Does The Devil Eat White Bread?

 

In recent years, white bread has become the most hated food in the world. Almost every diet touts the delights of this insignificant wheat. The GI scale, which measures the speed at which carbohydrates in food enter the bloodstream, indicates that either glucose is the yardstick by which everything else is measured, or white bread is just as bad.

So why is it so bad? When wheat is milled directly into natural wholemeal bread, the result is usually a tasty and nutritious wholemeal bread (although white wholemeal bread also exists) with a GI of about 51, which is well above the low GI standard of 55. However, with white bread in general, the germ and bran are removed during the processing of the wheat, and it is often further bleached with potassium bromate or chlorine dioxide to remove yellow traces and stabilize it for baking. The result is a soft, flavorful white bread with a GI of up to 70. Also try: Best Brans Bread

When the wheat germ, the part of the plant that forms the germ, is removed, many nutrients are lost, such as vitamin E, vitamin B1 (thiamine), zinc, and magnesium, as well as essential fatty acids and some dietary fiber. Removing the bran compounds the problem because of the loss of fiber (which is also rich in vitamins and minerals), which helps slow the release of carbohydrates from other grains into the bloodstream.

Removing the top two parts of the grain robs the body of many nutrients, and without the fiber, the carbohydrates hit the body like a freight train, causing blood sugar levels to spike. The body is then forced to release insulin to get the sugar out of the bloodstream, which quickly "reverses" and it takes more carbs to bring the blood sugar back up.

This is the kind of "roller-coaster" you want to avoid. You want to avoid that "roller coaster" where your energy level varies dramatically throughout the day and you end up turning to high sugar foods. Eating low glycemic index foods means that carbohydrates enter the body slowly, resulting in a steady supply of energy and keeping you from indulging in sugary foods.

The next time you go shopping, simply buy a loaf of whole-grain bread (the term "whole grain" is often misleading, it's not much different from white bread) and promise yourself to stick with it for at least two weeks. At the end of the two weeks (if you haven't been kidding yourself), you'll have kicked the habit, you won't crave white bread and you'll be able to enjoy delicious, healthy whole grain bread. Encourage your family to adopt this new eating behavior together. If your family insists on having white bread in the house, the temptation will eventually be too strong and all your hard work will be for nothing!