I just don't get sliced white bread. or why some people - even those with their own teeth - say they can't eat anything else. In my book, a sandwich or a slice of toast made with white bread is a lost opportunity to eat some decent fibre and nutrients, not to mention sink your teeth into a slice of something dense and chewy - preferably with some seeds thrown in as well. Still, as the price of bread rises, the white stuff is looking incredibly cheap - a loaf of Home Brand white sliced costs $1.09, a fraction of the price of a loaf from the Burgen range ($4.95) or the $6.50 I paid for a small loaf of Sonoma whole grain sourdough rye with a thick layer of sunflower seeds on top. It was almost as heavy as a brick which meant that it passed my test for choosing a healthier bread - in my experience, the heavier the bread, the better it's likely to be.

Is it worth paying the extra money? Definitely - not only because better breads taste better, but because you eat less of them, says Judy Davie, one of the authors of Star Foods, a new nutrition guide from ABC Books which explains how to choose the best performing foods from each food group.

When it comes to bread, Davie, and co-author, nutritionist Dr Joanna Mcmillan Price, have given five star ratings to pumpernickel, sourdough breads made with whole grain or rye and the heavier wholegrain breads made from wholewheat flour and added grain. Wholemeal, however, doesn't rate so highly - neither does multigrain bread, which Davie and McMillan Price say is made with white flour with a few grains added.

What's wrong with wholemeal? Strictly speaking, a bread made with wholemeal flour can be labelled whole grain because it does contain the whole grain - ie the wheat's bran and germ, the nutritious bits that are removed to make white flour - in the same proportion as found in whole grain bread. But because the fibre in wholemeal flour is ground so finely, it has a higher Glycemic Index than denser whole grain breads.

"Wholemeal bread might have more fibre than 100% white flour and more nutrients but, like white flour, it has a high GI and doesn't keep you feeling full for very long," says Davie. "Any bread made with wholewheat flour is more nutritious than white as it's the outer husk surrounding the wheat - stripped away to make white flour - that contains the majority of nutrients." This makes it nutritionally better than white bread, but not as a nutritious as a good whole grain bread - one that's brown in colour, heavy in weight and with the most visible grain kernels, say Davie and McMillan Price.

What's so good about pumpernickel, according to Star Foods , is that it's made from whole grain rye, is very high in fibre, and packed with nutrients including B vitamins and iron, is low GI - and again, hard to overeat, says Judy Davie.

Wholegrain sourdough and rye sourdough get a five star rating for combining both the nutrients and fibre from a whole grain with the GI lowering benefit that comes with making bread with an acidic sourdough starter (made from fermenting flour and water) rather than yeast.

My pick of the best breads? If I'm supermarket shopping it's Burgen rye or soy and linseed, but if I'm at the deli or health food shop or market I'll get breads from smaller bakeries like Common Ground, Sonoma, Bowen Island or La Tartine. I also love Pure Life's Sprouted Essene bread - a very moist heavy bread made with sprouted wheat or rye that's almost like cake. Lower in salt, but higher in protein than most breads, a single slice keeps you going for hours.

我不吃白面包。為何一些人（甚至那些還有牙的人）說他們除此之外不能吃別的東西呢？我認為，帶有白面包片的三明治或吐司喪失了攝取優質纖維和營養素的機會，更不必說猛吃一片什么又稠又粘的東西了——它或許也添加了一些果仁。因為面包價格上漲了，白面包片看起來難以置信的便宜—— 一塊小品牌的白面包花費$1.09美元，是Burgen系列面包價格($4.95)或者一塊面上有一層厚厚瓜籽的Sonoma全麥面包價格($6.50)的一小部分。幾乎和磚頭一樣重，這意味著它通過了我挑選健康面包的測試。以我的經驗，面包越重，可能越好。

健康面包值得多付錢嗎？當然。不僅因為優質面包味道更好，而且你吃的會少很多，Judy Davie說，《星級食物》的作家之一，ABC叢書的一個新營養指導解釋了如何從各類食物中選擇最好的。

當談到面包時，Davie和另一名合著者，Joanna Mcmillan Price博士，已給予黑面包，全谷物或黑麥發酵面包，以及全麥粉加谷物制成的較重的全麥面包五星級別，全麥面粉卻沒有得到如此高的級別——雜糧面包也沒有，Davie和Mcmillan Price說，雜糧面包是用白面加谷物做成的。

全麥面粉有什么問題嗎？嚴格來講，以全麥粉制成的面包應該標有全谷物標志，因為它確實含有全谷顆粒，即麥麩和微生物——被除去以制造白面的營養成分與全谷物面包中的比例一樣。但是因為全麥粉纖維被碾磨的很細微，它的Glycemic指數比全麥面包含更高。

“全麥面包或許比純白面粉含有更多纖維和營養素，但是，和白面粉一樣，它有高glycemic指數，會使你在短時間內感覺饑餓”Davie說道。“任何用全麥面粉做成的面包都比白面包更加營養，因為全麥是麥子被脫掉用以制造白面的外殼——它含有麥子的大部分營養。”這使得全麥在營養上優于白面包，但是不像優質全谷物面包那么有營養。全谷物面包的色澤為棕色，重量較大，并帶有看的到的果仁，Davie和Mcmillan Price說道。

黑面包有什么好處呢？按照星級食物標準，黑面包是用全黑麥做成的，富含纖維，以及各類包括維生素B和鐵在內的營養元素，同時，低glycemic指數，并且不容易過量食用，Judy Davie說道。

全谷物發酵面包和黑麥發酵面包得到了五星級別，因為它們融合了全谷物的營養和纖維，又因為使用酸性面起子（酵素和水制成）而非酵母，帶有低GI的好處。

我如何選擇最好的面包？如果我在超市購物，會選擇Burgen的黑麥或亞麻面包。但是，如果我在熟食店，健康食品店或市場，我會從小型烘焙房例如：Common Ground, Sonoma, Bowen Island 或者 La Tartine購買。我也喜歡純生品牌的麥芽面包——一種很濕很重的面包，用麥芽或黑麥制成，幾乎像蛋糕。低鹽，但是比大部分面包都含有更高的蛋白，一片能維持你幾個小時。