Our society can’t conceive of a meal without bread. It seems that it is that crutch that helps us to push, to satiate and that without it, meals would not be the same. But why do we need it so much? What alternatives do we have?
How does what we eat affect our mental health? The keys of the nutrition expert
Go ahead, I’m the first to love bread. But that doesn’t make me eat just any bread.
Bread displaces nutrients, which means that while I eat bread I am not eating certain nutrients that should have more prominence in my diet.
In general terms, the carbohydrates (main nutrient of bread) should form around 25% of what we eat in our day to day. In other words, if we put together everything we eat in 24 hours on a plate, tubers and cereals have to occupy a room.
You may be thinking that it is a small amount. I’m sorry to bring bad news, but yes, it’s little compared to what we’re used to and the way we eat on a daily basis in our society.
That is why we say that bread “bullies” other necessary nutrients and food groups, because while I am eating bread I stop eating vegetables, fruits and proteins that are essential in my day to day.
Eating “excess” carbohydrates does not have the only consequence of gaining more weight and accumulating more fat, but rather it pushes us to have a slower metabolism and brings us closer to diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Once the issue of why we should not eat “a lot” of bread (Please, let’s take the concepts of “a lot” and “a little” in nutrition with a grain of salt), let’s clarify what is the best type of bread.
the ideal bread
Just as I explained the importance of maintaining a balanced proportion of nutrients in our diet, it is essential to know that our health does not depend only on the quantity but on the variety.
Our body is designed to ingest about 300 different foods a monthand we usually limit ourselves to a maximum of 30. Here we lose nutrients, proteins, minerals and thousands of wonderful substances for our body.
In fact, it has been shown that the intestinal health of people who consume a good variety of foods is infinitely better than that of those who do not.
Eating a lot of bread makes us eat less variety of foods and, therefore, impoverishes our nutrition and our health.
Half of the carbohydrates we consume should come from cereals, but the other half from tubers. I know, you don’t get the accounts anywhere.
Finally, and continuing with the bad news, wheat is not your friend. Wheat has become one of those foods to reduce in general. Eye, not gluten. The wheat.
It is a cereal with a substance (gliadin) that is very difficult to digest in our intestines and therefore causes inflammation. Everything has to do with the abuse in the cultivation that has been made of this cereal, the demands of production and consequently the alterations to which the seed has been subjected. Our body does not have time to adapt to so much genetic change and has great problems digesting it correctly.
How much bread should we consume in our day to day?
Little, very little. A piece of bread at breakfast should be enough to take away that “bite”.
What bread should I eat?
A bread that does not have wheat. I recommend spelled or buckwheat bread. Remember that we are not looking to remove gluten, just reduce wheat.
So I can’t have wheat anymore?
No, You should not eliminate any food without being prescribed by a professional. But I recommend you limit wheat to specific moments where quality and enjoyment are above making it “perfect.”
When eating bread, always remember that you can choose bread with prolonged fermentation and sourdough, so you will always get a bread with a higher nutritional density (more nutrients in less space) and easier to digest.
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