The whiter the bread - the sooner you're dead!

[David H]

Not quite the alarmist subject line you may think!

Which foods promote diabetes?
an article written by Anne Hart from the Sacremento Examiner.


A big slice of white bread will spike your blood sugar.
Whole wheat bread also will raise your blood sugar.
See, "Whole Wheat Bread Causes Blood Sugar Rise."
Whole wheat and white bread have essentially the same impact on blood sugar.
You might as well be eating a big spoonful of sugar.
Another way of saying this is that most bread has a high glycemic index.
You need to find high-fiber whole sprouted grains, even flourless breads, and no-yeast breads.

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[Northerner]

I believe that white bread actually spikes the blood quicker than sugar (sucrose) as it has less of a chemical conversion to go through, and a lot of wholemeal bread is just as bad - some of it (the cheaper loaves) is actually coloured brown! I much prefer seeded bread, have never understood why so many people go for white bread, or why it dominates the supermarket shelves.

 

[mcdonagh47]

Not quite the alarmist subject line you may think!

Which foods promote diabetes?
an article written by Anne Hart from the Sacremento Examiner.


Sounds alike a great new diabetic myth - "Bread causes Diabetes".

 

[Caroline]

I am the only one in our house who will eat wholemeal/whole grain bread. If I buy it, only half ever gets used...

 

[Copepod]

So freeze half the loaf, then you won't waste so much....

 

[Ellie Jones]

Oh dear sounds like the extreme low carb diet is doing the rounds again..

I can not obide wholemeal bread is horrible stuff..

I do like grannary bread though and well toast isn't toast unless it's a nice thick piece of white bread🙄

Spike wise I don't find much difference from white to grannary bread both react about the same with me...

 

[Twitchy]

Hmm. Spongy white sliced rubbish I could live without, but surely a lovely yummy crusty french baguette (ie the pukka stuff, made in France) is worth dicing with pre-emptive boluses for?

I do make my own Irish soda bread, which is yummy, but often supermarket brown loaves can be quite unappealing. Oaty loaves are nice though...

 

[AlisonM]

The white bread thing is down to the upper classes' preference for smoother more refined flours. It was a snob thing that really took off during the Victorian era as wealthier women gained more freedoms and started visiting tea rooms which were deemed 'respectable' (Tea at the Ritz anyone?), so white bread became even more fashionable. It used to be the more expensive option too, until automated manufacturing techniques took over the bread industry when refined flours served the machinery better than rough ones which could clog things up.

I bless my little bakery next door to work, what little bread I eat these days is wholegrain and baked in their own premises each day. Their produce doesn't seem to send my numbers into the stratosphere. It costs mind you, but I only have about one small loaf a week, so it's worth it.

 

[Mark T]

My wife eats white, mostly because brown breads can set her IBS off (plus she doesn't like the taste of them).

We have not tried Burgen for her yet, but she suspects the seeds/grains might set her off and doesn't fancy the look of the texture (less seedy granary breads she is fine with).

I've been tempted a few times to buy a bread maker, but there is no detail on the GI of the various bread mixes so I don't want to spend the money to find that it is useless. Besides Burgen works for me

 

[FM001]

Never minded white bread once over but in recent times I made the switch to Burgen bread and now hate the taste of supermarket style white bread. When I was in Portugal the local bakery did a fine crusty white loaf, it was great and unlike what we eat here and went extremely well with cheese & onion in a doorstop sarnie.

 

[Steff]

Pleased I avoid it now only have vogel or nutty brown bread as I call it

 

[heasandford]

I believe that white bread actually spikes the blood quicker than sugar (sucrose) as it has less of a chemical conversion to go through, and a lot of wholemeal bread is just as bad - some of it (the cheaper loaves) is actually coloured brown! I much prefer seeded bread, have never understood why so many people go for white bread, or why it dominates the supermarket shelves.

I too love granary/seeded bread, but is it really true that there is less to chemically alter from sucrose to glucose than starch to glucose? - seriously, Id like to know! Some beautifully dense white breads are just glorious! - not sure whether they are as bad?

It is also illegal to call bread 'wholemeal' unless it is - I used to work for Rank's although not directly in the flour milling business. A lot of white bread in the UK is made with UK wheat which isn't really suitable for bread-making, but a process was developed so it could be used. Good idea in theory, making UK more self-sufficient - shame about the bread!

Sorry, one of my favourite rants - I agree seedy bread is much nicer, make mine in the bread-maker

 

[Northerner]

I too love granary/seeded bread, but is it really true that there is less to chemically alter from sucrose to glucose than starch to glucose? - seriously, Id like to know! Some beautifully dense white breads are just glorious! - not sure whether they are as bad? ...

It's got something to do with the fact that sucrose is glucose+fructose, but starch is just glucose, so there is one step less in digesting it and getting it into the bloodstream. I'm sure someone who knows the proper science can explain it better! 🙂

 

[Tezzz]

I get the organic what I call 'heavy duty' bread from the health food shop.

It's got lots of bits in it with a dark, hard texture. I slice it and freeze it.

 

[Carina1962]

I made the mistake of having a ciabatta at the weekend and it put my BS level to double figures - i won't be eating that again!

 

[Northerner]

I made the mistake of having a ciabatta at the weekend and it put my BS level to double figures - i won't be eating that again!

Naan bread does that to me - only had it once since diagnosis and never again! 😱

 

[Claire42]

phew - the bread debate - a minefield! The bread in the UK (and US), as in sliced, in pack, mostly white (or coloured in as my daughter said after she'd been listening to us rant on about it one time!) has proven bad for us in so many ways (I say us as in my family). from blood sugars over 20 to aggravating IBS and many places in between.

Burgen and Vogel are delicious, home made is best but not always practical (the 'Wessex Cobber' flour from Wessex Mill, available online and in some stores is great though, and it doesnt take long), and then there is the actual hand made bakery stuff (rather than baked off in the back).

Anecdotally based on my diabetic's blood sugars the sourdoughs white or brown seem to have less affect on his sugars, the dense nutty or seedy breads are even better, and spelt bread seems to have a much gentler digestive process. Also have found that the Food Doctor pitta breads seem to not raise his sugars in the same way a standard sandwich does.

However on the occasions when we are lucky enough to get to France or the like, then some baguette or the occasional croissant seems easier to balance when teamed with a good walk!

🙂 Claire

 

[AlisonM]

Naan bread does that to me - only had it once since diagnosis and never again! 😱

Me too! And it's heartbreaking, a curry just isn't the same without a naan. But I've learned that the price of white bread of any kind is too high to risk. The only thing that sends me higher is spuds.

 

[SusieGriff]

I love the new oat bread, and one slice doesn't make my levels rise at all, and it fills me up for longer. I don't eat white bread at all these days, but remember the taste.. oh so well.... of a huge slice of home-made white bread from my bread maker, toasted, with real butter on..... another one of those...' those were the days' moments.

 

[eat2live]

i'm bloody starving now!!!!🙂 xx