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Looking For Healthy Whole Grain Breads?

 Making your own homemade bread gives you total control over the ingredients, but not everyone likes to bake, or has the time. Finding a good, reliable source of healthy whole grain bread is one way to get more easy healthy food in your diet.

Whole Grain Foods Aren’t The Whole Picture

Not only does it make a difference what kind of grains are in the bread, but the complete recipe needs to be full of natural food ingredients.

For instance, did you realize that bread adds more sodium to the average American’s diet than any other single food? That’s because Americans eat more bread on a whole than other foods, even though there are many other foods with higher levels of salt. Since that’s the case, it makes it important to look for breads with lower sodium content.

More Toxic Substances To Avoid

High sodium content isn’t the only pitfall to finding a good healthy whole grain bread. Like so many other foods in the grocery store, many breads are made with HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). This substance is thought to put people at risk for Metabolic Syndrome, “a cluster of conditions that increases your risk for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.”

A Bread That Contains Natural Food Ingredients

There may be other brands out there with low levels of salt, but I know this brand contains natural food ingredients, is lower in sodium than most breads, and does NOT have HFCS. What brand is that?

Pepperidge Farm. Their 100% Natural breads have 100% whole grain, and they’re making it a point to reduce the sodium in these breads. Their breads also do NOT contain HFCS.

A Close Up Look At A Good Health Food

As you can see from this table, these breads have fairly low sodium content.

PER SLICE 100 % Whole Wheat 15 Grain German Dark Wheat Whole Grain Oatmeal Honey Flax
  W-Grain W-Grain Natural W-Grain Natual
Calories 100 100 100 100 100
Total Fat 1.5g 2g 1.5g 1.5g 2g
Sat. Fat 0.5g 0.5g 0g 0g 0g
Trans Fat 0g 0g 0g 0g 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0g 0mg 0mg 0g
Sodium 105mg 115mg 150mg 110mg 120mg
Total Carb.  20g 20g 20g 20g 19g
Dietary Fiber  4g 4g 3g 4g 3g
Sugars  3g 3g 3g 3g 4g
Protein 5g 5g 4g 4g 5g

 (Please note that ingredients change from time to time, and the above amounts may not be exactly what’s in the bread you buy.)

Surprisingly, although Pepperidge Farm is making lower sodium a point in their advertising for the 100% Natural line, the Whole Grain line often has less sodium than the Natural Breads.

Other Breads In Comparison

Here are a few well-known brands to show a comparison of the sodium levels.

PER SLICE Earth Grains Honey Whole Grain Bread Nature’s Own Honey Wheat Light Nature’s Own 100% Whole Wheat Stroehmann Bread Nature’s Pride Stone Ground Whole Wheat
Calories 110 40 70 65 110
Total Fat 1.5g .5gm 1.5g 1.5g 2g
Sodium 160mg 80mg 150mg 125mg 180mg

Some look good, but the trouble is you’re not getting the whole package of healthy food.  Most are not really 100% whole grain, and on top of that, they include ingredients like high fructose corn syrup.

As always, check your labels to know exactly what’s in there!

It’s An Easy Healthy Food

You can’t get much easier than switching brands of bread to make an easy health food change to your diet.  So next time you’re buying bread, just look for either the 100% Natural Breads or the Whole Grain Breads from Pepperidge Farms.

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