Where I live, in Harpenden, there's a small pond. I routinely feed the ducks there on seeds picked out from organic muesli. It amuses me when I watch these feathered friends of mine eat the seeds. Sometimes, they leave pieces of white bread behind that had been thrown to them from someone else. Do they realize that white bread has practically no nutrition value to them whatsoever? Of course they don't, but it looks that way when they leave the bread untouched! On the subject of white bread. Like the ducks, white bread has next to nothing nutrition value for humans. For thousands of year's wheat cultivation and bread had sustained generation upon generation. However, in more recent years its nutrition value and antigenicity (ability to stimulate antibodies for immune system defence) has gone right downhill. These days, factory mass-produced bread with its refining processes, chemical additives and preservatives to extend the shelf-life for shipping distances and bigger profits, has not only had its nutrition value devastated, but also poses as a health threat.
For example, white bread contains gluten (the Greek for glue!). When too much soft and gooey white bread hits your intestines it disrupts the absorption and breakdown of nutrients to the extent that you really gain little if anything from eating other healthier foods. This could later on lead to constipation or Celiac disease, the body's inability to handle gluten (USA Today November 1, 2006). Not many people realize they have this. White bread is made whiter and brighter by chemical bleaching. Chlorinated hydrocarbons and dioxins are the by products of this process (yum). -All part of the toxic assault on the body's immune system through factory processed foods. The definite healthy option would be to eliminate gluten and most grains from your diet. This healthier option would bring so many benefits, serving a preventative measure to a multiple of possible ailments such as heart disease, various types of cancer, diabetes and allergy prevention...
It is very important to remember that good nutrition, no matter where it is focused on as a therapeutic action and what the food sources are, it always has the ability to produce a synergistic effect on health and well being. So eat lots of good natural, organic wholesome food and, if you don't already, see the difference it can make for you over such a short period of time as a healer and contributor towards health and vitality!
