4 Reasons To Stop Eating White Bread

4 Reasons To Stop Eating White Bread

There's nothing wrong with including bread in your diet, right? Well, it turns out it depends on the type of bread it is you're eating. Whole grain breads provide you with vitamin, minerals, and fiber – they're a great addition to your diet.

Unfortunately, white bread isn't just unhealthy, there's more to it than that. If you're trying to decide whether to ditch white bread or stay the course, check out these four major reasons that will help make your decision a bit easier.

Reason 1 – No Nutritional Value

To make white bread you first need white flour and unfortunately, white flour has been completely stripped of its nutrients. While manufacturers do enrich white flour with vitamins and minerals, it's only in small amounts.

The flour is made primarily of starch. On the other hand, you have whole-grain breads which are made from germ and bran as well, which is packed with minerals, vitamins, protein, fiber, and healthy fats.

Reason 2 – Full Of Preservatives & Additives

Additives, preservatives like calcium peroxide, ammonium sulfate, mono, DATEM, and diglycerides are all found in the average white bread loaf. There is absolutely no nutrition found in white bread, it's created with the express purpose of being a filler that is soft and has a longer shelf life.

We talk about foods being whole, living, and dead. You can categorize white bread as a dead food. Other dead foods include processed, junk foods and fast foods. If you want to eat well, choose whole and living foods – that includes lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain breads (and pastas, etc.).

Reason 3 – It Won't Bring You Satisfaction

While white bread is a filler, what it won't do is leave you feeling satisfied. White breads are high on the glycemic index and cause a spike in your blood sugar and with that delicious carb rush comes a nasty carb crash. Whereas, you can choose whole-grain breads which release energy slowly – whole-grain bread fills you up more, leaves you feeling fuller for longer, and you don't need to worry about a nasty carb crash either.

Reason 4 – It Will Lead To Weight Gain

Harvard University says, eating white bread in large quantities is going to lead to weight gain. You may think it's okay because you checked the calorie count and it's not too bad, but white bread can lead to cravings which will cause you to eat more calories the rest of the day.

When you strip away the benefits of a product just to leave the starchy remains you're going to go through those spikes in blood sugar and when you crash you will crave. It's a nasty cycle to get caught up in and eating white bread simply perpetuates it. Without the necessary fiber content, you end up hungrier as white bread leaves your stomach quickly.

You may have chosen to cut white bread from your diet, but you can't forget about the other sources of white bread that you may still be eating. Bagels count, as do English muffins, baguettes, French bread, and pizza. Refined carbohydrates the sugar in your blood ends up being stored as body fat.

In fact, some researchers are looking into the link between depression in post-menopausal women and refined carbohydrates. Dropping white bread from your diet is one of the easiest diet and lifestyle decisions you can make, all you need to do is reach for the whole wheat.

If you aren't convinced and you choose to continue eating white bread then you need to ensure you consume it in the appropriate portions and as part of a healthy, balanced diet. You can use the USDA's MyPlate to keep yourself on track.

It recommends a diet of 2,000 calories a day and you should only consume 6 oz of grain (each day), to put that into context one ounce is half a slice of bread. However, half of your daily grain count should be whole-grain.

Know the chemical Alloxan-another reason to avoid white bread.

Ounce wheat kernels are stripped of their bran and germ layers, it still a natural flour that is just white but still contains residual outer fibers. The industry is not happy until every trace of fiber is removed. The flour then goes through a process of whitening which is similar to any chlorine bleaching process. A similar chemical to chlorine but leaves a residual byproduct called Alloxan.

Unfortunately alloxan is very toxic for all animals causing the destruction of beta cells in the pancreas. These cells are responsible for insulin production. Alloxan is so effective in destroying beta cells that is the standard laboratory drug to artificially induce diabetes in rats for drug tests and other studies. So white bread potentially can contribute to diabetes. Not cool! Once in awhile probably won't matter, but repeated use could become a problem. Easier to just stay away from it all together.

