More than 70% of people who suddenly eliminate bread from their diet lose weight within the first two weeks. Bread was incorrectly placed at the base of the food pyramid that children learn in school with early age. Some of these children may become professional nutritionists in the future and preach the same nonsense about bread. The processed grains used to make bread are unnecessary and even sometimes dangerous for some types of metabolism. And that's why:

1) Whole grain bread may raise your blood sugar more than a Snickers bar.

Whole grain bread does not actually contain whole grains. Flour is made by grinding grains into powder. It is thanks to the powdered form that it is easier for the body to digest bread and allow the produced glucose to enter the bloodstream. This increases the fat-synthesis-enhancing hormone known as insulin. In whole grain bread glycemic index higher even than chocolate bars, such as Snickers.

Elevated blood sugar can cause glycation at the cellular level, when blood sugar reacts with proteins in the body, which is part of the aging process.

This is the downside of the high-carbohydrate diet that is so often promoted by ill-informed sources.

2) Bread contains a lot of gluten

Wheat contains a large number of protein called gluten.

Gluten consists of substances whose consistency resembles glue (from the English glue - glue), thanks to which the dough becomes elastic-viscous.

Recent data suggests that a significant portion of the population is gluten sensitive.

When we eat bread that contains gluten (wheat, spelled, rye and barley), the immune system in the digestive tract begins to “attack” gluten proteins.

Gluten sensitivity is often associated with some cases of schizophrenia and cerebellar ataxia (both serious brain disorders).

Gluten is likely dangerous for most people, not just those diagnosed with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease.

The only way to test whether you are sensitive to gluten is to eliminate it from your diet for thirty days, then start consuming it again and see if you have any side effects.

3) Modern wheat is dangerous

The most popular cereal in the world is also the deadliest. According to cardiologist and leading wheat expert Dr. William Davis, modern wheat is no wheat at all, “an excellent, permanent poison.”

Once agro-industrial enterprises began to grow high-yielding grains, wheat became so hybridized that its genetic code does not at all resemble the wheat that was grown in ancient times. All the nutritional value modern wheat in its natural unprocessed state has depreciated by 30% compared to the genetic data of its predecessors. Balance and ratios useful elements in wheat, created by nature itself, have been changed. But the human body and psychology cannot adapt to new changes so quickly.

4) Modern bread contains preservatives and chemicals

Like most modern food products that have undergone technological processing, most modern breads contain sugar or corn syrup high in fructose.

Most grains also contain phytic acid (one of the main problems with soy). Phytic acid is a substance that binds minerals important to the body, such as calcium, iron and zinc, and prevents them from entering the bloodstream. Soy advocates consume much more permissible norm phytates (salts of phytic acid) through soy milk, tofu cheese, grains and many other processed foods. Soybean oil and soy lecithin quite common in bread.

Dough raising agents consisting of azocarbonic acid diamide have only recently been called into question.

Here is the composition of most modern types of bread:

"caption on image"

Ingredients: wheat flour from whole grain, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, honey, molasses, yeast. Contains 2% or less of: wheat bran, soybean oil, salt, calcium sulfate, leavening agents (sodium stearoyl lactylate, ethoxylated mono and diglycerides, calcium dioxide and/or azocarbonic acid diamide), soy flour, nutritional supplement for yeast growth (ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate and/or monocalcium phosphate), vinegar, calcium propionate (to maintain product freshness), whey, soy lecithin. Contains wheat, milk and soy.

5) Bread is not a nutritious food

Bread does NOT contain the nutrients you can get from other foods in much greater quantities. Wholemeal wheat bread may even slow down the absorption of nutrients from other foods. Gluten, damaging the intestinal mucosa, slows down the process of absorption of other nutrients by organisms.

Despite the number of calories whole wheat bread contains less nutrients than, for example, vegetables.

Wheat fiber can cause your body to use up vitamin D stores faster, causing vitamin D deficiency, which in some cases can lead to cancer, diabetes and even death.

6) The link between wheat and diabetes

Dr. Andrew Rubman, medical director of the Traditional Medicine Clinic in Southbury, Connecticut, says that consumption of wheat (especially gluten, which is found in wheat, rye, and barley) can cause the development of diabetes in people with a genetic risk for the disease. He also adds that eliminating gluten from the diet can be beneficial for people who already have diabetes. Dr. Rubman suggests following a gluten-free diet for four to six months and seeing if your blood sugar levels improve. If the answer is yes, then such a diet should be followed for life.

7) Genetically modified enzymes

Enzymes (often genetically modified) are added to flour and dough to make loaves of bread larger and remain soft for days or even weeks. However, according to recent research, one such enzyme, transglutaminase, which is used in food processing and baking, can convert some gluten proteins from wheat flour into substances that are toxic to some people. Even organic bread made in large industrial enterprises may contain such substances.

Manufacturers often sell so-called “elite” varieties of bread containing omega-3, inulin, folic acid etc. But if we don’t pay attention to the ingredients in the main composition of a loaf of bread, then our diet will resemble nothing more than industrial waste with nutrients.

This is a psychological test: a person is irritable, hot-tempered, always dissatisfied with something. Why did it happen?

And his body is sorely lacking vitamin B - an active fighter against all these unpleasant phenomena. Do you know where such an important vitamin is found in sufficient quantities?

In the bread! And this same product is a “forbidden fruit” for those who want to maintain their figure within the given parameters. How correct is this?

Types of bread with a “dietary bias”

What kind of bread can you eat while losing weight? The most common bread product is made from the following types of flour:

• white;
• rye;
• containing bran;
• buckwheat

The most useful is whole grain baked goods.

