White flour products are one the top offenders if you are striving for an anti-inflammation, anti-cancer diet. I have adapted all of my life-long recipes to delete white flour and substitute it with 100% whole wheat or brown rice pasta. Other delicious options are quinoa pasta and kamut pasta. Once you try these healthier and tastier alternatives, you'll wonder why you ever liked white flour products, which have no nutritional value, in the first place.
This goes for rice, too. Get some long or short grain brown rice or basmati rice. Ditch the white rice at the next wedding you go to!
Breads can be a little tricky, because not only do you want them without any white flour added, but you want them without sugar, honey, molasses or other sweeteners. There are a lot of breads that "sound" like a healthy choice until you read that they have used unhealthful preservatives.
I spent a lot of time reading labels on breads at various markets. Luckily, my daughter found Ezechial bread for me a few years ago and that is my perfect alternative to the white floured, sugar and preservative laden unhealthy choices out there. I put it in the freezer when I get home and it doesn't even have to be defrosted when I lightly toast it.
Don't be fooled by deceptive marketing techniques when shopping for your pastas. Read the labels! There are many brands that still add a percentage of white flour to the whole wheat. It has to be 100% whole wheat. 99% is not good enough. There are many good organic whole wheat and brown rice pastas at the markets now. I even found good brands in France last year, when I ran out of my coveted stash.
Spinach pasta "sounds" like a better choice, but doesn't hold up when you read the fine print. It is usually made with white flour and has a small percentage of spinach in it. So if you want spinach pasta, make it yourself from scratch with whole wheat flour. No time for that? Find a nice Italian nonna to make it!
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