Bread Alternatives

[GraceK]

:wave: I've stopped eating bread except for the very, very infrequent occasion when I fancy a Tesco fresh baked dark wholemeal roll which is about as big as my fist and which lasts me about 3 days because I slice it like a loaf. They look heavy and dense but what a surprise when you tuck in cos they're light as a feather and very tasty.

But for general daily bread - I've substituted Morrisons Crispbakes which are 6.8carbs per bake, they're deliciously crunchy, light as a feather yet very satisfying. I top them with Langley Farm cottage cheese and pineapple for breakfast, or with peanut butter, or with scrambled eggs or for an in between meals snack I just have a couple laced with Lurpak butter.

The other bread substitute I use is Hovis Crackers which are 3.7g per cracker so I have 4 of those with the toppings mentioned above as an alternative breakfast. :wave:

 

[noblehead]

Ryvita has a range of crispbreads which work out around 5-6g of carbs per crispbread, tried the multi-grain one and it was rather nice:

http://www.ryvita.co.uk/products/crispbread

 

[GraceK]

Ryvita has a range of crispbreads which work out around 5-6g of carbs per crispbread, tried the multi-grain one and it was rather nice:

http://www.ryvita.co.uk/products/crispbread

Ooooh yesssss - thanks for reminding me about Ryvita. I love the dark rye ones and the sunflower seed ones more than anything. They're on my shopping list too. Yummmmmmmmmy

Since I've been diagnosed I'm enjoying my food lots more because I've actually gone back to eating as I did about 30 years ago, before my mother started criticising everything I ate as having 'no substance' and telling me I should eat this, that and the other.

Come to think about it most of the carbs that are bad for diabetics I actually hated as a child and had a natural aversion to but I was made to eat them. They weren't forced down my throat but I was told I had to get used to eating them because they were good for me. I wish I'd been more rebellious.

My mother had a sweet tooth, loved bread and potatoes, cakes and sweets and chocolate so of course that was on our menu at home and I did 'learn' to eat them even though I didn't particularly like them. She didn't take sugar in her tea but insisted on making me have it in mine for some reason. I had sugar in my tea until the day my second son was born by C Section. As I came round from anaesthetic a nurse gave me a cup of sweet tea, I took one sip and just spat it out all over the bedclothes. It tasted foul to me. A few months later my GP told me I was borderline diabetic but nothing needed to be done about it. So I know our body tells us the truth if we only listen to IT instead of to OTHER people.

 

[Cinnamon54]

I am newly diagnosed so I am trying hard to know what I should and should not eat. I love bread, especially toast in the morning. I love chocolate. I use to allow myself one choc bar a week, now I am thinking that will have to go or I will have to get use to the dark choc. I was told by the nurse to include carbs at each meal, so I am working my way round the forum and see that maybe I should be thinking about low carb. Very confused at the mo. Next week I go for my HBA1c (hope I got that right!) so I should find out a bit more.
I do agree GraceK that our bodies tell us what we need and what is not good for us. The other day I had a real chocolate craving and I ate too much, I felt awful for 2 days!!!!
At the moment I am just never sure that I am eating the right stuff. I would miss potatoes and pasta so much but if at the end of the day it improves things for me then so be it.
Some great advice on here which I am finding very helpful. CinX

 

[paragliderpete]

Hi why not try coconut muffins, either cheesy or cheese and bacon. They are very low carb and taste great. I think you may find some recipies on this site. Otherwise have a look at the tiana web site, they have loads of good recipies. The flour does look exoensive but it does go along way. The muffins work out at less than 4g carbs per muffin.
There are bread recipies using cocnut flour , Unfortunately I've never made the bread mix.

 

[GraceK]

I am newly diagnosed so I am trying hard to know what I should and should not eat. I love bread, especially toast in the morning. I love chocolate. I use to allow myself one choc bar a week, now I am thinking that will have to go or I will have to get use to the dark choc. I was told by the nurse to include carbs at each meal, so I am working my way round the forum and see that maybe I should be thinking about low carb. Very confused at the mo. Next week I go for my HBA1c (hope I got that right!) so I should find out a bit more.
I do agree GraceK that our bodies tell us what we need and what is not good for us. The other day I had a real chocolate craving and I ate too much, I felt awful for 2 days!!!!
At the moment I am just never sure that I am eating the right stuff. I would miss potatoes and pasta so much but if at the end of the day it improves things for me then so be it.
Some great advice on here which I am finding very helpful. CinX

I've only been diagnosed a month and I've honestly found the secret is to think about the foods I CAN HAVE rather than the foods I KNOW I CAN'T HAVE, I don't miss them. At first I felt confused about what I could eat and then I just sat down and thought to myself "You DO know, you've ALWAYS known, but you've CHOSEN TO IGNORE what you KNOW."

Then I made a list of all the UNNECESSARY foods that have very little nutritional value but that I continued to eat because they taste nice, fill me up, remind me of my mother ... :roll: - bread, biscuits, crisps, cakes, sweets, puddings and I just stopped BUYING them and I replaced them with foods I had STOPPED buying even though I like them - strawberries, single cream, avocado, cottage cheese with pineapple, peaches, rib-eye steak ...

And I eventually found my freezer and store cupboards contain more protein rich, more nutricious foods and hardly ANY unnecessary empty nutritional value foods. And my morning fasting BG has come steadily down from over 11 to 6.1 most days.

