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Is bread really THAT bad for you?

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Kraftwerk

Member
..or grains in general?

I keep hearing different things about bread, from it's O.K to SWEET JESUS NO!

"Eat it in moderation"

"Only before a hard workout"

"It is the worst thing for the human body"

"worse or just as bad a sugar"

Just some of things I have heard about bread.

I made this thread, because I am fucking confused. I love bread, I eat it in moderation, but I have started to get scared/worried after hearing all these bad things about it. Every-time I have some almond butter on toast, I eat it with guilt.

I am not unhealthy/fat but I do like to watch what I eat and try to mainly eat healthy things.

It hasn't caused me to gain weight so far, or any other bad side-effect. Just want to make sure that if it is really that bad in the long-run, then I should cut it altogether.

EDIT: Since it will come up; how about whole-gran, multi-grain and all those healthy advertised breads? Same shit?

What say you, Gaf?

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IceCold

Member
Bread is basically sugar, all refined carbs, and shoots your blood sugar level faster than sucrose. For the calories you get it's also pretty low in nutrients. So if you are worried about your weight you shouldn't eat too much of it.

White bread and multi grain is all the same shit.

 

Fury Sense

Member
bread is great. complex carbs give you long lasting energy. just don't eat anything that says refined or enriched
 

Seanspeed

Banned
It's not about bread, it's simply about sugar. Carbs are sugar.

Its a bit more complicated than that.

Complex vs simple carbs

How much fiber

How active are you

Insulin resistance

Introducing glutens to your body

For most people, I would say that yea, breads aren't very good for you. White bread is pretty much universally bad unless you're going out and doing a long cardio workout immediately after eating. Whole grain bread isn't too bad(complex carb, breaks down slower and allows your body more time to use the energy), but there's an increasingly large amount of evidence that modern wheat can make you feel worse and dramatically increases your risk of celiac disease.

For anybody trying to eat healthy, I would recommend they limit bread when they can. Gluten-free bread would be next best. Whole grain bread after that. White breads last.

EDIT: Did a little fact-checking and it seems that even gluten-free bread can be pretty bad in terms of your insulin response, so thats probably not very good either from a health-standpoint.
 

marrec

Banned
Grains are not the devil, wheat is not the devil, and bread is not the devil.

Don't eat an entire loaf of bread in one sitting and you should be fine.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Grains are not the devil, wheat is not the devil, and bread is not the devil.

Don't eat an entire loaf of bread in one sitting and you should be fine.
That can go for anything, though. If somebody is trying to eat as well as they can, this sort of response isn't very helpful.
 
Grains are not the devil, wheat is not the devil, and bread is not the devil.

Don't eat an entire loaf of bread in one sitting and you should be fine.
There's a lot of people buying two plane tickets each who don't eat bread by the loaf.

I know it was just hyperbole but I want to make the point that the limitations needed for a healthy diet are much stricter than that.
 

A.E Suggs

Member
Grains are not the devil, wheat is not the devil, and bread is not the devil.

Don't eat an entire loaf of bread in one sitting and you should be fine.

Its the devil for those who can't eat right, but I guess the majority of food would be to them.
 

Konka

Banned
Its a bit more complicated than that.

Complex vs simple carbs

How much fiber

How active are you

Insulin resistance

Introducing glutens to your body

For most people, I would say that yea, breads aren't very good for you. White bread is pretty much universally bad unless you're going out and doing a long cardio workout immediately after eating. Whole grain bread isn't too bad(complex carb, breaks down slower and allows your body more time to use the energy), but there's an increasingly large amount of evidence that modern wheat can make you feel worse and dramatically increases your risk of celiac disease.

For anybody trying to eat healthy, I would recommend they limit bread when they can. Gluten-free bread would be next best. Whole grain bread after that. White breads last.

EDIT: Did a little fact-checking and it seems that even gluten-free bread can be pretty bad in terms of your insulin response, so thats probably not very good either from a health-standpoint.

What about Rye?
 

Servbot24

Banned
I generally don't eat bread. If I do I make sure to buy whole grain, locally made. Up until last year though, I ate tons and tons of bread. No huge difference has been made really.

I eat oatmeal by the bucket-loads though.
 
Eating healthy is overrated. Literally everything you eat messes with you in some way. You are going to die. Just eat it in moderation, whatever it is.
 
Not really. It's more of a boogeyman for a lot of the health crowd.
Limit to a few servings a day and you'll be fine.

The lack of veggies and variety and portion size of the American diet is the main culprit of the obesity epidemic.
 

