bread

The True Advantages of Eating Bread on my Eat Bread 90 diet.
 by Lin Carson

Week 13: The True Advantages of Eating Bread

90 days later, and round two of my bread diet experiment is over. I’ve documented the many advantages of eating bread and now I have the end result: 8 pounds lost on a bread diet.

Although I’d like to attribute my weight loss to bread alone, these are the contributing factors as well:

  • Reduced calorie intake
  • Reduced exercise, but still daily
  • Reduced variety in food choices

When I started this project, I wasn’t worried about my high-carb diet. But I knew to lose weight would take some extra planning. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from 90 days of bread.

What are the advantages of eating bread?

Eating bread means:

  • Getting essential nutrients from whole grains, such as fiber, iron, magnesium, and folic acid
  • Giving your body needed energy in the form of carbohydrates
  • Eating a nutrient-dense food that satisfies cravings and is easy to incorporate in your diet.

Say what you will about diets that cut out carbs, like paleo or keto. The truth is, we need carbohydrates in our diets. And research is showing that U.S. adults are deficient in a number of important nutrients that are best made up via eating bread products.

Plus, it’s a relatively cheap, accessible food that carries real substance.

Is eating bread every day bad for you?

No, unless you have celiac disease. Eating bread every day not only gives you the benefits of whole grains, but provides the carbohydrates active people need to function.

  • Bread is healthy for you and has a place in any diet.
  • You won’t gain extra weight if you’re watching your overall calorie input/output.
  • You won’t develop a gluten intolerance.
  • You won’t feel bloated or sluggish.

Is bread the reason I lost weight?

It’s a big part of it. It helped fight cravings for one thing. Bread also helped limit the variety of my diet. Studies are revealing that too much variety in our diet can lead to weight gain.

To lose weight I also had to carefully watch my calorie intake, and exercised regularly. However, as I found out with exercise, less is more. By doing some physical activity for just 30 minutes a day, I found I burned the needed calories, but still had energy for staying active the rest of the day and didn’t feel the need to load up on food afterwards.

Can I make a bread diet work for me?

Absolutely! If this experiment has proved anything, it’s that you don’t need to cut carbs from your diet, especially to lose weight. Stay away from complicated fad diets that don’t work and give your body the food it needs.

The key is to do what works for you and your schedule. Eat healthy foods. Watch your calorie intake. Exercise. And enjoy bread!

If you’re looking for some delicious, healthy loaves to try, check out my bread gallery.

The final weigh in:

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 13 final weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 139.4 lbs. Brought to you be the advantages of eating bread.

Week 13 final weigh in: 139.4 lbs. Brought to you by the advantages of eating bread.

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Diet variety can cause weight gain.
 by Lin Carson

Week 10: Bread Only. Skip Diet Variety to Lose Weight

Variety, variety everywhere, but I’m just sticking with bread.

Why? Because diet variety causes weight gain. Here’s why:

A study looked to see if there was a link between the obesity problem in our Western culture and access to highly-palatable and varied food. Past research with animals has shown the link between eating more food if it tastes good (and that makes perfect sense) which leads to a pattern of obesity—as the more used to good tasting food you eat, the more you feel you need to eat to become satisfied.

However, diet variety may also be linked to eating behavior and weight. Studies have shown short-term that the more variety in a diet, the greater probability of intaking more food and higher energy intake. On the other hand, eating the same foods over a period of time reduces palatability ratings and the amount of food eaten.

A different study looked at strategies to improve weight loss and maintaining that loss. They found that limiting diet variety can help reduce intake and when done long term, along with other healthy-eating practices and exercise, can help with weight loss.

Does this mean only eating one type of food for the rest of your life is the secret to losing weight?

Probably not. The bottom line is, it seems the more choices you have when it comes to diet, the easier it is to eat more. However, keeping a simple routine can help curve cravings.

How is exercise going?

Good, now that I am keeping to a schedule of running on the treadmill at least 25 mins everyday. This limited amount of exercise provides me a stress release and also kick starts my metabolism everyday without going excessively hungry. It’s done amazing things to my little muffin top, too! Which is taking the fat there and converting it to muscle mass somewhere else. I love this exercise regime, I wished I learned of it sooner.

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 10 weigh in: 142 lbs.

Week 10 weigh in: 142 lbs.

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The perfect diet: is it bread?
 by Lin Carson

Week 8: The Perfect Diet: Is it Bread?

