The Flour Formerly Known as Wheat

Fit in a Year - Week 17

By: Ann-Marie Giglio
Co-Publisher, On the Gay Horizon

Reprieve-- no math this week. Well, a little--just a look at proportions. 

Since we're reading the ingredient list looking for trans-fats, let's stay there this week.  Notice the list of ingredients on anything you intend to put into your body.  Ingredients are listed here in order of quantity, and the order is descending.  So the first thing on the list is the largest quantity of the ingredients.  That may mean the little cracker you want to eat with your cheese is made mostly of sugar or white flour. 

Speaking of flour, if it says "wheat flour" that is not the same as "whole wheat flour."  The simple "wheat flour"--which companies are eager to promote--is actually white, refined, nutrition-deficient powder that's at the root of many illnesses.  It should say "formerly wheat flour."  It delivers calories, but not much else. 

So what you want to look for is "whole wheat" or some other whole grain ingredient.  This single word--whole--is what provides the actual nutrition.  It means you're eating the husk and all the micronutrients that the plant worked so hard to create.  If it's not "whole" wheat, it's wheat's ghost, which like any poltergeist, looks like something but is actually nothing.  And another one of the things you're missing with ghost wheat is fiber.  We'll talk more about that in the coming weeks. 

Next week:  percentages!