Ok, let's just state right off the bat that I am weird. So, that's a given. But one day a month or two ago, I started thinking, what's the deal with bread? We use it to hold food basically, don't we? They are a vehicle for other foods. What is the crust of a pizza? Do you even really taste it?
Now, some of it is really tasty, but when I started looking at some of the foods I eat and trying to get more nutrition out of them, I started realizing that most breads are pretty empty. I usually get my grains from meals with rolled oats, which stack up better.
So anyway, I was holding an English Muffin with a Boca burgers (topped with mustard and salsa), and I liked eating that for lunch, but right then I decided to just have the boca burger on a plate and put the mustard and salsa on the burger. I ate it with a fork. Tasty.
Now I hardly ever eat bread anymore. I have applied this to rice, as well. I don't cut out rice altogether, but if I am having a stir fry of shrimp, veggies and a bit of Chinese sauce, I will sometimes skip on the rice. It still tastes the same, but the caloric value of the whole meal changes. You know those days when you are maybe close to budget with the cals/fat grams and you start thinking about the value of your foods and how much you can afford?
You might try it sometime. I think I much prefer a fork to a bread handle on my burgers, after all how many cals/fat grams does a fork have?
3 comments:
I only eat whole grain breads and brown rice anymore, and those I use sparingly. On the odd occasion when I do find myself having to choose something at McDonald's I get a grilled chicken breast sandwich (not breaded) and I take the top part of the bun off (along with most of the mayo, and I eat the sandwich like an open faced sandwich. I figure I'm removing at least 300 calories that way, and I don't miss that extra bread at all. (I do enjoy the taste of bread with meat, and I used to take all the toppings off my pizza and eat only the crust.)
To me, really good bread is one of life's little pleasures that I can't do without. The key there, however, is "really good." I don't waste my time (or calories) with anything less.
I never cared about bread much until I went to France, and met with pain de campagne (French country bread).
I would time my arrival at the bakery to coincide perfectly when the bread would exit the oven. I would toss my money on the counter and the proud baker would happily usher the piping bundle into my little hands.
Sometimes, I would bring a little pat of butter w/ me so I could gorge on it during the walk back to my apartment, which was on the millionth floor in a monastery in Grenoble.
Come to think of it, I also have a similar weakness for croissants. Yet another vice I picked up from them French people.
WHY are the French so thin if they eat lots of bread?
It isn't bread in itself that I find 'bad' or not...
French women eat lots of bread w/ their meals. For example: breakfast includes buttered breakfast baguette, lunch has bread, their 'gouter' or after school snack is often a raisin bread thingie or bread w/ a chocolate bar inside it.
Bread is best reserved for an accent to your meal not a huge part - like a big top and bottom of a bun.
I find that bread, or the carbs in the bread fuel me to do what I'm about to do. I tend to eat MORE when I eat things w/ bread. Its great to eat before a hike, or other athletic feat.
However, under the wrong circumstances, I can allow that carb rush to translate into an "I'm hungry for MORE carbs" rush and end up eating ALL the bread, or bread and cheese, and then some milk, then a banana....not good.
There is a balance...if you can find it! :-)
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