Once and for all: what is the healthiest bread?

White, black, uniform, rye, or sourdough? How will you distinguish between the different types of bread and what is the healthiest and best bread? 

Clinical dietitian give you all the answers

The types of bread exist in supermarkets. 

 

White bread 

The white bread, as its name implies, is baked from white flour. In the process of grinding the flour, they removed the outer shell of the wheat kernel, thereby actually removing the nutritional fibre from the flour.

As a result, the digestion of the white bread is fast and it quickly raises the blood sugar level and 

is less satisfying compared to bread is richer in dietary fiber

 

Uniform bread 

The uniform bread is an industrial bread that can buy supermarkets in plastic packaging. baked from dark (uniform) flour, which despite its name, dark flour belongs to the white flour family, its ground from the outermost parts of the endosperm which tend to be darker in color hence the name. Dark flour is not flour off the supermarket shelf and is produced almost exclusively for the large bread factories where it is used to make “uniform bread”. This flour is usually characterised by properties that produce a large and high volume for the bread while creating a dense texture and a soft inner part. Due to these characteristics, the use of dark flour is more suitable for industrial bread and less for artisanal bread. industrially add in: protein and carbohydrates, dietary fibre, some vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, but in small quantities. As a result of the presence of dietary fibre, the uniform bread is digested more slowly than white bread. 

 

Bread from whole wheat flour

the bread is baked from whole wheat flour, which is ground from the whole wheat grain. Wholemeal flour has the highest nutritional value and contains relatively high amounts of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Besides carbohydrates and protein, it provides dietary fibre that slows down the rate of digestion and therefore instils a feeling of satiety over time.

A light brown colour characterizes wholemeal bread, but you should be careful because there are cases where the baked goods are “painted” with a caramel color to make them look like wholemeal bread. That is why it is important to read the labels on the product packaging and note that the first ingredient is wholemeal flour.

 

Light bread

bread will be defined as “light” when its calorie content is reduced by at least a third compared to the same bread in the regular version. it is an industrial bread that can buy supermarkets in plastic packaging. 

Insoluble dietary fibers are industrially added to the light breads, which on the one hand allow a long-lasting feeling of satiety and on the other hand do not change the caloric content of the bread because they are not digested at all.

 

Usually, two slices of light bread are calorically equivalent to one slice of regular bread. It is recommended to read the nutritional label and take into account the weight of the slice to know the exact value because there are light breads whose caloric value is 40 calories per slice while others contain about 100 calories per slice.

Light bread can be white, plain or whole. Of course, if you choose light bread, it is recommended to choose light whole-wheat bread.

and if you ask me

What’s the optimal bread choice for those aiming to lose weight? Often, the best bread for weight loss is whole-grain or whole-wheat bread. These types are rich in dietary fibre, promoting a feeling of fullness and aiding in weight management by curbing overindulgence.

 

Grain bread 

 The grain bread is usually baked from wholemeal flour, to which additional flours from different grains and/or mixtures of grains and seeds such as oats, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and more are added. The mixture of grains gives the bread additional nutritional value, among other things by the addition of unsaturated fats, additional vitamins and minerals.

 

What is important to check when you come to buy bread?

 

In order to ensure that the name of the bread does indicate its quality, you need

  to know the flours and their types. 

Well now you know 

Also, you need to know the  Flour and its relative percentage among the other flours used in the bread you want to buy in the supermarkets.

 For example, in the list of ingredients of “whole rye bread” the first of the flours is “whole rye flour (60% of the total flours)”. The higher the percentage of wholemeal flour/rye flour/sesame flour, the higher the nutritional value of the bread.

Choosing the bread with the highest fibre and protein content, according to the label, will guarantee you long-lasting satiety.

 

the price of bread

The white bread and the uniform bread are the most common and the cheapest in the market, and perhaps this is one of the main reasons why many of us consume them. The price of wholemeal bread can be three times or more than the price of white bread. 

It is recommended to check whether the purchase of whole wheat bread can be included in the weekly shopping budget. We are talking about your family’s health. 

Doctors recommend that you buy natural bread from a small bakery and not from supermarkets and an industrial big bakeries. 

But …..

 

Although it is already known that wholemeal breads are healthier, there are still children and adults who are put off by the taste. 

We often encounter children and adults who avoid buying breads that are not white bread or uniform bread, due to reluctance from the taste (or even the appearance).

Here you can use several ways to increase the consumption of the different breads.

*One way is the principle of gradualness –

 Therefore, if you are used to eating white bread, you can switch to white bread from small bakery, and when the new freshly baked white bread  is fully accepted, try to add freshly baked wholemeal bread and different wholemeal baked goods,  try a variety of breads and baked goods.

Each bread recipe has a slightly different taste, so one wholemeal bread may be preferred over another.

The mission is to switch from:  industrial big bakery factory and supermarkets  white bread.

to:  freshly baked wholemeal Bread and sweet baked goods and low sugar cookies, From small Praivet bakery.