Not all carbs are created equal

Carbohydrates tend to get a bad press in relation to healthy eating, and not without reason. Refined carbohydrates, for example white flour and white sugar, are causes of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Properly fermented wholegrains are different.

The reason refined carbs are such a health disaster is that they have a high glycemic index, which means that they are very quickly turned to blood sugar by the digestive system. The body's response to high levels of blood sugar is to produce lots of insulin, which stores the sugar as fat. Over-production of insulin cause numerous health problems and with all of your blood sugar stored away you soon feel hungry again. If you eat more refined carbohydrate to stop yourself feeling hungry, the cycle begins again.

In contrast, naturally leavened wholegrains have a very low glycemic index - they are a slow-release food. By converting to blood sugar slowly they do not provoke over-production of insulin, meaning that the small amounts of blood sugar they do produce are used as fuel rather than stored as fat. This in turn means that they keep you going longer, so it is much longer before you start thinking about a snack.

As well as keeping you going for longer, naturally leavened wholegrains provide many of the micronutrients required for optimum health. These are present in the grain, but are not available as nutrition without natural fermentation. The reason is that natural chemical reactions which take place as the dough is mixed mean that many of the vitamins and minerals in wholegrain flour bond together in clumps which the body cannot break down. The acids produced during fermentation by the friendly bacteria contained in natural leavens prevent this bonding, ensuring that the vitamins and minerals naturally present in the flour are available to the body.