Here I am at week 8, and slowly but surely losing weight using a high-carb diet. Why is this the easiest thing in the world? Well, because I don’t need to think too much about it. The nicest thing about sliced bread, especially the whole grain bread, is it’s very portable and tasty.

Alright, stop looking at me strange. It’s true. Try it for yourself. Reach out for a Dave’s Killer Bread, Eureka or a Franz organic loaf, and you will soon agree with me that these breads are so good, you can eat it without anything.

As I run from meetings to meetings at BAKERpedia, there is nothing better than food just waiting for me. I don’t need to think. It’s a grab-and-go situation. For this particular aspect, it’s not junk food that I am grabbing. It’s a wholesome, nutritious product filled with vitamins and minerals because I mainly consume whole grain bread.

The bran (outer layer) contains the largest amount of fiber, the endosperm (middle layer) contains mostly protein and carbohydrates along with small amounts of B vitamins, and the germ (inner part) is a rich source of trace minerals, unsaturated fats, B vitamins, antioxidants and phytonutrients

Thinking of cutting bread from your diet?

No way, I tell everyone. Here’s why:

  • It lowers your “bad” cholesterol, which lowers your chance of hear disease.
  • It’s high in dietary fiber, which is not only is good for you and your gut health, but also helps you feel full longer!
  • It’s full of essential minerals, such as  calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and sulfur. Like I talked about last week, it is a way to get needed nutrient density like thiamin, calcium folate and magnesium.
  • It gives you energy!
  • It’s quick, easy, and delicious!

There are few foods that can give you the nutrition you need, and also cut back on cravings for more food. And you can get bread anywhere, and take it on the go! Now that sounds like the perfect diet to me!

 

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 8 weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 143 lbs.

Week 8 weigh in: 143 lbs.

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Stay young and eat bread!
 by Lin Carson

Week 7: Wanna Stay Young? Eat Bread!

All this nonsense talk about how grains are inflammatory is cow dung. Think you need to cut bread from your diet? Think again. A new study reveals that grain foods—such as bread— are key for providing essential nutrients for missing from adult diets.

Across the board, American adults struggle with eating ideal levels of nutrients such as fiber, folate, and iron for women. This shortfall becomes even greater with older generations. So, researchers looked into what food groups could help fill in these deficits, adding energy and nutrition.

Grains was one of the most versatile and impactful foods. Among the 15 main food groups, they ranked:

  • 1st for thiamin (33%) and niacin (23%)
  • 2nd for daily dietary fiber (23%), iron (38%), folate (40%), and magnesium (15%)
  • 3rd for daily calcium intake (13%)
  • 4th for energy contributor (278 kcal/day or 14% of all energy in the total diet)

But to eat bread isn’t the same as eating just grains.

That’s right, but breads with whole grains are a great vehicle for those benefits. The study compared 46 food categories. Here’s how bread, rolls and tortillas stacked up:

  • 1st for daily thiamin (16%) and niacin (10%) intake
  • 2nd for dietary fiber (12%), iron (12%), folate (13%), and magnesium (7%)
  • 2nd largest contributor of energy (50 kcal/day or 8% of all energy in the total diet)

The study concluded that grain foods and bread products provide the greatest percentage of the most under consumed nutrients than added calories—or the most “nutrient density” for a diet.

 

Not only that, but the report concludes REMOVING grains will lead to “unintended nutrient intake consequences”—creating a larger nutritional deficit.

 

Grains are packed full of key nutrients that our bodies need to function and be healthy. And as this study shows, bread is one of the most efficient and practical ways to give our bodies what they need. So think about that before you decide to go carb-free!

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 7 weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 143.4.

Week 7 weigh in: 143.4 lbs.

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Bread diets kill cravings
 by Lin Carson

Week 6: Bread Diets Kill Cravings

Bread diets are so great, because it takes away cravings. So, my day goes like this:

  • Morning – eat bread
  • Afternoon – eat more bread
  • Evening – eat bread with family

Don’t you crave for other things on a bread diet?

That’s the monotony of this journey. When your diet is so predictable and restrictive, you put very little thought into your meal plan. Someone asked me, “Don’t you have any cravings during the day?” I really don’t. I believe I don’t have any cravings because bread fills me up very efficiently. As you may have noticed, all the breads that I have eaten are mostly whole grain or whole wheat. When I eat a couple of slices of bread, I can feel full for a couple of hours. Not only that, but because bread is so high in fiber and complex carbohydrates, it satiates me and prevents me from feeling any cravings.

