Refined vs. Unrefined Carbs

Here's an excerpt I was forwarded from Alex Jamieson's The Great American Detox Diet. The description of white bread as paste is especially illustrative.

"Do you remember making papier-mâché projects in arts and crafts class? The usual tools were strips of newspaper and a bowl of paste. That paste was made of a simple, cheap combination of ingredients: just standard white flour and water. It was sticky, it was gooey, and it worked like glue that hardened in no time. Now think about the last time you ate a piece of white bread or other refined-flour product. The flour in that white bread, once it was moistened with your saliva, became like that pasty glue, and this is what was sent into your digestive system: a gummy, nutrient-poor glob of starch. This is what your digestive system looked forward to processing. It's not tough to imagine how little nutrition was drawn from this ball of sticky matter, or how difficult it was for your body to finally eliminate it.

"What's been 'refined' out of these processed carbohydrates are all the beneficial nutrients that nature originally put into them. The bran, the fiber, and most of the vitamins and minerals have been stripped away, leaving a bland, white, longer-lasting and shelf-stable product. White flour has only 20 percent of the vitamins and minerals and 25 percent of the fiber of the original wheat kernel. That's why a lot of bread products are 'enriched' with vitamins and minerals—they don't contain enough to mention otherwise. Whole wheat flour still contains the hull, germ, and bran of the grain and offers more fiber and nutrients. I look forward to the day when fast-food restaurants offer whole grain buns and fiber-rich side dishes to their customers, instead of the empty carbs that they now push on us so aggressively."

Comments

[binshape]

This is an excellent article. Thanks so much for sharing. I never looked at white bread this way!

[Ryan Healy]

You're welcome! I'm glad you found it as helpful as I did.

[Zenjim (S.J.CA)]

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[James T Pereira]

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[How to detox your body naturally]

Everything seems to be refined these days it is people like you who help us define what is good for us, thank you for the article and the great healthy tips.