What Might Happen If You Stop Eating Bread Altogether

When you’re planning to start eating healthy, bread is often one of the first foods you want to exclude from your diet. But when it comes to carbs, grains are anything but all the same, and while giving up white bread might help you shed a few pounds, cutting out whole grain bread can actually deplete your body of much-needed nutrients.

We at Bright Side love our yummy toasts and aren’t ready to give them up, so we decided to find out what happens if you decide to ditch bread once and for all.

1. You might experience leg cramps.

People trying to lose weight are willing to experiment with how low their carb intake can go, but giving up bread completely can actually have some unpleasant side effects. If you’re planning to go on a keto diet, which means cutting out bread and other carbohydrates almost completely, chances are you might experience leg cramps. These painful contractions typically occur at night and may last seconds to minutes. Bread is high in electrolytes, and when your body doesn’t get enough of these essential nutrients, it can lead to muscle spasms.

2. You may feel fatigued.

While white bread isn’t the healthiest way to get enough carbs, eating whole wheat and sprouted grain bread in moderation will give your body more energy. Because it’s rich in fiber, iron, and magnesium, these foods will help you feel full and energized, and they can even help you get enough energy to hit the gym after a busy day at work.

3. Your sugar cravings might strike.

Because bread can be used for energy, giving it up completely means you’ll have to find another source of energy elsewhere. When we feel tired and wiped out, we naturally reach for foods that can give us a quick boost of energy, such as sweets and sugary drinks. While eating bread in moderation won’t cause you to gain extra pounds, eating cookies and chocolates whenever you feel exhausted definitely can.

4. Going to the bathroom may become more difficult.

If you’re giving up regular white bread, this may not be much of a problem for you, but cutting out whole grain or rye bread might actually cause you to spend more time going to the bathroom. Whole grain bread is high in fiber, which helps your digestion and has actually been proven to work better than laxatives for relieving constipation.

5. Your mood swings might get worse.

If you ever felt like nothing could lift your mood faster than a slice of pizza, there’s actually a scientific explanation for that. Eating carbs releases a chemical called serotonin, which is responsible for making you feel good and can even suppress your appetite. This means that indulging in healthy carbs every now and then can actually elevate your mood and tame your hunger.

6. Your risk of heart disease may go up.

The types of grains you choose to cut out from your diet can be a game-changer when it comes to keeping your heart healthy. While refined carbohydrates can raise the risk of heart disease, eating whole grains has been proven to lower cholesterol and keep many concerning heart conditions at bay.

How often do you eat bread? Have you ever tried to give it up completely?