With most diets that I have tried, especially with low-carb and low-calorie diets, I would be craving the entire candy store by the end of the day.  I find it pleasantly surprising that I don’t yearn for that sweet treat at the end of the day. I could pass by my favorite bakery and not buy a cream puff! Overall, a bread diet, even with sugar in the bread, has reduced my total sugar intake in my diet. I wasn’t expecting that!

 

Eat bread, fill full, no cravings. Wow. What a deal!

 

Food Portion Calories
Sprouted bread* 4 slices 440
Fried egg sandwich 2 slices 400
Butter 2 Tbsp 200
Coconut water 8.5 oz 45
Strawberries 1 80
Soup 1C 200
Sauteed spinach 1C 56
Excercise -100
Total Calories 1321

* This week, I am finishing up the bread that BBU Brasil sent me.

 

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 6 weigh in: 143.6 lbs.

Week 6 weigh in: 143.6 lbs.

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Diet and exercise don’t mix.
 by Lin Carson

Week 5: Diet and Exercise Don’t Mix…Or Do They?

In order to move on from this plateau, I need to add more activity to the picture. After all, I sit in front of the computer all day! So I started with 30 mins everyday before I woke up the kids. This is hard. I mean, I’m sacrificing sleep for 30 mins of exercise.

I started with 30 mins that become 20 mins then 11 mins. It’s hard to just run for 11 mins. It’s almost like not running at all because I don’t crack a sweat.  I wanted to do the most minimal exercise to see if I can jolt my metabolism without going overboard and making myself hungry.

Making diet and exercise work

I think it is working. My body feels so much better. I am not famished after the exercise. My body doesn’t feel lethargic during the day either. So, I am quite confident that I have found a good balance between exercise and dieting.  Hmmm, maybe they do go together hand in hand. It is possible to lose weight on a high carb diet and exercise!

Honestly, I’ve done nothing new here. Nutritional research has shown for decades that anyone can lose weight as long as there is a caloric deficit. I am really digging this diet because there are literally no cravings. The high amount of complex carbohydrates found in bread keeps me satiated all day and has really deprived me of any cravings to do with candy, chips or chocolate. This is one of the amazing things I have found with this diet.

A great sprouted grain bread

This week, BBU Brazil sent me a line of Nutrella sprouted bread. It was slightly sweet and high in fiber. Their clean label sprouted bread lines include whole wheat bread, whole wheat and fruit bread and whole multigrain bread. Thank you BBU Brazil! You made my week five diet wonderful:

Food Portion Calories
Sprouted bread

4 slices

440
Turkey sandwich

2 slices

350
Butter

2 Tbsp

200
Orange juice With Calcium and Vitamin D

8 oz

110
Strawberries

1

80
Soup

1C

200
Steamed broccoli

1C

50
Exercise

-100
Total calories

1330

 

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 5 weigh in: 144.0 lbs.

Week 5 weigh in: 144.0 lbs.

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Have I have officially plateaued on my bread diet? Exercise would help!
 by Lin Carson

Week 4: Have I Officially Plateaued on My Bread Diet?

Every dieter’s nightmare is to look at the scale, and after all the hard work that you’ve put in, you don’t move the needle at all (or least reduced the numbers digitally).  It only means one thing. I’ve finally met the caloric needs of my lighter self. The equation needs to be changed. Either I increase my caloric needs (through exercise), decrease my caloric intake further, or both.

I have to admit, I haven’t been exercising much during my diet

Every time I run a 5K, my body wants more calories and I end up eating more than I exercise. That is why most people like me don’t lose weight while performing high impact extended exercises. The output just doesn’t exceed the input.

The weekends are really bad too. When I bake and cook for my family of five, I tend to dig into their share as well.  So, as a mom, I really have to control what goes into my mouth. It definitely can not include macaroni and cheese or the frequent Tater Tot (my kid’s favorite).  Therefore, to all the moms out there who bake and cook: I feel you.

Grilled cheese on multigrain bread (not exactly a diet food).

Grilled cheese on multigrain bread (not exactly a diet food).

So, this week, I dug further into exercise research

To my surprise, a study showed that the most effective weight loss can be achieved by performing no more than 30 mins of cardiovascular exercise. Seriously? All this time I thought I had to burn more to lose more and that is just not true!

