Stop Hating on the Staff of Life

Soapbox warning!

My fellow blogamericans,

Please, for the love of God, please stop eating "health food."

Stop shunning traditional flavors in favor of out of season, out of locality, wildly unsustainable "superfoods."
Stop counting calories.
Stop hating carbohydrates.
Stop following fad diets.
Stop denying yourself.
Stop saying no to foods history has proven to be good for you.

And above all, stop hating on the Staff of Life.

That's right. This whole new attack on bread is ridiculous. It started in the early 2000's with the anti-carb craze and now we're terrified of wheat, whey and gluten. As a nation we have become afraid of grain. Yes, some people are highly intolerant to whey and gluten. No, you are probably not. You are probably just eating too much bad bread and for that matter, bad food.

Here's the skinny folks: the only thing that hurts your stomach, the only thing that makes your skin bad, the only thing that makes you fat, and the ONLY thing you should be AFRAID of is the astronomical amount of  PROCESSED FOOD we are all ingesting as a country.

Here's a description of the effects of good hearth baked bread from "The Bread Builders" by Daniel Wing and Allen Scott.

"Nutritionally this bread will excercise your digestive system from your teeth and tongue to your colon.

The yeast and bacteria from the sour leaven will provide B vitamins and biotin...If the bread contains whole grain flour, the soluble and insoluble fiber in the bran will help control the absorption of fats and cholestorol, and will reduce the rate at which sugars are absorbed after a meal. Bran will retain water in the gut and stimulate the bowel, increasing transit speed and reducing the gut walls exposure to toxins, some of which will be detoxified by antioxidants from the bran and germ. Natural fermentation pre-digests bran so that its minerals and vitamins are more available for absorption, despite the increased bowel transit rate."

Now, how in the world could that be "unhealthy?"  Sounds pretty damn healthy to me.

(Disclaimer, as an academic I implore you not to believe everything you read, not even me or any book I quote from. But if you can, try a slice of hearth bread and see if you feel a difference, ok?)

The bottom line is, people, that life is short. Eat what you want but keep everything in moderation. I could die tomorrow and I don't intend my last meal to taste like cardboard because Dr. Oz said it would help me lose weight. I'm gonna eat some meat, cheese, and bread like a boss.

And, no, eating whatever you want is not just for skinny bitches who got lucky with good metabolisms.

Its simple lifestyle:

Grow, pick, catch, cook, bake your own meals with good, local, in season ingredients. And if you can't do that figure out where you can buy from people that do.

Make time to work out any way you can. Walk, run, bike, play tennis, climb Mount Everest, whatever as long as you're active.

Stop listening to stupid people on TV. Start listening to yourself.

Make time to enjoy your life and your food. Its important, I promise you.

And

Stop hating on good foods, especially bread: it's the staff of life for a reason.

Just sayin,

Cheers

-M