The Bread Business Blog

1. Our whole grain flour is simple.

To get whole grain flour, we put wheat kernels in the mill and fresh whole grain flour comes out. Our wheat kernels are not milled in mass quantities. Unlike commercial milling, each kernel does not have its parts separated and its germ toasted for longer shelf life to be recombined in the same relative proportions.  Our flour is exactly how it exists in the intact whole grain. What goes in the mill is precisely what comes out.

There are many diets out there—each of them claiming to have finally found the hidden root of obesity, discomfort, and disease.

With each diet requiring restrictions and or omissions of specific foods and or certain food groups, it is quite impossible that they all can be truthful or else the key to living healthfully would be well—not eating.

So how do you go about deciphering between a healthy and a dangerous diet?

You most likely have heard about the glycemic index, but may be wondering what it means or how to use it to improve your own health.

The glycemic index (GI) is a number describing a specific food’s ability to raise blood sugars for every 50 grams of carbohydrate consumed in relation to ingestion of 50 grams of straight glucose. It may seem like the glycemic index would be a simple tool to aid in blood sugar control, but interpreting a GI is a lot more complex than just shooting for a low score, like in a game of golf. There are many other factors that affect your blood sugar response.

First and foremost, it is important to note that the glycemic index is based off of 50 grams of carbohydrate from a specific food — not 50 grams of that food itself.

For example, if you have heard that whole grain bread has a higher glycemic index than a candy bar—it is often overlooked that it takes about 4 oz of whole grain bread (two of our big half inch slice breads) to get 50 grams of carbohydrate whereas it only takes a 2.5 oz Mars candy bar to get those 50 grams. Clearly, it takes a lot more bread to elicit a blood sugar response that is higher than the candy bar. The actual portion size makes a huge difference on the effect a food has on blood sugar. A high glycemic index food can still be healthy if eaten as a normal or smaller portion size.

It is now May and my thoughts are shifting towards starting my first raised bed vegetable garden.

Unfortunately, many of us have been affected by cancer.

Whether you have valiantly battled this terrible disease yourself or have sat by the side of a loved one in support, we all should recognize this month as National Cancer Control Month. It is a great time to take a step back and look at your life and your loved ones’ lives and see what you can do together to reduce the risks of this disease.

Although, there is no silver bullet, you can arm yourself with weapons and a shield to reduce your risk of cancer.

First, what we need to look at is the contributing factors linked to an increased incidence of cancer. Risk factors fall into two categories:  Non-Controllable & Controllable.

Non-controllable factors are those areas that put you at risk for disease and cannot be altered. This includes such risk factors as:

Growing up in Chicago, I remember that this was the time of the year the lingering grey of the Midwest winter would start to fade and we would experience a touch of relief from the cold winter as the sun would start to make a sporadic and brief appearance. This always signaled to me that spring, and more importantly, spring break travels were coming!

Just this past Saturday I ran a half marathon with some friends in Bozeman, MT. It was a blast and thankfully a beautiful day! I properly fueled prior to my event and consumed a gel midway through the race to help power me to the finish, but as I gathered with my friends at the end of the race and started to feel my stomach grumble I started contemplating what exactly I wanted to eat to celebrate our accomplishments.

 

After you’ve finished your race, what and when you eat is not necessarily a ‘big deal’ unless you used that race as a training tool for the ‘big one’ you are ultimately preparing for, or if you’re planning on a good workout within the next 24 hours. This is because your post race meal can have a huge impact on energy stores for tomorrow’s workout, rehydration, and muscle repair, which will all have a direct affect on how well you perform the next day. The better you can consistently train, the more prepared you will be for your next event.

This week I’m expanding on my last post about the basics of  how to eat for improved athletic performance.

Vitamins and minerals play a very important role for everyday life and the importance of proper intake increases for athletes as they strain their bodies requiring muscle use, repair and growth; signaling their bodies to build bone; stressing their immune system; increasing a demand for oxygen; and overall requesting more of the body’s systems.

Although vitamins and minerals do not provide energy themselves, they do facilitate energy yielding chemical reactions in your body. They act as coenzymes – or little activators - in your body to speed up and enable processes within the body related to not only energy production, but also immune function, bone health, tissue repair, collagen growth, muscle control and hemoglobin (what carries oxygen in your blood) synthesis. If they are absent from your diet, deficiency can develop and they no longer are available to act as coenzymes that jumpstart reactions and, as a result, processes do not work properly.

Guest post by Hans Wendt, owner of the Great Harvest Bread Co. in Bellingham, WA. Hans has operated the Bellingham store for 15 years and worked for the our bakery franchise office for many years before taking the leap to business ownership himself. He has a passion for health, bread, business and whole grains.

February 1st is a great day to recommit to your New Years Resolutions. If you have a weight loss goal and need some inspiration, you'll enjoy Hans' story!


This is not an article by an expert dietician, nutritionist, or doctor. I’m just a person who needed to lose some weight to stay healthy. I avoided any special or popular diets, simply focusing on eating high quality “nutrient dense” foods. I enjoyed all components of food: proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. However, I was a stickler about eating the highest quality foods possible. So, for what it’s worth, here is what I did:

METHOD: I ate less calories than I burned

With my very physical job as a bakery owner/operator, I guessed I burned 2500+ calories per day. I determined to eat 2000 calories/day. Generally, I counted calories by 25’s. Approximating, but if in doubt, round up: