You are NOT an idiot if you have thought/think that:
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Bread is fattening
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Bread won’t support your weight loss goal
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Bread will prevent you from having abs
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You have some kind of intolerance to bread because it makes you bloated
Why?
Because there is so much bullsh*t out there telling you it is so.
From my experience (and from my dieting history – I once cut out bread & all wheat/gluten produce for 2 years FYI) a lot of people tend to follow very restrictive diets that they cannot adhere to long term. So when that dieter finally crumbles and gives in to the food that they have restricted their body reacts in an unfamiliar way…well hello, bread bloat.
Here’s the thing, if you cut ANYTHING out of your diet for some time, your desire to eat it grows. You know I’m right, if you’ve ever ‘cut out chocolate for lent’ you’ll know that every day you spend a few minutes on google checking the date lent ends (secretly hoping that time difference doesn’t matter and that if you pretended to live in Australia for a day you might be able to eat chocolate sooner).
When the desire to eat something you’re told not to becomes an obsession, at some point you’re gonna break, you’re going to say “f*ck it” and eat the bread. At that point, though it’s probably going to be covered in cheese and tomato, stone-baked with a garlic and herb hip….
15mins after:
“I AM ALLERGIC TO BREAD I KNEW IT”
“I FEEL AWFUL LOOK HOW BLOATED I AM, SEE BREAD IS FATTENING”
The next morning:
“I KNEW IT BREAD IS SO FATTENING, I’VE GAINED 3LBS OVERNIGHT!!!”
No. Nope.
You probably just ate the equivalent of half of a loaf worth of calories (and then some) which is why you have gained a few pounds, and is why you feel bloated.
But, what if you didn’t eat a pizza, what if you did eat a cheese and pickle sandwich and felt bloated after?
Well this is a ‘it depends’ scenario.
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Maybe you haven’t eaten for a few hours and have a bit of trapped wind.
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Maybe you ate too fast.
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Maybe you ate a cheese and pickle sandwich, an apple, a fizzy drink and a flapjack too. All 3 foods are high in fibre and the fizz in your drink is going to bloat you too….
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Maybe you do suffer with IBS and bread is a trigger food for you
Most people bloat a little after eating a meal regardless of what it was, especially if you have eaten a carbohydrate high in fibre so bloating a little is normal. However, if you are experiencing extremely painful bloating, it causes you to have unfortunate trips to the toilet and you feel ill then I suggest you speak to a Nutritional Therapist or Dietician to help you.
ANYWAY this isn’t about bloating, this is about why BREAD DOESN’T MAKE YOU FAT.
Bread, like any energy source, or food source for that matter will contribute to weight gain if you OVER-EAT IT.
The thing about bread is that if eaten alone, it’s not that filling.
2 slices of jam on toast won’t tie you over for that long.
Bread is a carbohydrate, carbohydrates = 4kcals per gram.
A regular slice of white bread is around 100kcals give or take, therefore 2 slices of jam on toast could easily equate to 200-300kcals. That’s not that high in calories, but like I said it just doesn’t fill you up for that long, there are other breakfasts out there that you could eat which would fill you up for longer.
Let’s say for example you’ve had jam on toast for breakfast at 8am, it filled the gap but you are hungry again by 9am/10am, you have a snack, lunch and snack, afternoon snack and so on. Your total days worth of calories then ends up being higher than planned because you didn’t ‘fill-up’ at breakfast time. Now let me makes this very clear there’s nothing wrong with this at all! If you prefer eating smaller more regular meals then that’s absolutely ok. All I am suggesting here is that if weight loss is your goal you need to make sure you are eating within a calorie deficit, and sometimes some people find this harder to do when they feel hungry a lot throughout the day. Everyone is different.
Following on from that let me make something very clear, if you want to lose body fat/lose weight (it’s the same thing) you need to be in a calorie deficit for a length of time.
If you have cut any food that you normally eat (bread for example) out of your diet you will be in some form of calorie deficit. Therefore you will lose weight.
BUT you don’t need to cut certain foods out of your diet to follow a calorie deficit.
In fact following a calorie deficit that is inclusive of the foods that you enjoy is going to be more enjoyable and easier to adhere to longer-term, why? Because you don’t feel deprived.
Deprivation ignites rebellion.
Let’s round up with some whole-grain, no sorry I meant whole-hearted bread loving fun happy facts:
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Bread is a nutritious food. It is high in fibre, calcium, B vitamins, protein and calcium.
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It tastes very yummy, toasted or with a filling, served with eggs and bacon….I am hungry writing this.
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There are lower-calorie bread options out there if you like eating a lot of bread.
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There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods.
If you look ay the populations of the “blue zones” throughout the world, they all eat bread and other carbohydrate sources that include whole grains too.
White bread is healthy, brown bread is healthy, brown seeded bread is also healthy, the only difference is the fibre and fat content. Seeded brown bread is usually higher in fibre and fat thus resulting in it being slightly higher in calories than white bread.
NO ONE FOOD IS GOING TO MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT unless it causes you to overeat on it. Therefore it is not the food that has caused you to gain weight, it is the total amount of calories consumed.
Final take home….
Life is too short, eat the bread.
Unless you are celiac, then definitely don’t eat the bread.
With Love, Angi x
