Bread – What’s in a healthy loaf?

The wheat is ripe and ready to harvest! For thousands of years, ‘Bread’ meant ‘life’. So why does this staple food cause digestive issues for so many?

Much of our bread has lost its nutritional value with a focus on quantity rather than quality meaning a highly processed loaf with quite a few unrecognisable ingredients on the label; often the most nutritious parts removed at milling & extras added to preserve shelf life (see diagram ➡️ )

Enter REAL bread: nutrient-rich & made by traditional micro-bakers (rather than supermarkets) or, by you! Just wholegrain flour, naturally fermented, and water….our humble Sourdough!

The naturally occurring yeasts in sourdough ferment the starches in the flour slowly, developing a superb taste and producing products of fermentation (=post biotics) which are hugely beneficial for our health, like anti-inflammatory butyrate, vital for healthy cells lining our gut.

So…. what should you look for in a loaf?

🌱 A short list of ingredients – just flour (a wholegrain type), salt and water

🌱 Ingredients that you recognise the name of!

🌱 Try to buy Sourdough from your local baker, especially one that displays the The Real Bread Campaign logo then you know it’s genuine, unprocessed, traditionally made,  and good for us!

Check out the real bread campaign to find out more!

What else has been happening?

I’ve been connecting with fabulous new (nature-friendly) food producers and health professionals recognising the true value of nature and REAL food from healthy soils. Take a look at the link ➡️ to my LIVE with Dr Sally Bell – sharing her expert knowledge on reconnecting with nature, farming and REAl, unprocessed food as a fundamental approach to our health.

Like Sally, we appreciate the value of dairy as part of a healthy, plant-based diet and have enjoyed connecting with more dairy farms this month such as the fabulous Nettlebed Creamery near Henley where Rose’s grandfather founded their dairy in 1950.  Good food, beautiful countryside and respect for people underpin everything they do.