Choosing the Right Bread for Your Fat Loss Goals

Image by Jill - Glossy Veneer via Flickr

As someone who is ultra-busy and on a budget, I'm always looking for ways to both eat healthy and save some money, so more often than not, I brown bag it. My kids often take sandwiches to school also. I'm guessing I'm a lot like many of you in that respect. So I figured I'd give you some tips on how to pick the healthiest sandwich bread for you and your families.

As always, read the labels. May people have the misconception that because it's "wrap", it's healthy. I've seen way too many wraps with a ton of added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Yuck! Both are big no-no's. Don't be fooled into thinking that a wrap is a "health food".

Whether it's a wrap or sliced bread, make sure you look for whole grain bread with the fewest ingredients. Once you do that, take the following things into consideration:

• Read the label, read the label, read the label. Did I mention that you should read the label? Checking the ingredients is key and should be a strategy you use every time you go food shopping. Look for whole grains such as wheat, rye, corn or amaranth. The important thing here is that the whole grain is listed FIRST.

• Don't fall for clever marketing. Just because the name of the bread has the word "multigrain" in it doesn't mean it contains whole grains. Some of these "multigrain" breads contain refined grains and flours but not much actual whole grain.

• It's all about the fiber. When looking for a whole grain bread, make sure it provides at least two grams of fiber for every 100 calories.

• Shorter is better. The shorter the list of ingredients, the better. Your goal should be to come as close to the bread having only these ingredients as possible: whole-wheat flour, water and yeast.

Posted by George Louris, CFT at 8:52 AM

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