White is out.

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Replies

  • SmoothP
    SmoothP Posts: 16 Member
    I have a dream, that one day bodyweight will be determined not by the color of the carbs, but by the content of the calories. I have a dream today.
    I eat a cup of table sugar for breakfast, a cup of whey powder for lunch, and a shot of olive oil for dinner. If I work out I drink back my exercise calories with a couple cans of coke.

    Livin' the dream!
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    What's wrong with white bread? Low calorie, decent nutrition. Only advantage whole grain breads have is fiber, and if you get enough fiber in your diet anyway (eat veggies) then there's no reason to change bread.

    Not to mention, the whole wheat and whole grain breads have much worse bioavailability of the actual nutrients in the bread, due to human inability to digest and extract the nutrients from whole wheat hulls, so I don't see many good reasons to replace one with the other, beyond taste preference. Sprouted grains I'm not sold on, because once most plants reproduce and sprout, they lose a lot of their health benefits, not to mention the changes in flavor.

    See, shows how much I know! :) I guess because I've just always believed white flour isn't as healthy. I don't know. haha.

    A loaf of plain white bread sells for $0.99. Whole grain breads sell for $4.00. If you were in the marketing department for a commercial bakery, which would you focus advertising on? The entire "whole grain vs white" campaign is clever marketing, backed up with just enough science to sound legit. When it comes down to it, bread is bread, the nutritional differences between them are really insignificant. Unless you eat several loaves of bread a day, then they might be slightly more substantial, but for the average person who eats a couple slices a day on a sandwich, what goes on the bread is way more important than the bread itself.
  • SmoothP
    SmoothP Posts: 16 Member
    The entire "whole grain vs white" campaign is clever marketing, backed up with just enough science to sound legit.

    Wonder Bread - Classic White - 2 Slices

    140 Calories

    28 g Carbs
    3 g Sugar
    0 g Fiber

    4 g Protein

    2 g Fat

    300 mg Sodium


    Alvarado St. Bakery - Essential Flax Seed Bread - 2 Slices

    100 Calories (-29%)

    18 g Carbs (-36%)
    1g Sugar (-67%)
    5 g Fiber (+++++)

    6 g Protein (+50%)

    2 g Fat (even)

    100 mg Sodium (-67%)
  • Ziggyzambo
    Ziggyzambo Posts: 46 Member
    The entire "whole grain vs white" campaign is clever marketing, backed up with just enough science to sound legit.

    Wonder Bread - Classic White - 2 Slices

    140 Calories

    28 g Carbs
    3 g Sugar
    0 g Fiber

    4 g Protein

    2 g Fat

    300 mg Sodium


    Alvarado St. Bakery - Essential Flax Seed Bread - 2 Slices

    100 Calories (-29%)

    18 g Carbs (-36%)
    1g Sugar (-67%)
    5 g Fiber (+++++)

    6 g Protein (+50%)

    2 g Fat (even)

    100 mg Sodium (-67%)

    First off, a slice is not a standard unit of measure, so this may be comparing apples and oranges. Even if we assume the same weight, what I'm seeing is the opportunity to pay more for a food I like less, just to save a few calories. Like tigersword said, these differences are so small it doesn't matter unless you're eating huge amounts of bread.
  • SmoothP
    SmoothP Posts: 16 Member
    First off, a slice is not a standard unit of measure, so this may be comparing apples and oranges. Even if we assume the same weight, what I'm seeing is the opportunity to pay more for a food I like less, just to save a few calories. Like tigersword said, these differences are so small it doesn't matter unless you're eating huge amounts of bread.
    5 g of fiber vs none isn't a small difference, it's an absolutely massive difference. On top of the digestive tract benefits, the fiber is one of the reasons that the glycemic index of whole grain breads sit at around 50 or below, while Wonder bread is at 73. Cutting 200 mg of sodium isn't something to simply shrug off either. And if you're not eating huge amounts of bread (or even if you are), I don't think the cost between white and wheat is gonna break the bank.

    Some people prefer white bread and it certainly can be part of a healthy diet. But the differences aren't just trivia, and making small improvements to each of your foods adds up to the difference between a deficit and a surplus, between healthy blood sugar and the path to diabetes, between feeling healthy and satiated or hungry and lethargic.

    And after all, if you're not eating a lot of sandwiches, you may as well put ground beef, mayo, and kraft cheese in them instead of chicken breast, dijon mustard, and fresh vegetables. Why pay more just to save a few calories? ;)

    Note: The bread I linked, as per request of the OP, does use lighter slices than Wonder (45 vs 56 g per 2 slices), but is more filling. It has the best protein to carb ratio of any bread I've tried (especially if you subtract fiber and use "net carbs"), and the flax adds Omega-3's as well. And for my palette, the taste is pleasing and the texture lets you know you're actually eating something.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Of course, study after study has shown the human body really doesn't absorb the Omega 3's in flax seeds. Like I said, it's more about bioavailability and digestibility than the raw numbers themselves. If a whole grain bread has 5 grams of protein, but your body can only absorb 2 grams of it, and another bread has only 3 grams of protein, but the body can absorb all 3 grams, guess which one is actually better for you?

    And if you're relying on bread for fiber, you're doing it wrong.

    Oh, and since you think the percentages are a big deal, 25% smaller slices leading to 29% less reported calories is actually a wash. Especially since manufacturers are allowed to subtract 4 calories per gram from the calorie count for each gram of fiber, even though bread has soluble fiber, which still has 4 calories per gram. Gram for gram, that would actually make the whole grain bread more calories.
  • wellbert
    wellbert Posts: 3,924 Member
    damn, and I thought cauliflower and onions were healthy.
  • SmoothP
    SmoothP Posts: 16 Member
    Of course, study after study has shown the human body really doesn't absorb the Omega 3's in flax seeds. Like I said, it's more about bioavailability and digestibility than the raw numbers themselves.
    Link, please.
    If a whole grain bread has 5 grams of protein, but your body can only absorb 2 grams of it, and another bread has only 3 grams of protein, but the body can absorb all 3 grams, guess which one is actually better for you?
    Is this just a bit of internet hyperbole, or are you claiming this level of absorption and that white bread is better for you than whole grains?
    And if you're relying on bread for fiber, you're doing it wrong.
    I don't rely on bread for anything. I eat it because I like it. And in general I prefer my non-animal foods to be filling, high in fiber, and as low as possible in glycemic load.
    Oh, and since you think the percentages are a big deal, 25% smaller slices leading to 29% less reported calories is actually a wash.
    Ziggyzambo was the one who specifically mentioned calories. But I will note that the slices weigh a shade under 20% less, not 25, and are more filling. And what happened to your < 50% absorption argument? ;)

    What I think is that the point of the thread was to suggest alternatives to white bread, which I did as well as show the nutritional info.
  • AliSmith2915
    AliSmith2915 Posts: 12 Member
    Wow. You guys are smart. :) Lol.
  • Jazzyjules71
    Jazzyjules71 Posts: 150 Member
    bump

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