Erin go Bread was on display last Sunday as Cyndie, Alyssa and Kayla joined our resident Leprechaun in celebration of St. Patty's Day. From what I was told, it got really busy as the day wound down, leaving nothing on the rack, and the freezer several loaves lighter as well. I hope you had a green weekend with plenty of Blarney and Breadness to share. 

And now to the Grinch part...

A truly Random Act of Breadness collided with the crazy talented Jim Meskimen ( @jimpressions ) on #stpatrickstewartsday when our very own Elizabeth Breazile presented Jim with a Bag o' Breadness on the evening Jim was performing his almost one-man show, Jimpressions! 🌈 🍀🍞

Besides being one of the top impressionists and voiceover talents in the galaxy, Jim is also a fine actor, having appeared in over 175 films including Apollo 13, Frost/Nixon and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. But in the Breadness world, he's best known for being one of the original stars on the photo-feature wall at our bakery! (Jim and his family have been fans and supporters of Breadness since 2017!)

Jimpressions also featured the amazing Noah Sunday Lefkowitz on keyboards and vocals and  Ian Espinosa on guitar. The show was performed to a sold-out audience at The Acting Center in Sherman Oaks. ✨ What a lovely way to spend an evening! Be sure to catch the next Jimpressions show when you can, it's a real treat!

 Breaducation: Your Gut Buddies?

We've had a copy of The Plant Paradox by Dr. Steven Gundry on our counter at Random Acts of Breadness since opening day. That book is a big reason we have a living bakery today. Back in 2017, when I was giving this bread away every week, one of my Breadness recipients, Dave, had a heart attack. Very fortunately, Dave survived, and researched ways to avoid having that happen again. He found Dr. Gundry's book which had just come out a few months before. When he resonated with what Dr. G. wrote, he told me about the book. Upon purchasing and reading it, I learned many things I had not known before (and I've been a student of natural approaches to health and longevity for many years). Most prominent is Lectins (plant proteins evolved by nature to protect the plant from predators). 

The Plant Paradox focuses on 2 things: reducing/eliminating inflammation (which is caused by lectins and is the manifestation of most disease) and improving the health of your microbiome (the good microbes, what Dr. G. calls "gut buddies" and the lining in your gut). This is done mainly through a change of diet, eliminating foods that cause inflammation and gut damage, and eating foods that promote healing along with certain foods (resistive starches) that feed your gut buddies. These foods are summarized in 2 lists: The YES list and the NO list. 

Now, a few of the items on the NO list can be made Plant Paradox-friendly, for instance, tomatoes can be peeled and seeded (where the lectins are), then made into sauce and paste. But most people are not going to do that in their home kitchen. Fortunately, there are companies that make lectin-free tomato products (organic and from Italy, too). Bionaturae and Jovial are 2 such brands. 

But most grains are not allowed on this program (the exceptions being millet and sorghum). So what about Breadness? Well, it turns out that I was concerned reading this book as it put me in a quandary: If I was to give Dr. G's  program a try, I'd have to give up making this bread that has brought so much joy to so many people, and to my wife and me. But then I read the 2 pages in The Plant Paradox that changed my life: pages 50 and 51. In those 2 pages, Dr. Gundry explained how the sourdough "white" bread made in Europe was perfectly fine to eat. The reasons for this were: The flour in the breads he was talking about had no bran or germ (unbleached white) and was organic (no GMOs), hence no problem with lectins contained in those parts of the grain; the natural starter used and the time allowed in the dough process for breaking down the gluten into a bio-friendly form that becomes gluten-neutral and a resistive starch (bypassing the stomach and making its way into the gut where it feeds the microbiome). Upon reading this passage, I was elated! I wouldn't have to give up my "random acts of breadness" (and by this time, sourdough pizza as well). Also in The Plant Paradox, Dr. G. mentions The Blue Zones, a book by Dan Beuttner about people in various parts of the world where many live to be over 100 years "old" while still being quite active. In his book, he discusses foods that these people have in common. At or near the top of the list is Sourdough Bread (made similarly to the way we make it at Random Acts of Breadness). 

One more item my research turned up is that when our bread is frozen, then thawed, the glycemic index (a numeric scale of of how quickly carbohydrates turn to sugar in the body) of the bread drops by 31%! And toasting the thawed sourdough drops the G.I. another 10%!

Virtually all of our customers who are gluten-sensitive have reported to us their joy of being able to eat real bread again without negative reactions!

Knowing the above, l recommend always eating Breadness with a good fat, like Raw Butter, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Avocado, A2 cheeses, etc. And one other thing, just because Breadness is better for you than most breads, it's always a good idea to keep things in moderation. I eat about 2 slices a day. Your body will let you know...