Oh Bread, Why Must You Taunt Us So?

The smell of fresh, hot bread makes me want to run and embrace its charms with a spreader of warm butter and perhaps a bit of honey.  Even thinking of it brings an almost druel-like response.  Why does this mix of flour, yeast, salt and water (basically) yield such passion?  Why do we happily get in line at the bakery for a free slice of bread (and buy a VERY over-priced loaf to not feel guilty)?  Why do we ignore the intent to eat a delicious, pricey entree, opting instead to gobble down the bread basket beforehand?  It’s not like it’s exotic. Bread is everywhere. Even organic, fresh, “home made” bread isn’t that expensive.  And it’s common.

Bread has become an American necessity.  And we eat our weight in it almost every month.  It sneaks into our life for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Even snack time can include some form of bread.  And kids seem drawn to it with the same passion as their parents.

So now, as I embark on going without it for three weeks, I come to this conclusion – bread is the devil.  It sneaks up on you wherever you are and tempts you to fill your body with simple sugars and grains you don’t need.  It’s also full of gluten toxins – wheat being a huge one.  And yet…. most of us roll our eyes and shrug our shoulders at the idea of having no bread because going withOUT bread is simply not an idea we wish to wrap our heads around.

But wrap my head I must.  Because even though I have cut my bread consumption down by 50% or more from my former life it is still a temptation.  (Mostly because of it’s cohort – butter; that is also on the no-go list).  But I will forge on… ignoring the call of my food-lover and turning instead to a purer life, negate of wheat and gluten. After all, doing away with old habits is part of breaking free and creating a new you.  One that, perhaps, can easily resist the wafting smell of fresh loaves.