Wholemeal (Brown) bread or Wholegrain bread?

[shop]

Hi folkes,

I just wanted to clarify as I seem to have read conflicting info to what I understood. Twice now I have read that wholemeal (brown bread) is better for BG. I am sure at the beginning of my diabetes I was told that wholegrain is good for BG and wholemeal is bad for BG. I know that seeded is best but I have avoided wholemeal like the plague.

Twice I have read on hear that wholemeal is good!

Thanks Guys!

Lucy.

 

[Grazer]

No bread is GOOD for BGs of course, but in general whole GRAIN is better than the others. WholeMEAL is little better than white as its still very refined. Lots of us eat Burgen soya and linseed, but if you don't like that go for the grains

 

[shop]

No bread is GOOD for BGs of course, but in general whole GRAIN is better than the others. WholeMEAL is little better than white as its still very refined. Lots of us eat Burgen soya and linseed, but if you don't like that go for the grains

Thanks Grazer.

 

[phoenix]

One of the things that makes a difference to the GI is how finely the grain is ground. Modern industrial processes can produce a very finely ground flour using the whole of the grain. This can then be very high GI (and no different to white ).
Adding lots of crushed and whole seeds, using stoneground flour helps lower the GI
Nevertheless my personal opinion is that almost all bread from supermarkets in the UK is very high GI because of the way it is made; ingredients to finished product in 3 hours via the Chorleywood method, rather than the traditional slow proving methods which take far longer.

 

[diadeb]

Hi Shop, I would advise you to test your levels aftereating whatever bread you do choose. Personally I cannot eat any manufactured bread as it send my BG levels too high and so I either don't eat it or make flax bread, regards x

 

[shop]

Thanks Pheonix
Thanks Diadeb

 

[kt78]

Hi all

Just to mention the Carb content of some breads is a bit lower then you might think just by looking at them. Many widely available seeded breads come in at between 18-22g, but HOVIS SEED SENSATIONS WHOLEMEAL (which is thick sliced and really filling with loads of diabetic friendly "roughage" is 13.8g per slice. (It has a brown and yellow wrapper FYI.)

Not perfect I know but a bit better, at least x

The Burgen bread is even better at 10.6g - but I thought it tasted a bit, erm - different... Have fun trying them!

 

[gaz1971]

Not everyone is the same, I eat wholemeal bread, and it has no effect on my BG at all.

 

[noblehead]

HOVIS SEED SENSATIONS WHOLEMEAL (which is thick sliced and really filling with loads of diabetic friendly "roughage" is 13.8g per slice. (It has a brown and yellow wrapper FYI.)

Just recently started to eat the Hovis Seed Sensation, have to say I like it better than Burgen although it's a little more carbs per slice.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Hi all
HOVIS SEED SENSATIONS WHOLEMEAL (which is thick sliced and really filling with loads of diabetic friendly "roughage" is 13.8g per slice. (It has a brown and yellow wrapper FYI.

Thanks for that kt I will have to try it :thumbup:



@Lucy (shop) As others have said, all bread is a compromise but White and Wholemeal generally have similar carb contents although wholemeal does usually have a little more fibre than white bread, I think this is why some people say its better for you which may be true for non diabetics.

I have found that Wholegrain or Multigrain bread is usually a little kinder to my bg levels but not all of them so the real answer is to test it and see :thumbup:

 

[lucylocket61]

My husband makes me wholegrain bread with 10% rye in it, and it doesnt spike me if I just eat one slice. And its very filling.

So maybe you could try a bit of rye bread and see what happens?

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi all

Just to mention the Carb content of some breads is a bit lower then you might think just by looking at them. Many widely available seeded breads come in at between 18-22g, but HOVIS SEED SENSATIONS WHOLEMEAL (which is thick sliced and really filling with loads of diabetic friendly "roughage" is 13.8g per slice. (It has a brown and yellow wrapper FYI.)

Not perfect I know but a bit better, at least x

The Burgen bread is even better at 10.6g - but I thought it tasted a bit, erm - different... Have fun trying them!

Hi last month I puchased this bread and noticed the slice is 13.8 and it is thick after eating the sandwich, carb counting and the correc? amount ofinsulin later on my BS shot up to over 16 :shock: :shock:

When I started to investigate other breads of the same type,weight, carbs, per slice I couldn't find anything else that is about the same in grams or carbs. When I looked in my Carbs and calorie book for people with diabetes, a seeded slice of similar bread same weight of 44g the carb is 21which was big shock to me and I wrote Hovis, they said they didn't recieve all the letter with the wrapper and photocopies from my D carb book :roll: I emailed them twice and telephoned and had to go through it all over again, lots of explaining and discussion a man called Tim called me and he will be in touch with head office about it, dont know when though. He did ask if I sent a slice of the bread with the documents and I said no because you wouldn't of got them any way, because it was all lost and he said oh right yes. So I am still investigating and I will be sending more correspondence to them on Monday.

