How to Choose the Best Whole Grain Bread
By Sara Butler
To say the bread aisle has a lot of choices would be an understatement. An entire aisle of neatly wrapped bread just begging for you to pick it up -- but which one is right for you? To find the right loaf for you, you must understand a few important things. Here’s what you should know to make the best bread choice.
Understand the Kernel
A basic grasp of the kernel is your first step to understanding what kind of bread is best for you. The wheat kernel is the whole grain. Whole grains contain all three portions of the kernel, which are:
- Endosperm - This is the inner part of the train. It contains the carbohydrates and protein, as well as some minerals and vitamins, that are important. This is the part of the kernel left when flour is refined.
- Germ - This is the portion of the plant that shoots to create a new plant. It has trace minerals, protein, and Vitamin B. This part is taken out when wheat flour is made into white flour.
- Bran - This is the outer layer of the whole grain. It has fiber, minerals, and Vitamin B but is lost in the process that turns flour into white flour.
What About 100 Percent?
Food companies are required by law to list ingredients on a package in the order by weight in the food. That translates to an ingredient first on the list being what is most prevalent in it.
That means that in 100 percent whole wheat bread, whole wheat flour shojuld be the first ingredient (as well as the only flour) listed. Anything else means you’re getting refined flour.
Claims of Whole Grains
You see whole grains on a lot of foods these days, but a food claiming to be whole grain may not be the same as something made with whole wheat. If a food is truly whole grain, then it should have:
- Over half of its ingredients are whole grain
- All three parts of the kernel
- It has less than three grams of fat, 20 milligrams of cholesterol, and 1 gram of saturated fat per serving
Peek at the ingredients list of your bread. If it truly is whole grain, whole grain should be one of the first ingredients.
There’s a lot to decipher when it comes to whole grains, but these tips will help you get on the right track with healthy bread choices!
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