keto diet

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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Is bread really the main reason behind my weight loss?
 by Lin Carson

Week 12: You Might Not Like What I’m About to Say About Weight Loss

Is bread really the main reason for my weight  loss? No. I truly believe that by incorporating bread into my diet, it replaces a lot of the calories from the other foods I usually consume, leaving me with little room for anything else. Therefore, I’m restricting my variety of food intake drastically.

In this study, the potential downsides of diet diversity results in having too many choices and leads to higher consumption of food—and consequently, more calories.

In another review, The American Heart Association reported that overweight people who were offered a variety of foods for their snacks ate 25% more snack servings per week than people who were told they could eat any amount of one favorite snack. The same goes for meals—having more variety of dishes on the table can lead to overconsumption.

So, I believe my ability to lose weight on this diet is mainly because I cut off my variety of food from other sources—especially sources that are high in fat and sugar, which are unhealthy. I focused on only eating whole grain bread as my main source of calories, and with that, came the benefits of a diet that was high in nutrition.

But isn’t this an experiment to show that bread helps with weight loss?

My use of the Eat Bread 90 experiment this time around was to show that you can use bread as part of a weight loss diet plan that works with exercise. I have a problem with all the low-carb and keto diets these days because I know that our body need carbs to function. I believe I have personally been effective in losing weight by not following those diet trends, and by sticking to the a restrictive diet plan focused around bread consumption. This affirms again that bread alone doesn’t make you gain weight.

Can I try this?

Yes. I want you to try out this bread diet. Grab that bag of sliced whole grain bread and follow the diet plan laid out in the first few weeks of my blog. You will see that your appetite and cravings will decrease, and so will your caloric consumption. Don’t forget to visit my bread gallery to look at the different varieties of bread!

Lastly, remember, if you can eat it, you can run it off (or exercise). A diet plan without exercise is a half baked idea!

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 12 weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 140 lbs.

Week 12 weigh in: 140 lbs.

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Different Diet, Same Idea: Calorie Deficiency.
 by Lin Carson

Week 9: Different Diet, Same Idea: Calorie Deficiency

Did you know that approximately 127 million adults in the U.S. are overweight, 60 million are obese, and 9 million are severely obese? These numbers are astounding as obesity has become the second leading cause of preventable death behind smoking. It’s not about looking good or attractive, it’s about the diseases that arise as a result of obesity like type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, and certain cancers. Remember, these are preventable, as long as you exercise and maintain a healthy BMI.

What is BMI?

BMI stands for body mass index. It measures your body fat compared to your weight and hight. Your total body mass is divided by the square of your body hight, which results in your BMI. You can calculate it with online tools like this one. Based on the ratio, BMI gives you a good idea if you are in a healthy range or not for your weight based on body build.

Can I control my BMI with calorie deficiency?

Calorie deficiency is by far the most effective and easily implemented method of targeting a lower BMI. Do I believe that other diets work besides a high-carb diet? I do, but these are harsher and most of them work on the same principles: calorie deficiency and limitation of variety.

Some of these diets have been around for ages:

  • Atkin’s Diet
  • North Beach Diet
  • South Beach Diet
  • Protein Power diet
  • Zone Diet
  • Fat Flush Diet
  • Schwarzbein Principle
  • Neanderthin Diet
  • Pritikin Diet
  • Ornish Diet
  • Keto Diet

Although each of these diets have their own nuances, most focus around the idea of a high-protein and low-carb diet. They also mostly include portion control and calorie deficiency.

So if they all cut out carbs, how can a high-carb diet be healthy?

Because it all comes down to the amount you put in, and the amount you eliminate through exercise.

These diets are built around the idea that carbs will add too many calories. True, there are bad carbs that come from simple sugars and starches which quickly turn into glucose. However, this doesn’t mean all carbs are bad, or that bread isn’t healthy. Whole grains provide needed nutrients. And bread can be be high in protein and fiber, which helps replace digestible carbs and fats.

 

Plus, a high-carb diet doesn’t have as many negative effects.

Still not sure about a high-carb diet? Just take a look at these two photos:

My weight at the start of the 90 days.

The first weigh-in: 147.4

 

Week 9 weigh in for Eat Bread 90: 142.4 lbs.

Week 9 weigh in: 142.4 lbs.

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Lin Carson Eat Bread 90
 by Lin Carson

Is This The End? Eat Bread 90 Round II

NOPE! I’m just getting started.

After eating a loaf of bread a day for 90 days, you may think I would be done with bread-based diets…you seriously underestimate my love for bread.

I started my EatBread90 project to prove:

  1. Bread is NOT bad for you
  2. You can eat a high-carb diet and not gain weight.

I had heard too many times that bread makes you fat, it will make you gluten-intolerant, and grains are not meant for human consumption.

However, the results backed up my claims: I did not gain any weight, maintained a healthy nutritional profile, and was not bloated or uncomfortable. The journey also sparked conversations that helped give bread a good name. I got to cover healthy bread innovations, dive into the science of grains, and gain insight on how to market bread in an anti-bread climate.

As successful as the 90 days were, there’s still work to be done. So this time, I’m taking it a step further:

I will consume 6-8 slices, about half a pound, of bread a day to lose at least 10 lbs in 90 days.

Why the focus on weight loss this time?

Even if products like sprouted grain bread or whole grain bread are being recognized for their nutrition, people are still cutting carbs when focusing on weight loss. Paleo, Keto, and gluten-free are major trends right now, all focused around the idea carbs are the key to shedding those extra pounds.

However, the carbs found in whole grains are actually an important part of diet. And lipid catabolism is a highly effective weight loss technique that relies on carbs. My goal is to show that along with healthy eating, portion control and exercise, you can still enjoy bread!

Eat Bread 90, Round II

So for 90 days, I’ll be including around a loaf of bread ad day in my diet. I’ll also be exercising, eating healthy, and documenting it all. So come along with me as I discover tasty loaves, cover bread facts, and make more bread puns than you’ll know what to do with. I’ll be posting weekly updates on EatBread90.com, as well as highlighting the bread I eat—feel free to follow along!

If you run a bakery and would like to be a part of this journey, send your lovely loaves to:

707 SW Washington St., #1100, Portland, OR 97205. Attn: Ms Ana Rinck, Operations Manager, BAKERpedia.

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