Bread CAN be Healthy! On Paleo Quick Tip of the Day podcast

There, I said it- bread can actually be good for you!  I can scarcely believe that I actually said that, but there it is.  Properly prepared bread, meaning a true, made from sour dough starter, can be a worthwhile addition to your paleo diet, but it needs to be a true sour dough bread.

This means a bread that is risen without commercial yeast, and without any other addititives such as sugar, oils, ‘bread conditioners’, and the like!  One theory is that the use of conventional, GMO grains (that are heavily sprayed with glyphosate), along with the sugars, vegetable oils, and many dough additives and preservatives are why modern breads are so very unhealthy.

Do, you need to seek out (or else bake your own) loaf; one that has only non-GMO grain (I think rye is the best, both flavor-wise and health-wise), is naturally leavened with wild yeasts, and is free of all other additives other than water and the milled grain itself.  Anything else and it is not really sour dough, and is something that will only hurt your health, not enhance it!

If you an find such a loaf, get it!  (It will not be cheap, nor should it be, since such bread is labor intensive and time consuming to make properly- it is a labor of love)!  The vast majority of ‘sour dough’ breads in the grocery store are not really sour dough at all, just being flavored to seem to be sour dough, without actually being real at all- avoid these!  Just as most pickles and sauer kraut are not really actually fermented and healthy at all, the same is true of most so-called sour dough breads.  They are loaded up with vinegar, which while adding a certain sour tang, kills any beneficial organisms that might be in the product.  

OK.  In my little town, an authentic French sour dough bakery opened a week ago.  Very impressive products, totally true to the sour dough tradition- they even make pastries and a quiche made with the tangy dough- all are wonderful indeed!  It is called the French-tastic bakery, and is not to be missed if in southwest Wisconsin.

Just as we all avoided beans in all forms in early paleo, so too did we avoid all grains, if we were paying attention.  Even potatoes were not to be eaten!  

This was all good advice in the beginning, say 10 years ago, and we all had wonderful health benefits from eliminating all grains, beans, and nightshades.  

But, that was before we knew all about the great importance of the microbiome, or the health of the gut.  And it now appears that, by including a small amount of carbohydrates within our diets (keto be damned!), that our gut microbiome benefits, and so thereby do we.  I believe it is Paul Jaminet who says in his excellent Perfect Health Diet that ideally we all need approximately 1/3 of our diet to be carbohydrates.  But, he does specify that it needs to be safe starches, includiing white and sweet potatoes, and even small amounts of properly prepared beans and grains!!

This adds diversity to our gut microbiome, with many beneficial species helping us out as they live within us.  And, I am here to tell you- an addition of properly prepared sour dough bread does not distress my digestion at all, and only seems to make me healthier.  The fermentation in sour dough neutralizes the phytic acid, and the glycemic response of blood sugar also seems to be vastly reduced, along with the resulting insulin spike.  And the minerals in the grains are also rendered usable by the body, unlike in standard breads where the nutrients are unassimilable after being consumed.

So, enjoy adding bread back into your life- and wonderful bread!  The best you’ve ever had, guarantee

Support the Show.