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Does your family eat whole wheat bread?


matrips
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I grew up on Wonder type bread, but after my kids were born, I started buying whole wheat breads, bagels, pasta, brown rice etc to raise them differently, on better choices.  I still prefer the taste of white, but 🤷‍♀️.  My dh continued to buy white stuff for himself; he detests whole wheat.  And now my kids are teens and they detest whole wheat as well. Helped along by dh who would give them ‘treats’ of his bagels etc.

Is it a losing cause?  How important is it for them to eat whole grains?  How do I turn this tide? Anyone else in a similar boat? I mean they’ll be off to college in a couple years where they can eat what they want.

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Some people think it’s a hill to die on. I had a wheat allergy for years and detest whole wheat even though I can eat it again. I buy white bread. I’m inclined to think if people detest something they either have a mild allergy to it and instinctive aversions or they’re a super taster and there is nothing you can do to change their genetic ability to taste bitter flavors you can’t. 
 

At that age I’d buy them white bread. 

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Yes, generally. I occasionally get sourdough, but the standard bread is slightly fancy whole wheat. I also buy whole wheat crackers and pasta. I am the only one who grocery shops, so that part is easy, plus my family is pretty easy-going about foods, so there isn't really any arguing.

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We eat whole wheat bread and white bread, and have both in the house. We  like different breads for different purposes. 

I love a hearty, grainy, whole wheat bread as part of breakfast. Unless I'm making a breakfast sandwich, in which case I want white bread.  For garlic bread at dinner time, it's got to be white bread. Certain sandwiches work better with one bread or another.  

Around here, we agree that we love bread, all kinds of bread. 

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Just now, SusanC said:

Yes, generally. I occasionally get sourdough, but the standard bread is slightly fancy whole wheat. I also buy whole wheat crackers and pasta. I am the only one who grocery shops, so that part is easy, plus my family is pretty easy-going about foods, so there isn't really any arguing.

Oops, quoted. I thought I would add that I also default to whole wheat flour.

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I grew up white bread and even as a kid was not very found of it.  It was so mushy to me.  On the rare occasions I got a whole wheat bread it was a treat.  For a while I made all our bread so my kids were used to not only whole wheat but freshly baked whole wheat so given a choice that is what they would pick first.  I don't have time to make bread often so I do buy it now, most of it is whole wheat but we love the $1 loves of everything bread from Walmart that is white.  

But they definitely prefer white tortillas to whole wheat.

But overall we don't eat that many bread products so I don't worry about it too much.  

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If you bake bread and you really want to have more whole grains, you could mix up the flours - say, 3/4 white flour to 1/4 whole wheat to start. Or try buying white whole wheat flour. I think I have seen white whole wheat bread in a grocery store once. It just looks more like white bread - I know for some people, the brown color is the barrier to whole wheat bread.

Our favorite store wheat bread is from Aldi. They have two kinds - a long, skinny loaf, and a wider, shorter loaf. The wider one is the one we like. I'm sure it's a little more expensive than the longer loaf (which is like standard store whole wheat bread, if that makes sense). But still not expensive compared to most store whole wheat breads. 

Edited by marbel
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I only eat sourdough bread at home due to needing to follow a low(ish) FODMAP diet. When getting takeout (or eating out, in the before times) if sourdough isn't available I always choose whole wheat. DH and DS22 prefer white bread. It's not and has never been a hill for me to die on. Whole grains are absolutely the better choice, but that doesn't mean every single thing has to be whole grain. It's the entirety of the diet that matters. Now if DH and DS were eating a loaf of bread a day it would matter and I'd (maybe) fuss about it a little. But between the two of them they only go through about half a loaf a week. That's a very small percentage of their overall food intake.

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We eat whole wheat pasta, all brown rices except for risotto, and some whole wheat breads. For the breads, tortillas, pita bread, and regular sandwich bread are whole wheat. For special sandwiches and dinner bread, it is usually white bread. That is more related to being able to find good whole wheat breads that don't have seeds in them. I don't like the added seeds found in many whole wheat breads.

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49 minutes ago, matrips said:

I grew up on Wonder type bread, but after my kids were born, I started buying whole wheat breads, bagels, pasta, brown rice etc to raise them differently, on better choices.  I still prefer the taste of white, but 🤷‍♀️.  My dh continued to buy white stuff for himself; he detests whole wheat.  And now my kids are teens and they detest whole wheat as well. Helped along by dh who would give them ‘treats’ of his bagels etc.

