Day 35 weigh-in. Total calories consumed this week: 14,952.
Day 42 weigh-in. Total weekly calories consumed: 14,010.
Almost half way through my 90 days, and I’m still doing good! I’m still feeling full and satisfied with my slices of bread, and don’t feel the need to snack thorough the day. I’m still getting in my exercise, and I still have energy and feel healthy. My weight is still in a good place. I’m still going strong for the rest of these 48 days.
Day 28 weigh-in. Total weekly calories consumed: 15,070
Day 35 weigh-in. Total calories consumed this week: 14,952.
The effects of eating my way through Seattle was diminished by my bread diet. I’m back to feeling my normal self. This is the start of an incredibly sunny week in Portland so I might even run a little more. Just giving you a heads up that my increase in activity, supported by my bread eating diet, may affect my weigh-in next week.
Day 21 weigh-in.
Day 28 weigh-in.
I don’t think the scale is correct. I feel like a whale after eating my way through Seattle. This should really read 150 lbs, especially after that Port and Prosseco. Anyway, I really think this bread diet helped me in not gaining extra pounds, especially feeling so full after each meal.
Now, before you go running down the street yelling, “She’s gained weight. Oh My God, she’s eating all this bread and she’s gained weight!!” Remember, the body does fluctuate over a pound every day. My body reacts similarly to everyone’s in terms of fluctuations.
Two weeks ago, my weigh in was 147.4 lb. Last week’s weigh in was 147.0 lb; this week is 147.8 lb. I feel this is within the standard deviation of my weight. So no alarm here. I haven’t gained weight with this bread diet (maybe I shouldn’t eat any desserts…nah).
My weight at the end of week one.
My weight at the end of week three.
The basic process is the same. The whole grains are ground and milled and the basic ingredients are the same today as neolithic bread. Bakers through the centuries have learned through trial and error how to make the best bread possible. And we’re still enjoy bread today!
It depends on who you ask. With all the varieties available, we all have our preferences. According to research, the most popular types are French, Sourdough, Whole-wheat, Rye, and Multigrain. And just like with everything else, trends change as new varieties are introduced.
According to 2016 statistics, most households consume 1-2 loaves of bread per week. Over all, each of us eats about a ton of food each year.
Bread, like most tasty things in life, contains fat such as oil and eggs. But it also contains healthy grains and ingredients our bodies need. And relatively speaking, bread is lower in fat than foods made with bread, such as pizza, bread pudding, egg-bakes, and sandwiches, not to mention hamburgers and other delicious foods we love to sandwich between bread.
Sourdough bread was invented by ancient Egyptians by accident. They brewed a lot of beer and the yeast likely originated from that process and got accidentally mixed in with their unleavened bread ingredients. Then, poof! The yeast introduced air pockets into their flat bread, and the resulting bread was lighter and tastier. Then Egyptians recreated the process and began refining it to continue making improvements.
What we typically call Artisan breads today are loaves formed and baked on sheets rather than in pans. Often the loaves are baked in wood fired brick ovens. The designs and lines on the loaves create a distinct look, but also serve an important purpose in the bread baking process. These lines, called scoring, are made by the baker just before putting the loaves in the oven. The cuts create a weak spot on the surface of the loaves which prevents bursting, like poking holes in a potato before baking it to let the steam escape during baking.
The name comes from its advertising campaign. Consumers were told by the media back in 1921 that a Wonder was coming and the name stuck. If you haven’t every squished and rolled a slice of Wonder bread in your hands, try it, it’s tasty.
In a word, no. Reducing overall calories and increasing exercise are the best ways to lose weight. Bread and carbs are not the enemy, so toast on, my friend. Enjoy slicing up a loaf and creating your new favorite sandwich. Bread is one of the good guys!
To all of you out there who have said I am going to gain weight on the challenge, here’s my answer:
Yep, all that bread, for 14 days. Still haven’t gained a single pound!
Now that I’m adding a loaf of bread daily to my diet, the main comment has been something like, “OMG! You are gonna get soooo fat!” So, I have asked the experts in the health and nutrition fields to take a look at my diet and exercise plan and provide feedback. They all harp on the importance of exercise during the 90 days I am eating a loaf of bread.
Though this does not qualify as a high risk diet, I will be monitoring well beyond the 90 days should anything change with my health. The experts have recommended a regime of intense exercise in the evenings lasting a minimum of 30-40 minutes.
Since the ideal form of exercise is something you will actually do, I plan on running, swimming, cycling and walking. A recent study published on JAMA provides some encouragement. The researchers found that “weekend warriors and other leisure time physical activity patterns characterized by 1 or 2 sessions per week may be sufficient to reduce all-cause, CVD, and cancer mortality risks regardless of adherence to prevailing physical activity guidelines.” Because my calorie intake will be on the high side of recommended daily levels I will be a full-time exercise warrior!
My target calorie intake including 1 lb (11-13 slices) of bread every day with other foods from the vegetable, fruit and protein categories should equal 2,000 calories a day. I may have to make the occasional exception for my mom’s curry; she really is a bad influence!
With the 2000 calorie intake I have figured a basic exercise regimen to include:
My initial observations after a few days of my East Bread 90 diet have been positive. I am really happy with the diet. It is keeping me on track with exercise and I have lots of energy and drive. The bonus of eating so much bread is that I am not hungry at all!
I hope you all will follow my journey and join the conversation about the health benefits of eating bread!
