Is Bread Really that Bad?

Bread--Some call it manna from heaven; others call it death from above. Somewhere between this dichotomy of options lies the truth.

Whole Grains: Healthy or Poison?

Unless you've spent the past several years living under a rock, you likely know of the current anti-bread, anti-whole grain movement that has prevailed in making many of us question our consumption of wheat-based foods. I must admit, the arguments offered against bread consumption seem rather condemning:

• Wheat has been genetically hybridized to support its mass production at the cost of its healthfulness.
• Whole grains contain anti-nutrients, which have this annoying tendency to block the absorption of vital nutrients.
• Whole grains can lead to leaky gut syndrome.
• Etc.

Now, I don't plan to refute any of these claims; however, I would like to widen your perspective a bit by putting these claims into a broader, and hopefully more complete context.

Considering Our Heritage

Grain has been a staple of the human diet for thousands of years. The emergence of agriculture radically altered the way we as a species have lived and worked communally, and without agriculture (especially grains) society would not have advanced to the level that it has today. So why all this animosity towards grains?

Well, the way that we grow and process our grains today is radically different from the way that people traditionally have grown and processed grains for the past few thousand years. Our ancestors (both recent and ancient) took great care to ensure that their grains were properly processed so as to ensure optimal nutrition.

Methods such as soaking, sprouting, and fermenting were just some of the ways by which people would eliminate many of the nutrient blocking characteristics of unprocessed whole grains. In fact, only recently has the idea (the incorrect idea) emerged that eating whole grains, sans processing, is healthy.

Based on the evidence (which various authors and researchers have covered), I'm inclined to say that our ancestors were right, whereas modern conventional wisdom is wrong.

The "Nutritional" Value of Whole Grains

It is true that contained within the bran of whole grains there exist various vital nutrients. However, do these nutrients warrant the unbridled devotion many people have for consuming whole grains? I tend to think not.

Let's consider the fact that whole grains, when compared to fruits, vegetables, and dead animals, are nutritionally unimpressive. Calorie for calorie, fruits, vegetables, and meats offer far more micronutrients, fiber, amino acids, and essential fatty acids than do whole grains. 

The fact that a certain food contains certain nutrients is sufficient, but not necessary cause to eat it, unless said food is the only viable source for obtaining said nutrients. As far as I am aware (based on the research, and my own personal intuitions) whole grains are sufficient, but not necessary, since the nutrients found within whole grains can be viably obtained from other sources of food.

In my opinion, it is a gross mistake to eat any sort of grain, whether it be wheat, oats, rice, etc., for the sake of its micronutional value alone. 

If you're going to eat grains, eat them for their starch, period. This advice is most apt for athletes and regular exercisers who deplete their glycogen stores on a regular basis. If, however, you fall into the category of sedentary, obese, and/or diabetic, I would caution against the consumption of starchy grains (and most starches in general) until to you've gotten yourself into a metabolically healthier state.

Ezekiel Bread is a better option than most, but if you eat it, eat it for the starch.

The Problem of Gut Permeability and Wheat

Other than the anti-nutritional effects of whole, unprocessed grains, many people also argue that certain proteins in wheat can lead to a leaky gut. While some evidence does support this claim, we should avoid putting all the blame on wheat alone. Other factors such as sleep deprivation (including just one night of bad sleep), chronic stress, genetic predisposition, smoking, etc. can increase one's susceptibility to getting a leaky gut.

So I must ask: Do grains lead to a leaky gut, or do they merely exacerbate the already present problem of a leaky gut that has been brought on by poor sleeping habits and chronic stress?--"What came first: the chicken or the egg?"

Chronic inflammation can also lead to a leaky gut; and, in turn, a leaky gut will contribute to chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation can also be brought on by over-consuming calories, by eating foods that contain factory processed hydrogenated vegetable and seed oils, high-fructose corn syrup, added sugar, and trans fats; and, most of these ingredients can be found in foods (including wheat based products, among other foods) that tend to induce an unnaturally high reward response in the hypothalamus of our brains, which tends to lead to eating more of these foods (I'm talking about chips, cookies, pizza, and ice cream here). Worse yet, not only does eating too many calories contribute to chronic inflammation, eating too much can also lead to excess weight gain, which also leads to more chronic inflammation.

Hence we have a feedback loop consisting of chronic inflammation, poor sleep, leaky gut, chronic stress, unwanted fat gain, diabetes, hear disease, etc.

The cycle just goes on and on.

Did wheat start this cycle? It would be hubris to offer a definitive yes or no, so I'll just offer a definitive I-don't-know.

