Eating white bread? Should I give it up?

Ducks47
Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I eat one or two servings of white breads a day that is made where I’m from. It is 180 calories each. While it hasn’t affected my weight, I’m worried about my HEALTH. Is this increasing my chances of diabetes? I eat one BIG dessert a week in addition to this but avoid added sugars besides this. Basically, do you think I need to make a change?
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Replies

  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    Only if you want to.... in a mixed media GI index is kinda pointless.
  • Ducks47
    Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
    Hello! The special 40 calorie bread is not available in my country. Thank you for the recommendation though. The white bread I eat has some honey in the dough and I eat it with either butter or eggs/meat and vegetables. I have been worried about my bread habit because of all the talk about white breads turning into sugar and how brown is better and because of my past weight issues (used to be obese). This local bread is only made in white, but I can find non-local brown bread here. Thank you again for all your advice.
  • rikkejohnsenrij
    rikkejohnsenrij Posts: 510 Member
    1: you can easily fit white bread into a healthy diet, as so many others have pointed out. Southern Europe eat a lot of it, and they are actually quite healthy
    2: The color of the berad isn't really important. Some bakeries add barley or melasses to turn the bread brown. If you're concerned about the nutrients in the bread, you should look at the amount of fiber/whole grain. I have no idea how that's labelled where you live, so I cannot help you in finding the best bread
  • MichaelK1007
    MichaelK1007 Posts: 136 Member
    White bread can be known to spike blood sugar levels as it’s high on the glycemic index scale. That being said to answer your question in moderation you should be fine. I assume you track your calories/ macros and maintain a healthy lifestyle. I expect that many people at risk for diabetes don’t always take those steps. Most importantly your doctor would be the best person to advise you as they could best inform you of your risk for diabetes and the steps to best prevent it. Other bread options are Ezekiel bread, flaxseed bread and rye bread.
  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,753 Member
    Have you ever tried making your own bread? It is super easy and satisfying. BTW , the honey or sugar in bread is to activate the yeast and to give the bread some flavor.
  • Ducks47
    Ducks47 Posts: 131 Member
    estherdragonbat wrote: »
    Sugar doesn't cause diabetes. Diabetes causes you to have a problem processing sugar.

    The main causes of T2D are genetics, lack of exercise, obesity, and an overall high-fat/low-fiber diet. (Source: https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/type-2-diabetes/type-2-diabetes-causes). In other words, "white bread and a BIG dessert" are only likely to be a problem if the overall diet is poor. In general, we don't consume hi-GI foods in isolation, but as part of a varied diet. Two slices of white bread daily and one dessert a week isn't likely to have much of any effect if the OP is also eating other foods. Context and dosage.

    I haven’t counted macros. They intimidate me, but I will look into it. I typically eat for breakfast stewed grains such as barley or oats with milk or cream and berries or stone fruits and nuts. My lunch is usually white bread with egg and veg and dinner is usually white bread with beef or chicken thigh and veg. Some days I have stew or potato dumplings. My diet is probably high carb and fat from the bread and dairy. My dessert is probably 700 calories of ice cream. I exercise with weights twice a week for an hour each and bicycle/jog 20-30 minutes two other days. Each day I walk around 8000 steps just to get around.
  • melissa6771
    melissa6771 Posts: 894 Member
    skelterhelter wrote: »
    Replace it with Schmidt's 647 White Bread. You'll thank me later lol.

    This is my favorite bread! Only available in the northeast states though. I usually get the Italian one because they sell it in 2 packs at Costco cheaper.

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,941 Member
    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Have you ever tried making your own bread? It is super easy and satisfying. BTW , the honey or sugar in bread is to activate the yeast and to give the bread some flavor.

    Is that an American thing? I've never had sugar or honey added to the bread I buy in European supermarkets. My current one states: 100g contains 1g sugar (0g added sugar). Only ever bread with a tiny bit of sugar was Middle Eastern flat bread, but it's the last thing on the list of few ingredients, after salt.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Have you ever tried making your own bread? It is super easy and satisfying. BTW , the honey or sugar in bread is to activate the yeast and to give the bread some flavor.

    Is that an American thing? I've never had sugar or honey added to the bread I buy in European supermarkets. My current one states: 100g contains 1g sugar (0g added sugar). Only ever bread with a tiny bit of sugar was Middle Eastern flat bread, but it's the last thing on the list of few ingredients, after salt.

