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White Flour: Why You Shouldn’t Eat It Anymore

White flour is a classic baking ingredient – but you should avoid it. But whole grain isn’t necessarily a better choice, experts say. We show when you should use which flour.

Type 405 white flour is probably the most commonly used type of flour. It is considered fattening and is said to make you addicted and even infertile. Although many of the myths about white flour have now been debunked, it should still be removed from the menu. Because there are much better alternatives.

White flour under criticism

White flour is ground flour (usually from wheat), i.e. only the inside of the grain. The inside also contains all the calories.

The miller, on the other hand, sifts out the edges and seedlings of the grain. However, they contain valuable fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy unsaturated fatty acids.

The body converts white flour into sugar very quickly – its glycemic index is very high. This means that glucose enters the blood very quickly and the blood sugar level rises by leaps and bounds. The blood sugar level drops just as quickly, however, since the sugar only lasts for a short time. Then food cravings follow, because the body wants to increase the blood sugar level again.

Products made from white flour therefore have a lot of calories, do not keep you full for long and make you hungry again. If you then turn to white flour products again, you will supply your body with even more calories.

According to studies, eating a lot of white flour can promote obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks and joint damage.
However, the health consequences also depend on the rest of your diet and lifestyle.
The intestinal flora should also be able to influence how white flour affects health (study).
In a study involving more than 80 subjects, researchers also showed that the body can utilize 100 more calories from wholemeal flour than from white flour. This corresponds to a walk of about 30 minutes. Dark bread provides our body with more energy than light bread.

Avoid white flour and use whole grains

The best alternative to white flour is wholemeal flour (wholemeal wheat flour is also good). Wholemeal spelled flour is even better because it contains more nutrients than wheat products. Wholegrain rye flour contains the most fiber and B vitamins:
Wholegrain flours contain the whole grain and not just the inner core.
The roughage in wholemeal flour swells up in the stomach and provides an additional feeling of satiety. They also inhibit the release of hormones that make you hungry.
The fiber also stimulates digestion and helps against constipation.
The blood sugar level does not rise as quickly and not as high and also falls more slowly. Whole grain products keep you full for longer.

Wholemeal bread is not always good

Even with whole grain bread, the blood sugar level can rise quickly and then fall again shortly afterwards – making you hungry again quickly. This is due to the processing of the flour, says Prof. Andreas Pfeiffer from the German Institute for Human Nutrition. In the science magazine Quarks & Co., Pfeiffer explains that the rise in blood sugar is the same with finely ground bread – regardless of whether it is white flour or wholemeal flour. Because the body can quickly absorb the starch in finely ground bread.

Better: buy coarse wholemeal bread. It fills you up for a long time and is healthy. It is best to use 100 percent whole grain and organic quality. In this way you ensure that there are no residues of chemical-synthetic pesticides in the flour.

Basically, wholemeal bread is darker than bread made from white flour. However, you should not only rely on the color, because some bakers mix in malt syrup and turn the bread into “black bread”. That’s why you should definitely look at the list of ingredients and ask your baker how high the whole grain content is. The bread must have at least 90 percent wholemeal flour/meal in order to be called wholemeal bread.

Scientists from Harvard University warn against being misled by the “whole grain” on grain products when buying. In principle, whole grains are healthier, but many products contain more sugar and calories than other products. So you should not blindly buy every product that says “whole grain”, but look at the nutritional table and list of ingredients.

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Cooking Tips

Freeze Milk: This Way You Won’t Waste a Drop Anymore

You can freeze milk if you don’t need it in the next few days or if you have a lot in stock.

Freezing milk: when does it make sense?

The popular UHT milk is ultra-high temperature, homogenized milk. Since it can be stored unopened for several months without refrigeration, it is no longer common to freeze milk. That wasn’t always the case: before UHT milk was introduced, it was more common to freeze milk to preserve it longer.

With UHT milk, this only makes sense if you have already opened the pack and cannot use the rest of the milk within a few days – for example if you rarely drink milk or if you go on vacation.
The situation is different with fresh milk (“traditionally produced”), which has only been heated to 72 to 75 degrees Celsius: This also belongs in the refrigerator unopened and can only be kept there for seven to ten days.
The so-called ESL milk (“fresh milk, longer lasting”) was heated to 127° C and can be kept unopened for three weeks. So if you have more fresh milk in stock than you need, you can freeze it and make it last longer.

Finally, there is raw milk, which is consumed less these days: it is unheated, untreated milk. This is perishable and should be used up as soon as possible. If you keep cows, goats or sheep yourself, you can freeze raw milk to preserve it without pasteurizing it first.

Disadvantages of frozen milk

Depending on which milk you use, the consistency will change as a result of the freezing process:
When freezing, the fats separate from the protein molecules in the liquid. The result: the fat settles at the bottom of the container, while the liquid above is very watery. In principle, the following applies: the higher the fat content of the milk, the more it settles.
Since all milk (except raw milk) is homogenized, this effect is not as strong: During the homogenization, the milk fat droplets are significantly broken up, which is why they mix better with the liquid.
You can counteract this fat-protein separation by shaking the milk vigorously before freezing. After you have thawed them, you should definitely shake them vigorously again.
Also, milk loses some of its flavor when it freezes. Therefore, frozen milk that has been thawed again is better suited for baking and cooking than for drinking on its own or with muesli.

