White or Wheat bread?

[Miramonti]

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There is a peace of mind that comes with feeling like you are treating your own body well. SPARTA athletes are no exception. "I'm doing the right thing, right?" is the common follow-up to most questions. Most athletes think they are doing the right thing by eating whole wheat (or whole grain) instead of white bread.

By now, many people understand the process that takes place in their body when they ingest sugars ? and all grains, whether whole or refined, are digested as sugar. Your blood sugar spikes so your body releases insulin, to tell your muscles to take that sugar out of your blood. Doing this chronically results in insulin resistance (a precursor to type 2 diabetes). In addition, excess sugars are stored as fat. For these reasons, high sugar diets are considered by all health care professionals to be generally bad for your health.

So is there really a difference between white and wheat bread?

Researchers at the Department of Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, at the University of Guelph in Ontartio compared the insulin response of four different breads (white, whole wheat, sourdough, whole wheat barley). They found no significant difference in insulin response between the four breads. Meaning, your body can't tell the difference in the sugar it gets from whole wheat, as compared to white bread. Researchers at the Diabetes clinic at the Goztepe Training and Research Hospital in Turkey studied the blood glucose levels
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of 120 (type 2) diabetes patients after consuming three types of bread (whole wheat, wheat bran and rye). Compared to white bread, the patients blood glucose (sugar) levels rose the same amount.

But whole grain has more fiber, and fiber is good, right? Yes, fiber is great for you. It helps control the uptake of sugar and can help prevent many diseases related to the gastrointestinal tract. Average Americans only get 15 of the 25-35 grams of recommended daily fiber. But does whole grain bread really have that much fiber? Compared to fruits and non-starchy vegetable, the answer is no. In a 1,000-calorie serving, whole grain cereal has 24 grams of fiber. Compare that to the 41 grams of fiber from the same size serving of fruit, and the 185 grams you would get from non-starchy vegetables. Clearly, whole grains are not the fiber giant that we think they are.

Lastly, all of your food reports to your kidneys as an acid or base after digestion. If your diet produces a net metabolic acidosis (more acid than base), your kidneys must buffer this acid to keep you at a neutral level. This process involves essentially stripping parts of your muscles or bones to get you back to neutral. Either way, this necessary biological process can hurt your athletic performance. All grains are net acid producing. The only foods that research shows to be net base producing are fresh fruits and vegetables.

So the next time you think you are doing yourself a favor by getting your sandwich on whole wheat, think again. Go for the salad with protein (chicken, fish or lean beef) on top. It has all the same ingredients as the sandwich, minus the grains, plus some very healthy vegetables.

Dr. Wagner is the Director of SPARTA Performance Science in Menlo Park. To learn more, visit www.SpartaScience.com or join the discussion at SpartaScience.blogspot.com.

 

[zerocool84]

I usually get Wheat cus I can get a loaf for like 99c.

 

[OUCaptain]

Wheat for PB&J's, 7 grain for nutrition and substance.

Thanks for showing I was right in my lack of caring though. I never did give a shit about white or wheat

 

[vi edit]

What a misleading article.

Most Americans completly short themselves on the amount of fiber they eat a day. You should have at least 25 grams. Just about any "whole grain" bread you pick up is going to have 3-4 grams of fiber a slice. A sandwich made with two slices accounts for almost 1/3 of the fiber you should have for the day. If you have a salad on the side and an apple for a snack you are up to almost 2/3 for the day.

If you eat crappy white bread with zero fiber in it you are that much further behind.

 

[sandorski]

White Bread sucks. It lacks flavor.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah I thought the big thing behind wheat was that it's more nutritious than white bread. Didn't think it had anything to do with how you metabolize the carbs. :/

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Whole grain, every time.

 

[Wag]

Potato.

 

[Chronoshock]

Grew up eating wheat/whole grain/multigrain bread every day for 8ish years, so I'm sort of sick of it now. I'll probably alternate between white and wheat for sandwiches and use cinnamon raisin for breakfast toast

 

[Colt45]

Rye.

Or cornbread. That pwns too.

 

[EGGO]

Originally posted by: frostedflakes
Yeah I thought the big thing behind wheat was that it's more nutritious than white bread. Didn't think it had anything to do with how you metabolize the carbs. :/

From what I've learned in a nutshell, back when I was serious about diet, is that unrefined carbs (wheat in this case) is slow digesting. Eat it before something like a workout.

Refined carbs (in this case, white bread) digests fast. You should eat this right after a workout.

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: Colt45
Rye.

Or cornbread. That pwns too.

I use rye for everything. I'll get a boutique bread on occasion for something different, but rye's my workhorse bread.

 

[masterxfob]

Originally posted by: vi edit
What a misleading article.

Most Americans completly short themselves on the amount of fiber they eat a day. You should have at least 25 grams. Just about any "whole grain" bread you pick up is going to have 3-4 grams of fiber a slice. A sandwich made with two slices accounts for almost 1/3 of the fiber you should have for the day. If you have a salad on the side and an apple for a snack you are up to almost 2/3 for the day.