White bread is preferable to buy from flour coarse, so-called whole grain. Nutrients are retained in large quantities.

The most useful are breads with various additives such as flax, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, oat or millet grains.

By the way, it was on the use of “coarsely ground” bread that Olga Raz-Kessner, director of the nutrition and diet department of the Tel Aviv Ichilov Hospital, based her bread diet, devoting an entire book to it, which became a bestseller, “Bread for Life. Carbohydrate program for weight loss" (Matar publishing house, 2001).

Rye bread contains an essential amino acid - lysine, which is absolutely necessary for our body to function without failures.

White and black bread differ little in calorie content and the amount of carbohydrates. There is also such a thing as the glycemic index, which characterizes the ability of a food product to increase appetite, which can increase the frequency of meals. In this sense, rye bread has an advantage. And in terms of lower calorie content, black Borodinsky is the leader - there are 207 in 100 grams, while even bran has 216.

Very suitable for dietary nutrition bread products with bran. They contain vitamins, valuable proteins, fiber, and nicotinic acid, which can prevent diseases. gastrointestinal tract and the occurrence of atherosclerosis.

Bread made from buckwheat flour is a storehouse of a whole vitamin and mineral complex. Its usefulness and nutritional value are undeniable - the feeling of satiety does not leave a person on a diet for a long time.

What can you eat instead of bread?

Choose the right breads.

Some people think that bread is still a problematic product when losing weight. What to replace it with in this case? Nutritionists especially recommend rye bread.

However, such a product can cause problems in people whose stomach acidity is high. In this case, the rye-wheat option is suitable.

Crisps can be made from different varieties flour, with different calorie content, therefore not all of them are dietary.

When choosing them, you need to pay attention to the composition indicated on the packaging. The main “manufacturing material” is wholemeal flour.

Bread should not contain yeast; the presence of soda is acceptable.

The extrusion method is used to prepare the bread. Of course, they look less appetizing than baked ones, but they retain a rich chemical composition, and therefore they are more useful. Impact of pressure and high temperature during this technological process ensures the decomposition of complex cellular components into simpler ones that can more easily release their energy. These breads are easier to digest.

And although in terms of calories this product not much different from bread, but the carbohydrates included in its composition belong to the “slow” category: the body absorbs them better, and the feeling of fullness remains longer. It’s hardly possible to get better from bread, unless, of course, you eat them exclusively. How much should I eat? It is enough to eat no more than three pieces, and it is better in the first half of the day.

Biscuits are another product that can be used to replace bread during weight loss. They are made from different types flour, including pea and bean flour, with the addition of water. This product can be stored for quite a long time without losing its beneficial properties.

When reducing weight, yeast-free types of bakery products such as those made with kvass are preferable, Armenian lavash, matzos. This is the answer to the question, is it possible to go on a diet? yeast-free bread. The high density of such bread facilitates digestion, does not harm the intestinal microflora, and the body absorbs it better.

What if there is no bread at all?

Wheat varieties Not recommended for use on a diet.

Often those who want to lose weight rush to extremes: since bread products can make you gain weight, it is better to give them up altogether. This decision is unlikely to be correct.

It is better not to exclude whole grain products and those containing bran from your diet: they are not so high in calories, and also contain necessary for the body fiber and microelements.

For lunch or dinner you can afford one or two rye pieces - and not even as a separate meal, but in addition to the main dish or salad.

By and large, it is not recommended to eat wheat bread at all, since during processing, wheat grain loses useful substances in large quantities, but if you really can’t bear it, you can eat a slice at breakfast - these calories will go away peacefully during the working day.

Diet is different

Among the impressive list of nutritional systems for the purpose of losing weight, you can find those that allow the use of this flour product during the process, and those that are categorically against it.

The “fifth table” diet is prescribed for people suffering from liver diseases. Bakery products are allowed in a gentle version. Wheat bread of the first and second grades is recommended, rye bread is preferable from sifted or peeled flour, and it should be slightly stale, yesterday's bread. Pies from unpalatable dough with fillings of boiled meat or fish, cottage cheese or apples.

And here freshly baked bread is contraindicated, as well as products made from butter or puff pastry, as well as fried (rather than baked) pies.

What will Dukan please you with?

Each of the four stages of the diet involves consuming a certain amount of fiber. AND Pierre Dukan has developed “his own” bread, which those losing weight need to learn to cook themselves- This is not sold in the store. At its core - oat bran, which are a rich source of carbohydrates. But the “Dukan diet” not only does not prohibit, but, on the contrary, considers their use simply necessary. So such bread is acceptable at all stages of the diet.

In addition, they say that Dukan bread is not much different in taste from what we are used to, except that it is much healthier.

Can I eat if I drink?

Name drinking diet speaks for itself - it is based on the consumption of any drinks with the exception of alcoholic drinks, as well as canned juices, fatty broths, etc.

The main principle of the diet is a complete abstinence from solid foods, which includes bread.

Possible - with reservations

The grain variety is necessary for the normal functioning of the human body.

According to the “permissive” conditions, the protein and kefir-curd diets are similar.

After completely excluding bread from the diet, even whole grain varieties, a reservation is still allowed: rye bread, wheat bread made from first grade flour, as well as bran bread - all this in the first half of the day and in small quantities.

1-2 slices of bran or grain bread per day allows and buckwheat diet, which, as you know, is based on the consumption of grains with steamed water (or with the addition of kefir) for several hours.