When did bread become the enemy to healthy living? Bread has been around since the beginning of civilization. It is a fundamental food containing gut-healthy fiber, magnesium and protein.
Bread has served as a lunch time companion to meat and veggies or an accompaniment to soup at supper. And where would our breakfasts be without toast or french bread? Cruising around the internet, however, I read so many bread misconceptions and myths.
If you follow along with us at EB90 we will be setting the record straight on these common myths. But here I’ll address a few.
Bread makes you fat. False. A bad ratio of calories in and calories out, along with eating food low in nutrition and high in fats, makes you fat. However, by balancing your calorie intake there is plenty of room for bread in a healthy diet. In fact, whole grain breads offer needed nutrients, like fiber, and help you feel full longer.
Brown bread is healthier than white bread. Not quite. The color of bread depends on the type of wheat used: white wheat or red wheat. The nutrition depends on how much of the whole kernel of wheat is used. So you can eat whole grain white bread, that is chalk full of nutrition. Here’s one that I like. Just look for whole grain breads, and you’ll be getting the healthier loaf.
Bread is empty calories. Nope. Bread is bursting with ingredients we need in our daily diet. With whole grain bread, you receive high amounts of fiber and protein. Plus, whole grains are good for your heart.
Eating bread is bad for your blood sugar. Not with this bread! There are a number of breads that have a low GI index and still taste great.
Gluten-free bread is healthier. Actually, it’s usually the opposite. In order to replace grains that have gluten, gluten-free breads use ingredients like rice, potatoes and tapioca. These food are high in starch and sugar. Plus, there is usually little fiber. And unless you are suffering from celiac disease, there’s no reason to cut out gluten.
What bread myths have you been telling yourself?
While I’m tracking my diet over the whole 90 days, I’ll also keep you updated on my weight once a week. Our body weight usually goes up or down 1-2 lbs every week. My weigh-in before I started my bread-eating journey was unfortunately after spring break, when our family went on vacation. The fancy restaurants at our vacation spot, and my weakness for foreign sounding desserts appeared on my weigh-in. So instead of 145lbs, I started this journey with 149lbs.
I should be targeting around 2,000 calories/day to maintain my weight at about 145 lbs. It seems that my average for the week was about 1,500 calories. Therefore a drop in weight didn’t surprise me at all.
My weight at the start of 90 days.
My weight at the end of the 1st week.
Now, I hope you know that my goal for this journey is not to gain a single pound while eating large amounts of bread everyday. I have safely consumed over a pound of bread everyday this week. I am proud to say I have accomplished my goal for round one.
As for losing weight, I don’t think I’m going to lose that, at the amount of calories I am consuming a day, with the same amount of exercise per week. My body will eventually find its comfortable weight range after getting used to eating a pound of bread a daily.
This was the immediate reaction from family and friends when I told them about my plan to embark on a 90-Day bread-eating journey. But I know weight gain from bread is a myth. This is no late-night whim. The truth is, I’ve been considering doing this for a long time. It started with a thought: “What if I can eat my favorite food—bread—every day?” Then it grew into a challenge:
“What if I can eat a loaf of bread every day?”
A quick check on the nutrition labels of my bread at home proved that this challenge made sense. I could definitely eat a loaf everyday, get all the nutrition I need to stay healthy and not put on weight. Just to make sure, I brought in Registered and Licensed Dietitian Connie Evers, MSc., to keep a watchful eye on my calorie-intake and BMI.
Basically, succeeding in this challenge comes down to input vs output. I’m in my mid 40s, size 6-8 (which fluctuates between summer and winter) and 145 lbs. I don’t smoke or drink and I don’t take any recreational or prescription drugs. I am a mother of three boys, an entrepreneur, scientist, foodie, baker, Chihuly fan and a lover of the outdoors who runs, cycles and swims at least three times a week. Other than that, I lead a normal life. My eating habits and cravings are pretty normal. Some people may even call me…boring.
So why not challenge people’s negative perception of eating bread, while eating my fill of delicious loaves? I’m not worried about weight gain from bread, because as a baker I’ve been working with bread and researching it for a long, long time.
I contacted all my baker friends and told them about the challenge. Their reaction? Immediately sending over loaves and loaves of bread with all the nutritional labels intact! I have been so overwhelmed with their support! Not only are they cheering me on but they are also keen on providing me with my lots of bread. I feel so loved.
I should explain how I know all these bakers. My business, BAKERpedia, serves the commercial baking industry. We provide a knowledge base that is freely available to help bakers with all their scientific questions. We also offer technical support and consulting services to bakeries who are at the tipping point of business expansion. In the short two and a half years BAKERpedia’s been in business, I’ve met a lot of wonderful people in the food industry who are hungry for knowledge. Most of them are searching for reliable information and ways to be innovative with their products.
I’m proud to say we have always done our best to help all bakers and equipment suppliers to enhance their businesses and have generally helped the entire baking ecosystem thrive. If this is their way of giving back to BAKERpedia, I am deeply touched and definitely encouraged—not only to continue making BAKERpedia a success, but to go all out on this ambitious bread-eating journey.
Today is the very first day of my challenge, and the list of bakers who want to send me bread keeps growing. That means, I get to eat more of my favorite food for free over the next 90 days! If you run a bakery and would like to support me, send your lovely loaves to:
707 SW Washington St., #1100, Portland, OR 97205. Attn: Ms Ana Rinck, Operations Manager, BAKERpedia.
Thank you for feeding me and helping give bread a good name!