Wheat Bread - To Eat Or Not to Eat?

Most people who are trying to lose weight are familiar with the good carbohydrates versus bad carbohydrates debate. However, there is a lot of ambiguity about whether whole wheat bread constitutes a "good carb" or a "bad carb."

Whole wheat bread is an alternative to white bread and is made by whole wheat flour. Most nutrition experts recommend whole grain foods; in fact, WebMD says that whole grains are low in fat, cholesterol free, and contains 10-15% protein, as well as offer loads of minerals, vitamins, phytochemicals, etc. Whole wheat is a whole grain, so doesn't that mean that whole grain bread should be healthy?

Not necessarily! The problem is that the FDA gives a lot of leeway in terms of labeling products. In fact, there's a big difference between "whole wheat" and "100% whole wheat" and "wheat germ," etc. Just like there is good and bad bread, there is apparently also good and bad wheat bread. So how do you figure out what you should eat?

First, look at the ingredients listed on the back of the bread bag.

What you want to look for:
Reasonable serving sizes. 90-100 calories per slice is reasonable.
High fiber counts (4 grams or more)
Whole wheat flour, listed as the FIRST ingredient on the label
0.5 grams of saturated fat or less per slice

What you want to avoid:
Wheat flour
Enriched bleached flour. (Avoid "enriched" anything)
High fructose corn syrup
Partially hydrogenated soybean oil
Unbleached enriched wheat flour (avoid "unbleached" anything)
High sodium levels. (You want bread that has 200 mg or less of sodium per slice)
Sugar, especially when it's listed in the top three ingredients.

If you avoid bread that has these items in the ingredients, you're going to eliminate 90-100% of the breads available to you at the grocery store. Be picky about your health; aren't you worth it?

Best Purchasing Bets:

Okay, I seriously just spent three hours at work researching this exact question. "What should I buy, then?"

I can't find the answer.

Oh, I can find all kinds of articles lauding the benefits of whole grains and fibers, but when I look closely at the food labels (and believe me, most of the websites have that information hidden DEEP within their websites. Why, I wonder?) I see so much crap added into the bread that it's not worth the effort in eating it.

Dear reader, I want to provide you with a "best bet to buy" but I can't. Sorry. I looked and can't find the answer. If you know of an honest-to-goodness brand that doesn't contain any crap and only good stuff, post it in the "comments" section below. I'd be curious to see what you come up with.

Personally, I just avoid bread entirely. White, wheat, grains, rye, whatever...I avoid all these things. I might do some kind of whole wheat/multi-grain pita if I needed to, but I honestly can't remember the last time that I had a slice of bread. However, you need healthy carbs to fuel you up and give you energy. Instead, why not opt for carbs that were once living, instead of processed crap? You can still get your carbs by eating cauliflower, potatoes, rice, and beans. I would choose one of those options before bread any day.

Whole Wheat Bread Comparison:
Sliced Bread (2 slices)
Calories
Fiber
Sodium
Carbs
Protein
Top 3 Main Ingredients
Milton's Whole Grain Plus (76 g)
180
10
250
32
8
Whole Wheat Flour, Water, Vital Wheat Gluten
Oroweat Country 100% Whole Wheat (76 g)
200
6
320
34
6
Whole wheat flour, water, sugar
Oroweat Extra Fiber (76 g)
180
8
360
36
8
Whole wheat flour, water, sugar
Sara Lee Hearty and Delicious 100% Multi-Grain (86 g)
240
6
400
42
10
Stone ground whole wheat flour, water, brown sugar
Sara Lee 100% Multi-Grain (86 g)
240
6
420
40
10
Stone ground whole wheat flour, water, brown sugar
Nature's Pride 100% Whole Wheat (86 g)
220
6
420
40
10
Whole wheat flour, water, yeast
Nature's Pride Double Fiber 100% Whole Wheat (86 g)
200
12
420
40
8
Whole wheat flour, water, inulin*

Note: What the heck is inulin? "Fructose-containing oligosaccharides. Inulins belong to a class of carbohydrates known as fructans." Yikes. Oligosaccharides?

Portion Sizes:

Be careful with portion sizes when choosing your bread. Some breads offer calorie counts per slice, and some offer per ounce. WebMD says: "For example, Sara Lee has a "45 Calories & Delightful" whole-wheat bread. Although the 45 calories is "per 1 slice," the nutrition information on the label is given for 2 slices. The weight of a 2-slice serving of this bread is 45 grams, compared to Sara Lee's classic 100% whole-wheat classic bread, which weighs 57 grams per 2-slice serving."

Christine Kingery had gastric banding surgery 1 year ago and has so far lost 70 pounds. Her blog, http://www.phoenixrevolution.net is her daily journey of what life with the band is like.

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