A Few Good Women
Here’s an observation: Though men mainly invent and manufacture (unhealthy) factory foods, women most often protect us from the consequences. I keep a list of heroines of nutrition—women who challenged the established but erroneous beliefs of their day. (There are a few good men on the list also.) Although science is about the search for knowledge, reformers fighting for a new truth must endure the wrath of those invested in the old truth. So it’s good to remember those who struggled to improve the world of nutrition—like May Yates (1850-1938). To appreciate the story of this good woman, we need a bit of history:
In the 1870s a new process for making flour that used steel rollers instead of the traditional millstone was invented. This new method also separated the bran and germ from the endosperm, making flour that was finer and cheaper. (The lost bran and germ was fed to farm animals, lucky creatures.) The new flour, pleasingly white and modern, quickly dominated the market—out with the old, in with the new. This was a critical change because grains provide more of mankind’s daily energy than any other food group.
Food innovations often have unintended consequences and this was the case with the roller mill. It took time to understand what had been thrown out with the bran and germ. Vitamins had not yet been discovered, that was a generation off. The function of the missing minerals was unknown. And the importance of fiber and antioxidants was also a mystery. By the time these things became known eating habits had changed and we, like the sheep who lost their way, were caught in history’s biggest food experiment: “What happens to a civilization if the vital nutrients in grains are removed from the diet?”
The harm was hard to measure as it happened before public health data was kept, and modern flour was only one of three food disasters:
• Cheap sugar following the Civil War,
• Refined white flour in the late 1800s, and
• Trans fats in the early 1900s (via hydrogenated margarine and shortenings like Crisco)
Now back to our heroine. May Yates was a society artist who lived in England after the consumption of refined flour was well established. She took a vacation trip to Sicily, where people were still eating traditional whole grains. Yates noted the robust physical condition of the Italians and contrasted this to the poor health of the English. It was concluded that a primary cause of England’s declining health was the use of modern refined flour. Yates was so moved by this tragedy that she returned home determined to return whole grains to the diet. She devoted her life to this new cause, selling her jewelry to finance her crusade, and founding the Bread Reform League. In 1909 the league successfully established ”standard bread”—made with 80% whole grains—as the norm in England.
Americans eat their weight (more or less) in grains each year, but 90% of the grains are not whole. That’s a lot of lost nutrients—our goal is to reverse that ratio. We started with breakfast cereal, this post is about bread, a future post will address the other grains in our diet.
The other night we went through the bread aisle of the local grocery store, comparing the healthiness of a confusing number of breads. We’ll report the findings in our next post. In the kitchen we’ve been experimenting with bread recipes using whole grains—do you have one you like? Also, please share your ideas for restoring whole grains to the American diet.
Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.
Monday, February 28, 2011 at 8:59AM | by Skip Hellewell | 35 Comments | Share Article | in healthy change, whole grains | Email Article
Reader Comments (35)
Hey Skip,
Just wanted to chime in on your above comment concerning celiac disease. I was diagnosed with celiac disease almost 4 years ago. I immediately eliminated all gluten from my diet, as that is the only treatment, and I was pregnant at the time. In the past 4 years I have maintained this diet and my health has responded very well. I have adjusted to the diet, and it really is no longer a hard thing for me... I don't miss the foods I can't have that much, the trade off is worth it. However, since my diagnosis I have really struggled mentally and spiritually with this disease. Because I am a very strong believer in the WOW, which plainly states that wheat is to be the staff of life, I feel challenged spiritually with following this gluten-free diet. I have always believed that the WOW is the way the Lord has commanded us to eat, and to do otherwise feels to me like putting faith in doctors and science more than in the Lord. i.e. trusting in the arm of flesh. The Lord says if we follow the WOW, we will run and not be weary, walk and not faint, which is especially poignant to me, as my major symptom of celiac is severe anemia. Very weary and very faint when I eat gluten. LOL. In the beginning, although fully understanding and believing the WOW, I wasn't very good at following the diet within. But now, I would call myself a very strict follower of the WOW (except wheat of course - I do eat many other whole grains, mostly brown rice). I am plagued with the idea that if my faith is great enough, and I am committed to strictly following the WOW, perhaps I would be okay reintroducing wheat to the diet. I have heard the argument from people who care about me, that wheat is not what it was back then. Processed, grown, treated differently. But I can't help thinking that God knew that when he gave the commandment. And yet, it is to be the staff of life. You can see, I have a bit of an internal struggle on my hands, and no clear direction to head. Any thoughts or comments on this would be welcome. One final note about faith: I can't have even a quarter teaspoon of soy sauce (which contains some wheat) without having a reaction, or one macaroni noodle: but I've taken the sacrament every week for 4 years and it has never given me a reaction. Final thought: I am tempted with the idea that if I stick strictly to the WOW diet I have been following for some time, perhaps my celiac could be healed, even though science says there is no cure.