Freezing milk: step-by-step instructions

If you want to freeze milk, you should consider a few points. This is the best way to go about it:
Choose a suitable container in which you want to freeze the milk: You can simply use the milk carton for this. Of course you can also use a plastic bottle. However, (thick-walled) glass vessels are more sustainable. The danger here: Since the milk expands when it freezes, the bottle can burst under pressure.
For this reason, do not fill the vessel to the brim. This is particularly important for solid containers made of glass or hard plastic. Instead, leave at least 1/5 of the container free as a precaution. Then you can also use (thick-walled) glass containers without any problems. Label the container with the current date. This way you can later see when you froze the milk and how long it can be kept. Info: Milk keeps for about three months in the freezer.
Place the container in the freezer. Glass jars in particular should first be placed in the freezer with the lid open and only closed when the milk is completely frozen. This will ensure that the jar does not burst.
Shelf life: Frozen milk can be kept for up to three months. It should also remain edible beyond that, but it can lose its taste. After thawing, you should use the milk in a maximum of five days. If it was already open for a few days before freezing, this time is reduced accordingly.

Milk ice cubes: Alternatively, you can also freeze the milk in portions as ice cubes. Simply fill in a suitable form. You can then thaw the frozen milk again as needed – for smoothies, for example. In addition, ice cubes also thaw faster than a large block.

Thaw and use frozen milk

You should never thaw frozen milk under heat – not with hot water or even in the microwave. Otherwise, the components of the milk cannot combine properly again.

Instead, you can thaw milk in two different ways:
In the fridge: The milk thaws slowly, which can take more than a day depending on the quantity.
In cold water: Put the container with the frozen milk in a cold (!) water bath. Then thawing takes from a few hours to half a day.
Important: After thawing, you should definitely shake the milk thoroughly so that the individual components combine well.

You can then use the milk as usual. However, it is only suitable for drinking to a limited extent, but it is suitable for baking and cooking. It is also advisable to add the milk, which is still very cold or slightly frozen, to smoothies – a refreshment, especially in summer.

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Lifestyle

What Would Happen if Nobody ate Meat Anymore

Those who do without meat protect the environment and reduce animal suffering. But what if everyone in the world stopped eating meat? The effects would be remarkable.

Animal suffering in factory farming, the poor ecological balance of meat or exploitation in the slaughterhouses: there are good reasons for not eating meat.

1. There would be more free space

The production of food of animal origin takes up a lot of space. A 2018 study by Oxford University in England came to the conclusion that agricultural land without meat and dairy products could be reduced by up to 75 percent worldwide. That’s an area the size of the US, China, the EU and Australia combined. If mankind would only do without meat, the area would be a little smaller – but still considerable.

Of course, plant-based foods also need space to grow, but significantly less. According to the study, meat and dairy products provide only 18 percent of all calories and 37 percent of proteins – but require the largest area for production.

2. Less rainforest destruction

Less animal husbandry also means that less animal feed has to be grown. Pigs, cows and the like are fed with soy, among other things – around 70 to 75 percent of the global soy harvest is used as animal feed.

The high demand for soy means that in countries like Brazil, rainforests are being cleared to make room for soy plantations. If humanity stopped eating meat, more rainforest would remain.

3. More biodiversity

When the world uses less land for agriculture and more rainforest is preserved, there is more room for wild plants, insects and animals. Livestock farming is one of the main reasons why around a million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction: it takes away their habitat and food resources.

4. Fewer greenhouse gases

Livestock breeding not only takes up a lot of space, but also causes a lot of climate-damaging emissions. An American study from 2016 came to the conclusion that the greenhouse gases caused by animal husbandry could be reduced by 63 percent if people were to eat vegetarian food. According to this, a vegan diet would even result in savings of 70 percent.

5. Less water consumption

If people stopped eating meat, they would also save an enormous amount of water. One kilo of beef, for example, uses around 15,000 liters of water during the production process. A particularly large amount of it is needed to irrigate areas under cultivation for animal feed.

6. Cleaner groundwater

Without animal husbandry, the water quality would also improve. In Germany, the nitrate levels in groundwater are too high, which is why the EU Commission has already sued Germany.

Farmers use liquid manure from factory farming to fertilize their fields. In livestock farming, however, the quantities of manure are so large that the soil is heavily over-fertilized – and the groundwater is polluted with nitrate.

7. Less antibiotic resistance

Especially in factory farming, farms treat their animals with antibiotics to prevent disease from spreading. According to a study from 2019, three times more antibiotics and other drugs are used in animal fattening than in human medicine.

The consequences: Resistant bacteria develop in the animals, which humans eat with the meat. As a result, certain antibiotics also lose their effectiveness in humans. If a person becomes seriously ill and is dependent on an antibiotic, resistance can, in the worst case, be fatal. If humanity stopped eating meat, there would be fewer such antibiotic resistances.

7. Fewer diseases

Overall, people around the world could be healthier if they stopped eating meat. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies red meat as “probably carcinogenic”. Red meat includes pork, beef, lamb, and goat. According to the WHO, processed meat such as sausage and ham is considered “carcinogenic”. So if people stopped eating meat, there would be fewer cancers.

We would also probably eat more vegetables and plant-based foods – and thus take in more healthy nutrients. A 2016 study calculated that a vegan and vegetarian lifestyle could prevent seven to eight million premature deaths worldwide every year.

8. Less animal suffering

When humanity stops eating meat, fewer animals need to be raised in problematic conditions. In addition, fewer animals are slaughtered. Overall, animal suffering is at least reduced. However, it can only be avoided completely if animals are no longer exploited for food production. We should fundamentally make the production of dairy products and eggs more animal-friendly, consume less of them – or do without them altogether.

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