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Burgen Bread Query - Newbie Question

New Haven Neil

New Haven Neil

Well-Known Member
Messages
126
Location
Isle of Man
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Arrogance, awkward people
I see Burgen bread mentioned frequently around the diabetes community. When looking on the interweb for this (as I love bread but have found it bad for my BG) I now see that Burgen is a brand, not a product.

Does anyone have experience of which products of Burgen that are of use possibly please? I don't even know if it is available where I live as specialist foods can be hard to obtain here (Isle of Man) but if there is one that has potential I will look about for it.

Life without bread is proving difficult! Wholemeal wraps and pittas have helped with my lunches, but are poor replacements for real bread!

Thanking you in advance.
 
Sainsburys, if you have one there, sells a Burgen high protein (lower carb) soy and linseed loaf. Some of the supermarkets have caught on and sell there own brand of low carb bread but advertise it as higher protein. See HiLo bread too.
 
Guzzler said:
Sainsburys, if you have one there, sells a Burgen high protein (lower carb) soy and linseed loaf. Some of the supermarkets have caught on and sell there own brand of low carb bread but advertise it as higher protein. See HiLo bread too.
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Thank you. No Sainsburys I'm afraid - we only have Tesco (only one, which is in the capital 24 miles away) Co-op and local ShopRite which is associated with Waitrose for some product. That's it....island life. :banghead:
 
New Haven Neil said:
Wholemeal wraps and pittas have helped with my lunches, but are poor replacements for real bread!
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Have a look at the amount of carbs they have. It could well be you're having as much carbs with the whole meal bread and pita's as with the bread you love!
In which case it doesn't make much sense to eat things you don't like, if they raise your blood sugar just as much as the things you like...

Do you use a meter to test how your diabetes reacts to different foods?
 
New Haven Neil said:
Thank you. No Sainsburys I'm afraid - we only have Tesco (only one, which is in the capital 24 miles away) Co-op and local ShopRite which is associated with Waitrose for some product. That's it....island life. :banghead:
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Does your Tesco not deliver?

Alternatively, have a gander at baking your own lower carb breads. There is a link to Dietdoctor in my signature, it's a great site for recipes as well as info on low carb. You can access some of the recipes without having to subscribe. Good luck.
 
Antje77 said:
Have a look at the amount of carbs they have. It could well be you're having as much carbs with the whole meal bread and pita's as with the bread you love!
In which case it doesn't make much sense to eat things you don't like, if they raise your blood sugar just as much as the things you like...

Do you use a meter to test how your diabetes reacts to different foods?
Click to expand...


Yes I test, test, test. The wraps and pittas (wholemeal) are OK for me, bread of any kind so far I have tried isn't, big time. Rice and potatoes are the other big no-no's for me.
 
Waitrose do a great low carb bread called LivLife - only 3.8g per slice. Perhaps the Waitrose type shop you have there can get you some, or buy a few loaves when back on the Mainland and take back to freeze. Hovis do a Lower Carb bread - still about 10g per slice though. I believe Burgen might be lower carb but definitely not as low as Livlife
 
I need to look at those lo carb bread recipes, I don't know if the ingredients will be available here. Or where I may find the time to make it!

The Burgen link just shows Tesco as a stockist - our Tesco doesn't have the range of things you guys will be used to! I need to see if they deliver up here in the north of the island, we live a long way from the store and there are no dual carriageways or motorways here! LOL.
 
CondorX said:
Waitrose do a great low carb bread called LivLife - only 3.8g per slice. Perhaps the Waitrose type shop you have there can get you some, or buy a few loaves when back on the Mainland and take back to freeze. Hovis do a Lower Carb bread - still about 10g per slice though. I believe Burgen might be lower carb but definitely not as low as Livlife
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I'll look out for that. They won't do 'order in', too risky for the small population. :arghh: They're not very helpful with stuff like that. Oh, return ferry trip in the summer - £400! :grumpy: Makes for expensive bread...… ;) Some good pointers here though, thank you all.
 
I get my Burgen Soya and Linseed loaf in the Co-op. I keep it in the freezer and toast one slice every morning to have with my bacon and egg. When comparing low carb breads bear in mind that some just have very small slices.
 
