TNC Review: Protein Breads

then there's lower carb which may not be necessarily high protein. So we thought it was a really good opportunity for us to break down a couple of these brands, and we've chosen there's a few different ones out there, and the other feedback we get is people will say, why didn't you choose this one? And for full transparency, none of these segments are sponsored. Certainly, if we ever do revert to a sponsored product segment, we will be very

transparent on that. So these come down to products that Leanna and I are familiar with. There's a particular reason we may want to discuss it, we may really like it, or sometimes it's just what we have time to quickly put together. It really is random. Now for full transparency, again, I've chosen two for quite specific reasons. I've chosen the Herman Brothers Lower cub loaf, which was one of the first available in Audi Supermarket because they bake for Audi.

So I've chosen that because yes it's a specialty bread and you can get it in coals, but it's also the same nutritionals as the high protein low car breadth that's available in Audi, so it's ticking both of those boxes. And that was a really revolutionary company who brought one of the first ones to market. And then I've chosen also the Woolies Macro myself just because I quite like the profile of it and they've got quite a wide range.

They've got English muffins and bread rolls as well. So as I said, there's no personal reason we choose it other than we might like it, be interested in it, or it just comes up when we're doing a quick search so that's the background to that, or it's available at.

five health star rating in Audi. It retails for about five dollars a loaf, and it's slightly more for the bread version. I think it's six or seven in coals. Nutritionally per two slices, and the slices of a protein bread we want to the main difference nutritionally is that to make a protein bread, it either needs to be a very special flour to concentrate the protein or it needs to have a very heavy seed and grain base.

So what that does is really significantly bump up the protein and good fat content and it lowers the available carbohydrate. So certainly in the case of this bread, it's slightly different because they do it does use a soy protein as well to increase the protein content. So and that's why the slices, i should say, are much smaller, because it's a denser slice, because you're not getting that traditional wheat flour that makes bread soft and fluffy. So that's

the first difference. It's certainly not bread as we would be as familiar with bread. It's much more like a European heavy dense loaf. Perserve two small slices, almost channdred and fifty calories twenty three point six grams of protein, which is huge. Normally in a bread you'd get sort of eight grams if it's a heavy grain bread and souper market. It does have what would appear to be reasonably high levels of fat twelve point eight grams purchase slices compared to say half of that if you are

looking at a grain bread, or even lower. But most importantly it's very low saturated fat. As you would expect it one point seven grams or less than three percent carbo hydrates only five grams compared to twenty thirty forty to fifty grams in regular sour dough or larger slices, or about twenty four for something like a bergen sugars. The sugars, I wouldn't be overly worried. People often think

sugar is added to bread. It's not the case. It's just secondary to the baseline flour load ten point seven grams of dietary fiber, which is enormous. So again high fiber bread you may get sort of four or five if you're lucky. This is enormous because of that heavier grain load. Sodium's not overly high for bread at three fifty milligrams purchase slices. But the big difference in this loaf compared to some of the other ones is I

said the formulation. So the first ingredients water, followed by wheat protein, so protein loopine, protein, soy meal, soy grits. So they're really using a special formulation of protein flowers to achieve this loaf. So that's quite different. So my general recommendation with protein breads is First of all, it has a role and we'll talk about that in a secondly, and because I'm interested in your perspective on them with clients, but I will say to the client's the main difference

is that ingredient list. And if you're someone who's not a massive soy fan, it's probably this isn't probably the one for you because some medical conditions or preferences will people will be preferring to avoid soy, and that is the difference with this. But in terms of taste, it's a great taste. It's very, very filling. My personal use of it is as a way to get protein breakfast time without using foods like eggs or smoked salmon or dairy.

So it's really handy for people who are looking for a plant based diet or who are over eggs or hot breakfast, so they really want to have toast for breakfast with a bit of avocado or a bit of vegie. But because I like carbs in the morning, I'll then try and get them to add a little bit of carb, which may be banana with peanut butter on the toast.

It's not low calorie, it can really be quite high in calories and if you're then starting to have protein toast with avocado or with banana and peanut butter, you're looking at, you know, a four hundred even up to five hundred calorie breakfast. So that's really important to be aware of. It may be lowering carb, but it's certainly not lowering calories, and it really depends on your personal

dietary goals, but it's a viable option. I do routinely use them, and that's probably the main differentiating factor and feedback I'll give clients is taste, because obviously they do taste quite different between the brands availability where you're buying it from. But also if you're someone with a preference for Sawyer'd just be mindful that that is a baseline ingredient.

came across this bread years ago Ceasy. I found it in my Ida, my local Ija sort of did specialty breads. I hadn't seen it. I think it's only recently come into Coals, but it's been around for quite a few years, and I've been eating it for quite a few years. And the way I see it is that a lot of myself included and my clients like to put things

like jam or honey, like honey and banana on toast. Right, So when you're adding honey, which is a carbohydrates of sugar, banana, which is a carbohydrate for just to sugar, and bread, which is a carbohydrate, you're adding two serves of carbs onto more carbs. From a health and a weight loss perspective, that's not the best option for the majority of people.