Divvy

Canadians burned my passport
Commercial whole wheat bread also tends to have more sugar added to it than white bread in order to make it taste good, so watch out for that.
 

VALIS

Member
God, I love dietary threads. Almost everything anyone has said has been contradicted by someone else before we even got to post #25. So many people in this world looking to make a living by coming up with the new magic bullet in terms of nutrition and exercise.

I like to apply Occam's Razor to all these nutritional fads. People have been eating bread for many years, but obesity and diabetes as epidemics are rather new.

We eat too much and move too little. Going with that one.
 
God, I love dietary threads. Almost everything anyone has been said has been contradicted by someone else before we even got to post #25. So many people in this world looking to make a living by coming up with the new magic bullet in terms of nutrition and exercise.

I like to apply Occam's Razor to all these nutritional fads. People have been eating bread for many years, but obesity and diabetes as epidemics are rather new.

We eat too much and move too little. Going with that one.

I like this post.
Again, it's just because of the terribleness of the American diet. Eat more veggies and fruit and limit junk food.


Also, as I say in every diet thread:
Make an appointment with a dietitian (not nutritionist) for a professional guide to diet.
 

SeanR1221

Member
My problem with moderation is no one ever clarifies what they mean. Most people I know eat a sandwich every day. Is that moderation? It's easier to just break it down by macros. Obviously not all carbs are created equal, but if the average* person limited themselves to around 100g of carbs a day, they might be better off.

*average as in overweight, sits around all day, American.
 

Rad-

Member
The only decent bread is rye bread. The kind that has hard as fuck shell (these are usually made purely from rye).
 

vatstep

This poster pulses with an appeal so broad the typical restraints of our societies fall by the wayside.
God, I love dietary threads. Almost everything anyone has said has been contradicted by someone else before we even got to post #25. So many people in this world looking to make a living by coming up with the new magic bullet in terms of nutrition and exercise.

I like to apply Occam's Razor to all these nutritional fads. People have been eating bread for many years, but obesity and diabetes as epidemics are rather new.

We eat too much and move too little. Going with that one.
Yup, this is the absolute best creed to live by. We really DO eat too much, and the lack of exercise — hell, a lack of just walking — doesn't help either.

Cut the obvious SHIT out of your diet (cookies, fried food, enriched flour, etc.) and eat more or less whatever you want — just eat like 1/3 of what you're probably accustomed to. Serving sizes at restaurants are unnecessarily massive, but we eat all of it because 1) it's there, 2) it slides down our throats with minimal chewing because it's pure salt/sugar/fat with little fiber, and 3) it's easy to ignore signals that we've had enough of it.

This is an excellent book on the subject: The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Moderation *is* key, but some people want to take things to a higher level than that, and there's nothing wrong with that. Everybody who responds that people should whatever they want, in moderation, well not everybody wants to live their life like that. If they want to closely monitor what they put in their body, they should be able to have the knowledge to do so.

And in the case of bread, so many people are completely ignorant of its effects on the body that they think its ok to eat a lot of it even though thats probably not a good idea. Its mainly because our nutrition education when growing up is pretty terrible and we just dont know any better in a lot of cases. For me, I find it interesting to know what foods are made of and how they effect me, both short-term and long-term. It allows me to make informed decisions in what I eat, and other people might want to eat as healthy as they can, in which case they'd probably want to avoid most breads.
 

Chony

Member
To control my bread intake, I only eat bread that I make myself. Plus, I never add sugar and mix in whole wheat with bread flour (I need those gluten strands). People can believe what they want to believe. Perhaps "Paleo" is the ultimate human diet - but I don't like to limit myself, hence I eat whatever.
 

GRW810

Member
Eat what you want, when you want, how you want. It doesn't matter. If you're worried about calories put a lettuce leaf between two slices of bread.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Eat what you want, when you want, how you want. It doesn't matter. If you're worried about calories put a lettuce leaf between two slices of bread.
How does the lettuce help?

I dont mind that people defend eating bread by saying to use moderation, but why are so many of you averse to knowing the actual details about it? Isn't it good to know this kind of thing? So many people still believe that saturated fats are bad for you, too. Wouldn't it be good to know the truth of the matter? Its ok to unhealthy foods in moderation, but isn't it also good to at least KNOW that its unhealthy? And know WHY its unhealthy?
 