Bread is also forbidden in the “Kremlin” diet. However, even here a 25-30 gram piece of bread during lunch is not considered a big violation. In addition, digestible carbohydrates are found in smaller quantities in bran or whole flour. There are also fewer of them in bread made from the same flour.

Another option is to consume fiber-rich bran, within reasonable limits, of course.

Bread and blood types

The consumption of bread in the food system according to blood groups for each of them is in some ways the same, in some ways completely different. Thus, the owners of the 1st group, who, according to the recommendation, in principle should not get carried away with products of plant origin, are informed that gluten-free, rye, rice, and soy bread are nevertheless digested well, but white varieties should be avoided.

The following types are considered useful for the 2nd group: bread based on sprouted wheat, soy flour. You can also eat rice cakes.

Almost all of those named for the first group are considered neutral options. But wheat bread and matzo and grain bread are not recommended for such people.

For carriers of group 3, both wheat and rye bread are excluded from the diet. A to useful species include rice cakes and millet cakes - bread and crispbread. Bread with gluten, soy, and oat bran muffins are acceptable as neutral breads.

The widest range is available to owners of group 4. They can use almost everything mentioned above, with the exception of rich corn products.

Bread - separately, milk - separately

Jam should be eaten separately from baked goods.

The most difficult thing for an ordinary citizen to perceive overweight is a separate nutrition system based on the compatibility of various products.

There is even a special table of what goes with what, what is acceptable at a stretch, and what is clearly prohibited. So, you can eat a piece of bread with butter, but it doesn’t go well with jam or jam.

Interestingly, according to the table, bread is poorly compatible with meat, fruits, tomatoes, eggs, milk and dairy products. Recommended time of consumption is during the second tomorrow in the form of a whole grain slice.

If the number of calories in white and black bread is almost the same, then perhaps you can gain weight from black bread? Undoubtedly, if you eat literally all dishes with it, including,. But bread will not harm your figure if it is consumed within reasonable limits during the day. And it’s absolutely correct if the “safest” types are chosen.

Text: Alexey Bekhtev
Illustrations: Anubis

Myth No. 1

Fatty foods make you fat

Why is it impossible without fats?

1 Eaten fats release large amounts of water when broken down. People who spend long periods on a low-fat diet often become dehydrated without even realizing it.

2 Fat derivatives are needed by synapses and contacts that transmit nerve signals. Without fats, the processes of inhibition and excitation worsen, a person often cannot complete his

3 If you reduce your intake of fatty foods, the sebaceous glands will stop working normally and your skin condition will worsen. First of all, on the face, in the so-called T-zone (forehead and nose).

It would seem that what could be more logical: you eat two hundred grams of fat, and after a small and purely formal processing of gastric juice, the ions are deposited on the stomach. Right? No. The misconception about the dangers of fatty foods arose due to simple ignorance of the basics of nutrition.

Ask any friend who is losing weight which has more calories – fats or carbohydrates. And she, pointing her finger at the condensed milk label that has been read to holes, will probably say that it’s fat. And it won’t be entirely right. Yes, energy value fats are twice as high as proteins and carbohydrates, but more energy is spent on their breakdown. So you'll use up a third of your calories before the fats enter your bloodstream, just to absorb the remaining two-thirds. But carbohydrates are absorbed one hundred percent, and by abusing them, you will gain weight faster. Moreover, the basin mashed potatoes Easier to eat than a stick of butter (easier for a normal person, we mean). Fats in pure form often taste unpleasant, unlike the same carbohydrates.

In addition, according to statistics from the Research Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, all men over 30 years of age without exception (you can check if you are one of these lucky ones using your passport) develop secretory deficiency of liver enzymes. If you don’t take drugs like mezim or festal immediately after eating, then your stomach breaks down a maximum of 50% of fats. The remaining fats will not be absorbed by the body at all and will be released untouched.

Myth No. 2

The worst thing in food is cholesterol

Although it has been proven that cholesterol had nothing to do with the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany, many people still consider it the main evil in the universe. In this sense, he has a presumption of guilt: it is known that atherosclerosis, and sometimes heart attacks, occur due to plaques in the blood, which consist almost entirely of cholesterol. And herein lies the main catch.

First, food makes a fairly modest contribution to total cholesterol levels. Your body synthesizes 2011;30 times more of this substance per day than is contained in the fattest chop. Even if you fall into the hands of maniacs who worship the Mother Steamer, and they start feeding you food without cholesterol before slaughtering you, its level in your blood will change by a fraction of a percent.

Secondly, real nutritionists have always known that it is not excess cholesterol that is dangerous, but an imbalance of its fractions. As they explained to us in the department for the prevention of nutritional disorders of the Medical Nutrition Clinic of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, cholesterol is not dangerous in itself, its compacted and oxidized forms are dangerous. For example, butter safe in small doses. But as soon as it stands on the table for a couple of days, even if it’s in an oil pan under a lid, and it darkens slightly, its atherogenic properties increase. In general, if you eat animal fats (lard, foie gras, cheeses) in a one-to-one ratio with vegetable fats ( olive oil, nuts), then you don’t have to worry about cholesterol. One to one. Don't get confused.

Myth No. 3

Milk is terribly healthy

This misconception is especially ardently defended by supporters of Ayurveda - Indian traditional medicine. In their opinion, milk strengthens the body and soul. Alas, Indians cannot provide any other evidence of its benefits other than their love for cows in general. At the same time, science has specific arguments against the dairy diet.