Is it a losing cause?  How important is it for them to eat whole grains?  How do I turn this tide? Anyone else in a similar boat? I mean they’ll be off to college in a couple years where they can eat what they want.

Sounds like me, LOL.  I never really embraced actual whole wheat, but there were nice in-between options that I used to buy.  I like them and my kids were fine with them too, at first.  But my housemates kept giving my kids the white stuff, which is easier to eat, and they started refusing the brown stuff.  😕  Rather than throw away stale bread week after week, I gave up.

Now suddenly my housemates seem to have had an awakening, and they are starting to buy healthier options.  The kids don't eat a ton of bread, but they will try those in-between options if they don't have the pure white stuff.  So maybe it's not a completely lost cause.

My kids really shouldn't eat "enriched flour," which is in practically everything that isn't organic.  (They aren't supposed to have folic acid.)  That is a tough battle to fight.  I hope I can get some help from the others who buy groceries here.

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Yes. I grind all my flour and make my bread fresh. I started out making my own bread due to food allergies. Then the pandemic hit and flour was impossible to buy, but I could easily buy whole wheat berries. My DH bought me a mill and I haven't looked back. My whole family loves the flavor of fresh flour whole grain bread. None of them want to go back to store bought flour or breads. It is a sweeter flavor than store bought bread/flour. 

My DH and I also grew up on white bread. We don't really like it anymore. It tastes bland now.  

I'm not going to lie, this makes more work for me. I make all the bread items, tortillas, bagels, pasta etc. The only thing I do not make is pasta shapes...those I buy whole grain. The only flour I buy is cake flour for birthday cakes. 

 

Whole grain is healthier, and we love the taste, but we also understand it is not everyone's cup of tea. And the job of making all bread items is not doable or desired by a lot of people. You have to do what works for you. But yes, whole grain is healthier. 

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We mostly eat whole grain and the grown up children do too. Their upbringing was quite mixed because we often lived in places where wholegrain breads were not available. We muddled through.

I would focus on whole foods in general, rather than fixating on the bread.  Can you cook with pearl barley,  quinoa, whole grain couscous, buckwheat grains? Add that to other whole foods - veg, pulses, nuts, meat, dairy - and you have a healthy Mediterranean diet.

Edited by Laura Corin
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I'm not a fan of the flavor of whole wheat. I do like breads filled with seeds and oats and such (and I love hearty breads with butter or in restaurants) ...but I don't buy that as my "regular" bread. We buy "white wheat" but I'm pretty sure the only healthy thing about it is the name, lol. 

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4 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

I'm not a fan of the flavor of whole wheat. I do like breads filled with seeds and oats and such (and I love hearty breads with butter or in restaurants) ...but I don't buy that as my "regular" bread. We buy "white wheat" but I'm pretty sure the only healthy thing about it is the name, lol. 

That’s what we buy too, and my thoughts on it exactly!😂

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The space in between Wonder bread and pure whole grain bread is huge, and full of good possibilities. I'm agreeing with others that whole grain per se isn't a hill to die on, but I *would* buy or make a variety of good breads, to give their palates a chance to experience the range of bread flavors. 

Most supermarkets around here have decent bakery breads available now. Rye, pumpernickel, sourdough, rustic hearth loaves, and, yes, breads with varying percentages of whole wheat: I'd emphasize the variety of good flavors out there, instead of making it a this-or-that choice.

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My peeps don’t even know wonder white bread is a thing. lol. We prefer rustic sourdough, Italian, rye and King’s Hawaiian-style sweet breads or brioche. Sadly, I cannot bake them myself so I have a standing bakery order. If this wasn’t possible, I’d probably seek out Panera and get a couple loaves of their rustic breads or several ciabatta rolls each week. My husband still buys the cheapest bread/buns he can find and then wonders why it develops mold. No one here likes it. #spoiledrotten

Edited by Sneezyone
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I also make 100% whole grain sourdough bread (50/50 rye and wheat) from home-ground berries.  We have been eating it since well before my 17yo was born so she grew up on it.  It is not really "bread."  I'd say more like thinly sliced sour bricks.  It's not for everyone, but we love it.  I have been surprised at how many of dd's friends actually like it too.  I do buy whole grain hamburger and hot dog buns and will use white flour for baking the very occasional cake or cookies, but in general we use whole grain for everything.  Dd finds white bread odd and she will order whole grain or the closet she can find to it when out.  But I would not worry if she preferred white bread.  I would buy it as a "sometimes food" if anyone liked it.  My family considers store bought whole wheat bread to be "white bread."  

