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Bread ... why?

bulkbiker said:
I have often wondered why we see so many threads about bread?
I gave it up and don't miss it but many people spend ages trying to find low carb bread (which must surely be an oxymoron).
So why do you think we need to eat it?
Habit, lack of imagination or does it fill another role (intentional pun) in our lives? I'm interested to have your thoughts.
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I think because most people (diabetics and me included) just like bread! Good bread is full of nutrients as well as having some carbs. I would feel.deprived and probably hungry if I didn't eat my lunchtime sarnie which by the time I've cut the crusts off gives me around 6g carbs not too bad and fills a need! I would love to have a bacon sandwich on thick white bread with brown sauce like right now. But I won't because there will be consequences...or thick white toast dripping in butter.....
 
One simple answer from me, I love it!!! Not any old bread mind but a lovely, fresh, slightly warm white baguette with butter and fresh honey. Nothing else will do. Sadly I can forget the honey but every now and then I crave the baguette and succumb to a small slice. I think it's like many other things that yes, we don't 'need' them, we just want them. It's called comfort, a little happy place you can slouch off to. As for low carb alternatives, they are not for me, they are a poor imitation and if I can't have the real thing then I'm not that bothered and can leave it.
 
I thought it was because bread is traditional in many parts of the world: a cottage loaf in the UK, a baguette in France, pumpernickel in Bavaria, ciabatta in Italy, tortilla in Mexico, pita and flatbreads in the Middle East, naan and chapatis in India, bao buns in Korea, ...
And why is it traditional? Because it is a cheap way to fill you up when can't afford much meat.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
There are other things to take into consideration as well as carbs. The sadly no longer available Lidl rolls were stuffed full of fibre and omega 3, not to mention protein. I imagine it is similar with other low carb breads.
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I agree. I've limited my protein bread due to reaction on here. For me, it wasn't the right move as I didn't know I was iron deficient anaemic. Protein bread cheaper than meats.
Obviously we need both.
 
bulkbiker said:
I have often wondered why we see so many threads about bread?
I gave it up and don't miss it but many people spend ages trying to find low carb bread (which must surely be an oxymoron).
So why do you think we need to eat it?
Habit, lack of imagination or does it fill another role (intentional pun) in our lives? I'm interested to have your thoughts.
Click to expand...
It's certainly not lack of imagination on my part. And no, we don't NEED to eat it. Personally, having given up so many high-carb foods (in the main, no loss at all), sometimes to have a Lidl roll, cut into thirds, toasted and dipped into a boiled egg, or toasted and smothered with butter, peanut butter and crispy bacon, is an absolute treat. And it also give a feeling of 'normality', to me anyway. Ok, some people are able to give up almost all they ate before, and I admire them for that, but others (me included) now and again miss the pure pleasure of good, i.e. proper, bread so, if it doesn't spike me, why shouldn't I try and find a substitute for the Lidl rolls? I suppose there is an argument that we shouldn't look upon foodstuffs as treats (I'm also thinking snacks here) but again why not? This lifestyle can be pretty virtuously boring unless there is the chance of a treat now and then but that's just my take on it.
 
Sue192 said:
I suppose there is an argument that we shouldn't look upon foodstuffs as treats
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That's my problem - food isn't like narcotics, because we do need to eat food but we don't need addictive drugs. But so many foods cause very high levels of pleasure when eating them, and some can be 'addictive' at least to the level that you have to consciously deprive yourself of them in spite of wanting them. People who genuinely only 'want' the healthy stuff are very luck indeed!