To control my bread intake, I only eat bread that I make myself. Plus, I never add sugar and mix in whole wheat with bread flour (I need those gluten strands). People can believe what they want to believe. Perhaps "Paleo" is the ultimate human diet - but I don't like to limit myself, hence I eat whatever.
That pisses me off because there is no universal when it comes to diet and evolution ( explains the diversity when it comes to lactose or wheat intolerance)
However, some facets of the diet do serve a purpose especially to people with celiac (wheat intolerance) and a liberal version of the diet is great for weight loss.
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
Been backloading shitty carbs with my workout regimen and I've been losing weight while still being able to enjoy white bread for sandwiches, also cookies and stuff. Feels good, man. You don't have to completely remove these things from your diet but manage them. Mainly eat fats and protein throughout the day. Very low amount of carbs if I don't work out.
 

IceCold

Member
God, I love dietary threads. Almost everything anyone has said has been contradicted by someone else before we even got to post #25. So many people in this world looking to make a living by coming up with the new magic bullet in terms of nutrition and exercise.

I like to apply Occam's Razor to all these nutritional fads. People have been eating bread for many years, but obesity and diabetes as epidemics are rather new.

We eat too much and move too little. Going with that one.

Obesity and diabetes epidemic started because government bodies started to demonize fat. When you cut fat, you need another source of energy, ie carbs. Which bread has plenty of. People back in the ate a lot more fat (keeps you full longer - less munching) and were more active (not that they went to the gym or anything, but they walked more, kids played outdoors, etc). So now not only are people eating more carbs, but they are eating worse types fats. Hence the current rise is not only obesity and diabetes, but also hear disease.
 
Obesity and diabetes epidemic started because government bodies started to demonize fat. When you cut fat, you need another source of energy, ie carbs. Which bread has plenty of. People back in the ate a lot more fat (keeps you full longer - less munching) and were more active (not that they went to the gym or anything, but they walked more, kids played outdoors, etc). So now not only are people eating more carbs, but they are eating worse types fats. Hence the current rise is not only obesity and diabetes, but also hear disease.

It started way before that the anti-fat craze. Has more to do with post-WWII society and the rise of fast food.
 
Cut the obvious SHIT out of your diet (cookies, fried food, enriched flour, etc.)

Funnily enough, some paleo-GAFers claim that fried food is not shit for you.

To control my bread intake, I only eat bread that I make myself. Plus, I never add sugar and mix in whole wheat with bread flour (I need those gluten strands). People can believe what they want to believe. Perhaps "Paleo" is the ultimate human diet - but I don't like to limit myself, hence I eat whatever.

Paleo (or at the very least its proponents) often make extremely hyperbolic claims such as the one that rice is poisonous to your body. Hell, I'll give them that wheat likely isn't good but rice seems to be fine if Asia is any indication. I remember some video linked on this site and some Paleo author gave some handwave like "Asia maybe dealt with their obesity already and adapted to rice. Look at the fat buddah statues!"
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Been backloading shitty carbs with my workout regimen and I've been losing weight while still being able to enjoy white bread for sandwiches, also cookies and stuff. Feels good, man. You don't have to completely remove these things from your diet but manage them.
You can lose weight and not be healthy. They are related things, but not one in the same.
 

Ty4on

Member
God, I love dietary threads. Almost everything anyone has said has been contradicted by someone else before we even got to post #25. So many people in this world looking to make a living by coming up with the new magic bullet in terms of nutrition and exercise.

I like to apply Occam's Razor to all these nutritional fads. People have been eating bread for many years, but obesity and diabetes as epidemics are rather new.

We eat too much and move too little. Going with that one.

And everything has to be simplified into good or bad making everything with carbs bad all of a sudden. When it comes to bread there's like a million different ways to make it. Are oat and rye breads really all that bad for your health?
Funnily enough, some paleo-GAFers claim that fried food is not shit for you.

Has to be the most selfish fad ever. No grains? You mean what makes it possible for there to be 7 billion people on this earth?
 

whitehawk

Banned
My entire family avoids gluten products (except me, although I have cut down). Seems to be a trend recently. If you go into a grocery store there are gluten-free versions of everything now.
 

BlueTsunami

there is joy in sucking dick
You can lose weight and not be healthy. They are related things, but its not one in the same.

That's true. I'm gaining muscle mass too, getting stronger. But I've got to wonder how this diet will effect me in time as far as dangers unseen. The carbs are only being used as a way to induce muscle growth so in time I can see myself dropping carbs and sweets even lower when all I need to do is maintain my body fat level and muscle mass. All I know is this regimen is really working out for me right now.
 
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