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We only buy whole wheat bread.  There is a local bakery here that does an amazing job with it.  A lot of store bought WW tastes bitter to me.  When I bake bread I usually do half and half with a high quality WW flour and can't even tell.  I would like to experiment more with this.  My teens will order white when we get takeout though, I don't care.  We aren't perfect with rice, pasta, tortillas. But again, we're not eating those items daily either.  

As the grocery shopper, I try to do the best as a I can.  And I don't think too hard about it when we're eating out of the house (which is almost never right now I guess).

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I grew up on a combination of ‘70’s wonder bread, German pumpernickel (🤮) and ‘80’s health kick stuff made with oat bran (🤮🤮🤮). It’s no wonder I am not a fan of bread or baked goods. Lol

DS and DH eats whole grain breads, as do I on occasion. 

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Love love love bread of all sorts and textures and flavors. 

I only get whole wheat or multigrain *sandwich* bread, so that 's all my kids ever knew, and now that they're grown that's all they want.  Before COVID the only bread I actually made was challah, egg-enriched but white flour. Since COVID I branched out a bit, but I've always gotten all sorts, ranging from very dense German rye to sourdough to crusty white baguette to Arab and Indian flatbreads when I have the chance.

I concur with pp that the healthy eating issue is more around grains, generally, than bread specifically. If you're regularly doing a range of brown rice and quinoa and barley and etc as side dishes, the occasional white bread sandwich isn't going to derail otherwise-generally-nutritious habits.

Also

1 hour ago, Innisfree said:

The space in between Wonder bread and pure whole grain bread is huge, and full of good possibilities. I'm agreeing with others that whole grain per se isn't a hill to die on, but I *would* buy or make a variety of good breads, to give their palates a chance to experience the range of bread flavors. 

Most supermarkets around here have decent bakery breads available now. Rye, pumpernickel, sourdough, rustic hearth loaves, and, yes, breads with varying percentages of whole wheat: I'd emphasize the variety of good flavors out there, instead of making it a this-or-that choice.

Panera  makes a nice soft sliced-for-sandwiches whole grain that is available in supermarkets in my area that even my super-picky nephew will accept.

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There is a type of white whole wheat bread that I think is commercially available now but I don't know much about it. It would likely be more nutritious but you'd have to check the labels.

I love all kinds of bread but they cause my blood sugar to spike to around 140. I only eat bread maybe once a week or so, sometimes in the form of pizza. Potatoes and corn have the same effect. So, it's "yummy" seed crackers for me. 

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16 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

There is a type of white whole wheat bread that I think is commercially available now but I don't know much about it. It would likely be more nutritious but you'd have to check the labels.

I love all kinds of bread but they cause my blood sugar to spike to around 140. I only eat bread maybe once a week or so, sometimes in the form of pizza. Potatoes and corn have the same effect. So, it's "yummy" seed crackers for me. 

BeachGal. White whole wheat is just a different variety of wheat than red whole wheat. Red is the normal brown looking loaf that people expect when you say whole wheat. Red wheat and white wheat are equally nutritious. White has a milder flavor and can be less dense/more fluffy. It is often more palatable to people who prefer white bread. 

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Sort of. We often make bread in our bread machine. When we do, it's whole wheat bread, unless we are out of WW flour. One kid eats that bread only as toast. If that's all that's around, he won't eat a sandwich. Due to the amount of bread we use now as a family of 7, I/we sometimes can't keep up with our bread needs. So we do buy a few loaves a week, which are usually whole wheat (sometimes a 12 grain though). 

I grew up on WW bread. My mom grew up on Wonderbread and hated it. She had no idea bread could be good (in her opinion, obviously) until she was an adult. I have always thought white bread is too chewy. Then I had my fifth pregnancy...and basically the texture of all bread made me sick. So I switched to eating wraps when sandwiches are on the menu. And now, at 6 months postpartum, I can finally tolerate bread. But I don't enjoy it (white or wheat) like I used to.

So, yes, we eat bread around here. Our preference is whole wheat if it's available. 

 

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My kids have grown up eating whole wheat bread and that's what they buy for themselves now as adults. Occasionally I've bought white flour tortillas if I can't find the big burrito-size ones in whole wheat, but that's the only bread-like product I can think of where I've bought white flour. For bread, English muffins, rolls, hamburger buns, etc., I only buy whole wheat.

I'll second the recommendation to look for "white whole wheat" bread. It's just as nutritious as red wheat, but milder in flavor. You can also get white whole wheat flour, which is great for baking.