Michelle, thanks for writing, I have wanted to hear from someone with celiac in order to understand their viewpoint. It is remarkable that you are able to take the sacrament bread. I offer two thoughts to consider: first, it is "grains" that are the staff of life, not wheat alone. It sounds like you're doing well on the other grains God has provided. Second, the Bible teaches that with faith we can (literally) move mountains, But each of us has so many other acts of faith to accomplish that we may not get to mountain-moving in this life. Follow the counsel on "prudence", be patient, relax on the wheat, follow your doctor's guidance. There's another world after this one, eternity stretches before us, there's plenty of time to accomplish everything. Best to you.
Hi Michelle!
I am not really familiar with the WOW concept, but I once met a priest I know, when he was out jogging one morning, and when we started talking about it, he said something along the lines of "By taking care of my body, I take care of the second most important thing God has given me, and that in turn helps me to focus on the most important thing God gave me, my soul and my devotion to Him". In your case, taking care of your body includes staying away from gluten, and that in turn will help you to focus on your spirit. I do think that your physical wellbeing is as important to God as your spiritual.
Nikkita, you ask a good question about making cake with whole grain flour in the olden days. Here is what Leah Widtsoe, an early nutritionist and ardent advocate of the W of W, said in her 1943 recipe book, "How to Be Well":
"The flour used for cakes should be 100% whole wheat but ground very fine [and sifted]. It may be ground almost as fine as the white flour but the extra nourishment of vitamins and minerals is still there. . . Naturally [the cakes] are not as light and fluffy as those using the extremely high patent flours, but they will be found much more nutritious and equally enjoyable." In her recipe book Leah could only think of one use for white flour: to make the roux for good sauces.
I’ve been hooked on Jim Lahey’s “My Bread” Dutch Oven breads for the past few months. Been making them at least twice a week. The loafs always turn out great and are very easy.
The rye and wheat bread recipes don’t call for very much rye/wheat flour. About ¾ cup rye to 2 ¼ cup white bread flour. I usually add some ground flax seed, but is this really enough to fit your rule? The only other ingredients are water, yeast (1/4 tsp), and salt. It is basic and lovely. I don’t want to give it up, but your posts have made me question if it is as healthy as I have hoped.
Any thoughts? Great posts!
I am excited about your blog. A lot of great info. Look forward to following your posts.
I thought I might share my recipe with those who use metric measurements (not sure how many readers do, but there must be more than me).
Crumble 25 g of fresh yeast into a bowl together with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of honey. Dissolve in some of 6 dl luke warm water, and then pour over the rest of the water. Stir in 2,5 dl of grinded oats (I usually play around with this part a bit, adding wheat germ or 0,5-1 dl of crushed wheat). Stir in 10-11 dl wheat flour, the dough should be quite loose. Cover with a towel and let raise for 1-2 hours. Preheat the owen to 265 C, pour the dough onto a meal strewn surface and cut it into 4 lengths, twist the lengths into baguette like shapes, put them on a baking sheet covered baking tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes in 265 C, then lower the heat to 150 C and bake for another 12-15 minutes (the duration depends on the owen, in my owen I use 12 minutes for each temperature, in my mothers I need 15).
I haven't tried the recipe with whole meal as I haven't seen any while out shopping, but I think the recipe would work with at least 35%. I have tried baking the bread with some spelt as well once, when I ran out of wheat flour in the middle of baking, and the result was pretty good (I think it was about 3 dl spelt). The salt and honey are essential to make the bread moist, I forgot it once and had to endure dry bread for a week. Also, I found that adding a bit of crushed wheat made the bread moister, but adding more than 1 dl made it difficult to chew as pieces of grain would get stuck in my teeth.
Enjoy!
The bread I grew up eating is delicious, and you can add as much whole wheat flour as you like. I usually only do 50% whole wheat flour and the rest white, but I've also tried the recipe with all white whole wheat flour and it is pretty good. I just read something from Cook's Illustrated (I think) about soaking your whole wheat flour overnight before baking with it, and then being able to increase the percentage of whole wheat flour without making the finished loaves bitter. I'll try that soon! Here's my basic recipe: http://luluthebaker.blogspot.com/2009/06/homemade-bread-isnt-scary.html
An update to my recipe above, I just tried making the bread with appr. 1/3 whole meal, and got a very good result.
