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5 Terrific Reasons To Skip The White Bread Once And For All
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Most people already know that white bread isn’t really good for you and that one of the quickest and easiest ways to improve your health is to simply ditch the Wonder bread for some whole grain bread, but it’s really a bit more complicated than that.
You might not think twice about that morning bagel you take to work with you. Or the basket of bread rolls they serve at your favorite restaurant. Saturday night pizza not only comes with extra thick crust but sometimes they even come with bread sticks!
Let’s take a quick look at why you need to look at your white bread habit and ditch these diet disasters once and for all.
1. Almost No Nutritional Value
Yes, no one is denying that bagels and pizza are super delish, but at the end of the day, there really is one reason we are eating: To provide our bodies with nourishment. White bread comes from refined flours. When we refine wheat, the outermost, and innermost layers are removed from the grain. This processes also removes almost all of the health compounds that are in wheat! This leaves you with nothing more than a bit of fiber and starch. That’s about it. Enriched flour has some nutrients, such as iron and B vitamins put back, but these are synthetic in nature and are hardly a match for the whole grain goodness you are missing out on.
2. Erratic Blood Sugar Levels
White bread is quickly digested and absorbed by the body, since it has almost no fiber or protein to slow down digestion. This leads to a quick rise in blood sugar levels. This quick increase, then crash, not only leaves you feeling crabby, but it also will leave you hungry. You will find yourself heading to the vending machine soon afterwards.
3. Increases Your Risk of Diabetes
When our blood sugar rises quickly, the body puts out excessive amounts of insulin to push that sugar into the cells of the body. When this happens frequently, our cells get tired of being “pushed around” and they become resistant to insulin. Over time, this can lead to problems controlling your blood sugar. Studies show that those who eat whole grains regularly, rather than white bread, have lower amounts of the kind of fat that increases the risk of diabetes.
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4. Can Cause Depression
Although it might make you happy as long as you are eating it, a new study found a link between the consumption of white bread and depression in post-menopausal women. The same response that causes blood sugar levels to crash is also the same one responsible for feelings of fatigue, mood swings, and depression. This study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in June of 2015.
5. Causes Weight Gain
When we eat refined carbs, such as white bread, any surplus sugar in your blood that you do not use immediately for activity, will be stored right away as fat. Usually, belly fat. Rapid digestion of carbs leads to increased hunger and cravings for more sugar or carbs, which can cause you to reach for even more of the same. This usually means that you will end up eating more than you intended, which will lead to some serious weight gain.
How can you avoid this?
1. When dining out, ask your waiter to skip the bread basket or bread sticks. If you are dying for something to munch on before your food arrives, get an appetizer with fresh vegetables and a light dip or order a side salad.
2. Always buy 100 percent whole wheat or 100 percent whole grain products. Be sure to read the label. Many breads can fool you when they list “whole wheat bread” in big letters on the package. Containing whole wheat is not the same thing as being made from 100 percent whole wheat.
READ ALSO: Why You Should Never Ever Eat Store Bought Bread
3. Make smart food swaps. Even 100 percent whole wheat or whole grain bread can really blow a hole in your calorie count for the day. Find ways you can still enjoy your food without the bread. Try using leafy wraps for sandwiches, instead of bread. Rather than pizza, make your own zucchini pizza boats! If you love pasta, try using zucchini pasta rather than regular, white bread pasta. There are hundreds of healthy swaps so you can please both your taste buds and your waistline at the same time!
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