About the fact that a person over 30 years old is practically unable to digest lactose ( milk sugar), you probably know yourself. Many people know about this. And yet they indulge in the bad habit. You've probably seen these unfortunate people who are addicted to milk. At any party, they crowd around the toilets: underdigested milk causes them diarrhea and gas. Jokes aside: fermentation of lactose causes the intestines to contract furiously, making not only milk, but also other foods poorly digested. The result is colic, bloating and other delights.

However, this is not the worst thing. In New Zealand, for example, nutritionists have found that men milk drinkers, suffer from a lack, you will be surprised, of calcium. And this is not even a paradox.

Animal milk accumulates strontium, which, having entered the human body even in small doses, begins to displace calcium and silicon and prevents you from absorbing them. You can say: okay, it’s in New Zealand, everyone drinks fresh milk there, and then blithely fall into the bag. But don't rush. Did you know that sterilized milk, heated to 135 C and then sharply cooled, destroys all B vitamins? Yeah, now you're nervously reaching for kefir! Well that's more right choice: dairy products beneficial for intestinal microflora. Although it’s better not to overdo it with them either.

Myth No. 4

You need to eat soup every day

Soups, especially hot ones, are an invention of the northern peoples. A person needs at least 2.5 liters of water a day, otherwise the kidneys begin to work worse and the blood becomes clogged. In hot latitudes it’s easier to drink an extra liter, but here we have to heat it up and eat it in the form of soup (or in the form of warm beer, but not many people are capable of this). Meanwhile, any food that cannot be put on a fork causes distrust in a man. And rightly so: amorphousness is not the only drawback of the soup. For all its ease of digestibility, the soup is almost useless. When boiled, almost all the beneficial substances contained in the soup ingredients (fiber, vitamins and fatty acids) are destroyed, and the resulting borscht is a pile of protein and wet ballast substances, flavored only with the death cries of vegetables.

Again, once in the body, the soup makes the gastric juice less concentrated, and the second dish eaten after it is absorbed worse. Exit? Nutritionists recommend eating more fruit (apples, melon or pineapples) an hour before meals. Or just drink more. Then you can eat soup only for pleasure.

Myth No. 5

To lose weight, you need to eat less

Another case where the arguments are superficially logical, but at the same time erroneous. Meanwhile, according to the first commandment of the Nutrition Bible by P. Holford (one of the few books recommended for reading by Harvard medical students), a healthy person should eat five times a day, and the amount of food in each meal should not exceed the basic volume of the stomach. How to find out this volume? Take two hands (preferably yours) and cup your palms. Then bring them together. This is your limit.

You see, a person cannot go without food for a long time. The longer the pause between doses, the more depleted the blood is. As a result, sitting down at the table once or twice a day, you try to compensate for hypoglycemia and eat, even if unconsciously, a little more than usual. As a result, the walls of your stomach stretch. First, insignificantly: what does an extra hundred grams mean to the stomach? But at the next meal you try to eat even more, because in addition to actual hunger, you also feel emptiness in your stomach. It turns out to be a vicious circle: the less often you eat, the more you eat in one sitting and the stronger your hunger the next time. Thus, one meal becomes not a preventive measure, but a long road to skinning and diaphragm hernia.

Myth No. 6

After six

Eating is harmful

A normal person rarely goes to bed at six when he is not paid for it. Therefore, preparing for bed so long in advance is not at all useful. On the contrary, delusional attitudes and hungry evening agony can harm your body great harm.

Firstly, if you've been hungry for half a day, you'll probably overeat at breakfast. Secondly, sleeping on an empty stomach has a detrimental effect on your consciousness, so in addition to stomach erosions, you will also experience mild psychosis. The optimal mode will be in which you go to bed at the moment when the stomach digests the food and gives it to the intestines to finish eating. In other words, if you eat something light two to three hours before going to bed (broth, soft-boiled eggs, boiled fish), then this dinner will leave your stomach just when you fall asleep. And how long the clock will be at that moment is not so important.

Myth No. 7

You can't get enough without bread

As a child, you were probably told not to play with bread. Alas, the adults forgot to add to it and don't eat it. And although it is now too late to correct their mistake, we will still try. These facts rarely become public knowledge, while scientific publications such as the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics have long known that during the production of premium flour, fiber completely disappears from any grain. Its fibers are simply ground into dust. Once in the intestines, bread made from such flour causes stagnation of its contents (to put it mildly, your lunch). Flour envelops food like a paste and prevents it from breaking down. As a result, you are deprived of nutrients and begin to feel hungry within three hours after a seemingly satisfying lunch. But don’t rush to burn the breadbox or poison it with pigeons. Stale or toaster-dried bread is no longer as harmful to digestion. And bread with bran is completely beneficial for the body. True, it is recommended to eat it separately or at least as part of sandwiches, and not during an already hearty lunch.

Myth No. 8

Can't live without meat

Let's make a reservation right away: we, too, have always been inclined to consider vegetarians as something like gays. But it seems that their heretical views on food generally have a right to exist. You see, man at one time began as a herbivore, and then evolved, but did not become a 100% predator*. Our body still does not produce enzymes that can digest raw meat. But this is not even what justifies vegetarians. It turns out that if you don't consume meat for three full years, your metabolism will change radically. After such a restructuring, you will not only not need meat, but it will even cause you to be rejected, however, purely psychologically. True, you need to keep two things in mind: firstly, after this no one will shake hands with you in normal male company, and secondly, you cannot extract a number of essential amino acids from vegetables, nuts or fish. For the sake of tryptophan, lysine, isoleucine, valine and five other valuable substances, you will have to eat eggs and milk, and ideally also fish and seafood, unless, of course, you want to earn dystrophy and stomach cancer. True, in this case, already stubborn vegetarians will turn their backs on you. In general, we warned you, if anything happens.