I'm sure the Metformin has helped a lot with the UNNECESSARY carb cravings too and I REMIND myself that I am eating carbs when I eat vegetables, I am eating carbs when I eat fruit, and that I must SELECT the RIGHT carbs to eat and not just think that carbs = the stodgy foods we all know and love. And just by choosing to eat the crispbakes and crackers instead of bread, I'm reducing the stodgy carbs a great deal and to be honest I like them and enjoy them a lot more.

My view is this - yes diabetes is an unpleasant and serious health condition - but no, we don't have to understand everything about it in one day. We have to not panic and allow our own body to communicate with us again and this time we have to listen to IT and not to ANYONE ELSE. I honestly believe a lot of diabetics begin life instinctively knowing what's good for them and what isn't but we're so bombarded with 'good advice' from well meaning sources that we end up overriding our own instincts. Our poor mothers have been brainwashed into believing this or that is 'good' for their children, I know my own father was horrified when I wouldn't eat bread as a child. To him it was an absolute staple and had to be eaten, like it or not. He had awful health problems and I have my own suspicions that he was an undiagnosed diabetic. And of course I learned to do as I was told and eat what was put before me. My parents meant well and I'm sure the NHS does too, but it doesn't make them right.

I look on my diabetes diagnosis as an opportunity to start listening to MYSELF once again, even if I am 59 and its a bit late in the day. I'm actually enjoying my food now for the first time in years. I don't HAVE to eat chocolate just because it's popular, it's well advertised and everyone says it's the right thing to do because we deserve it! It actually makes me feel sick and I like that little voice in my tummy telling me that, and now I DO listen to it.

I'm sure you'll hear your little voice very soon too Cinammon and the more you listen to it, the less you'll have to think about.

 

[Sid Bonkers]

Ive recently been buying the odd Sour Dough loaf and have been pleasantly surprised by the results when eaten in small amounts.

Makes great toast too, very crisp :thumbup:

 

[Neicy0412]

I have seen people on the forum saying Burgens bread is good, I don't know why, anyone know?

 

[ReginaldD]

Ive recently been buying the odd Sour Dough loaf and have been pleasantly surprised by the results when eaten in small amounts.

Makes great toast too, very crisp :thumbup:

Umm never thought of this will give it a try.

 

[Alan Eadie]

I strongly recommend Burgens bread (Soya & Linseed variety) as it is labelled as Low GI.

Alan Eadie

 

[Anonymous]

It is labelled as GI but it also has fewer carbs per slice than other sliced bread, which may be important if you're carb counting. Personally I prefer crackers as they don't go off and I can have more than 1.

 

[hallii]

How about home made bread that is only 7.5 gms of carb per slice.

100 gms wholemeal bread flour
100 gms soy flour
100 gms wheat gluten

Yeast, sugar, and a glug of oil. Make it as per usual (I use a bread maker).

112 gms of carb the lot (ignore the tsp of sugar, it gets "eaten" by the yeast).

I get 15 slices so thats 7.5 gms of carb a slice.

It tastes good, just like "ordinary" bread really.

H

 

[viviennem]

I can manage a couple of slices of Tesco Finest Multigrain, as long as I don't eat it too often. Otherwise it's Ryvita with sesame seeds in, or plain oatcakes.

Viv 8)

 

[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

 

[phoenix]

Grace, the last time I weighed a wholegrain roll from Tescos it weighed about 120g. ( maybe just under 60g carbs, I normally use 50% as a rough estimate)
Like you I didn't eat all of it I ate my normal lunchtime amount (normally about 70-80 gm bread). As you said it was soft and fluffly and as I found, horrendously high GI causing a high spike with the 'right' amount of insulin. ( have tried it more than once, as once isn't a fair trial)
In the UK I'll eat Burgen or occasionally I've found breads with some rye or walnuts in them. They are more dense though so you have to be careful on amount (weighing is essential)

Normally, (in France) I find sourdough bread is usually OK but prefer to use seeded multigrain or again nut breads. (none made by the Chorleywood process, ) If I were regularly in the UK, I think I would try to find a baker that made bread in the traditional way.

Swimmer, we sometimes bring back some Burgen and freeze it to use for the odd sandwich. As long as it doesn't get squashed before freezing; the slices come out fine.
I may think that most UK supermarket breads are awful but the sliced pain de mie (sliced bread), often called American bread here is absolutely foul ( contains a lot of sugar and enough preservatives to enable it to stay on the shelf for months )

 

[kt78]

Hi Grace

Also, just to say, and I am not being the 'diabetic police' here (- I hate naggers!) if you can have more granary-type breads it may help you not have a 'spike' in your BG. Also, if you combine your crackers and things with proteins say your cottage cheese or eggs or tuna or ham, that combination will also slow down how your body turns all the carbs into glucose.

Pineapple and Peanut butter of course are quite carby too, but yummy nonetheless!

 

[catherinecherub]

Did anyone watch A Loaf Affair last night on BBC4? Historically, to know the colour of one's bread was to know one's place in life.
There are still artisans about who make delicious bread, as seen in the programme but it is finding them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... af_Affair/

 

[Norm]

Try Spelt bread. 1 roll or couple of small slices doesnt spike my BS at all. I have tested myself 1 hour and 2 hours after and my BS never goes above 7. I know they sell it in the larger supermarkets now.

 

[michaeldavid]

Spelt is indeed very good for moderation of blood-sugar levels. But rye is great.

 

[Diane_56]

Thinking of going back to ryvita instead of bread what ceral is the best to have