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Why is baked bread bad

erinerin Raw Superstar

Hello, I’m not 100% raw, but I never eat baked bread anymore because I have read that it is bad for you. I know that the gluten in bread can cause gas and bloating and that the yeast can contribute to yeast overgrowth in your body, and of course it is cooked causing a lack in enzymes, but I am unable to find a detailed explanation of why bread is bad. These are just conclusions that I have put together from little tid bits that I have read and heard and am not sure if these are even correct. So if anyone is knowledgeable in this, could you please share with me? Thank you!

Comments

  • AKAAuburnEyesAKAAuburnEyes Raw Newbie

    Try the book “Grain Damage” by Dr. Douglas Graham. Lots of information on why grains (and their products) are not healthful.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Aside from reasons related to harmful candida overgrowth in the body, you mentioned, read below:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1949413.stm

    Excerpt from the website above:

    Staple foods including bread, chips and crisps, may contain high levels of a substance believed to cause cancer, a study suggests.

    Tests showed they all contain high quantities of acrylamide, a chemical which is classified as a probable human carcinogen.

    Researchers in Sweden found acrylamide was formed when carbohydrate-rich foods such as potatoes, rice or cereals are heated.

    Such foods could pose a potential health risk to millions of people around the world.

    I have been in this field for 30 years and I have never seen anything like this before

    Leif Busk, food safety adviser The research was deemed so important that scientists took the unusual step of going public with their findings before the details had been officially published in an academic journal.

  • I never understood why raw foodists eat raw grains. They still have bad qualities, cooked or raw.

  • I haven’t done any research on grains, but know that I don’t feel great when I eat them. I haven’t even attempted to sprout them because of experience of cooked grains. For those of you who do sprout them, can you share your experience?

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Erin – was you question about the harmfulness of cooked or raw grains?

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    From what I understand, human beings haven’t been cultivating grains that long, maybe 10,000 years, as opposed to 50,000 years for some other foods (certain veggies?). Birds are supposedly the only natural grain eaters. So we have problems digesting grains. However, I have been told farro, aka emmer, is 100% digestible, since it’s the most (or one of the most) ancient of grains (funny, though, I have never heard of raw foodists eating/sprouting farro).

    Anyway, stored grains like wheat, oats, rye and barley are stored grains. They do not rot in storage, but they do ferment. This can contribute to negative health consequences (Candida? Diabetes?). Consuming grains in the form of flour is supposedly even worse for your than consuming them sprouted. The non-stored grains include amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, spelt and wild rice (not technically a grain, and not raw, either).

    I got a lot of this info from Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine.

    Hope this helps! :)

  • I feel great eating sprouted grains. They contain a lot of vitamin B, and I noticed how good it is for the hair and skin! Cooked grains are totally different, I feel them in my stomach for much longer.

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    Flybaby: Yes, I think sprouted is the way to go for grains.

    I still do some cooked grains like Nature’s Path manna bread (cooked, but sprouted) and quinoa (cooked with a double boiler using the absorption method) in order to maintain my weight. I try to not worry about any fermentation issues (w/wheat berries in manna bread) or digestibility issues (for grains in general). The guilt and worry is worse than any potential health consequences! :)

  • Thanks, achin70. I have a much better understanding now about what happens with grains.

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    Erin: After attending a Victoria Boutenko lecture, I learned about Advanced Glycoxidation End Products (AGES).

    Here is a link with more info, and I’ve copied and pasted an excerpt below:

    http://www.drmirkin.com/nutrition/1220.html

    Acrylamide belongs to a class of chemicals that form advanced glycation end products, also known by their first letters as AGEs. They are a group of molecules that are formed when sugar attaches on protein when starchy foods such as potatoes and grains are cooked in the absence of water at very high temperatures. They do not form when food is cooked in water, and the higher the cooking temperature, the more acrylamide is formed.

    So I guess pizza, mac & cheese, potato chips and french fries are some of worst culprits here. Baked bread I suppose is somewhere in there, it might a little lower in AGES.

  • queenfluffqueenfluff Raw Newbie

    I am not 100% about my info here but my bf explained baked bread like this. The reason it is bad for you isn’t really the grains but the temp used that turns the outside brown (the crust). Any baked food item that is baked enough to turns crust brown. Apparently the crust part is really what is bad for you (the rest isn’t great either but the crust is very bad). When it is baked at the high temp that bread is the brown crust part forms a toxic chemical. I can’t remember all the details on the chemical but the chemical isn’t there before the bread is baked.