*- Note Phacochoerus "a Funtik:
« Pigs and humans are the only biological species that are classified as omnivores based on their diet. Personally, such closeness offends me...»

Myth No. 9

If you play sports, you can eat anything

The logic is again clear: if you, overcoming yourself, went to the gym, then why not do something sincere after that and take a couple more cheeseburgers with you? Alas, in this case the method of indulgences does not work. And that's why. Exercising leads to the depletion of glycogen reserves in your muscles. To maintain their work at a frantic rhythm, the body begins to convert proteins and fats received with food into carbohydrates, because muscles do not eat anything else. Switching to a sports diet (this is when 50% of your food consists of complex carbohydrates such as vegetables and rice) helps the body not to feel exhausted. But if you eat haphazardly, excess proteins and fats are still converted into carbohydrates and in the process of these transformations a lot of garbage and excess water. All this puts a strain on the body. Athletes who eat fast food in its worst forms, in addition to water, also accumulate various crap in their bodies, such as carcinogens. And they do it faster than mere mortals. After all, most of the body’s resources are spent on recovery after training, and not on detoxification processes.

Well, if you don’t exercise regularly, then you shouldn’t have any illusions about nutrition. The body, delighted with the very first workout, will probably start the process of converting all food into carbohydrates. But if the second lesson does not follow, these energy reserves, hanging around you idle, will settle somewhere in the form of fat.

Myth No. 10

You can eat fruits and vegetables as much as you want

Three in the throat

Edward Knox, a member of the British Dietetic Association, spent several years studying mortality statistics for men aged 64 years, residents of 20 different countries. He then compared this data with the diet of the deceased and identified three clear patterns:
■ people who rely on meat, lard, milk, eggs and refined sugar are more likely to die from multiple sclerosis, coronary heart disease and leukemia;
■ lovers of grains and flour products are more prone to death from epilepsy, stomach ulcers, cirrhosis of the liver, pulmonary tuberculosis and laryngeal cancer;
■ but even those who eat fruits and vegetables are not immune from terrible illnesses - for example, cancer of the esophagus and stomach.

This myth does not need a complete refutation, but only partial correction, so do not think of catching us in a contradiction: they say, they themselves advised eating more fruit, and now...

The human digestive tract is well adapted to digesting plant food. And although we are not herbivores in their pure form, our native food is still fruits, whatever they may be wrong, and vegetables. They contain a lot of fructose and fiber, as well as water, vitamins and microelements. What could be bad about them besides arsenic, which your enemies might pour into your plate with plums?

Here's the thing. As they explained to us in the department for the prevention of nutritional disorders: Listen, can we not write this long name? It's at the beginning of the article. So, there they told us that fruits are best absorbed only if you were raised with them in at least the same hemisphere. The more exotic the fruit, the fewer enzymes you have that can digest it. Pitahaya irambutan, instead of giving you its vitamins, will probably make your intestines contract furiously. As a result, the body will not accept either the fruit or the lunch you ate before. In addition, no one has canceled allergies to exotic foods. You yourself may not develop a rash and spots, but your stomach will always do it for you with great pleasure!

Bread is a source of vitamins and minerals

Bread is rich in riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, biotin and other B vitamins, many of which are present in a form of absorption that is rarely found in other foods. B vitamins can influence the regulation of functions nervous system and provide protection from stressful situations, so completely refusing to eat bread increases the risk of developing neurological diseases and depressive conditions. Hot temper, fatigue, irritability and tearfulness - all this may indicate a deficiency of B vitamins in the body. Bread contains vitamin E, which is necessary for regulating DNA synthesis and stabilizing red blood cells and muscle tissue. In addition, it is a powerful antioxidant that prevents premature cell aging.

Bread contains significant quantities of minerals such as magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, sodium, vanadium, manganese, cobalt, etc. It is characteristic that, for example, vanadium in a free state does not occur in nature at all; it belongs to the category of dispersed and is found in the earth's crust and natural sources, therefore present in few food products. Meanwhile, its role in the human body is very significant, because it is an active participant in many reactions and normalizes metabolic processes. So it is in bread that vanadium is most fully represented. Knowing this and not eating bread is simply unreasonable.

Complex carbohydrates

Bread is a carbohydrate product. Depending on the variety, it contains 40-50% carbohydrates, and this is what scares people who want to lose weight and diabetics. But with a lack of carbohydrates in the body, the synthesis of serotonin, an important hormone and neurotransmitter of the brain (it is called the pleasure hormone), is disrupted. Serotonin deficiency leads to impaired brain activity and an inability to cope with stress. What to do? Nutritionists are unanimous in their recommendations - exclude simple carbohydrates from the menu and include complex ones. Simply put, prefer bread to pastries, cakes and cookies. The carbohydrates contained in bread are classified as complex. It is unusual for them to deposit layers of fat on the waist, hips and buttocks. But they provide the body with energy, prevent anemia, diabetes and other diseases.

Alimentary fiber

Thanks to the presence of dietary fiber, which is contained in large quantities in bread made from wholemeal flour, bran and whole grain, you can establish normal intestinal function, and at the same time remove waste and toxins and reduce cholesterol levels in the blood. Bread made from premium wheat flour does not contain dietary fiber.

