So, you might here because you started a new health kick and you miss bread. You gave it up because you have big goals and bread doesn’t align, right? But, dang it, you miss that stuff.
I mean, how many breadless hamburgers can a person tolerate before it’s just too much? Hamburgers were meant to be on bread, goshdarnit! And let’s not even bring up spaghetti without garlic bread. That’s practically against the law.
But bread is bad. Plain and simple. Bread makes us unhealthy in the most delicious way. Bread equals carbs and carbs equals fat.
Or does it?
The truth is, there’s nothing innately wrong or automatically unhealthy about bread. The problem is mass-production. Over the years, manufacturers have had to strip bread of most of its nutrients in order to successfully ship it and make it shelf-stable. The stripped bread hooked us in a big bad way, and we began eating it. A lot of it. 53 pounds of bread is consumed per person in the United States annually.
And that’s where it all went wrong.
SOME are getting better, but most breads that are available from your grocer’s (or even baker’s) shelves are high in calories without being high in nutrients, and that is why it has such a terrible reputation.
Whole grains aren’t bad for us but refined grains do lead to all sorts of health problems, including but not limited to:
👉 obesity
👉 diabetes
👉 leaky gut syndrome
👉 etc.
So what's the trick to healthy bread?
So, the trick to healthy bread, the trick to “having your bread and eating it too” is to look for 100% whole grain breads with no high fructose corn syrup. The fewer refined ingredients the better. Of course, making your own is so satisfying and even healthier, and you don’t even have to be a descendant of Betty Crocker in order to do it. A stand mixer helps, but kneading by hand is a great way to release the tensions of the day!
You do not have to grind your own wheat to make your own flour, but if you want to, that makes it even healthier! I personally use a l’equip grain mill (like this one), and my favorite wheat to buy is Prairie Gold by Montana Wheat. If you don’t want to mill your own flour, my favorite whole grain, store-bought flours are Bob’s Red Mill and King Arthur Flour.
Also, if you want some help picking bread at the store, you can see this other post on how to choose the right bread at the store.
8 Healthy Bread Recipes
We have put together a list of easy (I promise, it’s easier than you think to make your own bread) DIY healthy bread recipes for all occasions. We even have a keto-friendly, gluten free bread recipe for you that is not only GOOD, but it’s extremely simple. Don’t give up what you love because you think you can’t lose weight and eat bread at the same time. These breads aren’t even unhealthy enough to be demoted to our yellow tier. So here you go, 8 green tier bread recipes that won’t derail you from your health goals!
Use the thumbnails or the dot navigation to look through all 8 healthy bread recipes. When you see one you like, click the main image to go to the recipe (opens a new window).
Did you decide to make some of these? Tell us about it in the comments!
Comments (1)
I love the bagels