 
Photo credit:

https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/01/11/white-bread-9aca49dd298d29eba19afe086778b821bc7f90fd-s800-c85.jpg

Eric Dempsey

Master Sergeant, US Army Retired

MS, ISSA Master Trainer

Dempseys Resolution Fitness

For 

The Chaplain Paul Voorhees Ministry

Are Shrimp, Prawns and Shellfish High in Cholesterol?

Are Shrimp, Prawns and Shellfish High in Cholesterol?
Prawn and shrimp are technically different species. In common usage, the terms are often used interchangeably, although they can also be used to categorize size – shrimp smaller, prawns bigger.

Shrimp makes up a full 25% of the entire seafood consumption in the United States. Prawns and shrimp are also considered delicious seafood items in other countries. Worldwide, shrimp is the most frequently traded seafood, and along with prawns and other types of seafood, delivers a healthy form of protein that is also low in calories.

From a culinary and dietary perspective, and for the purposes of this article, any differences are small enough to be irrelevant. From here on, shrimp also means prawns.

Shellfish are High in Dietary Cholesterol

Shellfish is linked in many people's minds to high cholesterol, so a lot of people avoid it if their cholesterol level is elevated. Is this action justified?

Simply stated, shrimp are high in cholesterol. 100 grams of shrimp yields about 190 mg of cholesterol, more than half the recommended daily allowance. However, blaming shrimp for high cholesterol counts is a very simplistic response, based on a misunderstanding of how we get high cholesterol levels.

Dietary Cholesterol is Not the Same as Blood Cholesterol
Dietary cholesterol is not the same as the cholesterol that is measured in your blood. Most of the cholesterol in your blood in manufactured by the body, and dietary cholesterol is not the biggest factor.

This incorrect cause and effect conclusion is similar to the fat fallacy – for decades we have been led to believe that dietary fat and bodyfat were the same, so to lose weight we had to cut fat from our diet. How’s that working out?

Real science is now showing us that dietary fat is a safe form of energy supply, and simple carbs are most easily converted to bodyfat.

Similarly, if you have problems with high measured cholesterol, a couple of servings of shrimp per week are not the cause of your problem. If any seafood is implicated in raising cholesterol levels, it is far more likely that the true cause lies with the appended sauces and condiments, or the cooking method, rather than the animal itself.

Other Nutritional Benefits

Also, shrimp and other shellfish have other health benefits. While they contain many nutrients and are a good source of protein, they are often unrecognized for their omega 3 fatty acid content. All have a high component, and some species have similar amounts as highly acclaimed oily fish such as tuna and salmon.

Diets high in dietary cholesterol will contribute to high measured cholesterol, but are not the only factor. Gram for gram, shrimp will provide much more nutritional value than the highly-processed ‘foods’ that provide the bulk of many diets, and will contribute much less undesirable LDL cholesterol while doing so.

Part of a Healthy Diet

The key to overall health and well-being is eating a wide variety of healthy foods, and as few processed, fast and fried foods as possible. This means you can enjoy shrimp and other types of seafood, which have notoriously been vilified as cholesterol-boosters, as long as you eat them in moderation and in conjunction with other healthy foods.

Shrimp can be a delicious and nutritious part of your regular diet, especially if you choose broiled or boiled instead of fried. Eat shrimp, as well as other seafood, and you will be unlikely to affect your cholesterol level negatively.

Eric Dempsey

MS, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist

Dempseys Resolution Fitness

for

The Chaplain Paul Voorhees Ministry

What peanut butter does to your body (shocking)

Most kids have enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. 

Some like chocolate and peanut butter. 

Or the good old peanut butter and crackers.

I know I have ate my share of all that. 

But how much do you really know about peanut butter,

and more specifically, the brand that you buy?

What peanut butter does to your body (shocking)

Is peanut butter healthy?

Does it cause weight gain?

Or even worse, can it cause toxic health issues?

You may be shocked to find out the answer in our brand new free report.

Download it here for free, for the rest of the day, today:

Free Report: What peanut butter does to your body (shocking)

Eric Dempsey

MS, NASM Fitness Nutrition Specialist
Dempseys Resolution Fitness
For 

The Chaplain Paul Voorhees Ministry