Cabivore

When reaching for a good bread or cereal, I find myself stupidly glancing at the first ingredient, also the most abundant ingredient in a product, wondering what the difference from one to the next is. Enriched,refined,whole grain, whole wheat...they all sound so nice, but which one is the best? With the assistance of my growing nutrition education, I'm going to help break it down for you.
 (Further bettering my understanding as well)

Enriched flour/grain- Enriched foods are foods that lost nutritional value while being processed, but have nutrients added  back to them before being sold to you, such as iron,niacin,foliate...cool stuff like that.
Refined grain/flour- Basically the removal of all the big, mostly nutritional parts, and leaving the smaller, somewhat nutritional parts, by modification through mixing and bleaching. Not entirely the whole package deal.
Unbleached flour- Refined, "toyed with", but not bleached. It is as important in nutritional value as white flour (which is near to nothing)
Wheat flour- the most popular of flour, is ANY type of flour from wheat, including white,wheat,and whole wheat.
White flour- The worst flour, yet all purpose flour, is also the best flour for baking, but has been stripped and bleached, talk about identity crisis! We all know the nutritional value of a cupcake, so needless to say, try to avoid as much as humanly possible.
Whole grain flour- WHOLE GRAIN FOODS PROVIDE THE MOST NUTRIENTS AND FIBER THAN ENRICHED FOODS. Whole grains are in their simplest form, the best kind of grain form.
Whole wheat flour- Not refined, made from whole wheat.
Brown bread- A sneaky devil, has the possibility of being made with whole-grain flour, but most brown breads consist of white flour colored brown.

*Tip:  Be selective in your cereals and breads by choosing those with the least amount of sugar, and higher nutritional perks, BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, select those that are made with whole grains (oats,wheat,rye, etc.) The word WHOLE(nothing is lost in the process of preparation) should come in front of the word GRAIN (good for you stuff) Also, incorporate a bread/cereal that will give you 2 to 3 grams of fiber per serving, for health, and for fullness.

Conclusion:
Unenriched white bread-WORST
Enriched white bread-BETTER
Whole-grain bread-BEST OF THE BEST


My favorite bread: Ezekiel 100% Whole grain,flour less, organic. Pop it in your freezer,lasts forever, one slice is as filling as a hamburger...well it's pretty filling.