The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Have you encountered the anti-bread cult?

BreadLee's picture
BreadLee

Have you encountered the anti-bread cult?

I'm experiencing a few vocal anti- bread family members. They love to express their disdain for my bread,  and assert that it's killing people.  Lol!

It's strange how the media and "health studies" are transforming bread into an evil entity. Heck, It only kept entire civilizations thriving.  

But people are quick to forget once that "evil starchy bread" study is released.  

Kooky eh?

julie99nl's picture
julie99nl

My standard response "Thank you for the information!" and continue to chew on bread.  If they don't want to eat it, so be it, more for you.

 

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

and it's me. My weight got out of control and, unfortunately, the only way to fix things that worked was to cut out carbs.  Sugar and grains had to go. The excess weight followed (down a hundred lbs and change).

I still cheat once or twice a month and bake up a batch of bagels and binge. I do love my bread.

When I reach my optimal weight, I fully intend to slowly add bread back as I determine how much is OK. I probably won't be able to add back potatoes too, but given a choice, give me bread.  Until then, I'll have my odd cheat weekend and envy the hell out of each and every one of you who can deal with carbs w/o putting on excess fat.

g

bread1965's picture
bread1965

Everyone seems to think carbs are bad. Bread and pasta are the poster boy and girl for carbs. They taste great but will kill you slowly.. But I don't agree. And I don't think it's an issue of "moderation". Some people think no level of carbs is good for you.  And in this era of growing wastelines it's the easy target. And I get the worry.  Carbs are an easy target.  The conventional wisdom is that carbs make you fat.  But just because people believe that doesn't make it true.  It wasn't that long ago that you had doctors on TV advertising the benefits of cigarettes. That didn't work out to well sadly. 

Imagine if I ate a loaf of bread every day for 100 days. You'd think I'd get fat. But this doctor proved that's not true: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s1e12-eat-bread-90-comes-to-an-end-and-the-verdict-is/id1234360819?i=1000389869889 She had a loaf a day for 90 days and didn't gain a pound. Obviously, there's more to the story because she watched her calories during that 100 days and was strict about not simply adding a loaf of bread to her normal diet. But the point is, that if it's simply "eating carbs makes  you fat" then she should have packed on the pounds.

My take - I've been wrong in my thoughts of weight loss for a long time. I'm a human blow-fish. I can pack on pounds with ease. What I've come to believe is that weight gain is more about insulin resistance than it is about eating one food over another. It helps to explain the diabetes epidemic. I think it's not what you eat, but when you eat.  I've been spending time reading and listening to Dr. Jason Fung and his views on intermittent fasting. I haven't figure it all out. I'm learning. But it's interesting and turns everything I ever thought about weight loss and diet on it's head. As my kids might say " it blew my mind ".. lot's to think about..

As to for your situation - make good bread, enjoy it and be happy! Life's too short as it is to miss out.. I love bread and if it was in front of me I'd eat it every day. And it almost is and I'm still here and healthy and of a good weight.. bake well..

BreadLee's picture
BreadLee

Well stated!  I was way overweight Christmas 2017, all my health numbers were way out of line,   someone told me about intermittent fasting,  so I started at 12 hour fast,  worked my way up to 18 hours. Cut out most sugars. Made peanut butter and blackstrap molasses my friend,  I still ate my breads though. 

I lost 70 lbs. 235 down to 165. I've remained at 175 since. And I keep eating my bread.  All of my blood numbers are good.  Triglycerides dropped from 500 to 108. 

It can be done,  bread included!  Hoohoo! Thanks for the comments and info! 

bread1965's picture
bread1965

That's a great story. A close friend just dropped 25 lbs and is on his way.. Fung is a nephrologist based in Toronto.  You can hear him in this podcast. I also read his book The Obesity Code - it blew me away. This podcast https://peterattiamd.com/jasonfung/  gets a bit technical but is very good. If you feel it's more than you want to listen to, then only listen to the last hour.. I didn't/don't have that much to drop but I eat with much less guilt/fear than I did before I read the book and started thinking about what Fung talks about.. his stories about reversing type 2 is remarkable to the point of almost unbelievable. But I've met someone that has with him.. still lots to learn..

BreadLee's picture
BreadLee

I'm listening to it.  He's right on.  Thanks much! 

gary.turner's picture
gary.turner

"What I've come to believe is that weight gain is more about insulin resistance than it is about eating one food over another. It helps to explain the diabetes epidemic."

Insulin is exactly the issue. Even periodic fasting is in line with this hypothesis, as it reduces the free insulin which triggers cells to store fat.

Not everyone has a negative outcome due excess carbs, and enough are OK that the anecdotal "evidence" that carbs are OK becomes Truth. In fact 400 yrs ago people knew that if you wanted to get rid of that innertube around your waist you stopped eating bread and cakes. See Pepys's diaries.

Until Ancil Keyes committed academic fraud in his six countries study, then teamed with George McGovern, a grain state senator, to push the carbs good, fat bad food pyramid, low carb/high fat diets were well documented to be healthier than Keyes's opposite.

It's not that the bread is bad,  it's that our endocrine systems are not built to handle it when in excess. If we're stuffing our cells and organs with fat derived from those carbs, we have somewhere along the line triggered our bodies to react poorly to insulin or damaged our pancreas by an over demand.

g

Justanoldguy's picture
Justanoldguy

Butter and lard should give us hope. Once they were demons - now they're OK. Hell, I've got to die sooner or later. "We each owe God a death and he who dies this year is quit for the next," Will Shakespeare or Francis Bacon or somebody said that. On the whole I'd rather do it from something I enjoy rather than some from deprivation I have to endure. Butter that toast and pass me a slice, a thick one and please let me have some more coffee in my cup.  

BreadLee's picture
BreadLee

Regarding insulin, the glycemic load indicator gives a more truthful picture on how each food will impact blood sugar and insulin. <10 is considered low.  10-20 moderate.  >20 spikes blood sugar and insulin.  Note that bread is low.  It's like many other foods.... if you eat a lot of it, it's not good for you.  

https://www.alsearsmd.com/glycemic-index/

I circled a few pertinent glycemic load numbers below.