Armed with this knowledge, I’m going to approach my bread diet with a healthy dose of exercise. Here’s what my an average day in four week looked like:

Food Portion Calories
Multi grain bread

4 slices

440
Grilled cheddar cheese on multigrain

2 slices

350

Butter

 2 Tbsp

200
Orange juice With Calcium and Vitamin D

8 oz

110
Oranges

1

65
Grilled chicken sandwich

2 slices

300
Sautéed spinach

1C

45
Total calories

1,510

 

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 4: DIdn’t lose weight.

Week 4 weigh in: 144.4 lbs, same as last week.

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 by Lin Carson

Week 3: Why I’m Eating Bread and Losing 10 Pounds

Why are you doing this? You look great. You don’t need to lose anymore weight.

As a startup founder, especially one that sits on the computer all day working on WordPress and editing articles, I just don’t move around much. At the beginning of my journey four years ago when I was a lone founder who worked everything herself, it was really hard to get away, let alone include an exercise routine. I spent over well over 15 hours a day sitting. If I didn’t sit, I was stress cooking or eating with my family.

Stress + sitting + startup = 10 lbs.

Like over 26% of founders, I’ve gained at 5-10 lbs on this journey.

 

How much weight do startup entrepreneurs gain?

How much weight enterpreneurs gain

There is little I can do about the stress level. Hey, when the bills are stacked up against you, and you have to make cashflow and still grow the company, there is little a startup founder can do with this bootstrapped system other than stress about it.  Stress. It comes with the startup game, or anytime you become your own boss.

I finally found some relief in my third year of business when I was able to hire employees to take work off my plate. That meant I had more time to exercise. But I was at my highest weight ever at 145 lbs. So I took out my trisuit and went swimming, cycling and running again. Back then, I felt that I could handle a loaf of bread a day no problem. At that weight and the rate I was burning, it was easy to consume a loaf a day.

That was why the 90 loafs in 90 days experiment was possible.  I was even hoping that I would lose weight, but the training period and my high caloric consumption for the Triathlons just wasn’t conducive to losing weight. I did, however, maintain my weight throughout that period with bread and for the rest of the year.

But you look good, why lose weight?

I was really pushing the upper limits of my BMI. Which means that I have excess fat I’m carrying around. I don’t need it. Not on my back, not on my knees. Especially not when I’m running the 5K of my triathlon (maybe that’s why I’m so slow for that leg – no wait, I’m just bad at running). Anyway, I’m confident that if I get rid of that 10lbs, I can be faster in the overall race this year at the HAAG lake Triathlon.

Dave's Killer Bread Epic Everything Bagels.

Dave’s Killer Bread Epic Everything Bagels.

This week, I added Dave’s Killer Bread Epic Everything Bagel into my diet. Can you imagine a person eating a bagel a day and still losing weight? This is how I’m doing it:

Food Portion Calories
Multi grain bread 4 slices 440
DKB Epic Everything Bagel 1 260
Butter 2 Tbsp 200
Orange Juice With Calcium and Vitamin D 8 oz 110
Strawberry Jam 2 Tbsp 70
Green grapes 1 Cup 65
Apple slices 1 Cup 60
Friend Egg 1 90
Steamed Broccoli 1C 55
Chocolate Eggs* 6pc 160
 Total Calories 1510

*chocolate eggs are not part of a healthy diet. However, I have a weakness for Cadbury’s chocolate eggs, and if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am addicted to them.

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 3 weigh-in: 144.4

Week 3 weigh-in: 144.4

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Bread perfect for snacking from The Orlando Baking Co.
 by Lin Carson

Week 2: The Perfect Snacking Bread!

The word’s officially out that I am eating bread again. So this week, I received a nice little basket from Orlando Baking.

What is so special about this bread?

John Orlando, VP of Operations at Orlando Baking, mentioned that there aren’t many baked goods out there touting high antioxidants and can improve gut health. With a high amount of illnesses originating in the gut, they believe that probiotics can promote digestive health. Therefore, when Orlando Baking Co. launched the True Grains® line, they really wanted to provide a loaf packed with nutrients and probiotics.

The True Grains® Purple Wheat Raisin Bread was a moist and lightly sweetened loaf. It helped with my diet because I didn’t need much butter or spreads to go along with it. If anything, I was just eating it slice by slice. In fact, I had to stop myself from eating the whole loaf this way (darn, this losing weight on bread thing is getting on my nerves).

