Bread for Life? And It's a Diet?
The Bread for Life Diet has a name that sounds a like a church or a charity program, but it’s been getting a fairly uncharitable response from low-carb diet proponents, and it’s not hard to see why. Just about since the moment we entered the twenty-first century, the phrase “high-carb” has been synonymous with “get fat” in the dieting world, but the Bread for Life Diet is proudly proclaiming that “high carb” can equal “fat loss” if done right. This claim flies in the face of today’s conventional dieting wisdom, but not that long ago a high-carbohydrate low-fat diet was considered the healthiest choice. Olga Raz, the brains behind Bread for Life, believes that healthy carbs can make a comeback. Does the diet work? You make the call.
The Basic Premise
Bread for Life’s bible is a 2005 publication by Olga Raz. Entitled The Bread for Life Diet: The High-on-Carbs Weight-Loss Plan, the book extols the health benefits of whole grains and frames an argument against the recent slew of low-carb diets.
Raz directs the nutrition department at Sourasky Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and she claims to know why low-carb diets often fail. Raz argues that eating complex carbohydrates raises serotonin levels in the brain, which makes dieters feel satisfied. According to Raz, the proteins other diets recommend actually lower serotonin, making the diet hard to stick with. Low serotonin levels cause crankiness and a craving for sweets, foiling dieters’ best intentions.
The Bread for Life diet recommends small meals eaten every three to four hours, made up of a specific balance of foods. Raz divides food choices into three categories: recommended and unlimited, recommended but limited, and not recommended. The recommended and unlimited category is mainly made up of vegetables. Limited but still recommended foods include fruits and that controversial bread. (The bread in question is “light,” meaning 35 to 45 calories per slice, and must be whole-grain.) Foods that are not recommended at all include anything with trans fats, high fat dairy products like butter, and fatty meats like lamb.
The diet is scheduled in two stages. Stage one is the bread-eating stage, though the diet actually recommends eating a large amount of vegetables, limited (but still plentiful) whole grain bread, low-fat protein, and a daily dose of fruit for the sweet tooth. The first stage is more restrictive and is designed for more rapid fat loss. In stage two dieters are encouraged to start substituting other whole-grain complex carbohydrates for the bread portion and upping the weekly amount of lean protein. Dieters start reducing their caloric intake right away, but the bread is there to ease the pain. Once the body begins to get used to the new balance, it’s time to experiment with other healthy grains and transition to the maintenance phase.
The Upside
This is the diet for bread lovers. Craving bread seems to be one of the biggest complaints for low-carb dieters, so the sales pitch will attract plenty of people who tried the low-carb route to fat loss and failed. Is it possible that Raz chose to recommend 12 (for women) and 16 (for men) slices of light bread because she knew the numbers would just be too high for devout low-carbers to mentally process? The bread slice count has certainly stirred up controversy. All publicity, they say, is good publicity.
Women can eat up to six slices, and men up to eight slices, (of regular not “light”) whole grain bread daily and still follow the diet. That seems like plenty of bread to me.
Despite its title, which seems to have raised the ire of so many low-carb proponents—not to mention the shocked amateur internet commentators who apparently believe bread is the only food allowed—the Bread for Life Diet actually offers a variety of food choices in the daily menu.
Compared to a high-protein diet like Atkins, the Bread for Life Diet is fairly easy on the pocketbook. Bread and vegetables are still cheaper than meat, so that’s a bonus.
The Downside
While Bread for Life proponents claim that the diet places no restrictions on carbs and calories, the fact is that dieters do have to pay close attention to the nutrition labels on their food. Any time you make a substitution—like choosing eight daily slices of regular whole grain bread over 16 slices of the light version—you have to do the math. This diet can easily spin out of control if bread fans stop paying attention and get seduced by diet busting “gourmet” slices or misleading advertising claims.
Raz’s theory about the relationship between complex carbohydrates, serotonin levels, and sticking with a weight loss plan is just that: a theory. Plenty of people report that they have lost or are losing weight on this diet, but the jury is still out on how Bread for Life rates against other diets in terms of real fat loss.
Bottom Line
Bread for Life comes as a bit of a relief after years of hearing that carbs are so bad for us. Raz has a point about low-carb diets being difficult to stick with. She also seems to be on the right track in that her book recommends eating a specific variety of different kinds of calories at targeted times, a strategy that has many supporters. Bread for Life is not the crazy “all-bread diet” that detractors claim it is, but it may not be the best promoter of fat loss, either.
Fat Loss 4 Idiots is still my top diet choice. FL4I is a really targeted fat loss plan that recommends eating a variety of real foods in a way that gets fast results. FL4I subscribes to the theory that your body must be "tricked" into burning fat rather than going into "starvation mode" and holding on to it. The Bread for Life diet may be a good way to avoid the “starvation” cycle, but FL4I has it beat when it comes to keeping the metabolism revved up and burning fat all day long. The best part is that after 11 days of the FL4I plan, you get three “free” days. I can stick with any diet for 11 days, especially when I’m feeling good and seeing real results.
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