suggests to make at least half of your grains whole grains.  To me, this is easy.  If we eat white bread or a fiber-less cereal for breakfast, I make sure the girls have whole grain bread for lunch. 

Shopping for Fiber

With fiber, it is critical to read the labels.  First, check the nutrition facts panel to read the amount of fiber, listed in grams.  This is important because often the front-of-package labeling would lead you to believe the food is a fiber-packed powerhouse, but reality is quite different.  Next, read the ingredients label.  Whole grain flours are better than enriched wheat flours, as the whole grain flours contain the bran and germ, offering fiber and other key nutrients.  Some high fiber breads and other grain products may have added fiber (termed functional fiber).  Examples of functional fiber include cellulose, guar gum, pectin, and psyllium.  The science is not settled on this issue, but at least one study found that colon cancer reduction was the result of eating dietary fiber, not functional fiber.

So What About the Goldfish?

Regular Goldfish, Whole Grain Goldfish
Cheez-It
Annie's Bunnies, Horizon Cows

To help me better understand the situation, I decided to do a quick comparison of Goldfish and a few other cheese crackers (with Triscuits added as a simple, whole wheat cracker).  All of the values in the table are for a 30 gram serving (or about 55 fish). 

	Goldfish	Whole Grain Goldfish	Horizon Cheddar Snack Crackers	Annie's Cheddar Bunnies	Cheez-It (original)	Triscuit
Calories	140	140	120	140	150	129
Total fat	5 g	5 g	6 g	6 g	8 g	3.75 g
Saturated fat	1 g	1 g	1 g	0.5 g	2 g	0.53 g
Sodium	250 mg	250 mg	270 mg	250 mg	230 mg	171 mg
Total Carbs	20 g	20 g	16 g	19 g	17 g	21 g
Fiber	Less than 1 g	2 g	Less than 1 g	0 g	Less than 1 g	3.2 g
Sugars	0 g	0 g	1 g	1 g	0 g	0 g
Protein	3 g	3 g	2 g	3 g	3 g	3.2 g

Not surprisingly, the whole grain Goldfish and the Triscuits have the most fiber, highlighted in red.  But, does that really make the whole grain Goldfish better?  A quick look at the ingredients.  For simplicity's sake, I just listed the first four or five ingredients (or three in the case of the Triscuits).  

Goldfish	Whole Grain Goldfish	Horizon Cheddar Snack Crackers	Annie's Cheddar Bunnies	Cheez-It (original)	Triscuit
Enriched wheat flour	Whole wheat flour	Wheat flour	Wheat flour	Enriched wheat flour	Whole grain wheat
Cheddar cheese	Enriched wheat flour	Sunflower oil	Sunflower oil	Vegetable oil	Soybean oil
Vegetable Oils	Cheddar cheese	Cheddar cheese	Salt	Cheese	Salt
Salt	Vegetable Oils	Cane sugar	Cheddar cheese	Salt	No more
More	Salt	More	More	More

Not surprisingly, the fiber content of the whole grain Goldfish is reflected in the ingredient list, as the first ingredient is whole wheat flour.  But for all of the crackers, the list goes on (with even added sugar in the case of the Horizon crackers!).  For the Horizon and Annie's products, the ingredients are organic, just not noted in my table.

Whole Grain or Not?

To answer my whole grain Goldfish question, I am going to turn to Marion Nestle.  In her book What To Eat, she lumps Goldfish together with Cheez-Its in her chapter on snack foods.  Both are junk foods that are "of low nutritional value relative to their calories" (page 357).  At the end of her snack food chapter, her advice is this:

If you love junk food, by all means eat and enjoy it--just not too much at a time, not too often, and without kidding yourself that it is good for you.

I added the bold because I think that is the answer to the whole grain vs regular Goldfish question.  Neither are good for you (and the bunnies, cows, and squares are not any better).  A little whole grain doesn't make Goldfish healthy.  All the crackers are nutritionally poor, despite what Pepperidge Farm's marketing would have you believe.  The answer is to eat the snack cracker you enjoy, just not every day or in large amounts.

To return to the MyPlate recommendation, I think the advice should be:

Make at least half of your grains quality whole grains.

Eat the Goldfish, even the whole grain ones, just don't count them toward your whole grain intake. 

The Best Cracker  

Sometimes I wonder if my girls' Goldfish love is really based on taste or just brand recognition.   Since the idea is to only eat junk food one really enjoys, it seemed like a good question to answer.  I decided to do a little blind taste test with my girls and two of their friends.  The various cheese snack crackers were crushed to help disguise the fish, bunnies, squares, and cows.  Interestingly, there was no clear winner!  But the regular Goldfish scored at or near the top, whereas the whole grain Goldfish were at the middle or bottom. 

My take-home?  Better to buy the regular Goldfish and truly enjoy the experience--rather than have a less satisfying snack with whole grain fish that make you long for the real thing.  And eat some true whole grains at other meals and snacks. 

Recipe for an Afternoon Snack 

11 gram package
(about 22 fish)


While the Goldifish serving size, according to the package, is 30 grams (55 fish), I find my girls are satisfied with less.  And then I can pair a few fish with an apple or a few clementines for an afternoon snack.  I love the little Halloween packages, but it makes small portions simple.  But if you want to make your own, 1/4 cup is about 25 Goldfish and 1/3 cup is 32 fish.


References
All quotes and sources are linked in the above text.  General nutrition information came from Whitney and Rolfes' Understanding Nutrition, 13th ed. and from Nutrition for Sport and Exercise, 2nd ed. by Dunford and Doyle.