If you’re anything like me, I grew up on bread and butter, literally. We were a family that had to have some type of bread and butter with just about every meal.
Now that I’m older, I’ve learned the difference between good bread and bad bread–this difference has changed the way I look at bread forever.
See, bread can be made with just two ingredients: water and flour. But store-bought bread, on the other hand, can be made from more than twenty-five! Wow!
Plus, there are many marketing terms slapped on bread labels now that are very misleading. They may sound healthy, but they are the exact opposite. So to help you, we’ve compiled this list of breads you should stop eating.
Nature’s Own Honey Wheat Bread
PER SLICE: 70 calories, 0.5 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 110 mg sodium, 13 g carbs (>1 g fiber, 2 g sugar), 3 g protein
You may have been fooled by its name just as I was.
This honestly was, until recently, a staple in my household. It’s carried in just about all of the major grocery store chains, and it’s usually priced cheaply.
But even though Nature’s Own contains whole wheat flour, it’s not 100% whole wheat, which means your body will treat it similarly to a highly processed white bread.
According to consumer foodie site EatThis, this loaf also contains inflammatory-fat-laden soybean oil, mono- and diglycerides (and the ethoxylated kind), and DATEM—a shelf-stabilizing emulsifier that is often made from artery-clogging partially hydrogenated oils.
Bimbo ‘Made With’ Whole Grain White Bread
PER 2 SLICES (52 G): 130 calories, 1.5 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 250 mg sodium, 26 g carbs (2 g fiber, 4 g sugar), 5 g protein
When they say “Made With Whole Grain,” Bimbo means it’s listed as the third ingredient: behind regular old white flour and water.
What’s surprising to us is that this two-slice serving actually has 2 more grams of sugar than Bimbo’s Soft Wheat Bread. It’s likely because manufacturers increase the amount of added sugar to bread brands made with whole grains because consumers still look for that sweet taste of white bread with the “healthy” feeling of eating whole grains.
King’s Hawaiian Honey Wheat Dinner Rolls
PER ROLL (28 G): 90 calories, 2 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 80 mg sodium, 16 g carbs (0 g fiber, 5 g sugar), 3 g protein
King’s Hawaiian Hamburger Buns
PER 1 BUN (46 G): 140 calories, 3.5 g fat (2 g saturated fat), 125 mg sodium, 24 g carbs (1 g fiber, 8 g sugar), 4 g protein
No! Say it ain’t so! Not the Hawaiian bread! If you grew up in a Black household, you had to have had this bread at least once in your lifetime.
It’s sweet and savory at the same time and (in my humble opinion) makes great sandwiches. But these buns are a mixture of nearly 50 chemicals, additives, and preservatives!
Yes, 50! Sugar, liquid sugar, honey, and invert syrup all contribute to high sugar content, and there are weight-loss-stifling ingredients like mono- and diglycerides, along with ingredients we typically wouldn’t find in bread: calcium silicate (which is typically used as an insulation material), calcium stearate (the main component of soap scum), and monocalcium phosphate (commonly used in fertilizers).
They all are GRAS (generally recognized as safe) by the FDA, but it’s still unsettling that the same additives we’re eating are being used in these non-food applications.
Wonder Bread Classic White
PER SLICE: 70 calories, 1.25 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 150 mg sodium, 14.5 g carbs (0 g fiber, 2 g sugar), 2.5 g protein
I feel like this is a no-brainer. We all grew up eating Wonder Bread. The fact that you could ball it up and make pasty white balls with it should’ve been a clue.
Even with the low-calorie count, this bread has very little nutritional value and doesn’t do anything for your body except to elevate your blood sugar levels, which is not good.
Sunbeam Texas Toast
PER SLICE (45 G): 120 calories, 2 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 210 mg sodium, 23 g carbs (>1 g fiber, 2 g sugar), 4 g protein
Everything’s bigger in Texas, right? Including the toast. That must go for ingredients as well. This brand of Texas Toast is made with plenty of mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated mono- and
diglycerides, calcium peroxide, and DATEM. They also use an ingredient called azodicarbonamide—you might know it as the “yoga mat” additive from the Subway bread travesty.
This plastic dough conditioner is used to make bread dough fluffier so it can hold more gas (and thus become thicker without the extra calories).
The Environmental Working Group (EWG) notes that because there are so few studies on its potential health risks (which include asthma, allergies, and cancer), azodicarbonamide should be removed from the food supply. We recommend you remove this bread from yours.
*Honorable Mention*
Sun-Maid Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread
PER SLICE (32 G): 100 calories, 1.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated fat), 130 mg sodium, 18 g carbs (1 g fiber, 8 g sugar), 3 g protein
I usually treat myself when I eat cinnamon raisin bread (I love them toasted with butter, yum!). But this treat shouldn’t be filled with sugar as this one is.
Instead of eating a staggering 9 grams of sugar (wow!), try a slice of Ezekiel bread that tastes just a sweet, twice as filling, and is only 5 grams!
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