The foods that are found in nature that are the most multicolored also provide the highest dietary value for our bodies. There are very few “white” foods that offer much nutrition, cauliflower and jicama are the only notable exceptions. Orange, red, purple, green and even brown foods offer the most dietetic value. White flours and white rice are exceedingly empty of nutrition.
Years ago, most breads and flour products were made from extremely wholesome whole grain flour. This flour is a number of hues of brown but never white. Whole grain flour is made from the intact seed including the fiber-rich outside bran layer and the germ. However, whole grain flour has a propensity to go rotten quicker and also to attract weevils. In an endeavor to conserve baked goods for a longer interval of time, white flour was invented.
So white flour that was made from only the endosperm of the grain seed was created. This flour is as expected white but it is also frequently bleached with chemicals in order to make it even whiter. It is very fascinating to note that white flour is also a natural insecticide. It will not invite weevils or any other bug. Insects cannot survive on a diet of white flour because if does not have enough nutritional value.
This exceedingly refined white flour became a big hit. People enjoyed the fluffiness of it and the appealing white cuisine that it made. However, it was soon revealed that this pretty colorless flour contained almost no dietetic value so in an endeavor to regain some of the food value that had been lost, the flour was enriched by adding back in 4 vitamins and minerals. However, this made little distinction because 15 vitamins and minerals had been lost and none of the fiber was added back in.
Even today the bulk of breads and baked goods that are available to us are made from this nutritionally devoid enriched white flour. Even most breads that are labeled “wheat” are regularly made from enriched flour. If you want to get exceptional nourishment from the breads that you eat, you need to make sure that the first item on the ingredient label is “whole” grain flour and never “enriched”.
White foods tend to be void of the major nutrients. The more processed a food is the less nutritious it tends to be. White rice is similar to white flour in its nutritional value. In order to receive the utmost dietary value you need to look for whole grain foods and foods that are prepared from whole grains are never white but instead they are shades of brown.
Other colors are also critical when it comes to nutrition. Orange fruits and vegetables offer beta-carotene. Purple fruits and vegetables give anthocyanins and resveratrol. Green fruits and vegetables provide many other antioxidants and critically important vitamins and minerals. The healthiest and most nourishing diets are the most multicolored.
So in order to optimize your nutrition eradicate the white foods, except for cauliflower and jicama, of course, enhance your consumption of the colorful fruits and vegetables and take in lean proteins of either lean meats, fish or poultry, or beans and legumes if you are a vegetarian. And make sure that the bread you eat is made from whole grain flour and not enriched.