Losing weight is all about making healthy choices, from finding time to exercise daily to providing your body with nutritious meals. This means we sometimes have to sacrifice some of our favorite foods for the sake of our weight loss goals—especially when it comes to highly processed options that taste great but are terrible for our overall health. One such ultra-processed food is none other than the notorious white bread, with health experts agree you should definitely cut back on if you want to shed a few pounds.
To learn more about the health affects of white bread and why you should avoid it if you’re trying to slim down, we spoke to nutritionist Lisa Richards, creator of The Candida Diet. She told us that the refined ingredients can throw a serious wrench in your progress. Find all of her expert insight below!
White bread
Let's face it: bread is delicious, and it's likely an essential item in your kitchen. However, Richards says that if you're trying to lose weight, it's important to limit your intake of this carby food. "Bread is a food that should be eaten in moderation due to it's processed and refined nature," she says. "Bread, of all kinds, is calorically dense and inflammatory." However, certain breads are worse than others and should be avoided altogether (or at least as much as possible) if you want to lose weight and maintain a healthy metabolism. Richard cites white bread as the worse due to the fact that its loaded with refined carbs.
"White bread is made with refined carbohydrates and lacking in fiber and other beneficial nutrients," she explains. "Refined carbs are highly inflammatory and turn to sugar quickly causing a quick rise in glucose." Yikes! All of those refined ingredients are loaded with calories but take little energy for your body to process, which over time, that can take a serious toll on your metabolism.
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She goes on to say that "eating bread on a regular basis will lead to weight gain because most breads are made from refined grains, sugar, and preservatives," which are "inflammatory ingredients and are also broken down quickly to be stored as fat."
Additionally, keep in mind that since processed foods like white bread offer virtually no nutritional value, they won't keep you full for very long, which will likely lead to overeating later in the day—and that can, of course, be detrimental to your weight loss goals as well.
Of course, eating bread every now and then won't make it impossible to lose weight. Just be sure to choose fibrous, whole wheat options whenever possible and to practice moderation. Those healthy choices can make all the difference in the end!
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