    I have a recipe for bread with a long first rise time - 8 to 18 hours - that calls for just 1/4 t yeast and no sugar - the white bread option: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/almost-no-knead-bread-2-0-290761

    I also have a recipe with a shorter first rise time of 1 to 1.5 hours that calls for a whole package of yeast (2.25 t) and 2 teaspoons of sugar.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    I'd love to have access to bread like that without making my own (which I tend to want to eat all of). Sounds as if you're moderating just fine. Enjoy!

    I stopped making bread because I wanted to eat all of it. With butter. However, my mother was attempting to get me a big Dutch oven for my birthday and accidentally bought me a tiny one. I've made the almost no knead bread in a medium sized Dutch oven, so thought I would try splitting the dough in thirds and baking one small loaf at a time in the tiny pot.

    I baked 1/3, refrigerated 1/3, and froze the remaining 1/3. That made for a good portion for the two of us for dinner, plus a bed time snack with cheese for me.

    ps - the recipe calls for 3 oz of beer. I didn't have any open beer, but I did have an open bottle of hard cider, so used that. It was a fun experiment and resulted in a very interesting flavor.
  • SVZee
    SVZee Posts: 76 Member
    edited December 2018
    yirara wrote: »
    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Have you ever tried making your own bread? It is super easy and satisfying. BTW , the honey or sugar in bread is to activate the yeast and to give the bread some flavor.

    Is that an American thing? I've never had sugar or honey added to the bread I buy in European supermarkets. My current one states: 100g contains 1g sugar (0g added sugar). Only ever bread with a tiny bit of sugar was Middle Eastern flat bread, but it's the last thing on the list of few ingredients, after salt.

    I make bread all the time, using a bread machine, and every recipe I use calls for a small amount of sugar.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Ducks47 wrote: »
    I eat one or two servings of white breads a day that is made where I’m from. It is 180 calories each. While it hasn’t affected my weight, I’m worried about my HEALTH. Is this increasing my chances of diabetes? I eat one BIG dessert a week in addition to this but avoid added sugars besides this. Basically, do you think I need to make a change?

    Is the bread keeping you from meeting your nutritional needs? Are you filling up on things like bread and not getting enough protein or vegetables for example?

    I think what you eat is not going to cause diabetes.
    Is diabetes caused by eating sugar?

    A diet high in calories from any source (including sugar) contributes to weight gain and weight gain increases your risk for type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is caused by genetics and unknown factors that trigger the onset of the disease. Type 2 diabetes is not caused by sugar, but by genetics and lifestyle factors.
    from http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/myths/

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Have you ever tried making your own bread? It is super easy and satisfying. BTW , the honey or sugar in bread is to activate the yeast and to give the bread some flavor.

    Is that an American thing? I've never had sugar or honey added to the bread I buy in European supermarkets. My current one states: 100g contains 1g sugar (0g added sugar). Only ever bread with a tiny bit of sugar was Middle Eastern flat bread, but it's the last thing on the list of few ingredients, after salt.

    There are lots of kinds of bread in America. Some have more sugars added than others. Sourdough bread does not have sugar added usually.

    My understanding is that Europeans use a different wheat and buy bread freshly locally made more.
    Adding sugar can make dough rise faster, cause the bread to be a different consistancy and change shelf life. https://www.aibonline.org/Food-First-Blog/PostId/192/tip-of-the-week-how-do-yeast-salt-and-sugar-impact-finished-bread-and-roll-products
  • aokoye
    aokoye Posts: 3,495 Member
    yirara wrote: »
    L1zardQueen wrote: »
    Have you ever tried making your own bread? It is super easy and satisfying. BTW , the honey or sugar in bread is to activate the yeast and to give the bread some flavor.

    Is that an American thing? I've never had sugar or honey added to the bread I buy in European supermarkets. My current one states: 100g contains 1g sugar (0g added sugar). Only ever bread with a tiny bit of sugar was Middle Eastern flat bread, but it's the last thing on the list of few ingredients, after salt.

    Most of the bread that I buy has a very small amount of sugar in it to activate the yeast. That said, I don't actually eat as much bread in the US as I do when I'm in Europe. I have definitely bought bread in Europe that has sugar (Austria and Germany more specifically) though - here's an example from Spar (the last ingredient is Zuker). It really just depends on the yeast unless it's a bread that is meant to be sweet.

    In terms of the wheat that's used, from what I understand from a recent TV show looking at how local "local" foods are in Germany, there are plenty of companies that use wheat imported from the US which, if you consider how much wheat the US produces, is no surprise. That said, there are significantly more diversity with regards to the way wheat is milled in Germany and Austria and the properties of flour you can get than there is in the US, at least at the consumer market level.

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