To Roll or Not To Roll?
And we are talking about gambling with your health.
I dropped by the grocery store this afternoon to pick up a few items and almost ran into a huge display blocking the entrance containing multiple boxes of dinner rolls stacked high for the picking.
Dinner rolls have been a holiday tradition as long as I can remember like apple pie – but are they the dinner rolls of long ago? Have you checked the ingredients in the dinner rolls of today?
If you look at recipes for dinner rolls most have at 6 or 7 ingredients – milk, butter, salt, yeast, water, flour, eggs, and a touch of sugar. For a holiday you may be able to handle the extra carbs of old fashioned style rolls in moderation but these new “modern” ones have a multitude of additives that can scare a chemist away.
What were the ingredients on the rolls I saw at the store today?
INGREDIENTS: ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, ENZYME, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), WATER, SUGAR, LIQUID SUGAR (SUGAR, WATER), BUTTER (PASTEURIZED CREAM, SALT), EGGS, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2 % OF EACH OF THE FOLLOWING: YEAST, POTATO FLOUR, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SALT, DATEM, SOY FLOUR, YELLOW CORN FLOUR, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, INACTIVE YEAST, WHEAT GLUTEN, SORBIC ACID PRESERVATIVE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE, WHEAT FLOUR, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OILS (CONTAINS ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING: SOYBEAN, COTTONSEED, PALM, COCONUT), CALCIUM SULFATE, SODIUM SILICOALUMINATE, AMMONIUM SULFATE, ASCORBIC ACID ADDED AS A DOUGH CONDITIONER, WHEAT STARCH, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, MONO- & DIGLYCERIDES, ENZYMES, CALCIUM SILICATE, MICROCRYSTALLINE CELLULOSE.
At least 30 plus ingredients and hard to count, pronounce or recognize half of them.
With most pre-packaged carbohydrate sources you buy at the grocery store this is the norm and not the exception.
Take home message?
This holiday season if you want to enjoy the holiday dinner roll, consider making it yourself and using a healthier flour (whole wheat, rye, pumpernickel, almond, oat, etc.) while limiting the quantity.
Consider shelving the “I don’t have time to make rolls” and ask yourself if you have time to detox from processed rolls.
I found the above sign in Amsterdam and although it was intended for humans to not feed the sheep, it might be worth it for the humans to consider the advice themselves.
If dinner rolls are important to you at your holiday meal, find a recipe and make them in limited amounts so those extra carbs don?t end up being a losing battle of the bulge.
