Are you not sure whether you should eat bread? Does the idea of eating even the healthiest bread make you tremble with fear? Is bread a healthy food item? Or should we leave it by the wayside? You’ll learn everything you need to know about bread and its nutritional value soon.
Bread and Your Weight
Can you blame bread for the extra weight you’re carrying? Perhaps. Health experts state that many overeat bread and other grains. When people eat a lot of bread, they naturally want to eat more of it. For the most part, more tend to reach for white bread and other types of refined grains such as pretzels and crackers. These items can contribute to weight control issues.
When you eat whole grains, you can go a long way towards dealing with your weight issues. For example, one study showed that people who ate a low-calorie diet that included whole grains lost a lot more weight than those who ate refined grains. Refined grains have food items such as white bread and white rice.
Whole grains give you more vitamins and minerals, and fiber than their refined grains cousins. But just because whole wheat bread is healthy doesn’t mean that you can overeat this food item. So, when eating whole grains, account for it in your daily calorie count.
Bread and Diabetes
When you eat less bread and red meat, sugary beverages, and processed foods, as well as eating more whole foods like fruits and vegetables, whole grains, poultry, and fish, all of this will lower your risk of type 2 diabetes. Carbs can raise your blood sugar levels. But all carbs aren’t created the same. Refined grains and sugars can grow your blood sugar a lot faster than complex carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates can be found in such foods as vegetables and beans. That’s because we digest complex carbohydrates at a slower rate. That lowers the chances of your blood glucose levels spiking.
This information can be vital to people with type 2 diabetes. People who have type 2 diabetes have trouble controlling their blood sugar levels. By cutting back on refined grains and eating more whole grains, you’ll get more fiber. Getting more fiber into your system through eating the healthiest bread you can afford can help with the absorption of carbohydrates.
Bread and Gluten Sensitivities
Gluten has gotten a lot of negative press in the past few years. Gluten is the protein that one can find in rye, wheat, and barley. Some people can’t eat any gluten because they have celiac disease. A person who has celiac disease has an immune system that triggers a reaction that attacks their bodily system. More people are getting a positive diagnosis for celiac disease. Others have a gluten sensitivity.
How Much Healthy Bread is Too Much?
If you’re eating a 2,000-calorie diet, you’ll need to eat six servings of grain a day. Half of those servings should come from whole grains. You will also need to keep portion control in mind. One bagel can give you three to five ounces of your grain servings. That’s a large portion of your grain budget. If the bagel you eat isn’t a whole grain one, it might become harder to meet your whole grains servings goals.
How to Buy Healthy Bread for You and Your Family
Always pick whole grain: When picking bread items, select those that have “whole grain” as the very first ingredient. “Multi-grain” or “wheat bread” may or may not be a whole grain, so exercise caution with these items.
Eat less: Eat smaller portions when it comes to consuming bread items such as English muffins, sandwich thins, or bagel thins. You can also eat two-ounce burger buns.
Color: You always want to check the ingredients as some bread manufacturers dye their refined bread a darker color so that they look like wheat bread.