I cannot or do not want to eat bread, can I replace bread?

1. Some people want to avoid bread because they think it is unhealthy or fattening. Bread is also often avoided within a low-carbohydrate diet. However, whole wheat bread is a source of important nutrients and helps lower the risk of chronic disease. That is why bread replacement is complicated and can lead to shortages of important substances such as iodine and fiber.

Advantages of bread

1. Whole grain bread is an important source of fiber, iodine, iron and B vitamins and ensures good intestinal function. You also reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and colon cancer with 3 slices of wholemeal bread a day. Take away your bread and you can get these health benefits from other whole grain cereal products as well. But then you will have to get nutrients for which bread is an important source from other products. Make sure that your entire diet remains at least as healthy and sustainable. For example, you could also get enough iodine from fish, but then you have to eat a lot of fish, and that is not sustainable.

Iodine

1. If you omit bread, you also get a lot less of an important nutrient: iodine. The Dutch diet naturally contains little iodine, there is relatively little in our soil or drinking water. Because your body desperately needs it, it has been added to some forms of salt since 1942. Especially baker's salt, which most bakers use to bake their bread, and also a little bit of some special table salts that you can buy in the supermarket. Since iodine is in bread, the disease goiter (or goiter) is hardly ever occurring in the Netherlands. By eating bread, you get a significant portion of the iodine you need. If people stop eating bread, it can lead to iodine deficiency. This can cause crop to reappear. In children, an iodine deficiency can lead to growth retardation, reduced ability to learn and dwarfism. If you as a woman no longer eat bread, for example, you would have to eat 220 grams of legumes and 70 grams of nuts daily, and then you still don't get enough iodine. For men, the calculation does arrive at an "appropriate" solution: daily 900 grams of vegetables, 1000 grams of fruit, 500 grams of potatoes and a lot of water.

Fibers

1. If you look at the Wheel of Five, you will see other important fiber suppliers in the section of bread. But this contains less fiber per gram, so you often have to eat a lot more. In comparison, 6 slices of whole grain bread contain about 14 grams of fiber. If you don't eat bread, you will get the same amount of fiber with: 560 grams of cooked vegetables or 780 grams of boiled potatoes or 670 grams of cooked brown rice or 7 plates of (homemade) oatmeal porridge or 195 grams of cooked legumes And that's only enough to replace the fiber in your sandwiches. To get enough other nutrients, the other nutrients from the Wheel of Five are still necessary.

Celiac disease (gluten intolerance) or gluten sensitivity

1. For people with celiac disease (gluten intolerance) applies that they have a lot of bread and grain products not being able to eat. It goes to here estimate at 1 percent of all Dutch people. They should avoid gluten. There are special nutritional advice for these people

Are you unable or unwilling to eat bread?

1. Do you experience complaints when you eat bread? See a doctor. He can investigate whether the complaints are caused by a condition. Can't you eat bread, or don't you want to? Our advice is to always go to a dietician for guidance. To yourself more insight to get into what you eat and whether you have shortages, it also helps to eat the food meter