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<\/p>\nMost of us consume\u00a0significant amounts of wheat flour every day, whether or not we realise it. Let\u2019s look at what the\u00a0average\u00a0Nigerian might eat in a day. We\u00a0might have bread for breakfast, jollof rice for lunch and Indomie for dinner. Wheat flour has already featured in 2 out of 3 meals for the day. In between we\u00a0might snack on biscuits, puffpuff or meatpies \u2013 more flour. But what\u2019s wrong with that? Wheat is supposed to be one of the healthiest foods known to man. Rich in protein, carbohydrates and micronutrients, it was the major source of sustenance for several ancient civilisations. But\u00a0what we know as wheat today is a very different crop from what was consumed in ancient times. The story of modern wheat is a case study in how industrialisation is not always a good thing, especially in agriculture.<\/p>\n
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During the\u00a0green revolution<\/a>\u00a0which took place\u00a0from the 1930s to 1960s, there was a big push to use advanced technologies to increase agricultural\u00a0production. One of these technologies was the development of \u2018improved\u2019 crop varieties through genetic manipulation, and it\u2019s primary\u00a0victim was wheat. Because of severe genetic manipulation to\u00a0induce characteristics such as high yield and high gluten content, the strain of modern wheat we cultivate today (dwarf wheat) may grow faster, but is far less nutritious than nature intended. Compared to ancient varieties like einkorn and spelt, it is\u00a0lower in\u00a0micronutrients<\/a>\u00a0like\u00a0zinc, magnesium, iron, copper, and\u00a0selenium.<\/p>\n Modern wheat has also been bastardised by over-processing. Generally we consume wheat in the form of refined flour \u2013 that brilliant white powder that is used in everything from pasta to pastry. White flour is amazing in its ability to keep for long periods of time; but\u00a0it is precisely that shelf stability that makes it so dangerous to our health. If you were to simply grind up whole wheat berries, the oil released from the wheat germ in the process would make the flour go rancid in a matter of days. Obviously this makes it useless for industrial purposes, so wheat flour is refined to remove such \u2018impurities\u2019. As a result, the\u00a0parts of the wheat plant that contain the little nutritional value left in modern wheat are stripped away\u00a0in the process of refinement. The wheat germ, bran (fibre) and wheat germ oil are all removed until what you have is an unnatural substance. As if that weren\u2019t enough, some manufacturers also bleach the flour, a process that creates a by-product called\u00a0alloxan<\/a>, a diabetes-inducing chemical.<\/p>\n Despite its name, \u2018wholewheat\u2019 flour is\u00a0not much better. It goes through the same process of refinement, but after the white flour is produced some bran is mixed in to give it a fibrous texture. Although it contains more fibre than white flour, there\u2019s really nothing whole about it. Enriched flours are simply refined flour with some of the vitamins that were lost in the refinement process added back later. What does this mean for your health?\u00a0Unlike whole\u00a0foods like beans, potatoes and brown rice which are rich in fibre and other nutrients, refined flour\u00a0foods contain carbs and not much else. So when they are broken down in the body they have little\u00a0to offer but glucose. They have\u00a0little fibre to regulate absorption and let us know when we\u2019ve had enough to eat, so you eat too much of them. They are low in micronutrients so you need to eat them in larger quantities in order to obtain sufficient\u00a0vitamins and minerals. These are some of the reasons that consumption of such\u00a0foods\u00a0results in weight gain.<\/p>\n Does this mean you need to avoid wheat completely and go gluten free? No, strict avoidance is not necessary at all, unless you have\u00a0celiac disease<\/a>. As mentioned earlier, wheat is a highly nutritious food when consumed in its natural state. What you can and should do is avoid heavy consumption of foods containing refined wheat flour<\/strong>.\u00a0You have a few options:<\/p>\n 1. Make your own bread, pasta, etc with wholegrain flour<\/strong>: This option is the most desirable, but it is also an expensive and time consuming exercise that involves sourcing organic wheat berries, grinding them into flour and doing the baking at home – unfortunately not realistic for most people.<\/p>\n 2. Switch to whole grain products<\/strong>: Although these are not so easy to find in Nigeria, they are the best option for wheat products and I buy them whenever I can. Look for ‘100% whole grain’ on the packaging, as seen on the Weetabix cereal box.<\/p>\n 3. Reduce consumption of refined flour foods<\/strong>: The best way to eat less bread, semo, noodles, pasta and so on is to replace them with something better each time you have to make a choice. This is what I do most of the time. For example, if you usually have white bread for breakfast, have oatmeal instead. And instead of 2 packs of Indomie, try having just one with lots of vegetables to bulk it up. Whatever option works best for your lifestyle, remember that everyday actions really add up over time; eventually you\u2019ll realise you\u2019ve cut down your flour consumption by half. Your body will thank you for it! You can read more about what\u2019s wrong with modern wheat\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em> Image sources: Pixabay<\/a>,\u00a0Geog100<\/a>, Women Fitness<\/a>, Alibaba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Due to genetic manipulation modern wheat is far less nutritious than nature intended. Overprocessing worsens the situation by creating the unhealthy substance known as white flour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[22,21,25,24,23,26],"yoast_head":"\nStripped of nutritional value<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nDon’t be fooled by ‘Wholewheat’ and ‘Enriched’<\/h3>\n
The solution: go gluten free?<\/h3>\n
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