Listen folks. WHY is every woman I know who has gained 30 pounds and then lost it, gaining it right back as soon as she goes back to normal eating?  Something is horribly wrong. It can’t be the fault of every third woman in America. I really don’t believe in diets and their yo-yo’s. But, I know how hard these women (count me in) have worked on weight loss, and now they (me again) just believe they can never have bread, or pizza, or a croissant.

This is serious. I will start with the videotapes–which more accurately is a documentary on streaming Netflix. I feel like I need to thank people, many people, who made this documentary possible and literally have changed my life.

The documentary is Cooked by Michael Pollan, based on his book.

The third episode on Air is life-changing and I will be forever grateful, forever changed by what he presented there. Here’s the Bread part: For me the whole discussion of wheat, gluten, wheat-belly (Dr. Davis), ancient grains, etc. is confusing. For awhile I completely stopped eating wheat–and bread, which, of course, means pizza, cakes, pasta, cookies–bread products. Then Dr. Davis was saying not to eat any grains at all.

That didn’t sit right. I am a Christian. Jesus called Himself The Bread of Life. So how could bread be bad? Even thinking I needed to go back to ancient wheat, didn’t please Davis. Nooooo, he said no grains. The Jesus thing really bothered me. How could Jesus say he was something that is bad, poison even?

Then came Pollan and AIR. He featured Richard Bourdon at the Berkshire Mountain Bakery in Massachusetts (yay! driving distance), who travelled to Holland to learn the ancient process of making natural sourdough bread the way the ancients made it. I believe he usually uses spelt flour (which is my favorite wheat), but the secret is fermenting the wheat through the natural yeast in the air. Wow!  

This may seem like a little thing to you, and, at first, I didn’t realize how life-changing it would be for me–and maybe for you. On the documentary, Bourdon challenges those who think they can’t eat wheat or gluten to try his bread.

I personally don’t think I am gluten-intolerant, but I do feel bloated when I eat bread (whole grain always), and I usually gain about two pounds. When I eat neighborhood pizza, I always gain weight with even two pieces. We travelled to Pittsfield to Bourdon’s bakery, and had lunch.

I ate two pieces of his pizza topped with pineapple, sausage and tomato, and his beet and arugula and goat cheese salad, and I LOST a half a pound. I bought five loaves of his bread–sesame, semolina, French peasant, raisin, multigrain, three spelt pizza crusts, and four croissants (for us two).  

Next day, I ate a croissant, had a sandwich with sesame bread, and meat and potatoes for dinner with salad. I LOST a pound. Now, two weeks later, after making pizza, having bread daily, usually a sandwich or breakfast toast, I have LOST four pounds.

Everything else has been pretty normal in our eating patterns–which, I might add, is NOT the normal American diet.

I think this fermented wheat has good bacteria that is eating up my bad belly fat and the gut bacteria. I can’t prove it, but I have a “gut feeling.” Okay, I know. But–and here is the LIES part: Pollan explains that bread only has 3 ingredients–flour, salt and water.

That is all it ever had before Americans got to it and added 34 more ingredients. The food industry had to go to the FDA and get permission to call our 37 ingredient food-like product, bread. It is NOT bread. 
I don’t care whether it’s whole grain, wheat, rice, oats, rye, or whatever. And, certainly that flimsy, highly refined Wonder bread is not really bread. I don’t care what the FDA says. It’s a WONDER they felt okay about lying to us all these years.

BREAD is three ingredients, and the healthful kind has a naturally fermented grain. And, another LIE: the commercial yeast we use–it’s not what Bourdon uses.

 Even our commercial yeast isn’t alive like natural yeast. It is “activated.” Not what I want! AIR HAS YEAST–naturally. And, it is GOOD for you. The natural bacteria occurring in air comes into your little bowl of three ingredients, and kills the bad bacteria, adds its goodness, and ferments the grain. I am now doing this for my own bread making. It is a little bit of work–but so worth losing about a pound a day eating this stuff, and so exciting that I can eat a croissant or two pieces of pizza, without constantly having to start over in my battle with extra poundage and belly fat.

But, this, this Bread is amazing. It is not poison. There is no bloating. And, unless you are in the 2% of the population that authentically can’t eat any gluten, I believe this bread will not make you react, and will give you life–maybe not quite the way Jesus can–but certainly in a way that cleans up your gut, keeps it healthy, and gives you license to eat something good.

Oh, and this bread! It is the yummiest, best bread I have ever eaten.   

Now, to make pasta. Oh my. And you wondered why Italian women aren’t fat.I suspect their pasta is fermented semolina. But, that’s another story. We have believed the government and food industry lies about food too long.

It’s time to take back our lives and have a meal that doesn’t line our bellies with bad stuff. I am so grateful to Richard Bourdon and to Michael Pollan, and to the country of Holland and the bakers who trained Bourdon, and to Netflix, and to God–for the air and the yeast and the good bacteria, and…well, I am sure there are many more I should thank. Bless you all.

Please watch this documentary. Order some of Bourdon’s bread mail order, and maybe try out your own bread making–real bread with three ingredients. Bread that gives life and not extra pounds.

There is a wealth of information available online if you want help. And, be sure to visit www.berkshiremountainbakery.com and to watch the Cooked excerpt on the site.

Or email me at stradingerm@gmail.com I will be happy to send you some links.