So that is the downfall of this whole dieting-with-bread exercise. I just can’t stop myself eating the bread. Therefore, the weight I am losing is minimal. But hey, at least I’m losing weight and keeping off the hunger pangs with bread.

Bread is the perfect low-calorie snack

My daily ritual looks like this: Eat bread all day. I know you may not believe its true that I would just reach out and eat a whole slice when I am hungry or if I need something to snack on. Most of the time I eat it straight from the bag. Sometimes I toast it to give it a crunchy texture. But if you’re in the same office as me, you will hear the bread bag constantly rustling all day. After all, bread is the perfect low calorie snack. With True Grains® Purple Wheat Raisin Bread, it’s only 80 calories per slice.

This is what a typical day with True Grains® Purple Wheat Raisin Bread look like:

Food Portion Calories
True Grains® Purple Wheat Raisin Bread 8 slices 640
Butter 1 Tbsp 100
Coconut Water 8.5 oz 45
Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam 2 Tbsp 60
Clementines 1 90
Apple 1 80
Ground Sausage 3 oz 285
Steamed Carrots 1C 60
Chocolate Eggs* 6pc 160
Total Calories: 1520

*chocolate eggs are not part of a healthy diet. However, I have a weakness for Cadbury’s chocolate eggs, and I had lots of leftovers. So, someone had to finish them!

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 2 weigh-in: 145.2

Week 2 weigh-in: 145.2

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Eating healthy bread to lose weight: week 1
 by Lin Carson

Week 1: Eating to Lose Weight is Hard. Bread Helps.

How did the first 7 days go eating to lose weight?

Tough, but worth it. I lost about one pound.

The toughest part? It is educating everyone around me on my bread diet. They bring me food and ask me to go out to lunch. And cooking meals for my family that is non-bread based is all very challenging.

What’s different this time around?

I used My Fitness Pal app to track all my caloric intake. 50% of my calories came from bread. My target caloric count for losing weight is about 1,500 calories per day. If I stick to this, 750 calories should come from bread, and that would mean about 6-7 slices per day!  Come to think about it, 2 in the morning, 2 at lunch and 2 for snacks in the afternoon, and if I spread it out, voila! I should be able to cover all my hunger pangs. Sounds super easy yeah?

franz organic nine grain bread to lose weight

Wrong. It was hard to stick to that eating schedule. You know what they say about dieting: calorie deficiency isn’t the easiest thing.

Why is it so easy to put on, and yet so difficult to loose weight!

So my first week was plagued by me snacking on other things other than bread. Chips here, dumplings there, and that muffin’s calling my name!

klosterman organic 100 whole wheat bread

So all in all, I tried to keep as close to my caloric intake goal as I can on bread to lose weight. The result? I didn’t feel hungry all the time, but the weight is not falling off as much as I thought it would. I feel this is because of all the eating I do other than bread. So I’m going to do something different next week. I’m going to really streamline what I put in my mouth and be really disciplined about it.

This week I ate bread from two wonderful bakeries: Franz and Klosterman’s. Both of these products are organic, made with quality ingredients, and to top it all off, taste delicious! It’s loaves like this that will make eating bread to lose weight possible. Stop by my bread gallery to see all the breads I’ve eaten during my 90 days projects.

This is what a typical day looks like:

Food/Portion/Calories

Franz The Great Sprouted / 4 slices  /  440

Klosterman’s Homestyle Wheat Bread  /  4 slices  /  320

Butter  /  1 Tbsp  /  100

Garlic and Herb cheese Spread  /  2 Tbsp  /  110

Clementines  /  190

Coconut Water  /  8.5 oz   / 45

Strawberry yogurt  /  113g  /  90

Perogies  /  3pc  /   45

Roasted Chicken Thigh  /  2.5 oz  /  108

Buttered Broccoli  /  1C  /  50

Strawberries  /  1C  /  49

Chocolate Eggs*  /  6 pcs  /  160

Total Calories:1607

*chocolate eggs are not part of a healthy diet. However, it’s Easter egg season, and I need my easter eggs! No wonder losing weight is so HARD!

Before the start of my 90 days, this was my weight:

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4 lbs.

 

Week 1 weigh in

Week 1 weigh-in: 146.2 lbs.

 

1 pound down, 9 more to go!

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