Although half a globe away, Burgen Soy and Linseed bread has recently been my lowest carb bread available easily in supermarkets.

After more than 3 years of very low carb (<15gm per day), I am experimenting with low carb breads to get more fibre and more flaxseed (aka linseed) for its fats. This is also to support much more vigorous exercise and longer races. The day's carb load could be under 15g or, with a couple of slices of that bread, it will be up to 40g.

The Burgen S&L bread has very moderate glycemic load for me. Depending on what I have with it, if I extend the NovoRapid bolus by having 33% immediately and the remainder over 15 to 20 minutes, then my BGLs remain very flat and in target. This is a reminder to tweak your bolus delivery to both carbs and the glycemic load.

I tried a few pre-made low carb breads (including one made in Ireland yet sold here!) and some packet mixes of low carb bread (5g per 100g) but they lack appeal, fibre, micronutrients and they cost too much.

So, I have revived my pre-keto interest in baking rye sourdough, but with the challenge of keeping it low carb. Sourdough and very low carb appear to be incompatible concepts, but that's the challenge.

There are many health benefits from rye, wholegrain rye in particular, and especially if made genuinely as sourdough. Some benefits are reasonably well established; some remain to be tested more, such as the anti-hypertensive properties. Rye and flaxseed are the top two ingredients in bread for me.

The fresher the rye flour, the better the sourdough and nutritional properties, so I mill my own. That's not to everyone's cup of kvass.

Rye breads in the shops tend to be mixed with wheat flour, or are not made from the entire rye wholegrain or are fake sourdough, so supermarche rye bread is not sustainable for me. Burgen rye remains too high carb.
Artisan rye sourdough also fails to give viable, low carb bread.
Rye on the whole should be much better for me than soy & linseed bread, so I don't want to rely on supermarket Burgen bread.

There are many online recipes for keto bread. They are not really "bread" but give a serviceable simulacrum of bread.

Worse, some online recipes for rye keto bread only add carraway seeds for a (false) reminder of rye bread.

As soon as I can make a very low carb, whole grain rye sourdough infused bread, it will be bye bye to Burgen Soy and Linseed bread.
 
Ah the bread thing. A slightly different answer to those given. As I see it, your body is in that position where regular bread provided in this country will not work for your blood sugars. So you can either keep trying different brands, buy expensive alternatives (https://lowcarbandketobakery.co.uk/collections/keto-low-carb-bread-essentials), make your own alternative with varying degrees of success, try specialist bread companies such as the "real bread company" or ditch / replace

The cheapest, convenience used to be Lidl rolls, alas no longer available in most parts. Although not bread per se, below are the alternatives I have made. The majority are made with coconut / almond flour, cream cheese, eggs and baking powder. The easiest is the flaxseed, baking powder and egg (microwave). The middle is macadamia, coconut cream, egg sand baking powder.

Breads.jpg
 
Hi guys.

Amazon are flaky with delivery here, it depends on the exact suppliers as any that use couriers won't! Odd ones will do, it depends on the direction of the wind on any day it seem sometimes! They charge them too much on the ferry, but Royal Mail is the same cost as a UK address.

The good news however is that the local supermarket does keep Burgen…..but not always. I need to keep checking then fill the freezer when they do have some.

Running a business means I don't have a lot of spare time for baking etc, especially in the current climate, things are very tight at the moment. That's down to the politicians on your side of the Irish sea! Oops no politics.
 
Just remembered, I recall reading that Polish shops can have naturally low carb breads, so if you can find one, it would be worth a look.
 
New Haven Neil said:
Thank you. No Sainsburys I'm afraid - we only have Tesco (only one, which is in the capital 24 miles away) Co-op and local ShopRite which is associated with Waitrose for some product. That's it....island life. :banghead:
Click to expand...
Yes Tesco and Co-Op sell Burgen Soya and Linseed bread which quite a few on this forum have
 
New Haven Neil said:
Thank you. No Sainsburys I'm afraid - we only have Tesco (only one, which is in the capital 24 miles away) Co-op and local ShopRite which is associated with Waitrose for some product. That's it....island life. :banghead:
Click to expand...
Tesco do a high protein loaf which is 10g carbs per slice - although at the moment it’s difficult to get hold of because they’ve changed the manufacturers to Warburtons
 
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