If for some reason you don’t want to use baker’s yeast or want that nice sourdough flavor, you can make real digestible sourdough bread too.

I humbly submit my own recipe for sourdough: http://www.ehow.com/how_5018402_make-bread-really-trying-kneading.html

The biggest mistake we make in bread making is making it too complicated and then becoming intimidated. Humans have done this daily for thousands of years! It is and should be EASY.

Give it a try, its the only way to learn.

EasyReader

I reply to your mail, because I asked similar questions a while ago. I used to eat brown rice and wholemeal bread even though I instinctively felt that it wasn’t right. Then I did quite a bit of research and now I happily eat white rice and white bread (sourdough of course). I included my comments interspersed in your mail.

E: I would love to believe this, but it seems to be an opinion of the minority.

B: If you really want to believe something that is unconventional then I advice you stop believing that the validity of an argument is determined by the number of people who promote it. Once upon a time, most people believed that the earth was flat and not moving…

E: Many people who read articles on the internet (like this) think because it contains some quasi-scientific terms this person is talking pure fact. Anyone who has been to school (even at just secondary level) and been brifely introduced to referencing would have noticed this article lacks any form of it. Referencing is a key feature in acknowledging the sources of where the facts came from, and without references, there is no way to be sure that what is being relayed isn’t just someone’s OPINION, which is what I think is happening here. The infomation is also very anecdotal, as it has origins within the author’s family history, which also adds greatly to the prejudice of the writing.

B: I agree that Clive’s (Incognito’s) article is ‘limited’ in that it lacks references. Nevertheless, it (with its “quasi-scientific terms”) does an excellent job to get people THINK and prompt them to do further research if they are the type of people who need scientific data to be convinced. I’m one of those people, and I spent number of hours searching scientific databases to find articles on the issue of white vs. wholemeal bread. Search and you will find! (Even if it is only the opinion of the minority). If you prefer scientific writing style, then I can recommend a relatively old book (1956) to you by R.A. McCance and E.M. Widdowson titled “Breads white and brown: their place in thought and social history. From the cover: “ The book is controversial, is most interestingly written and is particularly well referenced and indexed. The authors themselves avoid prejudice and present the facts impartially.” The book has 720 references by the way, and the authors also report their own experiment on the nutritional value of white vs. wholemeal bread. The book is not published anymore so you can only buy it second hand form an antique book store. Clive, I can recommend this book to you as well if you ever feel the need to flesh your book up with references (not that I think it is necessary). The authors also published a short version of their book as an article (see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13243690) which you can download if you have access to relevant databases.

E: Furthermore, if this were true, why would many highly qualified and experienced DOCTORS, nutritions and dieticians be agreeably advising us that the best possible diet should contain wholegrains and wholemeals?

B: To answer this question let me quote from the above mentioned article:
“It is of course quite possible that little attention will be paid to these experiments of ours until we are all dead and buried…The herd instinct ‘gives widely held believes a spurious validity irrespective of whether or not they are founded on real evidence’ (Beveridge, 1950). Anything which threatens to make an adult chance his beliefs, particularly if he expressed them openly, is disturbing for him and …[he] will react to these results by attacking the evidence as best as they can or by neglecting it, so escape from its disturbing effects.”

E: This is the first I have ever heard that wholemeals are anything but complementary to our health, and it doesn’t suprise me that it has appeared in some opinionated, unreferenced article on the web. For me (or anyone) to even consider what is being written here as even resembling some sort of truth, the author should have at least acknowledged her educated background (which I, very biasedly of course, take to be extremely limited in this area, but I will be quick to apologise profusely if I am wrong!). If you do not have the relevant qualifications or fact-based knowledge, you should not be allowed to be making such misleading statements.

B: I think you give too much credit to the so called ‘experts’ or doctors. I recommend you read a book by R.S. Mendelson titled “Confessions of a medical heretic”. Sorry for referring you to books instead of summarizing their argument but I’ve recently started to limit my time spent in front of my computer.

E: Yes, a lot of it sounds true, and I do not hesitiate to believe that the light shed on the reduced time in the fermenting process is partly to blame for everybody jumping on the coeliac bandwagon. However, as there is (not as yet) any hard and fast evidence AGAINST wholegrains (as this is definietly NOT hard and fast) this article cannot automatically be taken for fact.

B: Search and you will find!

E: People come on the internet for quick-fix solutions, and articles like this seem very believable and may very well cause someone to come to their own diagnosis. Before cutting out any essentail foodgroup (especially if considering switching wholegrains and brown, unprocessed wheat for WHITE!) one should consult a doctor or nutritionist. Such important advice should not come from someone with a screen name of “incognito”, who appears to be SELLING recipies or something similar.

B: I agree that some information on the internet can be detrimental to people, but I believe that Clive’s (Incognito’s) article is not one of them. As for the screen name “incognito” – I agree, it kind of gives off some negative vibes. It implies that the author is concealing his identity and not taking responsibility for what he says. It is a bit like me using the letter ‘b’ instead of Bettina :0)

“What is your take on whole grains, properly soaked, being consumed by diabetics? I am trying to control mine with my diet, without any insulin or meds, but am constantly confused by conflicting opinions as to whether the grains/beans are beneficial for me.”

Naomi, I had gestational diabetes some time ago. At that time, I found that split pea soup was something that did not raise my blood sugar level too high (YAY! something I could eat until I was full). However, my blood sugar level did not go down as fast as it usually did after eating other food, so it seems it was digested slowly. My instructions were that 2 hours after a meal, my blood sugar had to be below 7.0, and blood sugar level upon rising in the morning had to be low (mine was generally around 5.1 to 5.3 on rising, which was ok). Split pea soup obeyed the instructions. At the time, I did not know about the long fermentation times necessary for cooking such things, so I probably did not soak long enough or cook slow enough. I mentioned my experience to the person responsible for telling me what food I could eat (forgotten her proper title—food nutritionist, maybe), and she was not surprised about the blood sugar level taking a long time to go down (although I repeat, it was not “too high” in the first place, just in the higher end of the normal range) and did not say anything was wrong with eating the soup. Hope this helps.

Yvonne

Furthermore, if this were true, why would many highly qualified and experienced DOCTORS, nutritions and dieticians be agreeably advising us that the best possible diet should contain wholegrains and wholemeals? This is the first I have ever heard that wholemeals are anything but complementary to our health, and it doesn’t suprise me that it has appeared in some opinionated, unreferenced article on the web. For me (or anyone) to even consider what is being written here as even resembling some sort of truth, the author should have at least acknowledged her educated background (which I, very biasedly of course, take to be extremely limited in this area, but I will be quick to apologise profusely if I am wrong!). If you do not have the relevant qualifications or fact-based knowledge, you should not be allowed to be making such misleading statements.

Yes, a lot of it sounds true, and I do not hesitiate to believe that the light shed on the reduced time in the fermenting process is partly to blame for everybody jumping on the coeliac bandwagon. However, as there is (not as yet) any hard and fast evidence AGAINST wholegrains (as this is definietly NOT hard and fast) this article cannot automatically be taken for fact.

People come on the internet for quick-fix solutions, and articles like this seem very believable and may very well cause someone to come to their own diagnosis. Before cutting out any essentail foodgroup (especially if considering switching wholegrains and brown, unprocessed wheat for WHITE!) one should consult a doctor or nutritionist. Such important advice should not come from someone with a screen name of “incognito”, who appears to be SELLING recipies or something similar.