Food Wars - Battle of the Breads
"How can a nation be great if its bread tastes like Kleenex?" - Julia Child
M mmmmmmmmmmm bread. The Carbaholics worst nightmare, and one of my own personal demons. Bread has been a food staple for longer than most people are even aware of. According to Wikipedia bread has been prepared for at least 30,000 years. It's no wonder that we've developed a loving relationship with it.
In this day and age there are so many varieties of bread to choose from it can make your head spin. I made the switch to whole wheat/whole grain bread many years ago, and although I've switched brands a few times, I always believed that my choice was pretty healthy.
Well after a bit of investigation, I've come to realize that I was wrong. There are healthier choices out there, you just have to look a bit harder for them. Here's what I've been eating for around the last 5 years, and my newly discovered favorite.
Note: To be fair to the Country Harvest bread I should point out that it beat the Silver Hills bread when it came to Potassium. Although it doesn't show it above the Country Harvest bread has 90mg of Potassium (15mg more than the Silver Hills bread).
Sugar / Glucose, Salt & Vegetable Oil are 3 ingredients that we definitely don't need more of in our diet..... especially when they're added to the foods we purchase. Although the Silver Hills contains salt, it's in the form of sea salt which is less processed than table salt. The Silver Hills sea salt is also listed much further down on the ingredients list which is why the Silver Hills bread contains less sodium.
Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono & Diglycerides..... also known as DATEM (I can't imagine why), is used to help "strengthen the dough by building a strong gluten network" (Wikipedia). I also love the fact that it later in the article states "In the USA, DATEM is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administrative"...... that's reassuring. If it sounds like science crap and you can't pronounce it, you definitely don't need it in your food..... just like our next red flag ingredient.
Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate also know as SSL is "used in the majority of manufactured breads, buns, wraps, tortillas, and similar bread-based products to ensure consistent product quality" (Wikipedia). In other words, it's yet another food additive that doesn't deserve to enter our bodies.
Vegetable Monoglycerides is used to help "mix ingredients such as oil and water that would not otherwise blend well" (Wikipedia). More unnecessary additives. Silver Hills removed the oil from the equation, and thus eliminated the need for this additive.
Health wise the Silver Hills bread is the clear winner. Taste wise I prefer it as well. Their bread more chewy, but in a heartier, more filling way.... not a bad cardboard way. I feel far more satisfied after eating a sandwich now than I did with the Country Harvest bread. I short.... I love it.
When I first saw the price of the Silver Hills bread I was very surprised to find that it wasn't much more expensive than my regular choices. All but 5 of the Silver Hills ingredients (one of which is water) is certified organic, which typically makes the product more expensive to produce. The fact that Silver Hills is able to produce a superior product and sell it at price close to the major bread manufacturers is nothing short of incredible.
So lets take a quick review......
Silver Hills bread has less calories, carbohydrates, salt, sugar, and no additives while giving you more fiber, protein in the form of mostly certified organic ingredients, for around the same price, all while tasting great and being more filling. It truly is a no-brainer.
In this day and age there are so many varieties of bread to choose from it can make your head spin. I made the switch to whole wheat/whole grain bread many years ago, and although I've switched brands a few times, I always believed that my choice was pretty healthy.
Well after a bit of investigation, I've come to realize that I was wrong. There are healthier choices out there, you just have to look a bit harder for them. Here's what I've been eating for around the last 5 years, and my newly discovered favorite.
Note: To be fair to the Country Harvest bread I should point out that it beat the Silver Hills bread when it came to Potassium. Although it doesn't show it above the Country Harvest bread has 90mg of Potassium (15mg more than the Silver Hills bread).
Red Flag Ingredients:
Sugar / Glucose, Salt & Vegetable Oil are 3 ingredients that we definitely don't need more of in our diet..... especially when they're added to the foods we purchase. Although the Silver Hills contains salt, it's in the form of sea salt which is less processed than table salt. The Silver Hills sea salt is also listed much further down on the ingredients list which is why the Silver Hills bread contains less sodium.
Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Esters of Mono & Diglycerides..... also known as DATEM (I can't imagine why), is used to help "strengthen the dough by building a strong gluten network" (Wikipedia). I also love the fact that it later in the article states "In the USA, DATEM is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administrative"...... that's reassuring. If it sounds like science crap and you can't pronounce it, you definitely don't need it in your food..... just like our next red flag ingredient.
Sodium Stearoyl-2-Lactylate also know as SSL is "used in the majority of manufactured breads, buns, wraps, tortillas, and similar bread-based products to ensure consistent product quality" (Wikipedia). In other words, it's yet another food additive that doesn't deserve to enter our bodies.
Vegetable Monoglycerides is used to help "mix ingredients such as oil and water that would not otherwise blend well" (Wikipedia). More unnecessary additives. Silver Hills removed the oil from the equation, and thus eliminated the need for this additive.
Health wise the Silver Hills bread is the clear winner. Taste wise I prefer it as well. Their bread more chewy, but in a heartier, more filling way.... not a bad cardboard way. I feel far more satisfied after eating a sandwich now than I did with the Country Harvest bread. I short.... I love it.
When I first saw the price of the Silver Hills bread I was very surprised to find that it wasn't much more expensive than my regular choices. All but 5 of the Silver Hills ingredients (one of which is water) is certified organic, which typically makes the product more expensive to produce. The fact that Silver Hills is able to produce a superior product and sell it at price close to the major bread manufacturers is nothing short of incredible.
So lets take a quick review......
Silver Hills bread has less calories, carbohydrates, salt, sugar, and no additives while giving you more fiber, protein in the form of mostly certified organic ingredients, for around the same price, all while tasting great and being more filling. It truly is a no-brainer.
Labels: Food Wars
1 Comments:
I guess today all food is crammed with additives, salt and other harmful ingredients. But people like all delicious and good-looking food despite their composition. I love bred and grains. I always pay attention to the proportion of food. Among all variety of breds I consider Silver Hills is the best one. Thanks for this well-detailed review!
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