Word Count: 697
Average Read Time: 2 minutes 32 seconds
Have you ever attempted a weight loss diet? Did 100% of you raise your hands? Thought so. Have you ever cut bread out of your diet in order to try and achieve this? Thought so. Have you cut out bread in an attempt to improve your health?
When I get a new client or just bump into someone who wants to tell me about their diet, one of the more popular stories I hear is that they’ve cut out bread so that they can lose weight or improve their health.
Will this help? Let’s tackle these one at a time.
Does bread make you fat?
In order to answer this question, let’s take a step back. There’s tons of conflicting dieting strategies out there, such as counting carbs, counting net carbs, following a keto diet, following a low-fat diet, following a paleo diet, and cutting out bread.
Interestingly, each one of these strategies seems to work for some and not work for others. This brings up two questions:
If a diet works for one person, why wouldn’t it work for another?
How can two opposing strategies both work? If a low-carb diet produces fat loss, how can a low-fat diet also produce fat loss?
So far, we’ve come up with more questions than answers. Luckily, the answer to both of these questions is the same answer.
Let's have a very brief science lesson. Food contains energy that we need to live. We measure that energy in Calories. If we take in more Calories than we need, the body says, "Hey, I'll just save these in case I need them later." The body then stores those extra Calories as body fat.
Later, if we don't or can't consume enough Calories due to famine or more likely, a diet, the body says, "Hey. It's no biggie. I saved those other Calories from earlier." The body then proceeds to burn body fat to provide enough energy to last us until (hopefully) food is available again.
The ONLY mandatory rule for losing fat is, you must create a caloric deficit. In other words, you MUST consume fewer Calories than you burn if you want to lose fat. This answers how two opposing dieting strategies can both produce fat loss.
As for why certain diets work for some and not others, the answer is simple. All foods have Calories. You can still overeat no matter what type of diet you’re following. For example, if you’re gorging yourself on a keto diet, you won’t lose weight.
Getting back to the original question, the answer is no. Bread doesn’t make you fat (unless you eat too much of it).
Is bread unhealthy?
Bread is often claimed to be unhealthy because of its gluten content. This is absolutely true for individuals with celiac disease or a non-celiac related gluten sensitivity; however, this is a very small portion of the population. Unless you have a gluten sensitivity (which should be discussed with your doctor), there’s no reason to avoid gluten.
The other popular claim about bread is that whole-grain bread is fine. It’s just white bread that’s unhealthy because it loses more of its nutrients during processing. This is absolutely true but many white bread products have nutrients added back in after processing, meaning there isn’t much difference between white bread and whole-grain bread.
One area where whole-grain bread does win is in satiety or fullness. Whole-grain bread typically has a higher fiber content than white bread, which helps to fill you up faster. This can help prevent you from over eating.
Takeaway
Unless you have a specific reason that requires you to avoid bread, there’s no reason to exclude it from your diet. That said, I will provide one final word of caution. Many breads are high in Calorie content. They also tend to be paired with other high Calorie items such as peanut butter, butter, jam, etc.
This can make them easy to overeat on. In other words, while it’s perfectly fine to include bread into your diet, it may not be a good idea to make it a large portion of your diet.
Thank you so much for reading! If you found this information helpful and want to help the Treadaway Training blogcast grow, simply share this post with a friend. If you like what I have to say, sign up below to become a Treadaway Training Insider or check out my YouTube channel. I will be back here Saturday with another body transformation topic. As always, God bless you AND your family and I'll see you Saturday.
