Just what do you look for in buying bread? I know JB says that ‘unprocessed multi-grain bread’ is best, but how exactly do you tell the difference?
I’ve found multi-grain breads just fine, but unprocessed? What kind of bread do you guys buy?
Is it really that big of a difference (in terms of effect on insulin)?
I’ve really always struggled with how much bread, pasta, etc. type of foods i should be consuming while bulking. What i gather is that it is best to get almost all your carbs from veggies and fruit except for post workout, keeping insulin levels low throughout most of the day. However, i just dont see how someone could get 5000 calories a day this way, especially on rest days.
Am i just overthinking or what? How often should someone eat foods like this if they’re bulking (in accordance to massive eating)??
Try cooking with butter. Eat fatty cuts of meat. Toss protein shakes in as drinks at meals. Those are just a few ideas to get your calorie counts up. You’ll want to eat larger quantities of veggies and fruit though too. While these won’t add many calories, they will add a few, and more importantly will balance the acidity of the other items, with some alkalinizing foods.
Also, as far as processed/unprocessed multigrain breads go… the stuff you find in the average grocery store is not really unprocessed. Generally its a whole wheat base with small amounts of other grains mixed in. This is better then other grocery store breads, but not as good as the bread you might find at a natural foods store or a German deli. How big of a difference insulin-wise there is, I am not sure.
I use a bread called “Ezekiel 4:9” which, in case you didn’t notice, refers to the verse in the Bible that calls for the specific ingredients. All organic whole-grains in different flavors and they all taste great, even if you aren’t the religious type:)
If the ingredients say “unbleached enriched wheat flour” then the whole grain is destroyed and it is not true whole-grain.
Other things you will notice in true whole grain wheat/oat/barley, etc. bread is the relatively low sodium content and high amounts of potassium.
Other than the nutritional content, I’m not sure how important bread being whole-grain is on a high-calorie bulking diet as the glycemic index will be reduced when you consume the bread with another protein/fat source.
The rest of your post asks questions that you can answer yourself by reading some of the excellent nutrition articles on this site.
It is very hard to find, but look at getting bread that has 3 or more grams of fiber per slice. Read the ingredients closely. I have found bread that says 3 grams of fiber per slice and looking at the ingredients found it had less. Sometimes they will dye bread to make it browner in color. You have to read the labels closely.
The health food stores usually have more types of healthier bread.