I dont know what type you are kt78, but did it affect your blood sugars at all?????

I really do feel it's not correct, because of other similar types of bread, even medium slice wholemeal breads are more than 13.8 :?
I know this bread has seeds and grains in it, but given the thickness of the slice, 13.8 would seem to be mission impossible task.

Best wishes RRB

 

[hanadr]

Shop
If you can
search out the GI of any bread you are interested in trying. That tells you how fast it's digested.
As has already been said, No bread is GOOD for blood glucose. there are speciality low carb breads out there. Rarely found in supermarkets,[search on-line] they cost quite a bit. Of the easily available products, Burgen soy and Linseed is about the best on blood glucose. It's probably better for Bg if you avoid bread.
Hana

 

[kt78]

Hi Robin
I am T1 on a pump. I haven't had any issues with the carb content of the Hovis, and have had it quite a few times. As Hana says no bread is great but I am always back to where I should be within around 2 hours of eating.
I do follow John Walsh's advice and bolus 20 minutes before eating any bread (if I am above around 5.6mmol) and I always combine it with protein to try and slow down that absorption! I also usually eat 1-1.5 slices, I'm not sure if I ate 2-3 if that would make a difference?
I am impressed with your querying Hovis though - more of us should be asking questions! Let us know what they say!

 

[susieg]

I eat low GI bread, I just tend to look on the label and see which is lowest in carbs/gi etc. then test, over the years I find the lowest/tastiest and tend to stick to that brand. but overall I don't eat a lot anyway and try to restrict my carb intake. If I eat bread it's usually in the midday when I can monitor what goes on. I think it's up to you, trial and error basically like most foods. I am Type 1 btw and have been to DAFNE and that made a lot of sense to me regarding what to eat and what not to. All boils down to common sense and carbs basically ! X

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I buy a 'Low-GI' loaf from my local baker. I find it more pleasant to eat than Burgen. You may find a local baker yourself that provides a similar loaf. The flour is provided by a national flour-mix provider but I can't remember the name. The advantage of multigrain type flours is that they should contain more oils from the seeds and more fibre both of which slow down carb absorption

 

[Robinredbreast]

Hi Robin
I am T1 on a pump. I haven't had any issues with the carb content of the Hovis, and have had it quite a few times. As Hana says no bread is great but I am always back to where I should be within around 2 hours of eating.
I do follow John Walsh's advice and bolus 20 minutes before eating any bread (if I am above around 5.6mmol) and I always combine it with protein to try and slow down that absorption! I also usually eat 1-1.5 slices, I'm not sure if I ate 2-3 if that would make a difference?
I am impressed with your querying Hovis though - more of us should be asking questions! Let us know what they say!

Hi thats interesting to know kt, thanks for that. I know the other Hovis 7 seeded bread is about 18.? carbs, so I thought it was quite a carb difference between the 2 breads and thats why I questioned it especially with the my high BS afterwards. I will try and keep you posted.

Best wishes RRB

 

[kt78]

Thanks - I'm genuinely interested in what they say.

I think it is in the Walsh book that he queries the American standard for the nutritional info on food packaging. If you don't have a copy and would like to know more I'll look it up for you. (If memory serves me right there is a BIG margin for error in the US...)

I'm not sure what the UK regs are...

 

[phoenix]

Re US. I know in the past they used different methods of analysis to the UK. I think that may have changed but am not sure. That resulted in differences in carb counts between the 2 countries (and the US includes fibre in the carb count where it's been deducted on ours)
Re UK:

The information (on carbs etc) should be based on:
(1) manufacturer's analysis; or
(2) calculation from known or actual average values of the ingredients used; or
(3) calculation from generally established and accepted data

.

In the UK the standard accepted data is normally "McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods but it could be tables from elsewhere.The regulations also say that
"care is needed when using published values and manufacturers should satisfy themselves that values are representative
of their particular product"

You can download a copy of Widdowsons for excel if you really want. (and data bases from lot's of European countries)http://www.eurofir.net/eurofir_knowledge/european_databases
The US data base is interactive and is the basis of a lot of the carb counting/calorie counting sites online.
http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/

 

[kt78]

Phoenix: Hmmm... too many subjunctive verbs in that statement for my liking!

'Will' should replace 'should' (pardon the pun!) Also - what is 'care'? Sorry to sound pedantic but isn't it meant to be factual?... When so many people /advertisers realise the value of low carb (both potentially to health/weight and their pockets) shouldn't the guidelines be more stringent?

Thank you all for your insight.