I grind my own flour now, and I have red hard wheat (as well as spelt and rye) for rustic sourdough bread, white hard wheat for breads that are typically lighter & whiter (like focaccia or ciabatta), and white soft wheat for cakes and muffins. (Hard wheat = high gluten, soft = low gluten.)

I don't like whole wheat pasta, though. I mostly buy Trader Joe's brown rice and quinoa pasta, or buckwheat soba noodles. 

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7 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

My kids have grown up eating whole wheat bread and that's what they buy for themselves now as adults. Occasionally I've bought white flour tortillas if I can't find the big burrito-size ones in whole wheat, but that's the only bread-like product I can think of where I've bought white flour. For bread, English muffins, rolls, hamburger buns, etc., I only buy whole wheat.

I'll second the recommendation to look for "white whole wheat" bread. It's just as nutritious as red wheat, but milder in flavor. You can also get white whole wheat flour, which is great for baking.

I grind my own flour now, and I have red hard wheat (as well as spelt and rye) for rustic sourdough bread, white hard wheat for breads that are typically lighter & whiter (like focaccia or ciabatta), and white soft wheat for cakes and muffins. (Hard wheat = high gluten, soft = low gluten.)

I don't like whole wheat pasta, though. I mostly buy Trader Joe's brown rice and quinoa pasta, or buckwheat soba noodles. 

Corraleno, have you tried Kamut for pasta? It is so so yummy! I do not like whole wheat for pasta either, but whole grain Kamut (I buy the berries and grind) is so good it is worth the effort to make pasta from scratch. 

Edited by bluemongoose
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I only buy multi-grain bread and that is what my family gets. I never offered any other choices. I bake and make my own tortillas etc when I can and I always bake whole wheat or multigrain breads.

Recently, I saw the "White Bread Done Right" bread in the grocery store and tried it and thought that it was very good! Though I tried it only once, I recommend it to those who want to migrate from white to multigrain bread: https://www.daveskillerbread.com/white-bread-done-right

 

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We rarely eat bread and buy buttermilk bread or potato bread or sourdough bread if we do buy. When I bake bread, my kids ask for milk bread. 
 

ETA: wheat bread will end up being croutons or be moldy from no one eating 

Edited by Arcadia
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1 minute ago, bluemongoose said:

Corraleno, have you tried Kamut for pasta? It is so so yummy! I also do not like whole wheat for pasta, but whole grain Kamut (I buy the berries and grind) is so good it is worth the effort to make pasta from scratch. 

I haven't tried Kamut pasta, but I've used Kamut flour in bread and I have a whole bag of berries. I recently bought some durum berries and a pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, so I will definitely try Kamut pasta!

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4 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I haven't tried Kamut pasta, but I've used Kamut flour in bread and I have a whole bag of berries. I recently bought some durum berries and a pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, so I will definitely try Kamut pasta!

We tried durum and Kamut with the Kitchenaid attachment to make pasta. We decided the Kamut was better. You will have to let me know what you think!

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I don't think white bread is bad if it's part of a nutritious diet with lots of other whole grains, legumes, fruit, and veg. But if breakfast is white toast or a white bagel, lunch is ham & cheese on white bread, and dinner is pizza or pasta made with white flour, that's not healthy. The lack of fiber in American diets is a serious health issue. It freaks me out how many Americans (especially men) are totally dependent on coffee to poop — take away the coffee and nothing will move for days because the diet is so low in fiber. Gut health is so so important; so many crucial neurotransmitters are manufactured by microbes in the gut, and those microbes need a healthy supply of fiber to survive. 

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1 hour ago, bluemongoose said:

BeachGal. White whole wheat is just a different variety of wheat than red whole wheat. Red is the normal brown looking loaf that people expect when you say whole wheat. Red wheat and white wheat are equally nutritious. White has a milder flavor and can be less dense/more fluffy. It is often more palatable to people who prefer white bread. 

Yeah. I wasn’t clear in what I was comparing it to. I meant white whole wheat vs. white bread, like Wonder bread. Isn't the white whole wheat more nutritious than white bread? I only eat bread occasionally from restaurants so don’t buy it or make it.

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28 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I don't think white bread is bad if it's part of a nutritious diet with lots of other whole grains, legumes, fruit, and veg. But if breakfast is white toast or a white bagel, lunch is ham & cheese on white bread, and dinner is pizza or pasta made with white flour, that's not healthy. The lack of fiber in American diets is a serious health issue. It freaks me out how many Americans (especially men) are totally dependent on coffee to poop — take away the coffee and nothing will move for days because the diet is so low in fiber. Gut health is so so important; so many crucial neurotransmitters are manufactured by microbes in the gut, and those microbes need a healthy supply of fiber to survive. 

