It’s in restaurants and grocery stores all over the world.
100% Whole Grain!
REAL WHEAT
The Healthy Choice!
Bread is very often demonized for a large variety of health problems and to offset this, marketing has made “whole grain” bread the magic fix that permits everyone to still indulge in bread.
But is this really the holy grail that will save people from obesity and the 2 or 3 excess sizes on their belt line?
Whole grain and other “brown” cereals get their fame by having a higher amount of fiber and less refinement than their white cousins. The appeal of this is that whole grain is slower to raise the blood sugar of the person eating it, and that the fiber helps in satiety. This promise has caused whole wheat to take the shape of just about everything that it can:
- Crackers
- Cookies
- Breads
- Cereals
- Cakes
- Buns
On and on and on.
While there is some truth digging into the topic of refined and unrefined carbohydrates, a fundamental problem persists with the topic.
Carbohydrates
“Whole grain” carbohydrates are still carbohydrates, and a lot of shoppers think just because their bread isn’t the evil white wonderbread it’s okay to go back to eating as much of it as they want. Without understanding why whole grain is supposedly better, the dream of making a simple switch soon leaves people disenchanted as to why their waistline hasn’t moved much.
The Claim to Fame with Grains
When it comes to grain, the whole shtick is that refined white flour loses the external kernel (the brown part) and instead is made mostly of the white starchy inside called the endosperm. Including the kernel in the flour makes the fiber of the bread higher, and more fiber helps soften the glucose punch to your body. The bigger picture is the topic of glycemic index, insulin, and fiber, not “BROWN BREAD GOOD, WHITE BREAD BAD”.
Marketing Schmooze and the need for a Diet Compass
When you go to the store, a whole bunch of products are all employing some kind of psych trick or commercial appeal to catch eyeballs and get them tossed into people’s carts. Any product or brand that doesn’t do this is putting itself at a disadvantage because everyone has to eat, but not everyone reads about labeling psychology and marketing pizzazz. Carbs are not inherently evil if they’re used responsibly, and every person selling them will agree. The problem is once responsibility turns to the customer side. “Responsible use” is a complicated and often deliberately muddled idea because people who are addicted to carbs and overeating in general generate more profit for companies. It’s all a game of telling people what they want to hear, and not what they need to hear, and when people don’t know they go with what they want.
It’s all sugar
When carbohydrates are eaten, the body turns it into glucose. There’s a few where food processes differently like fructose and the liver, but the main thing is the body ticks on either glucose or ketones. If you have a high BMI or wide waistline, the most probable culprit is probably sugar/carbs in your existing diet, or constant stimulation of insulin from eating all the time. You may eat carbohydrates that are more healthy than a giant bag of gummy bears, but even healthy carbs can still do a pretty good job making people obese if they pig out on them. Accept that if your weight isn’t where you want it to be, something about your diet has to change.
So what to Change?
Two things and only two things. Meal composition, meal frequency, or ideally both. Why are these two things so important?
Meal composition is the sum of all the good and bad things you eat before you go to bed and start a new day.
Meal frequency is how often you eat meals throughout your day and how frequently your insulin is stimulated each time you eat.
If you eat ALL THE TIME, and EVERY DAY, your insulin is constantly stimulated because carbs keep coming into the system, and they need to get put somewhere as either glucose or fat. Insulin being released all the time to match constant eating will cause insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is the main culprit for type 2 diabetes.
So before you go to the grocery store or restaurant again, break down your diet into fats, carbs, and protein. The normal suggested amount by the food pyramid (yuck) says a normal diet should be between 45-60% carbohydrates. Tally up your own, and then think about what your weight has generally been for keeping it in that balance. If you’re not happy with it, either lower your meal frequency (Drop a 3 meal a day 2300 calorie diet into a 2 meal a day 2300 calorie diet) OR replace some carbohydrates with fats or protein. You will probably find that more fats and protein in your diet will have you consuming less calories overall.
Losing weight is not as hard as it looks, marketers and social illusions have direct incentive to keep it appearing complicated so they can keep people addicted to carbs and modern coping products!
Don’t let these people rob you of your life! You can take back your health and it all starts with you choosing yourself!
-Ed