I can’t take credit for my new-found discovery and love of Ezekiel bread.  My friend Nicole introduced me to Ezekiel products on my first visit ever to LA.  When I arrived at her cozy oasis of an apartment (with an inner ear infection and cold that was taking over my entire head), I was greeted by an incredible spread of fresh made hummus and Ezekiel tortilla chips, fresh fruit and green tea with sweet little pomegranate seeds floating in it.

The Ezekiel chips were delicious (and I came to find out- nutritious).  Upon my return to Brooklyn, I went to the local market and purchased some Ezekiel bread.  I created a fast, simple and delicious little breakfast that I now eat every morning.  It fills me up, holds me over and gives me a little energy boost as healthy breakfasts should.

(this one’s super easy)

2 slices Ezekiel 4:9 Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Bread
Hummus (you can make your own – recipe to follow in coming entries.  Still perfecting this- or I also recommend Wildwood probiotic red pepper hummus)
1 tomato
half a lemon
sprouts
garlic pepper (or seasoning of your choice – sometimes I throw on a dash of sea salt)

Toast the Ezekiel bread and spread on thin layer of hummus.  Squeeze lemon juice and place tomato on top with sprinkling of garlic pepper / other seasoning and add the sprouts.  I’m a fiend for lemon so I like to squeeze a little more on top.

More notes on Ezekiel bread versus flour-enriched bread:

I started to try to avoid regular flour bread/products all together because I noticed that when I started eating Ezekiel bread, my normally sensitive stomach was feeling a lot less sensitive.  It certainly makes sense too.  In an NPR interview, Michael Polllan, author of Food Rules, In Defense of Food and Omnivores Dilemmai, talks about the health detriments of refined white flour which is found in most breads:

“We do know that one of the earmarks of the Western diet that is responsible for so much chronic disease is the refined white flour. This was a real novelty when it was introduced into the human diet, and it begins in England in the last years of the 19th century. And, you know, it delivers a jolt of glucose to the body that, you know, leads to these spikes of insulin and is one of the things responsible for the epidemic of type 2 diabetes”.

While whole grain breads do have more nutritional value than white breads, beware of whole-grain white bread which Pollan discusses in In Defense of Food.  He notes that food scientists often add high fructose corn syrup, guar gum and azodicarbonamide (flour bleaching agent) to whole grain breads to make it taste and feel more like the white bread most people are used to eating.

If it’s accessible to you, try Ezekiel bread.  Look at the ingredients on a package of Ezekiel bread and the ingredients on a package of standard whole grain bread from the supermarket and decide for yourself which seems more nutritionally beneficial.    You can read more about the benefits of sprouted grain Ezekiel breads  on the Food For Life website .  Note, they also make pastas!