I monitor how different foods affect my blood sugar and breads just spike it too much for my liking. I try to be below 120-140 within two hours of eating. I love bread, though, and eat it maybe once a week but am happy eating other food, too. Not really a huge fan of seed crackers but I do use them to make seedwiches. LOL

I’ve also tracked my nutrients for periods of time to know which nutrients I need to try to add. That can be very eye opening.

Right now, I am fasting so I’m not eating anything! 

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12 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

Yeah. I wasn’t clear in what I was comparing it to. I meant white whole wheat vs. white bread, like Wonder bread. Isn't the white whole wheat more nutritious than white bread? I only eat bread occasionally from restaurants so don’t buy it or make it.

Yes. I was explaining that white whole wheat and red whole wheat are essentially two varieties of the same thing. So eating white whole wheat bread is more nutritious than white bread.

Longer answer:

White bread is made from white flour. White flour is wheat flour with the germ and bran removed (i.e. the fiber and vitamins and minerals are removed). Whole wheat bread (white or red) is made from whole wheat flour with most of the bran and germ included, but not all. I believe it has to contain 80% of the bran and germ to be counted as whole wheat in the US. Whole grain bread is from flour where none of the germ or bran is removed. All of these can be slightly mislabeled when buying loaves of bread. They can call it whole grain or whole wheat bread if it is mostly whole grain or whole wheat, but if you look at the ingredients, sometimes it will say contains: whole wheat, white flour, etc. So it is actually only a percentage of whole grain or whole wheat. 

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When I still bought bread, it was always whole wheat. I stopped buying factory bread when I realized one summer that the bread was still non-moldy after sitting in a bag for three weeks... goodness knows what stuff they put in there. Nothing that belongs in bread.
I bake my own, half white + half whole wheat. 

There are plenty of other ways to get whole grains into one's diet. Doesn't have to be bread. Home baked white bread is healthier than sliced whole wheat from the supermarket that's full of additives. 

Edited by regentrude
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Dh and I both grew up on Wonder bread but neither of us like pure white bread anymore. We tried but just can't bring ourselves to enjoy 100% whole wheat/whole grain breads so we usually eat a mixed type or some multi-grain breads with oats and such. Ds has grown up on those types of breads. 

7 hours ago, marbel said:

If you bake bread and you really want to have more whole grains, you could mix up the flours - say, 3/4 white flour to 1/4 whole wheat to start. Or try buying white whole wheat flour. I think I have seen white whole wheat bread in a grocery store once.

I've done both of these - mixed whole wheat and white flour and used white wheat flour. I don't think it's just a matter of color. The white whole wheat flour does have a lighter texture than regular whole wheat. I also saw white wheat bread once and bought it but it wasn't as good as when I make it with white whole wheat.

We like the flavor and texture brown rice but it depends on the dish we're eating which one we like. White rice goes better with some things. We also tried wheat pasta and some of those healthy mix types but don't like them. I grew up eating pasta made with semolina flour and I'm dying on that hill. No other pasta will do for me. My pizza dough is a mix of semolina flour and all purpose white flour. 

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Here are some photos showing the difference between red and white wheat. The flour is finely milled soft white wheat with all the bran and germ included. If you look at it closely you can see the bran is very pale yellow, versus the reddish-brown bran you get with red wheat. This flour is great for baked goods like cakes, cookies, and muffins — it's fluffy, sweet, mild flavored, and low gluten. The photo of wheat berries shows the soft white wheat that was used for the flour (top), hard red wheat (center), and hard white wheat (bottom). Hard wheats are much higher in gluten and better for bread. 

 

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Edited by Corraleno
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Yes, mine eat whole wheat anything.  If I buy bread, I buy whole wheat.  Tortillas, bagels, etc. are white flour.  If I make pancakes or muffins at home, I do about half and half whole wheat/white flour because I never mastered fully cooking with only whole wheat flour.  Bread, I did used to make whole wheat or half and half, but lately, if I throw a loaf into the bread maker or dough for rolls I do white.  Spaghetti noodles are easy to buy whole wheat, so I do, but macaroni and such is usually white, just because I am not going to whole foods stores, just trying to make affordable good choices where I am shopping. They have always eaten it because we have always had it. I do not think it would occur to them to get white sandwich bread because they have never had it.  I did use to buy whole wheat hot dog and hamburger buns, but now I shop at Aldi, and they only have white. 

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