Whenever we talk about diet, we inevitably get to the question of bread. Is it good for you? Bad for you? Will it make you fat? Will it help your workout? It’s controversial because many people CRAVE bread and get very panicky at the thought of not being able to eat it. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 10 years you’ve probably heard the message that highly processed white bread doesn’t offer many health benefits. What surprises many of my patients is that I don’t consider whole-wheat or multi-grain bread to be that much better.
Certainly if you are struggling to lose weight, have any kind of blood sugar issue, or have a gluten or wheat allergy, commercial bread in any form should be avoided. And while, yes, whole wheat bread has a lower glycemic index than white bread I have seen many diabetic patients who experience the same spike in blood sugar from eating either type of bread. Not only that, but the blood sugar will often raise to the same level it does after drinking a can of regular soda! Whole wheat bread is still made out of flour which turns very quickly into sugar.
When your blood sugar spikes, your body releases insulin (a primary fat-storing hormone) to quickly lower your blood sugar to normal. But when your blood sugar swings too low, you can end up with severe sugar/bread cravings and hunger.
Does whole wheat bread offer more nutrition than white bread? In theory it should. Whole wheat bread uses every part of the wheat berry including the outer bran layer, the endosperm layer, and the germ portion. These three layers contain B vitamins, vitamin E, some antioxidants, complex carbohydrates, fiber, fats, and protein. However, when it is milled into flour several chemical processes take place. The fats in the wheat start to oxidize, and many of the nutrients are lost within 72 hours of milling. So unless you are buying the wheat yourself, sprouting it, milling it at home, and baking with it within three days of milling, you probably aren’t getting all the nutrition you think you are. Commercial bread factories combat this in white and wheat bread by adding synthetic forms of the nutrients lost to the flour after it is milled. This can be done in a powder form or a spray emulsion form. The spray form is “stabilized” by adding sugar to the mix (one of the reasons sugar shows up on your bread ingredient label). This same nutrient fortification process happens with pasta, cereal, and rice as well but with rice they actually shellac the rice after adding the nutrients by spraying it with an ethanol or isopropanol solution of zein, palmitic or stearic acid and abeitic acid.
I won’t delve deeply into the issue of gluten sensitivity in this post, but if you suspect you might be sensitive to gluten I would definitely do an elimination diet of at least three weeks where you cut out all gluten-containing grains (wheat, rye, barley, spelt, and kamut). Oat does not technically contain gluten but is often contaminated so look for oats that are certified gluten free.
Symptoms of gluten sensitivity can include the following:
- Abdominal Distention
- Abdominal Pain and Cramping
- Alternating Bouts of Diarrhea and Constipation
- Anemia
- Arthritis
- Autoimmune Disease
- Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)
- Autism
- Bloating
- Constipation
- Depression, Anxiety and Irritability
- Diabetes
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Malodorous Flatulence
- Malodorous Stools
- Gluten Ataxia
- Hair Loss (Alopecia)
- Headaches and Migraines
- Hypoglycemia
- Infertility
- Joint pain
- Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
- Lactose intolerance
- Mouth sores or mouth ulcers
- Nausea
- Numbness or tingling in the patient’s hands and feet
- Osteoporosis
- Peripheral Neuropathy (including either a tingling or sensation of swelling your toes and fingers)
- Sjogren’s Disease
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Teeth and Gum Problems
- Vitamin and Mineral deficiencies
- Vomiting
- Unexplained Weight loss
If the idea of an elimination diet isn’t appealing, I would recommend ordering a testing kit from www.enterolab.com or Cyrex labs.
So should anyone eat bread? Some of my patients are participating in fairly intense exercise programs and feel they need more carbohydrates. However, if they get the additional carbohydrates from vegetables, whole grains like quinoa and wild rice, or sprouted bread like Ezekiel bread, they will get much more nutrition from the food they are eating at the same time.
Interested in milling your own flour? Check out the videos at this website:
http://breadbeckers.com/
In health,
Dr. Ilana Goldberg, D.C.
