WHAT'S LOW-CARB BREAD?

WHAT'S A LOW-CARB BREAD?

from the article "How to Find Healthy, Lower-Carb Bread"
Which Breads have a Lower Glycemic Index?

By Laura Dolson, About.com Guide

Updated February 21, 2011

About.com Health's Disease and Condition content is reviewed by our Medical Review Board

Recently a friend said to me, "I'm not going to stop eating bread, so tell me which one to eat." For people who only want to cut back somewhat on their carbohydrate intake, this isn't a bad approach. However, before I go on, I do want to say that those of us who follow a low-carb diet must just cannot eat much bread unless we eat special low-carb breads, or make our own, such as my flax meal bread.

Why does bread cause blood sugar to rise?

Grains like wheat are mostly starch, and starch is made up of long strings of glucose. These starch molecules begin to break down into sugars in the mouth, because of enzymes in saliva. By the time they get through the stomach, most starches have been converted to sugar. But there are exceptions, and these are things to pay attention to when buying bread.

What to Look For when Buying Bread

1. Less "Usable" Carbohydrate - that is, subtract the fiber from the total carbohydrate (more on this here). This is far and away the most important thing when figuring out a food's effect on blood glucose (how glycemic it is). All the other factors really pale in comparison. If you are counting carbs, you must read the label and see how much carbohydrate you are eating. But even if you don't care to do carb counting, do take a look at a few loaves of bread to get familiar with how much carbohydrate they contain.

2. Thin Bread - Obviously, smaller or thinner bread usually has less carbohydrate, because it has less of everything! However watch out for very dense thin bread (often imported) as this can be similar to regular bread in the amount of starch.

3. Lots of Fiber - Some breads substitute fiber for some of the starch in the bread, reducing calories as well as carbohydrate. However, more fiber doesn't necessarily mean a smaller impact on blood sugar, if that fiber is simply added to the other ingredients, rather than being a substitute for the starch. Again, subtract the fiber from the total carbohydrate to figure this out.

4. Rough, Grainy Texture - The more finely ground a kernel of wheat or other grain is, the more quickly the starch will break down into sugar. There has been an effort by some bread manufacturers to make 100% whole grain bread that is softer, with a texture that is more like white bread. The problem is that this bread is generally every bit as glycemic as white bread. On the other hand, bread with is more roughly-textured will, generally, be less glycemic. The best bread for this purpose has visible pieces of grains - some cracked wheat bread is like this.

5. Sprouted Grain Bread - There has not been much research on this, but some preliminary evidence shows that sprouted grain bread does not cause as high or fast of a blood sugar rise as regular bread. However, sprouted grains are not entirely fiber, as some bread labels claim, so read labels carefully if they are claiming large amounts of fiber and very low "net carbs" on sprouted grain breads. I have heard reports from people who's blood sugar goes up from these breads.

6. High Protein Breads - Some breads use a lot of wheat gluten instead of the whole grain. Since gluten is the protein part of the wheat, these breads can be good bets.

7. Sourdough Bread - Sourdough bread has been shown to produce a less glycemic response than regular bread. One study comparing white sourdough bread with regular whole wheat bread showed that the sourdough bread was less glycemic.

MY THOUGHTS

i can live without rice. but not without bread. the thing with whole wheat bread is that most people don't like the taste. you actually need to acquire the taste. what's more exciting is, according to this article, the rougher the texture the better. i can never force the kids to eat whole wheat. they say it tastes like cardboard. as if they've eaten cardboard. but then, they don't need to lose weight.