Which bread is a friend and which is an enemy

Today, stores offer a rich assortment of bread - rye, wheat, with bran, whole grain, with all kinds of additives (raisins, seeds, onions, cumin, malt, sesame), unleavened, yeast, etc. There is also bread for special purposes: iodized, with a high iron content, etc. And there is only one type of bread, which nutritionists do not like. This White bread from premium wheat flour. During the production of this flour, the most valuable things are removed from the grain - the shell and the germ. What remains are calories and starch. This bread is a source of “fast” carbohydrates. Yes, it is extremely tasty, you can sometimes eat it... as a delicacy. And also in dried form it is shown as dietary product for inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, because has less acidity and is easier to digest compared to rye bread.

The undoubted benefits of bread

Bread is a healthy product in all respects. You need to eat it, and sometimes it’s simply necessary. Just keep in mind that healthy bread means the “right” product. Namely, it is made from rye flour or a mixture of rye and wheat. The ideal bread that brings health is whole grain, with bran, with the inclusion of cereals and natural supplements(oat and buckwheat flakes, raisins, seeds). It is no coincidence that on black bread and clean water a person can live long enough without compromising his health.

Restrictions on bread consumption

For some diseases, the consumption of bread must be limited (for example, with diabetes), and for others, it must be completely excluded. So, you can’t eat bread if you have celiac enteropathy, because... People suffering from it cannot tolerate gluten, a protein found in grains. Bread made from wholemeal flour and with bran is contraindicated for peptic ulcers. Fortunately for patients, manufacturers today produce special types of bread: gluten-free, diabetic, protein, etc.

Beauty and Health Health Nutrition

Today, no one can name the exact date of the appearance of bread in the human diet, but most scientists believe that people got their first bread by accident, more than 15,000 years ago. One day, in search of food, people paid attention to cereal grains. At first they collected them and ate them, then they noticed that the grain that accidentally fell into the ground germinates, and much more grains are obtained. So people began to grow cereals and eat them.

Gradually, people learned to grind grain, prepare porridge, grain mash and stew, and then flat cakes and bread. According to archaeologists, baked bread appeared about 7000 years ago, when part of the cereal mash was accidentally spilled onto the hearth stones and baked.

Thousands of years have passed since then, and today baking bread is a real art. More than one book could be written about the history of bread, and there are so many varieties of bread in the world that it’s easy to get lost in their abundance. After all, in Russia alone there are several hundred of them, and new ones appear all the time: Russians have always considered bread their main food, and not just food, but a symbol of prosperity and well-being. Just one Russian custom is worth it - to greet dear and honored guests, respected people, new settlers and newlyweds with bread and salt. Bread always brings happiness.

Is bread healthy? The harm and benefits of bread

However, in recent years they have begun to write and talk a lot about the fact that bread is not so healthy, and even advise excluding bread from your diet.

Let's try to figure out what this opinion is based on? Wheat grain is a unique product in its composition, which contains almost the entire periodic table. It contains many vitamins: A, E, F, B vitamins and others; a large number of minerals: copper, selenium, magnesium, cobalt, zinc, chlorine, sodium, silicon, manganese, potassium, iodine - it would take a long time to list.

However, all these useful and necessary substances for humans are contained only in the shell of the grain and its germ. Unfortunately, in the process of modern grain processing, it is this, the most valuable part of it that ends up as waste, and what remains is mainly starch and calories, of which it consists white flour highest grade, considered elite.

This flour is used to bake soft and fluffy white bread, as well as rolls and other delicious products, which look so beautiful on our table. Of all the vitamins and minerals contained in unprocessed grain, barely 30% remains in such flour, and even they become practically inactive after two weeks. As a result, our diet begins to dominate empty calories and starch, which do not have any vitality However, they contribute to the accumulation of excess fat in the body.

Most doctors and nutritionists believe that many diseases arise and develop precisely due to the consumption of white bread made from premium flour. If you consider what other food products have become today, as well as the fact that we are used to eating everything with bread, then it becomes quite clear what the opinion about the dangers of eating bread is based on. People who constantly eat white bread and products made from premium flour are much more likely to develop and worsen cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine and oncological diseases.

In one of the developed countries, a study was recently conducted in which more than 60,000 middle-aged women took part. The results of the study showed that in women whose diet was dominated by white bread and premium flour products, diabetes developed almost three times more often than in those who included in their diet foods rich in fiber and containing few easily digestible carbohydrates.

It was noticed that the development of the disease was not influenced in any way by the factor of heredity, physical activity and body weight - everything depended only on diet. In short, we can say that constant consumption of white bread leads to serious disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism, which results in the development of type II diabetes.

Bread with rye flour

Fortunately, today, as noted above, there are a lot of types of bread, so we have plenty to choose from. The main thing is to learn how to choose bread correctly. Bread with the addition of rye flour - gray bread, is digested more slowly and contains more nutrients than white bread. That's why he doesn't do that harmful influence on our health.

The healthiest bread is bread with bran

However, the healthiest bread is bread with bran. Bran has the property of absorbing toxins and allergens, helping to strengthen the immune system, supplying our body with fiber, valuable proteins and vitamins. People who prefer bran bread are much less likely to suffer gastrointestinal diseases, excess weight and atherosclerosis, since this bread contains a lot of nicotinic acid, which the body needs to prevent these diseases.

Bran contains beneficial alimentary fiber, vitamins and minerals, and therefore nutritionists often prescribe them as a supplement to therapeutic nutrition patients with hypertension, atherosclerosis, diabetes, as well as gallstone disease, constipation and obesity. Bran is added to porridges, meat and fish dishes, soups, and also prepare bran decoction - valuable vitamin drink. You can also use bran in its natural form, after frying it in the oven and steaming it with boiling water.