If you eat crappy white bread with zero fiber in it you are that much further behind.

ditto.

i think pretty much everyone knows that bread = sugar. the only reason some people choose wheat over white is for the fiber content. i'm all for a good salad, but i like eating sandwiches too. call me crazy, but i like to mix it up once in a while.

 

[mcveigh]

My wifes doctor follows this thinking. He had her stop most wheat intake to get her sugar levels stabilized. been following the rosedale diet. gotta say it works. I was skeptical at first. I cheat some but in general try to really avoid most grains

 

[Cyco]

Sourdough.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: jjsole
But does whole grain bread really have that much fiber? Compared to fruits and non-starchy vegetable, the answer is no. In a 1,000-calorie serving, whole grain cereal has 24 grams of fiber. Compare that to the 41 grams of fiber from the same size serving of fruit, and the 185 grams you would get from non-starchy vegetables. Clearly, whole grains are not the fiber giant that we think they are.

Most of this information was apparently cherry-picked to serve some agenda. A 1000-calorie serving of WHAT whole grain cereal, Cheerios?

Fiber One brand cereal from General Mills has 14 grams fiber per 100-calorie serving (1/2 cup cereal with skim milk). A 1000-calorie serving (including milk) would have 140 grams fiber. Without the milk, a 1000-calorie serving has 230 g fiber. Compare that to the same size serving of fruit or non-starchy vegetables, which only have 41 g and 185 g, respectively.

Kashi GoLean Crunch variants have about 8 g of fiber in a 200-calorie serving (not including milk). A 1000-calorie serving would equal 40 g fiber.

Orowheat Double Fiber bread has 6 g fiber per 70-calorie slice. A 1000-calorie serving would equal 85 g fiber.

Its no secret, some 'whole grain' products have two and three times more or less fiber than others. That's what nutritional labels are for.

Dr. Wagner is the Director of SPARTA Performance Science in Menlo Park. To learn more, visit www.SpartaScience.com or join the discussion at SpartaScience.blogspot.com.

I don't even have to see his website to know he is hawking something. His examples are just too damned highly selective to be 'accidental'.

 

[13Gigatons]

Whole wheat is much better from the tests I have seen. Also can imagine living without whole grain in my diet.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Wag
Potato.

You are clearly a connoissoeur

 

[biggestmuff]

Which brands was he testing? The majority of breads labeled 'whole wheat' or 'whole grain' are really no different than the other breads in a store's standard, commercial bread aisle. Read the ingredients. Almost all of the 'healthy' breads include HFCS. WTF? Why do I need syrup in my bread? Yeah, I know why. It's a binding agent, it's more shelf stable than eggs and it's inexpensive.

Bottom line, buy breads from your groceries bakery shop. They tend to use better ingredients and no fillers.

 

[sao123]

i know my food pyramid, and at the very base of that pyramid is a big fat loaf of bread that im supposed to eat 6-11 pieces of daily.


all these freaking so called food experts... dont eat this, dont eat that... when there all said and done, i guess they want us to NOT eat.


first it was:
dont eat meat & eggs... too much fat and colesterol
dont eat fish... youll die of mercury

then stay away from dairy:
milk, cheese, & butter are bad for you.
Here, drink this ultra white colored water, which has nothing in it.

fruit? fruit has too much sugar in it.
Stay Away from Corn, Carrots, Tomatoes, Oranges, Apples, Grapes, Bananas all have too many simple sugars in them

now we have the completion:
dont eat grains, they will make you diabetic.


all these dietarians are a crock of shit.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: mcveigh
My wifes doctor follows this thinking. He had her stop most wheat intake to get her sugar levels stabilized. been following the rosedale diet. gotta say it works. I was skeptical at first. I cheat some but in general try to really avoid most grains

Yes it does. It's essentially a low carb diet. In nature, carbs are always wrapped in fiber. Processed foods have gotten rid of the fiber wrapper, so we're eating pure empty calories with most types of bread and instant foods.

Very similar to the basis of Atkins, South Beach, The Zone, and others. Simply: stop eating processed food and you will lose weight (pretty quickly too).

 

[Feldenak]

I don't eat whole wheat bread because of the insulin response, I eat whole wheat bread because it tastes better than white...the extra nutrition & fiber are just an added bonus.

 

[Crono]

While this "University of Ontartio" (sic, lol) study is interesting, the conclusions in the article aren't new.
Fruits and vegetables are better choices than grain for diets? Yeah, nothing new there.
Whole grain bread is still better than white bread if you are going to eat bread.

 

[hanoverphist]

i love sourdough and wheat bread, but i never really gave a shit which was more healthy. i know eating bread in general isnt a great thing for keeping weight down, so choose flavor when eating it.

 

[DrPizza]

Average Americans only get 15 of the 25-35 grams of recommended daily fiber. But does whole grain bread really have that much fiber? Compared to fruits and non-starchy vegetable, the answer is no.

So, he compares whole grain bread to fruits and vegetables in order to come to a conclusion about whole grain vs. white? What kind of idiots are schools producing these days?

"Well, compared to an Abrams tank, a hummers weight is rather insignificant. Therefore we can conclude that compared to a geo metro,..."