Better Bread: Why Sprouted Matters

Lisa has a bit more time on her hands with a class-free summer (I should say school-free, she’s pretty classy). She can now contemplate important topics like the perfect (healthy) summer cocktail and today’s query “to sprout or not to sprout”. Thanks for this Lisa.

You don’t have to be a nutritionist to conclude that spouted grains sound healthier than bleached, processed or refined grains. Not only do sprouted grains sound healthier, they really are.

A little background

To make white bread part of the wheat kernel (the nutritious part) is removed and the remaining portion milled into flour. Whole-wheat bread is slightly better, the germ (actually loaded with vitamins despite its name) and the bran are used when making the flour. For sprouted grain bread the kernels are sprouted and then this is used for the breads.

Nutritional benefits

Sprouted grains are higher in nutrients than their unsprouted counterparts. Sprouted wheat contains four times the amount of niacin and nearly twice the amount of vitamin B6 and folate. The process of sprouting also leads to a product that is easier to digest. Sprouting is not new, I learned from the Bobs  Red Mill site it dates back to the 2^nd century BC and the Essenes (a Jewish monastic group).

Since sprouted grains products are such a departure from their refined and processed counterparts, they are often referred to as “live food”. Certain varieties have been deemed acceptable by many raw foodists. In my opinion, one of the key benefits of sprouted grain products is that they are higher in protein than other breads. The reason their protein content is higher is because some carbohydrates (from the wheat kernel) are lost in the process of sprouting.

Buying sprouted grain bread

If you haven’t noticed spouted grain products in your grocery store, it’s because you likely haven’t looked for bread or English muffins in the freezer section. Since sprouted grain products are “alive” they are best kept in the freezer or the refrigerator, which is why you won’t find them in the doughy bread aisle alongside those ick white hot dog buns.

My favorite sprouted grain breads are Food for Life Ezekiel 4:9 , Shiloh Farms Sprouted 7 Grain bread and French Meadow sprouted 16 grain and seed bread. 

Sprout yourself

I’ll be honest I don’t see myself taking up sprouting any time soon but if you’re dying to sprout your own grains, click here for simple instructions. Report back to let us know how it goes, and how you enjoyed your living food!  

Do you eat any sprouted food? Are you familiar with Ezekiel, Shiloh Farms or French Meadow? Does sprouting intrigue you or scare you?

Foodtrainers' Favorite Probiotic

At Foodtrainers, we love delicious food but we love a good story even more (truth be told we would rather not chose between great food and great stories). Siggi's yogurt or “skyr” has a great story behind it. I first met Siggi about two years ago. After inquiring about the delicious, agave-sweetened, beautifully packaged, orange ginger creation I was obsessed with, we set up a meeting. It was then I heard this story that started with Siggi’s dislike for the yogurts here in the U.S. when he came from Iceland. He started testing his family recipes for “skyr” and went into Whole Foods with a backpack of product and well...the rest is history.

Siggi’s skyr is a huge success and they have a new product, a probiotic drink. I adore the plain but there are fruit flavors too. I asked Siggi a few questions about these little bottles. It's hard to tell in the photo but these cute bottles are a couple of inches tall, shot glass size. They are low in calories and fantastic for you.

How did the drinkable probiotic come about? 

Our skyr yogurt had been on the market for a while when our customers started asking for a probiotic drink. We looked around us and didn’t see any products of this type that were low in sugar and without artificial sweeteners so we decided to go for it!

How can you tell a good probiotic product from an imposter? 

The best probiotic products give you full information about not only the type but also the particular strain of probiotic cultures they use. They also guarantee you a certain number of these strains per serving. This way there is full transparency about what you are getting. To put it simply, you can Google the probiotic strain and find all the information you can about it.

What does “10 billion” on your label tell us? 

It tells us that each serving of the product has at least 10 billion of the good bacteria, Lactobacillus Acidophilus per serving. This is an important number since most of the time these types of cultures only exert their positive effective if they are present and consumed in sufficient numbers.

Anything we should know about specific cultures in the probiotic shot? 

Siggi’s drinkable yogurts contain a well-documented strain of Lactobacillus Acidophilus, called NCFM, which was discovered 30 years ago by researchers at North Carolina State University.  It is one of the best-known and most researched strains of probiotics. Research indicates that consuming it in sufficient doses, regularly, may help digestion and improve immunity.

Who should drink this? Any specific populations?

Anybody really…although if anyone should look into it more than others it should be people who have been taking antibiotics since antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria in the body but also the good one so they need to refresh the flora of good bacteria.

Can this be blended in a smoothie? 

Of course. Our drinkable yogurts make a great addition to any smoothie; here at our office we sometimes make one that has mango, pineapple, 1 plain Siggi’s drinkable probiotic yogurt, one cup plain Siggi’s skyr and ginger.

Some people who don't digest dairy well can eat yogurt, why is this? 

This can be true for yogurt that contains live active cultures. When yogurt with live active cultures is digested, the cultures convert lactose to lactic acid; hence the yogurt might be better tolerated due to lower lactose content than milk or yogurt without live cultures.

Have you tried Siggi’s? Do you consume probiotics via yogurt or a supplement? What’s your favorite new food or food product?