I recently read in an old food-storage book from the 70's that wheat loses it's vitamins "almost literally by the minute" as soon as it's ground. The author goes on to state that after about 30 days flour has lost "almost all of it's food value". This is something I had heard before, but took notice this time and have begun to almost shun any store-bought flour -- even whole wheat flour -- because of how old it likely is even before it leaves the shelves of the mill...my guess would be that most of it is probably 3 or 4 months old (at least) before it shows up in the stores.
I just bought a small hand-crank grain mill, and was immediately (and very pleasantly) surprised at the high level of flavor in freshly-ground flour, and I'm trusting that the nutrients are much more intact.
Any clarifications or thoughts on this?
Wow! Trent! The thought of that freshly ground flor makes my mouth water! One of my jobs brought me into the vincinity of a mill with a bakery and cafe once a month, and the bread there was heaven!
Trent, a couple of thoughts on the shelf life of whole-wheat flour. First, experts would agree that freshly ground is best. There is damage to the oxygen-sensitive nutrients, like vitamins A and E as well as the polyunsaturated fats (especially omega-3). Second, the comments in your old food-storage book seem extreme, like losing "almost all of its food value". Minerals, fiber, lignans and the non-oxidative vitamins (folate, etc.) should have a long shelf life. The omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids cause a rancid taste when they are fully oxidized but that takes months (depending on temp. and exposure to oxygen). One other issue: Bob's Red Mill uses stone grinding, typically a low-temp process. King Arthur does not specify so I suspect it is roller-milled which depending on process control, can cause early deterioration due to high temp.
Bob's Red Mill 100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat flour comes in a plastic/paper barrier bag and they allow over one year for "sell by" and another six months in your home. King Arhtur's whole-wheat flour comes in a paper bag has a shorter life (due to the paper bag I think) and their shelf-life is a year or less (I bought it in Feb. and it expires in Oct.).
I called these two companies and left a message, asking them to explain their criteria for shelf life. I expected information about vitamin E life, or omega-3 decline. That was this morning and their work day is over and they have not bothered to respond. So maybe they are uncomfortable talking about shelf-life criteria. If they do respond, I'll post a comment.
One last thought: though these companies don't mention it, other sources suggest storing any whole grain flour in a high-barrier seal-able container, and refrigerating or freezing the bag for best life.
Thanks for your comment.
Through trial and error, we came up with a really delicious recipe for whole-grain waffles. Granted, we use freshly-ground flour which makes it SO much better than any store-bought flour, but any whole-wheat flour will do fine.
http://lorajeansmagazine.blogspot.com/2011/03/fresh-whole-wheat-waffles.html
My sugarless 100% whole wheat bread recipe can be found on my blog at http://katrinaskitchen35.blogspot.com/2010/02/100-whole-wheat-bread.html. Six ingredients definitely beats the 15 or 20+ you find in store breads!
Just a note to some of the commenters...it's important to realize that whole WHEAT is not the same as whole GRAIN! Whole wheat flour has the bran added back in to refined white flour, but still leaves out the highly nutritious, yet oily and quick-to-spoil germ. So you're left with endosperm + bran, but no germ! Also, even whole grain flour loses nutrients quickly. The sooner you eat it after it's ground, the better!
My favourite gift from this past Christmas was a grain mill. You can get hand mills (which do oily food better than the electric ones) and electric ones - mine's electric and produces a good quantity of flour quickly. This way I am able to buy whole wheat berries, stick them in the mill, and immediately bake baked goods with the freshest flour possible! It also freezes well - but don't store it for more than a week or two in the cupboard or it'll spoil. The downside of baking whole-grain bread is that it's harder to get it to rise. I believe adding vital wheat gluten (basically just gluten) will help with that, but ideally I'll get down to a recipe that doesn't require this highly refined product.
Lastly, sprouting is something to consider! Most grains and legumes contain enzymes which inhibit nutrient absoprtion and digestion. That doesn't mean they're -bad- for you unsprouted, but you get way more benefit when they're sprouted. There are a few ways to make bread from sprouted wheat (you can soak the wheat berries and then blend them, or you can grind flour and then soak it and use the soaked flour), but I am inexperienced in these methods and recommend reading elsewhere for more info on this.