In this post, I want to talk about the benefits of fresh-milled flour and my journey getting there. I liked bread, but I didn’t think bread was good for me. Was I wrong?
About 6 years ago, I adopted the keto diet/lifestyle. It was more of a low-carb diet than strict keto, but I did the best I could to try to eat primarily proteins and fats with very few carbs, including fruits and milk. I had stacks of cookbooks and became very creative in the meals that I could make for my family, and I was able to make snacks and desserts with sugar substitutes and almond flour. I started this diet to lose weight, and I was able to lose about 30 lbs. However, as the years went on, I began to gain about 10 pounds back and wasn’t noticing much of a benefit. As I started my journey into functional medicine to optimize my health, I realized that the diet initially may have helped me lose weight, but it wasn’t helping me in my overall health. The low-carb snack foods that I was purchasing were not only costly, but also loaded with
artificial ingredients and substitute sugars. I was missing out on many fruits and whole grains. I started to take more of a whole foods approach and tried to limit my processed foods, but was still very hesitant to add in breads after years of avoiding it. I knew that this new diet of eating whole, natural foods and avoiding processed foods was better, yet I was still missing the complex carbohydrates.
Then, I was introduced to fresh-milled flour. After years of eating the keto lifestyle, I began to believe that bread was just empty calories and processed food that should be avoided. I learned that the bread we buy in the stores or the flour we use to make bread at home is void of nutrients, but that real, whole, fresh-milled flour is chock-full of nourishing B vitamins, fiber, protein, and essential fatty acids. I was intrigued! I bought a grain mill and wheat berries and started milling my own flour and making bread. It was not only delicious, but nutrient-rich! I learned that real whole milled flour spoils very quickly, which is why in the early 1900’s, steel rolling mills were used to sift the bran and germ part away from the endosperm (the white flour part) of the wheat berry. By sifting away the bran and germ, it wouldn’t spoil, but the most
nutritious parts of the wheat were removed – the bran, germ, vitamins, minerals, and fiber! I never knew about the benefits of fresh-milled flour and how nutritious it was!
What are the benefits of fresh-milled flour? I started learning from Sue Becker of Bread Beckers, Inc. She is a wealth of information as she was formally trained in food science, but has been milling her own flour for over 30 years and has seen so many health benefits for her and her family. She is also a Christian and teaches that God made the seeds for us to eat! Bread is good and perfectly designed with vital nutrients. God didn’t mess up when He made the grains….we messed up how we’ve processed them! She shares in her book, “The Essential Home-Ground Flour Book,” that whole grains contain nearly 90% of all the vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fats our bodies need. Wheat alone has 40 of the 44 nutrients considered essential to sustain human life! That’s incredible! These B vitamins are so important for our methylation (a biochemical process critical for our body functions). I am thrilled to be able to eat bread again and know that I am feeding my body with the nutrients I lacked for so many years! The bread is delicious, and I enjoy baking foods with real, organic ingredients!
Photo by Jude Infantini on Unsplash