Just Tell Me! Can I Eat Bread?!

Whether you're religious or not, I think you can glean immense wisdom from these words of the Apostle Paul: 

"Everything is permissible, but not not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is constructive."

In other words, you can do whatever you want, but you need to always be aware of what sorts of consequences may follow from your actions. The consequences will always be subject to the context relative to a given situation.

So, yes, you can eat bread, but just be sure to ask yourself whether eating bread is beneficial or constructive relative your personal circumstances.

In my experience, eating bread, as an action in and of itself, doesn't really effect me that much. White breads and white rice in particular tend to give me the least amount of trouble, while purportedly "healthy" whole grains seem to cause me digestive discomfort and room clearing flatulence! I therefore stick to eating mainly white rice and, now more so, non-whole grain breads to support my regular exercise.

Do I care that I'm missing out on the fiber and nutrients in whole grains? No! I'm not missing out on any vital nutrients so long as I make fruits, veggies, and meats the foundation of my diet.

My advice to you is that you consider your own situation, as I have, and make a beneficial and constructive choice.

--Is bread really that bad? You tell me.--

Yeah, if I ate this, you would want to clear the room relatively soon. ;-)

The Easiest Way to Make Healthy Food Choices!

I have a confession to make: I know very little about all the myriad effects that factory processed foods and their ingredients have on the human body. People with far more impressive pedigrees than what I possess have plunged deep and wide into the murky ocean of scientific research to discover exactly what compounds and food products we need to consume and what compounds and food products we need to avoid. While I respect the efforts of these individuals, I think their work often leads would-be fitness enthusiasts down rabbit holes that they just aren't ready to go down (yet). While it might make for a flashy add or news article, most people don't need to worry about the latest research on the effects of raspberry ketones, the orac value of a strawberry vs that of a banana, or whether white potatoes are better for you than sweet potatoes.

We spend so much time fretting and stressing over the details that we often fail to count it as a blessing that we have the spare time and the disposable resources to care about the details.

In any event, I'm here to tell you that making healthy food choices is really, really, really simple.

Are you ready?

Prepare to have your mind blown!

You can meet virtually all of your nutritional and performance needs with whole cuts of protein and fat rich meat, poultry, fish, and eggs (the whole egg!), fibrous and nutrient dense fruits and vegetables, starchy tubers such as white and sweet potatoes, white rice (if your eating plenty of animal sources of food, along with fruits and veggies, you don't need a lick of the nutrients found in brown rice, or in any whole grain for that matter--plus you'll skip on the "anti-nutrients" found in the bran of whole grain foods), and you can use whole food sources of fat such as cold pressed virgin coconut and olive oil, butter from grass fed cows, avocado, and whole nuts.

Eat whole foods 80-90% of the time!

In short: Eat foods composed of only one ingredient.

That's it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not trying to say that you should never eat anything that contains more than one ingredient. I am saying, however, that you can simply the process by which you live a healthy lifestyle by making whole foods the foundation of your diet (at least 80-90% of your food choices).

Who has the time to assess the healthfulness of every single ingredient of a Snickers bar, or of a slice of Domino's pizza, or of a fresh batch of homemade cookies? I certainly don't, and it's for just such a reason that I'd rather focus on that which I know to be healthy rather than on that which could potentially be healthy, unhealthy, or neutral.

Even if it's made of whole food ingredients, a cookie is still a cookie.
It's healthfulness is an emergent quality, and the emergent quality of a cookie (paleo or otherwise) is to cause me to overeat. :( 

Think about how people are taught to tell a counterfeit dollar bill from a real one. People aren't taught all the various ways a bill can be counterfeited; rather, they're taught what a real dollar bill is supposed to look like.

In the same way, there are a lot of purportedly healthy and unhealthy foods that make up the interior of a grocer. You could spend a good chunk of your time worrying about these foods and their various ingredients, or you could simply follow the periphery of the grocer and pick out foods that are, generally speaking, unambiguously healthy.

But keep in mind too that no one food is healthy or unhealthy. Diets are either healthy or unhealthy. Lifestyles are either healthy or unhealthy. Our individual food choices are mere components of the whole emergent system that is "healthfulness."

Just worry about making 80-90% of your food choices "healthy" (i.e., one ingredient foods) and don't waste your time worrying about the other 10-20%.

No diet is perfect. No diet can prevent death. So stop worrying about every last detail of what constitutes "healthy" food. Just be thankful that you're alive and that you have the ability to pick and choose your food (some people aren't so lucky!).

If you think about it, a first world problem can actually be a third world solution. How's that for perspective?