Cutting out Bread .

[Banjo]

It regullarilly seems to come up in weight loss threads that cutting out bread is a good idea.

I have got down from being seriously obese to the top end of the healthy weight bracket . I still have noticeable layer of lard around the middle that I would like to shift but my weight has remained fairly constant now for the last 6 months or so.

I do eat a considerable amount of wholemeal bread each week (probably about 6 slices per day) would cutting out all or some of the bread be a good option for me?

I cycle at least 100 miles/ week .More in summer.

 

[Dayvo]

Most breads contain sugar - some more than others.

However, I believe the biggest problem is what you put on the bread!

Butter or margarine, plus cheese, jam, chocolate spread, pate, honey, treacle, peanut butter, fried eggs, bacon etc. etc.

If you're sensible, you can eat more or less what you like, but in moderation, and to make sure you do enough exercise to burn off surplus calories.

Then there is the alcohol aspect to take into consideration!

Calories are easy to take in excess, but not so easy to reduce with regard to a healthy diet. And as someone said on another post, it's shouldn't be a diet or fad, it should be a change of eating habits.

Just try what seems right for you, and if you get pangs of guilty conscience, you know you're doing it wrong!

 

[rsvdaz]

wholemeal is a lot better than white bread.
white bread has a lot of what is considered "bad" (processed) carbs.

6 slices seems a lot though

 

[j66]

I recently stopped eating bread and all irritable bowel problems have completely disappeared. I wish I'd stopped eating it twenty years ago. Thanks for the barium enema though, doc, that was fun - couldn't you have suggested a bread-free diet, hmm? Just thought I'd share

 

[Ben M]

Reducing your carbohydrate intake is a fairly easy change to make to your diet and is very effective way to lose weight.

If you look at a "normal" meal it's usually meat, veg and a starch item (rice, potatoes, bread pasta etc.) Having the same meal without the starch and with more meat and veg instead is a fairly easy change to make and will help you lose weight.

Things that you have to look out for are "low fat" options, these are often advertised as being really low in fat, what you need to realise is that such products often contain a large amount of carbohydrate, usually sugars. Yoghurt is the worst product for doing this, my mum is on a low carb diet (low carb, not no carb like Atkins) and she eats lots of yoghurt, her favourite is actually 10% fat, most people recoil at that figure because of the ingrained belief that fat content= bad. Eating that yoghurt is much better than another product which is the same kcal/100g but is full of sugar.

 

[jimboalee]

The human being should try to avoid eating anything that contains pulverised grass seeds. That's 'refined grains' to most people, ie Flour.

It is a recent addition to the human's diet, approx 12,500 years ago. It is extremely high calorie, about 1700 calories for an 800g loaf.

It should only be eaten if you intend to be an oarsman on a galleon which will be rowing the length of the Mediterranean.

Otherwise, steer clear.

 

[Baggy]

For the last two months or so I've cut back on bread, pasta and potatoes. I've upped the mileage a bit too, with the result my clothes are all much looser. I still weigh exactly the same, but have definitely lost quite a lot of flab, so it's got to be worth a try.

 

[automatic_jon]

I wouldn't know what to eat if I were to cut out bread! Man cannot live on ryvita alone!

 

[Banjo]

The human being should try to avoid eating anything that contains pulverised grass seeds. That's 'refined grains' to most people, ie Flour.

It is a recent addition to the human's diet, approx 12,500 years ago. It is extremely high calorie, about 1700 calories for an 800g loaf.

It should only be eaten if you intend to be an oarsman on a galleon which will be rowing the length of the Mediterranean.

Otherwise, steer clear.

Think i would rather be the guy at the back who beats out the time on a drum

Seriously though if a loaf is 1700 cal. then I think that reducing my bread intake has got to be good.

 

[rich p]

I'm no expert but I cut down on the amount in each portion of carbs rather than trying to give them up. It doesn't take as much discipline to have 2 instead of 4 spuds, 1 sandwich round not 2 etc. The other thing I did was to cook and serve the whole dinner rather than put dishes onto the table where greed and thrift encouraged me to keep picking after the meal.

 

[rogersavery]

I have replaced most of my bread intake with pita breads, 1 pita is around half the calories of 2 slices of bread, and tastes really good without butter

 

[yello]

her favourite is actually 10% fat, most people recoil at that figure because of the ingrained belief that fat content= bad. Eating that yoghurt is much better than another product which is the same kcal/100g but is full of sugar.

Indeed, not all calories are created equal! Fat is not necessarily fattening and (fast) carbs mess with the blood sugar levels. From what I've read, it's the latter with its related effect on insulin production that stimulates fat storage.

 

[darkstar]

Will cutting down on bread increase weight loss? Yes, same with white pasta and potato, try whole meal pasta. Don't bother taking bread out of your diet all together, unless you really feel it's possible. It sounds like you like the stuff, as it makes up quite a proportion of your daily food intake.

 

[ChrisBD]

I've pretty much nailed bread and bread products out of my diet.

Going from anything up to 6 slices a day (toast, sandwiches etc) to what now amounts to one very thin home made pizza a week.

White pasta has long since been off the shelves in our house, swaped for wholeweat. Rice I try to reduce to reduce to maybe one or two portions a week; I hate brown rice so it has to be white, which is why I try to keep this low.

Changing my outlook on carbs and bread products in particular has helped; as has having the same outlook with beer (I drink more red wine) and sugar. I may not have lost loads of lbs, but I certainly feel better and much less bloated.

 

[Crankarm]

We thank thee who giveth us our daily bread ...................

Bread does actually contain one or two beneficial ingredients of our diet.

White bread is the Devil's own sustenance.

Wholemeal is just fine. A couple of slices a day isn't going to do any harm. It has slow release carboydrates and helps keep one mobile.

As was suggested it's what people load onto the bread that causes problemos such as Nutella or spoonfuls of jam.