1 WEEK 0 BREAD

Yeast is a fungus. Yeast is found in bread. Consuming too much bread can have a negative impact on your health because, first of all, it is a carb, and carbohydrates transform in the bloodstream into sugar, which in turn, can cause issues to your overall health (taking that into account plus, nowadays, people have a desert after each meal, and in between meals as a snack, because, hey, stress and modern world, can you imagine how strong your body must be to be able to process so much sugar?). Sugar is the most toxic substance that exists out there for the human body and that we intake unknowingly. Therefore, reducing the sugar intake as well as being more mindful about consuming carbohydrates is my main priority. Because health is my main priority.

I used to be the type of human that consumed a bread in one day. I used to eat bread every day, almost at every meal, although I have to say, I RARELY combined it with meat, as you might know by now, that’s something we should never do (read more about this here) , because carbohydrates and protein cannot be digested by our stomach, due to different enzymes being involved in the process and when both eaten, the enzymes neutralise themselves, leaving the food in the stomach to rot, adding the yeast in it and all the other sugar cravings, you can imagine what a killing bomb there’s inside. Yeast is something we should avoid because it is a fungus. It is something that feeds itself out of the nutrients you have, leaving you unhealthy and craving for more sweets, as this is what it makes it grow and survive. I became conscious about this because someone in the family developed a sort of candida in the stomach and, that started to be visible on the surface of the body too. The physical beauty part, let’s just say, it’s not an issue, but that created more health issues inside the body.

Mucus, infections, inflammation inside the body, which ultimately leads to other diseases. It’s so important to be mindful of the food you eat, especially how you combine it to make sure there is no way the food stays in your body undigested, to be able to actually use the nutrients from it and to have your health bloom, and not slowly, killing you from inside out. Discovering this, I immediately started finding alternatives to bread with yeast. Yeast free bread is usually the soda bread or the buttermilk bread or the sourdough bread, which is believed to be the best bread out there, due to its natural content of just water, flour and sourdough starter, which again is made of flour and water put together to ferment for a couple of days. Finding these alternatives on the market is extremely difficult. Big brands cannot invest in making sourdough bread as it is supposed to be created. Instead, they add yeast to it and call it a sourdough bread. I find that deceptive and not to mention, the price they put for such a bread, which is ultimately not a sourdough bread, a lie, a marketing trick, a bullshit. So, what’s left, if you cannot find alternatives to really eat bread? Apart from making your own bread, which takes time and obviously we are all living a busy lifestyle in these modern days, well, the answer is: ditch it.

This is what I did. I decided to stop consuming bread or any other yeast free breads that I could possibly find to be more healthy options, and I have to say, it was hard. The first few days, I felt hungry all the time. But I did continue and after that week off, when my system adjusted to the “no bread mode”, or better, my brain, I ate a bit of bread from the one brand that I really loved and had no yeast, but it was a buttermilk soda type of bread, unfortunately not gluten free, but hey, that had a very, so very delicious taste.

What happened after that only one week of no bread after which I decided to eat a slice of my favourite bread?

I did not feel the same way about bread as I did before. The taste did not feel as I felt it initially or before this experiment. I realised, bread is just another addiction and my brain was simply addicted to the taste, which after ditching it, it realised there is nothing special about it. It’s not something I cannot live without. It is not something I need on a daily basis.

It’s funny how after stopping eating bread for only one week, that my entire brain structure in reference to the bread taste changed completely. It’s incredible the impact it had on my life and it is incredible to realise that it’s actually the same with any other food addictions or maybe even other types of addictions. You may not even realise you have an addiction until you stop eating that product for a long period of time and then decide to have it once again, maybe as a treat, maybe just a little bit more or to start again consuming it. I promise you; you will never again have the same feeling or taste as you had initially. Period.

This can leave you either free of the burden of fighting with that addiction (known or unknown), whether it is chocolate, sweets, bread, carbs, whatever, or it may also leave you with a feeling of missing the initial feeling, the taste you tasted, that delicious thing that made you happy for a little while (which in its essence, it’s an addiction). Missing that feeling, in my opinion, can be seen in 2 ways: you are still addicted and if you miss that, you will probably end up consuming again the addictive product (and not in a mindful way) or you are mindful of the experiences and you start appreciating more the taste, which will make you more careful of how much you eat of a certain product and how exactly you feel about food in general.

I find this one week no bread experience that it was more than just an experience of health and becoming more conscious about bread and its impact on my health. It was an experience of life. Giving up attachments will leave you free of the burden of actually having and hanging onto that attachment. It will leave you free to experience something else. It will create a different lifestyle, a different and better love of life, a sort of gratefulness and it does bring a more candid and kinder approach towards your self and ego. You become more aware of the differences between your ego and your self. You become more in touch with your higher self and start domineering your ego. You become more aware, more open to life and more mindful overall.

You realise you are more than just the food you eat. You get more in touch with yourself. You become aware of the fact that you are not what your brain wants. You are not your brain or its addictions, you are not the same as your brain’s needs. You are a higher self that can manage its brain.

And when you manage that, you are able to manage your whole life in the direction you want to go.

If you enjoyed this or found it helpful you might want to read this article regarding my sugar free experience.