I wish I could be like one of my favourite characters:

 
bulkbiker said:
I have often wondered why we see so many threads about bread?
I gave it up and don't miss it but many people spend ages trying to find low carb bread (which must surely be an oxymoron).
So why do you think we need to eat it?
Habit, lack of imagination or does it fill another role (intentional pun) in our lives? I'm interested to have your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Individual choice and the fact that not everyone’s diabetes reacts in the same way to the same foods - both within and between different types of diabetes
 
For me the thing lacking in my diet was Yorkshire puddings - and for a long time I had to do without, or just have one on a special occasion - but I decided to experiment, replacing milk with cream and water, using three eggs rather than one, and reducing the amount of flour, using bread flour for its higher protein - and not only can I eat them - rather a lot of them - they are - I must confess - even better than my mother's recipe.
I have thought about trying out other things to bake, and have the ingredients available - but I make Yorkshire puddings.
I used to make my own bread, and got rather good at that, using my grandmother's method as described by my father - so one of these days I might try out some options for that - but my cultural heritage must be from the maternal line.
 
bulkbiker said:
I have often wondered why we see so many threads about bread?
I gave it up and don't miss it but many people spend ages trying to find low carb bread (which must surely be an oxymoron).
So why do you think we need to eat it?
Habit, lack of imagination or does it fill another role (intentional pun) in our lives? I'm interested to have your thoughts.
Click to expand...
I do think it is a cultural thing of “breaking bread” with someone. When people of any race are very poor their staple is bread. Every region in the world has their own type of bread. It features heavily in biblical stories. All my life my go to comfort food has been thick white bread toasted, cooled and spread with butter and a cup of tea. Whenever I was unwell, upset or too tired to cook that was the magic bullet.
 
White crusty bread, probably sourdough, would be my first choice if, by some miracle, I could suddenly cope with just one of the main carby foods. After all, it is allegedly beer in solid form.
 
bulkbiker said:
I have often wondered why we see so many threads about bread?
I gave it up and don't miss it but many people spend ages trying to find low carb bread (which must surely be an oxymoron).
So why do you think we need to eat it?
Habit, lack of imagination or does it fill another role (intentional pun) in our lives? I'm interested to have your thoughts.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I've given this some thought for a while too..
I came to the conclusion it's culturally deep seated on a global level.. Symbolic? (You only have to look at the references in the bible for instance.)
OK, I'm taking my David Icke foil hat off now..
 
I choose not to eat "real" bread bcause of its high carb content, though I have recently and reluctantly resorted to buying the very occasional low carb loaf, but I also choose to make my own low carb alternatives, both because I enjoy baking, and because it's another way eat nuts, seeds, and most importantly - as I don't actually like eggs very much, this is a good way of getting them inside me! And nuts for this old and getting rather toothless forum member sometimes need to be ready crunched up a bit, so bread and muffins are a good way of continuing to eat them. As they say: Every Little Helps! :wideyed: ) Butter, eggs, nuts and seeds are all perfectly acceptable low carb foods - even in the form of evil bread or cake, and since I include these options in my diet and keep my glucose levels pretty much under control, I don't see any reason not to do so.

But I've also come to understand that to be able to continue permanently with low carb style eating, it may be necessary to compromise a little occasionally to ensure we can stay on the straight and narrow. So I'm able to justify my low carb pseudo bread on these grounds too (and have also applied my same logic to alternative sweeteners - which I super virtuously swore off initially, but is why I include stevia and erythritol in my list of acceptable foods.)

Robbity
 
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Was curiously attracted to this bread thread. And the bread 'porn' descriptions have made me miss it again now that I've completely cut it out.
I'd rather give this up than coffee or chocolate and I was proper toast addict.
Looking forward to the white bread tax soon though I think it would provoke a French Revolution style protest!
 
Since we're asking questions about bread, here's one:

When you make 'eggy bread' / 'French toast', do you see it as a sweet or savoury thing, and what do you add to it?

This thread has made me think about the versatility of bread and I've just realised, since moving to low-carb bread, I've never made 'French toast'. Crikey, or fried bread with a fried breakfast. Since butter is now encouraged, I might have to give that a go at some point.

It's funny how things change. A couple of years ago I thought fried bread was bad because of all the butter. But now I'll be making it with a tiny piece of low carb bread and a ton of butter :)
 
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