When I posted this on social media, my feeds exploded with comments. I figured it was a good idea to expand upon my thoughts. 

As we get into the holiday season and colder weather, it seems like we spend more and more time going out to eat with friends and family. Nothing beats a fantastic meal with great friends, especially if you don't have to cook it yourself!

Unfortunately this very fun activity can be the downfall of all the progress you have made thus far this year. Restaurant food is so delicious because they do everything they can to make it taste good, it is not made to be healthful. While there are some restaurants and increasingly more menus, that have healthier options, you still have to be an educated diner to avoid eating the wrong things.

One of the easiest ways to save yourself unnecessary calories and carbohydrates is to send the bread back. While many restaurants offer fantastic artisan bread, fresh baked, nice and warm, this is not part of most of our healthy eating plans.

Even if your body tolerates gluten, wheat has several other components that your body may not appreciate. One of which is the complex carb called Amylopectin A which triggers major spike in blood sugar and consequential insulin release. It spikes the blood sugar higher than sucrose, table sugar, and for a longer period of time. Insulin sends a message to your body that it is time to store fat, not burn it. So every time you eat that wheat bread, you are signaling to your body that it is time to start storing fat.

Another component of wheat is a protein called Gliadin. This is known to stimulate your appetite by binding to the opiate receptors in your brain. This is why it's so easy to sit down and eat multiple bowls of cereal in one sitting. The wheat tricks your system into thinking it's not full and you can eat more and more. There have been studies done where doctors gave the participants a dose of Naloxone (Narcan), the drug that combats overdose of opiates. When the doctors gave the Narcan to the food study participants, they ate 400 calories less than they did in previous session without the Narcan. Eating wheat really does make you feel better, it really is comfort food. It makes your brain feel like it's had an opioid injection but without the high.

So if you're not quite ready to give up wheat all together, but realize it's not the best food for you, do the simple thing and send the bread back. Save those calories and carbs for something more delicious that won't completely sabotage all the hard work you have done. A fantastic option is dark chocolate, which carries with it fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. That sounds way better than Gliadin!