Sourdough or Sour-don't

At a group lunch recently my friend's bodybuilder resembling brother was astonished that I turned down a sandwich served on sourdough bread.

"Sourdough is just as good as wheat you know," he patronized, before launching into a detailed report of glucose, the glycemic index, and blood sugar levels.

Feeling overwhelmed by his superior use of scientific terms, but excited about the possibility of a new form of friendly carbs, I delved into the index to determine for myself.


The reason some people believe that sourdough is as good as wheat bread, is because it has a low glycemic number . This means it will not make your blood sugar level rise as fast as traditional white bread. The reason you don't want your blood sugar to skyrocket is because your body will produce excess insulin, which leads to fat storage and weight gain. It will also make you hungry again sooner.

But could a form of white bread really be as good as wheat?!? It goes against everything I was taught...

I turned to celebrity nutritionist and trainer Patrick Murphy for the answer. Murphy has worked with the hottest bodies in the business like Eva Longoria and Mario Lopez, and he restored my faith in my nutritional knowledge by informing me that unfortunately, white bread (sourdough included) is never a better choice than it's brown breadthren.

"Sourdough has a more mild effect on blood sugar and won't spike it as much compared to other white breads," says Murphy. "Sourdough is the better option, even though they both are made from white flour. But sourdough is only slightly better than plain white. If you are going to have bread at all, buy whole grain."

Clearly when it comes down to it, Murphy recommends avoiding bread all together most of the time, if you really want to lose fat fast.

"If your ultimate goal is to lose weight, then the best choice is to stay away from all flour products," says Murphy. "Sourdough, whole wheat, and rye breads all absorb rapidly and can cause body fat gains. If you can't stay away from flour products, then stick to the 85%/15% rule. Only 15% of the week/month/year, eat flour products. The other 85% of the time, stay away."

Murphy does provide some tricks though to slowing the absorption of carbs when you must get your fix.

"A couple of tricks are to toast your bread, and eat your proteins first," says Murphy. "Bread that is toasted actually takes longer for your body to break down than doughy bread. The main goal here is to avoid sugar spikes and the overproduction of insulin which causes fat storage."

Another obvious way to slow the process is to aim for products with high fiber counts. Murphy says to look for bread made from unprocessed whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, and barley rather than processed products made from flour. Ezekiel 4:9 makes a ton of flourless sprouted grain products.

If you do have the willpower to bail on bread all together though, Murphy has a lot of good recommendations for other foods to coddle your carb cravings.

"Replace the carbs like pasta, rice dishes, and sandwiches with three bean salads, cranberry quinoa salad, and barley salad," says Murphy. "And apples, pears, and berries are fruits that I recommend because they absorb slower than other fruits, due to the fibrous edible skin. "

Bottom line: If you must eat bread, and you don't have a wheat option, then sourdough is your default. But if you want to drop lbs in record speed, trade your sandie for a salad.

For 24/7 updates from Murphy check out his twitter @Murphy_Fitness

And stay tuned next time for his breakdown on how to get a fabulous bikini booty!