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98 percent of Swiss people eat bread. But is it really fattening – or rather the sausage on it? We clarify.
Our daily bread – the darker, the healthier, as the saying goes. That is only partly true. Bread is fattening – the amount is crucial. The carbohydrates that are also eaten are also important.
Oven-fresh bread is tempting, it’s hard to resist. But beware: It is not for nothing that children used to be told that fresh bread gave them stomachaches. “It happens that some people have trouble digesting fresh bread,” says Stéphanie Bieler, nutrition expert at the Swiss Society for Nutrition (SGE).
The more whole grains, the healthier
“Basically, bread is a good food – the higher the proportion of whole grain, the better.” Because the higher the proportion of whole grains, the more valuable the ingredients. This means: more vitamins, more minerals and more dietary fibres.
Legend:
Compared to graham bread, white bread has only a third of the dietary fiber,” says the nutrition expert.
Imago Images / Shot Shop
Fortunately, the selection of breads at the bakery or in the wholesalers is very large. If you even bake it yourself, you know exactly what is in the bread.
When it comes to health, however, the color of bread can only be relied upon to a limited extent. What is true of Valais rye bread can also be a publicity stunt for bread with a fantasy name. “Every now and then, tricks are used and malt is added to a light-colored dough,” says the expert. White bread enriched with malt may look dark and nutritious, but it is still white bread.
The dough thing
Especially those with sensitive digestion are more likely to suffer from flatulence or a feeling of fullness after eating bread. The dough process is decisive for the wholesomeness of a bread, the development time that a bread goes through from mixing the ingredients to baking. There are different types of carbohydrates in flour, some of which are indigestible for our digestive tract.
If the microorganisms in the bread dough have had more time to thrive and to pre-digest the carbohydrates in the flour to a certain extent, the digestive tract then has less to do. The result: the bread is more digestible for people with digestive problems.
Do not eat bread with other starchy products
A piece of bread with a meal is a must for many. But be careful: bread is a source of starch and supplies our body and cells with energy. The same applies to potatoes, pasta, legumes, polenta or rice – in the food pyramid they form a group together with bread. That’s why it doesn’t make sense to serve bread with a carbohydrate-rich meal – a plate of pasta, for example. A full meal already has a sufficient portion of starch.
Legend:
A serving of starch is equivalent to 75-125 grams of bread or 180-300 grams of potatoes or 45-75 grams of rice, pasta or polenta or 60-100 grams of legumes.
Keystone / Gaetan Bally
So if you eat bread with the starch side dish, you will quickly double the amount of starch, including the associated calories. The nutrition expert therefore emphasizes: “Bread alone is not fattening”. Only the combination with another starch side dish causes the scales to skyrocket over time. And not to forget what goes on the bread, such as butter, cheese, meat products or dipped sauces.
Bread as an accompaniment to a full meal with starch is not necessary.
“But the bottom line is that bread is a healthy food – if you eat it in large quantities,” says Bieler. Heating or toasting bread is also not harmful to health. “Just charred bread – generally charred food should not be consumed.”