why is bread soooo bad?

[Notmybag]

Quite shocked at how many syns is in bread, especially white. Why is this? If I bake a loaf it has 30g butter in it. Is the flour fattening?

I dont quite get the science behind all this

[ThedementedPenguin]

Yea I believe flour is quite bad syn wise.
I love white bread & hate the taste of whole meal 😞

[OwlinaTree]

The yeast ferments and it has a high sugar content I think?

[CatherineCawood]

I assume it is the high carb content. Your B choice is to give you fibre (A for calcium) hence why it must be wholemeal. I use the crustless wholemeal as you get 3 slices, I know that you don't actully get more bread but it my head it seems like more!

[Groovee]

Some breads aren't a healthy extra due to the fibre content.

[Notmybag]

Sorry still don't get it.

[Groovee]

Well fibre and calcium are measured to have just the right amount. It's the only part of SW where we weigh or measure.

If you want to know more, I'd suggest contacting SW for the ins and outs of their plan!

[Love51]

I'm heavily considering slimming world (I am currently on week 2 of my personal diet plan of eat-more-veg-and-less-cake which is proving fruitful). I also don't get how/ why the carbs of pasta and cous cous are fine but bread isn't. And weetabix isn't great either. Why / how are they more fattening than pasta?

[GoingRogue]

I think it's to do with fibre content, as well sugar/fat/glycemic index. Also to do with satiety and probably what you'd have with it.

Ie, you would have potatoes/pasta/rice with chicken and veg.

You'd prob have bread/toast with cheese, jam, honey, chocolate spread etc. It's a bit of a gateway food isn't it, well it is for me anyway! (I'm doing low-sugar and now really fancy some chocolate spread on toast!).

[CatherineCawood]

Gate way food I like that. It really really is for me, bread is where it all goes wrong! Mmm salty cold butter. Lush.

[GoingRogue]

Btw, I've done SW on/off for 19 years. Last did it for the 6 months ending March this year. I'm no expert, but won't ever do it again and wouldn't recommend it unless:

1. you have more than 2 stone to lose and/or
   
   
2. you have a particularly unhealthy diet to start with. For example eating lots of processed food and take-aways.
   
   If you already cook from scratch, and eschew convenience food and sweetener then you will probably fail to stick to it.
   
   They ask you to cut out lots of healthy fat, or syn it. I can't seem to get my head around synning full fat Greek yoghurt, a small handful of nuts or some avocado, but being allowed to have unlimited mug shots and Pepsi Max. And they don't mention portion control, which I think is important.

[SoapyChoc]

I think bread/healthy cereals are either healthy extra b or synned because they are easy to overeat on due to needing no cooking and easy to snack on so they are restricted to stop you having say 4 slices of toast in the evening because your're hungry.

[GoingRogue]

Exactly SoapyChoc I would always have a couple of slices of buttered toast or a bowl of cereal as a late night snack miss those days

[Notmybag]

Great responses thanks

I'm hoping SW will train me into cooking and healthy choices again with less sweet crap and less bread!
I avoid their 'free' processed stuff and ML!

Although I struggle to eat oats with natural yoghurt!

[GoingRogue]

I struggled to eat that too! That's why I'm doing low-sugar now instead of low fat. Am enjoying full-fat Greek yoghurt with low-sugar granola/nuts/seeds (and fresh fruit) once a day. The natural fat keeps me fuller for longer, and I eat less of it.

I was having 2-3 fat-free yoghurts a day before! But good luck on it and hope you get to target soon (fab that you're avoiding the processed/packaged stuff).

[Sofabitch]

Yet..pasta is unlimited weird

[NorthernLurker]

Dh has been doing sw since October. He's lost five and a half stone! So the unlimited pasta and very limited bread has worked for him. He likes the mug shots but mostly cooks from scratch otherwise.

[GoingRogue]

Just had a look at the syn value of this lovely low-sugar granola I've been having this week, and 30g can be your Healthy Extra.

I don't understand how 30g of the Belgian chocolate version can also count as a healthy extra, as it will have way more sugar in? It's like up until fairly recently you could have Shreddies or Coco Shreddies as a HEB choice. Surely chocolate cereal can't be classed as healthy?!

[Groovee]

I use flavoured yoghurt for oats. But prefer all bran.

[monkeytoad35]

GoingRogue, why wouldn't you do SW if you had less than 2 stone to lose?

[Trills]

The fibre content is the key for whether something counts as a "healthy extra".

Your low-sugar granola and the belgian chocolate granola actually have very similar calorie content - 501 or 503 calories per 100g. So why wouldn't they be treated as equivalent?

Maybe one thing SW can do is make us pay attention and not assume that the chocolate version is "worse"...

[Trills]

When it comes to "unlimited food" - the way that portion control is brought into it is the rule/suggestion to have 1/3 of your plate always be low-calorie fruit or veg (the "speed foods").

You fill up on salad or apple or broccoli so you end up not eating quite as much pasta as you would otherwise (and you can't smother it in cheese).

[ChilliMary]

White bread, like white pasta is just processed junk - that's why it is so bad for you. It just turns into sugar and has hardly any nutrients. Instead, eat as much unprocessed food as you can, so for example wholemeal, rye etc - food that will actually nourish you and keep you healthy as well as at a healthy weight.

[Trills]

Neither bread nor pasta is "junk".

[GoingRogue]

monkeytoad35 Just an observation I've made over the years I guess. People who had roughly 2 stone or more seemed to succeed quicker and enjoy the plan. When you're down to your last stone or two, I think it's time to look at portions, and quality of food. Just a personal opinion of course.

Trills I was comparing the sugar levels in ordinary and chocolate versions of cereal. So the Lizi's low sugar granola has 3.8g per hundred, and the chocolate has 11.2g sugar per hundred...almost three times the amount. That's the bit I don't understand about some elements of SW. Plus, personally, I'm finding that the taste of chocolate leads me to crave more chocolate and sweet stuff. I've only been doing low-sugar (5% or less on packaged food) for six days but am definitely craving sweet stuff a lot less.

Have never done calorie counting, but saw something online last night about a handful of almonds having the same amount of calories as a handful of Fruit Pastilles. Surely everyone knows it's not as simple as going "Oh, same calories? I'll have the sweets then!".

I agree bread and pasta are not junk.

[GoingRogue]

Just checked on the Slimming World App. All of these are options for your Healthy Extra B choice:

2 x Weetabix biscuits (4.4g sugar per 100g)
2 x Golden syrup Weetabix biscuits (15g)
40g Weetabix choc chip minis (21g!).

The flavoured ones also have slightly less fibre in. But you can choose to have those, one of which is 21% sugar, every day as part of your "Healthy" extras?