Yeast-free bread with hop sourdough

Yeast-free bread is also very useful. hop starter . It has a mild hypnotic, as well as anti-inflammatory, choleretic and expectorant effects, helps increase appetite and normalize the menstrual cycle in women.

How to choose bread

How to choose the right bread? Of course, you first need to pay attention to it appearance, color and shape. The bread should be smooth, without cracks, of normal color: for example, rye bread should be an even dark brown color, and white buns should be golden; the shape of the bread must be correct, and the bread itself must not include foreign unwanted formations, such as black soot containing carcinogenic substances.

The label must indicate the expiration date and information about the manufacturer. Try to buy bread and bakery products well-known manufacturers with a good reputation in the market. In this case, you can be sure that not only the composition of the product, but also the entire production process and the personnel of the enterprise are carefully checked and controlled.

Remember what can cause defects in bread. If you once bought a low-quality product, try not to buy bread from this manufacturer again. Thus, the foreign taste and smell of bread can be caused by both impurities and non-compliance with the rules of storage of products: flour, yeast and fats. If the bread has a pale crust, and the crumb is sticky and kneaded, then, most likely, flour was used for baking that does not have the necessary baking properties.

How to eat bread correctly

Having learned to choose bread, you need to learn how to eat it correctly.. Many of us intuitively feel that the crust is healthier than the crumb - after all, we all love the crust, golden brown and crispy. However, the main thing is the compatibility of bread with other food products. If you eat bread randomly, at random, then even healthy person there will be problems with digestion.

Try to at least follow a simple rule: do not eat white bread with fatty foods. Salo, fatty fish, rich broth It’s better to eat it with black bread, but meat and potatoes can do just fine without bread at all. But vegetables, absolutely any, can be eaten with both black and white bread.

Never eat bread if you notice that mold has appeared on it. Many housewives believe that if you cut off the moldy piece, the remaining bread can be eaten without fear. This is not so: after all, mold is mushrooms, and their threads are able to grow through bread, so it is invisible to the eye, but spores molds, once in the body, can cause not only food poisoning, but also complex diseases of the blood and respiratory organs, which are then difficult to get rid of. So you shouldn’t skimp on your health – yours and that of your loved ones.

In conclusion, we can remember that bread is the only product that we never get tired of. We eat it every day, at any time, and don’t want to give it up at all. Our ancestors called bread “holy” and “God’s gift” for a reason, and composed many wonderful songs and wonderful proverbs about it - they valued and respected bread, because bread is life itself.

Only the advice to give up white bread can be considered reasonable, and all other types of bread are healthy and necessary products in our diet that preserve and maintain our health and beauty.

Bread is a food product that is obtained by heat treatment test. It can be baked, fried, steamed. To make the simplest bread dough, just mix flour and water. This is exactly how the very first flour product was prepared many centuries ago. A little later, in ancient Egypt, people learned to make yeast dough and began to add products such as eggs, milk, butter to it. What bread is good for adults and children? This is exactly what the article will discuss.

Types of bread

Before you figure out which bread is the lowest-calorie and healthiest, you need to figure out what it actually is. This is the most common food product, so there are a great many types of it, but main groups can be distinguished.

• White bread. Most popular look, which is made from wheat flour.
• Black bread (rye). Made from rye flour. This bread is lower in calories, so it is considered healthier than white bread.
• It is the result of mixing wheat and rye flour. It is recommended to be used in dietary nutrition.
• Whole wheat bread. It is made from wholemeal flour, due to which it contains a large amount of fiber. This bread is becoming increasingly popular all over the world.
• A mixture of flour and bran. Used in diet for various types diseases, including cancer.
• Yeast-free bread. Instead of yeast, sourdough is added to the dough, which significantly increases the benefits of bread.

The benefits of bread

What nutrients are in bread? It contains vital vitamins for the body, in particular groups B, P, D, E, as well as potassium, zinc, iron, iodine, phosphorus. Combined with a large amount of fiber, this results in bread that is an indispensable product to cleanse the body. Also, consumption of this product has a beneficial effect on the nervous system, hair, skin, and nails. Bread is a source of carbohydrates that a person needs for energy. It quickly relieves hunger and saturates the body.

It largely depends on their composition. It is very important what type and grade of flour the bread is made from, and what additives were used in the preparation process.

Black or white?

Which bread is healthier: rye or wheat? Let's try to figure this out. Wheat grain contains great amount useful substances that are found in the shell of the grain and in its germ, but in the process of producing premium white flour they become waste. As a result, such bread has practically no benefits, while it has very high calorie content.

Black bread is made from rye flour. It is slowly absorbed by the body, which contributes to a longer feeling of fullness. In addition, bread made from such flour has less calories than its white counterpart.

Whole grain or regular?

What bread is good for the intestines? Of course, a product made from is much healthier than a recycled one. After all, it retains much more useful substances and vitamins, it has a lower calorie content and contains more fiber, stimulates the intestines, therefore, better and faster cleanses the body of waste products. This bread is recommended for use during diet, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

"Live" or "bio"?

These two types of bread have gained popularity recently, and not everyone knows what they are.

“Live” flour product contains freshly sprouted grains. Therefore it has increased content useful elements, but such bread is stored for only a day.

