I’ll have a Keto Diet update at the end of this post, but today, I want to talk about bread. Bread is a topic that just doesn’t go away. The idea that bread is good, healthy, natural, ESSENTIAL, UNAVOIDABLE, and delicious, is so ingrained in people, that it’s just as hard to break up with as sugar. Bread calls to us, loudly. It’s the epitome of Comfort Food, and I think it’s fair to say most Americans can’t imagine even 1 meal of the day without it.
Here’s an email from a sweet lady ( with 4 kids ) who reads my blog:
I just wanted to let you know how much my husband and I are loving this new way of eating. I have always had a major weakness for bread and now I truly don’t think about it at all! I have slowly been making more of our foods such as sauces and dressings. The best part is that it tastes good, keeps us full, and we are both losing weight. Granted, the weight loss is not fast but it is consistent. Yay!
Before I gave up grains and sugars, I honestly thought doing so would be impossible. So did Mark. How could a meal be normal without bread? What would we eat our pizza toppings on, what about tortilla chips at Mexican Restaurants? Or the hot bread with big salt at a few of our favorite restaurants? I BAKED MY OWN HOMEMADE BREAD every week, for years!! My kids loved that! Do you know how good your house smells when you bake bread? Speaking of kids, how would I fill them up and nurture them without bread?? I think I believed that Bread was an essential Nutrient, like Omega 3 oils.
I was hooked on bread, so was my family. We were pretty normal!
Here’s the Facts: Bread’s not a Nutrient. Bread made with flour and grains makes us fat and sick, and it makes our kids fat and sick.
Bread, whether it’s made from “whole grains”, 100% whole wheat, or sprouted wheat/sprouted soybeans/sprouted lentils, a la Ezekial Bread, ALL GETS BROKEN DOWN IN THE GUT TO SUGAR. That’s the job of our digestion: to break our food down to molecules. Grains are digested/reduced to GLUCOSE, which is the simplest of sugars, ( along with fructose), and then that GLUCOSE is quickly absorbed through the intestine, into the blood stream, where it make our Blood Sugar rise very high, very fast, to be met with a corresponding Big Dose of Insulin.
Look at the ingredient list for Very Thin Pepperidge Farm Whites:
Unbromated Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Soybean Oil, Contains 2 Percent Or Less Of: Yeast, Salt, Nonfat Milk*, Honey, Guar Gum, Wheat Gluten, Vegetable Mono And Diglycerides, Calcium Propionate (To Retard Spoilage), Soy Lecithin And Enzymes. *Adds A Trivial Amount Of Cholesterol.
Maybe you eat Whole Wheat, thinking it’s healthier? Or you’ve switched to Rice Cakes, because they’re so low in calories. Here’s the Glycemic Index ( which rates how quickly a food goes from gut to blood stream ) for bread products:
White Bread = 69
Whole-grain Bread = 72
Wheat Cereal = 67
Table Sugar (sucrose) = 52
Rice Cakes = 77
They’re all bad!
Did you know that every gram of glucose is stored with 3 grams of water? That creates the puffy stomach effect, but eventually, the puffiness spreads to the rest of the body. Cut out sugar and grains and you’ll IMMEDIATELY lose some water weight, the stomach shrinks quickly! 🙂
Something else you’ll lose when you give up bread ( aka sugar), the effect that “Anti-Nutrients”, like Gluten and Phytates and Lectins (G/P/L) have on your body. In a nutshell, G/P/L damage your small intestines which creates Leaky Gut; they attach to vitamins and minerals in the gut and render them useless; and destroy Leptin Receptors.
What about bread’s ADDICTIVENESS? That’s from a protein called GLIADIN. Gliadin has OPIATE properties; that means it works on the Opiate Receptors in our BRAIN. As Cardiologist William Davis says, it doesn’t make us “high”, it makes us WANT MORE. (this doesn’t happen on a high fat-low carb diet; fat triggers SATIETY hormones )
Can anyone deny that after eating a bread filled meal, there’s the feeling of of being stuffed, bloated, and tired? Or worse, hungry again in just a couple of hours? ( that doesn’t happen on a high fat-low carb diet!)
What about the Vitamins, or the Fiber? Will we become malnourished if we don’t eat bread? Will our kids? NO! Bread, cereal, crackers…, anything made with flours, are so processed and stripped of any natural nutrients, that they have to be “ENRICHED”. Enriched means Vitamins and Minerals from China are added back in to replace a FEW ( not all ) of the nutrients destroyed in the processing. When it comes to fiber, we can get all the Fiber we need from Vegetables and Fruits.
Please take the time to click on the links in this Post. You’ll read some great research. Most of us know that bread puts on weight, because everyone’s tried a few days here or there without flour products, and we’ve seen the stomach shrinkage. Unfortunately, WEIGHT IS NEVER A GOOD ENOUGH REASON TO STICK TO A DIET. EVER. That’s why almost 100% of everyone who loses weight, gains it back.
If you learn the SCIENTIFIC REASONS to give up grains/bread/sugar, the reasons why it’s so bad for our brain, our gut, our immune system, our waist line, our kids behavior, our health,.. it makes it easier to stay away from bread. When it’s easier, our brain is more compliant. Our brain doesn’t like Stress and avoids it like the plague. Put your brain at ease by informing it of all the reasons to stay away from bread. You can do this, one day at a time, I promise.
Keto Diet update: Going strong! Still 129, still the least hungry I think I’ve ever been in my entire life, literally. Good energy, good sleep, no complaints. Check out my what I eat page for meal ideas.
Speaking of meal ideas, there’s several delicious “alternative bread” recipes, using almond, coconut, or tapioca flour. Yes, they’re more expensive than wheat flour, but the cheapness of flour products has led to the MASSIVE OVERCONSUMPTION that we Americans are prone to.
Besides, eating these Paleo Breads is honestly more filling because they have more fat, more protein, and more nutrients. Here’s a few recipes ( there’s a million more on the web ):
http://wellnessmama.com/2233/coconut-flour-biscuits/
http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/toasted-sub-sandwich-and-panini/
http://www.rocksolidnutritionandwellness.com/paleo-pizza-crust-recipe-and-a-weight-loss-success-story/