    It maybe be the same chemical that Winona and achin70 are talking about. This is why if my bf ever has any baked bread, he leaves the crust. (unfortunately I don’t do the small thing!)

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    queenfluff: Yes, I think you’re absolutely right! That caramelized crust, which is what makes baked goods taste so good, contains the acrylamide. :)

  • Is that the same reason then that they say grilled food is so bad for you? Because of the carmelization on the outside that contains carcinogens?

  • You are totally right achin70 the worry is wose than the occasional cooked grains! Anyway I ate manna bread once and it was so delish, kinda sweet and I think better than the other breads, because the sprouting adds some nutritional value.

  • my husband and i are having sprouted grains for breakfast every morning. i really like their chewiness. once sprouted they are very nutritious.

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    Just to clarify, one of my previous posts wasn’t worded very accurately. I guess there are a lot good things about sprouted grains. Also, as the grain sprouts, it becomes less acidic, and it transforms gradually from a grain to more of a vegetable.

    dreaminraw: That’s a good point about grilled food. It’s been ages since I’ve eaten anything grilled, so I don’t know much about this. If you’re grilling veggies, or any food with carbs, I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended with acrylamides or advanced glycation end products. Maybe it also depends on whether you close the lid on the grill, which will raise the temperature.

    If you’re grilling meat, since it’s low carb, you might end up with different kinds of carcinogens. :)

  • Mon46..I’ve been eating atleast 2 kinds of sprouts (usually fenugreek & Wheat) everyday regularly for last year or so and I always felt they are the most nutritious of all the foods I eat. They keep me away from non-raw food and gives me more energy than fruits/veg and keep me going for longer than on fruits/veg. I’ve started using sesame sprouts also and planning to give a second try to millet sprouts (I tried once in the past and didn’t like it). I’ve also gained some strength in the last year (earlier I was VERY weak).

  • tggoesraw, I thought fenugreek was an herb. Can you clarify? I also remember reading it has healing properties. I’m a little more leery of wheat, only because I felt so much better after I eliminated it from my diet. Granted, I cut out baked wheat products, so I might respond differently to sprouted wheat.

  • Mon46, yes fenugreek is a herb. Sorry, I was trying to be more generic about sprouts.

    Sprouted Wheat tastes lightly sweeter and I simply can’t live without it. Actually I used to make something like porridge by blending with banana/raisins (check my recipes), but lately I’ve been eating whole sprouts and liking them. And trust me on this, I feel whole lot different (in good way) by eating them whole than blending.

    Try sprouted wheat once to see if you can tolerate. You can also try buckwheat, Millet.

  • i can usually tolerate sprouted quinoa very well, and use sprouted buckwheat often in dehydrated pizza crusts and the like. i’m gluten intolerant though, so i haven’t tried anything else.

  • locustgirllocustgirl Raw Newbie

    in my opinion, all bread is bad for you. if you prepare it properly; soaking the whole grains/flour and using sourdough starter it can be quite nutritious. from what i understand, a lot of people in our culture (europeans mostly) don’t digest grains very well. asians, however, are great digesters of grains. part of adapting to centuries of eating it.

  • lotusgirl and what about Hungarians, our ancestors used to live in the other side of the Ural mountain, which belongs to east asia?

  • achin70achin70 Raw Newbie

    I have another clarification. This is what I get for trying to recall info from memory.

    So acrylamides applies to high carb foods, and this fits under the umbrella of Advanced Glycoxidation End Products. Advanced Glycoxidation End Products are produced from cooked foods in general, even though raw foods still have a very small amount. The amount of AGES produced depends on cooking time, temp and method of cooking. Here’s a sampling from Victoria Boutenko’s book “12 Steps to Raw Foods”, with serving sizes and AGE per serving (in kU):

    raw apple, 100g, 13; apple, baked, 100g, 45; beef frankfurter, 90g, broiled 5 min, 10,243; pasta, 100g, cooked 8 min, 112; pasta, 110g, cooked 12 min, 245; mac & cheese, baked, 100g, 4,070; thin crust pizza, 100g, 6,825; toasted cheese sandwich, 100g, 4,333, Lay’s Potato Chips, 30g, 865.

    So grilled meat will have AGES, as well as other carcinogens. Probably not a lot of acrylamides, though. :)

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