Did anyone tell you that white bread is more fattening/high in fat /has more calories than brown bread ????
Look at this chart.
After I see the chart I can say that brown bread is healthier than white but not less fattening. It has got equal amount of calories and more fat. But then it also has vitamins , minerals and protien in better quantity , so its healthier.
Also note that if you think, that the colour of the bread is brown , its whole wheat bread , then you are wrong. It can just be artificial colour.
If you don't believe me, read it here.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Brown Vs. White Bread
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
Swati, very good info. I had read about what brown bread is in Times of India more than twelve years ago.
Therefore, to me, this is a well known fact that the bread sold in Indias at a local store as brown bread is almost always nothing but wheat with some colouring agent, natural or not. Although I am sure you might find bakerys preparing such bread based on the true recipes.
Brown bread in the true sense came to India from England / Europe, where it is made from a mixture of wheat and rye flour. Rye is a very popular grain in Northern Europe. Here in Germany, another popular bread is black bread and it is made exclusivly of rye and a lot of times with whole rye grains, which makes it so dark in colour.
Whole wheat bread does have a brownish colour because it contains the outer pericarp and aleurone layers of the wheat grain which are quite healthy as they are rich in minerals and proteins, B vitamins and fibres. And because the flour is not sieved and contains the contents of the complete grain.
What I would like to know is: in which category does Chapati flour (atta) fall? Somewhere between whole wheat and maida, I would think. I don't think atta is really whole wheat, atleast not the one sold as such in the market. Unless you get it ground yourself.
Can anyone enlighten me on this?
Yup, it's a well known fact that whole wheat products are much healthier.
The reason I believe it's less fattening is that 1) refined carbs have less fibre, so it doesn't flush out the system. A clean system is healthier, and accumulates less flab on the whole. 2) The additional vitamins give a feeling of satisfying our nutritional needs, leading to less food cravings. Also, a good dose of vitamins and minerals prevent acidity, which sometimes gives rise to a false "hungry" feeling in the stomach.
To top it off, whole wheat bread(these days Atta bread is becoming more and more easily available in Kolkata) just tastes so very much better! Another point - a lot of the white bread we get here has milk and sugar added to it, which makes it completely wrong for anything except bread-and-milk.
Swati, the explanation for the lesss-fatening theory is quite well known too. A food product high in fibres gives you the feeling of being full and stiated much faster and for much longer than the ones low in fibres. But, the more important thing is, like suki also said, it is just more healthy.
And once you start eating whole wheat bread (toast bread as we call it here) you don't feel like eating white ones, as these taste so bland as compared to whole wheat bread.
PG, I just checked. Atta IS whole wheat flour, at least in theory.
And fibre keeps you full longer, is it? That explains why I feel full longer when the veggies are downed nicely :)
I'm very anti-bread, and not just because I live in America. :) It's just not very nourishing. Flour gets digested much faster than whole grains, because it's so processed. It spikes your blood sugar and leaves you hungry very quickly. You are better off eating brown rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, etc.
Post a Comment