"BIO bread" does not contain leavening agents, yeast or preservatives. For its production it is used Rye flour coarse or whole grain wheat, as well as natural starters. But such a product is practically not produced and its share on the flour products market is no more than 2%.

Fresh or yesterday?

Which bread is healthier: white or rye, day-old or fresh? These questions concern all those who care about their health and beauty. For digestive system It is better and healthier to eat dried bread, because it has less stickiness. A freshly baked flour product can clog the stomach and cause intestinal volvulus, because it settles on the walls and is digested very slowly.

Harm of bread

There are not many contraindications for bread.

The biggest threat to health is white yeast flour product. Yeast, entering the body, continues to ferment, affecting the chemical composition of the blood. In addition, bread made from premium flour contains practically no useful substances. In scientific terms, it is a simple carbohydrate, “empty calories” that do not provide any benefit. Daily consumption of such bread with a sedentary lifestyle most often leads to obesity.

If you give up yeast wheat product and opt for any other, be it rye, bran or yeast-free, then the main contraindication remains high calorie content. It is advisable to eat no more than 3-4 slices of bread per day.

In addition, modern unscrupulous manufacturers add all sorts of improvers, preservatives, flavors and other chemicals. You need to carefully study the label, or better yet, look for a home bakery or buy a bread machine.

Rye bread also has its contraindications. It is not recommended for people who suffer from ulcers and gastritis, and also have problems with gallbladder. Consuming this product may cause flatulence and disrupt the digestive system.

Bread for weight loss

In order to reset excess weight, first of all, the diet is revised. High calorie foods are naturally excluded from the menu. Therefore, when losing weight, you should not eat white and rye bread. However, nutritionists do not recommend completely excluding it from the diet.

What flour is the healthiest bread made from? we're talking about about the figure? Every day you can eat several pieces of whole grain product, with bran or yeast-free wholemeal. Their calorie content is much lower, and the amount of nutrients is high. If you eat no more than 2-3 small pieces of such bread per day, you can balance your diet while losing weight.

Bread in baby food

Many parents wonder what kind of bread is good for their child. IN baby food Flour products should be treated with caution. You can introduce your baby to this product starting from the 8th month of life, but give no more than 15 grams per day. Children under three years of age should not be offered fresh or rye bread. Bran product should also not be introduced into the baby’s diet, except in cases of constipation and only after consultation with a doctor.

After 3 years of age, the amount of flour products can be increased to 100 grams per day. You also need to carefully study the composition of the bread you buy, which should not contain dyes, synthetic additives or preservatives.

The healthiest bread for children over 6 years old is bran and rye bread. These types contain everything necessary substances for normal muscle growth and nervous system function. A lack of thiamine, which flour products are rich in, leads to rapid fatigue, irritability and general weakness in the child.

Despite this, you should control the amount of bread your child consumes, avoiding overeating. Products made from premium white flour should be excluded from the baby’s diet or given in small quantities.

How to choose bread in a store

You already know which bread is healthy. How to choose it correctly? The store offers a huge range of different bakery products. There are several rules that will help you choose high-quality and healthy bread. So, what should you pay attention to when buying first?

• Label. The first thing to study is the expiration date. If it is more than 48 hours, you don’t even have to read the ingredients; preservatives are guaranteed to be present. If everything is in order with the deadline, you need to carefully read the ingredients. There should be no “improvers”, “stabilizers” or anything else in the bread. Manufacturers add these substances to protect against mold, thus extending shelf life and, accordingly, increasing sales volumes. And the end consumer is forced to eat bleaches, sulfates and other chemicals. You should also avoid high-fat bread, margarine, sugar and salt.
• Appearance. The product must be of the correct shape, without cracks, bumps or chips. When pressed, quickly restore its previous shape. In this case, white bread should have a golden surface, black bread should have a dark brown crust. When cutting, you should pay attention to the bread crumb; if there are lumps and voids in it, and the crumb is sticky to the touch, then most likely mold has already grown there and such a product should not be consumed.

If there is a white coating on the surface of the bread, then it should not be confused with flour; this is a sign that expired dough was used in production.

How to store bread

Of course, in every kitchen there is a bread bin, and few people have asked the question of how to properly store flour products. However, there are some points you need to know.

• You cannot store rye and white bread in the same bread bin, because they have different moisture content. It is better to purchase a bread box with several sections or pack each product in plastic bag with holes.
• The bread bin needs to be cleaned of crumbs every day, washed and thoroughly dried once a week.
• A piece of sugar or apple will help reduce the humidity inside the bread box.
• It is better not to store bread in the refrigerator, because it goes stale faster at temperatures from 0 to 2 degrees. But, on the other hand, baked goods are perfectly preserved in the freezer.
• To keep the crust on the bread longer, store it in a paper bag.
• You can also dry the product and use it as crackers.

How to eat bread

We figured out the question of which bread is healthy. Now it’s worth talking about what you can eat it with. Bread products go well with vegetables. Onions, zucchini, spinach, peppers, beets, carrots, cucumbers, pumpkin and eggplants, green lettuce - this is far from full list vegetables that can be combined with flour products.

It is useful to combine bread with dairy products, such as kefir, fermented baked milk, yogurt and milk.

You cannot combine flour products with proteins such as eggs, meat, fish, cottage cheese. Everyone's favorite sandwiches are very harmful to health. These products are best consumed separately.

The traditional combination of bread with butter or cheese is not so harmful, but it leads to a set of extra pounds.

If you combine bread with sugar, jam or jam, you can get bloating, increased gas formation and intestinal inflammation. The same reaction will be caused by a combination of flour products with pickles.