White bread is a subject that is constantly being raised inrecent times when such things as intestinal and bowel problemsarise. The common belief is that it acts like a glue once insidethe intestines and prevents waste taking its normal course.Depending upon whom you listen to it is a cause of digestivedisorders, weight gain or even bowel cancer. I am yet to seeconclusive evidence but there is a mass of circumstantialevidence to back each prediction.
White bread is by far the most popular because it ismass-produced, specifically for supermarkets, and is usuallysold at lower cost than better quality breads. Children love itbecause it doesn't require so much chewing and can be swalloweden masse. Parents seem to like it because the children complainless about it than they do whole grain breads. However, we live,we are told, in an enlightened age and are becoming more awareof the importance of what we eat today to our future health andwell-being; after decades of attempting to shorten our livesthrough inappropriate diet.
The fact of the matter is that our digestive system does requireroughage to function properly. This is even more necessary todaybecause so many people lead inactive lives. Where ourgrandparents used to toil physically to burn up calories andkeep their bodies functioning we, of this generation, do notlead such an active lifestyle therefore we need to rely upondiet to maintain body fitness.
It is necessary to find roughage at every opportunity. This canbe achieved by following the advice of the food pyramid and thatindicates using whole grain breads rather than white. It alsomeans that we should be increasingly aware of claims thatcertain white breads are high in fiber; according to USDA weshould be eating whole grains in the perfect diet.
Together with your whole grain bread you should include foodsfrom each of the five food groups each day. The groups are:
1. Fruits. 2. Vegetables. 3. Calcium foods. 4. Grains. 5.Proteins.
Detailed information of these food groups can be found in aprevious article at:
http://www.recipesmania.com/article-food-pyramid-1.html
Please remember that life is meant to be fun and it cannot befun if you are unfit or unwell. A healthy diet today means morefun years tomorrow. Only you can make the decision and youshould make it today and get started immediately. This is theonly life you have it isn't a dress rehearsal.
This article is copyright © David McCarthy 2006 and may bereproduced in its entirety with no additions providing a linkback to http://www.recipesmania.comis included.
About the author:David McCarthy is webmaster at http://www.recipesmania.com awebsite dedicated to freely sharing knowledge about food, diet,recipes for all occasions together with a section forweight-watchers and a free weight control program.