Let's put it that way. If you're somebody who you know is a huge high level athlete, or you're in eating disorder recovery or something like that, perhaps yeah, that could be a great option for you. But for the bulk of our listeners and the bulk of austrains. It's not a great option to just keep adding carbon carbon cap on carb It's not going to keep you full for very long, and it just really doesn't have the amount of protein and healthy fats that we want. So

this is a great option. But as you said, for me, it's too low in carbohydrates. So I use this to tick my protein and my fiber box. Ten point seven grams of fiber in two slices is unreal It is amazing. For some people who have a sensitive gut, it might be too much. They might find themselves running to the bathroom. But for the majority of healthy people it's a great load. And because it's super low in carbohydrate, then you can actually put your carbohydrate on the toast without any issues.

So adding something like jam and fruit on top of this is an awesome option. So I love to do something like this is a bit cheeky, but as a bit of a treat, I might do some like nintella and some slice fruit or something onto something like this protein bread. But as you mentioned, it is because it's heavily based on fats, it is quite you know, more energy dense than you know two normal slices of bread. So I think it's a great option. It's super filling.

Of course, it doesn't taste anything like white bread, but it is it's feeling, it's and it's a great nutritional profile. But it is lower in carbohydrates. So just having this with say some nut butter on top isn't actually a great post workout you know, snack or post workout meal, because you're not getting that amount of carbohydrate in to

refuel your muscle. So I would definitely say if you're if you're using this option as sort of a toaster or breakfast option, I would definitely be putting carbohydrate on that. So fruit is probably the easiest option, or a little bit of jam or honey or something like that to

get in some beneficial carbohydrates at breakfast time. But I routinely use these myself, SUSI, and also for my clients because I think that they're I think they're great options, but their price is probably a little something to be aware of. It's probably two to three times that of a normal you know, well these branded loaf of bread,

and there are a couple of allergens as well. I think people need to be aware of mainly wheat, soy lupin as well and also balley other allergens in this, so unfortunately for as celiacs it's a no no. And it's also got some trace may contain you know, milk, sesame seeds and tree nuts as well, so it's process in a factory that has other products containing those things. If you have an alley gin and you're particularly sensitive,

you probably want to avoid something like this. But I think it's overall a great product and really I do really use it for a lot of my clients, you know, in the right occasion, not every day, but when they do wants them toast and they're really craving a bit of honey or jam. I think this is a great option.

using them in that space. I also use it as a filling afternoon snack, like a slice of that with some nutspread or avocado and tomato if people get home hungry or maybe they're going to the gym, to give them that real full factor. It is quite a dense and has that ability to feel So yeah, I absolutely use them and am really excited that they have been around here and encouraged other Australian companies to make similar products.

Which leads me to the other product that I've chosen, which is the Woolli's Macro brand, which is a small green loaf that sometimes in the health food section at Willies, sometimes in the main grocery. Admittedly, I would say it's not. It's probably more in the metro as opposed to widespread Willie shops, just because of the specialist product that it is in. I live in the inner city of Sydney and certainly the two three four loaves that come up

at the Woolies get sold out every day. I've certainly seen demand and increase and probably that's led to them to also so now be making the English muffins and also the bread rolls I should say the Herman Brot, not Herman Brothers Herban, but also have bread rolls available in that Audi branding as well. And I like this

product land. I like the nutritionals of it because its first ingredients water, then wheat, gluten, limbed seed, sunflower seeds, so it's really giving us a beautiful polyunsaturated fat load of those really good fats that we often will we only really get from wheellyfish or in plant foods from walnuts and limb seeds and sunflower and pepeds, so it's one of those rare foods that is going to be It doesn't list the poly unsaturated content, but I imagine

it would be quite high, which is why I lean towards it. Similar In the nutritional amounts perserve, you're looking at just over two hundred and fifty calories twenty one grams of protein. Again, the fat's quite high, almost sixteen grams perserve. We're getting a little bit more saturated fat two point three because of that seed load. Carbohydrates even lower at three point six grams, and funnily enough, Woolies are not listed the dietary fiber content. I'm not sure why.

It seems rather odd that they wouldn't be doing that, given it's a real health product sitting in that space. So we got any feedback from Willies on why that fiber, but it would be quite high. I would imagine it would be sort of up around that eight grams per serve. It's a really nice tasting product, you know. I guess in food industry are really trying to support Australian brands and small Australian brands where we can, but credit where credit is due. Wilies. It's a good product. It's got

a really nice profile. If I read through the other ingredients, So the seeds are high thirteen percent seed, thirteen percent some flower seeds, which is incredibly that's more than a quarter of The loaf is from a seeded base, bamboo fiber, canola oil, so you a flower, vinegar, yeese, so these are just minor ingredients to fill it out. So it's a great tasting bread. It freezes really well. So we should also say we don't generally use these breads to

make sandwiches. They I better toasted. But it's a great tasting product that my clients always really enjoy. It retails at about six dollars a loaf, I think from memory.

Whereas freezing it's a really good way to preserve those and be able to keep it and really make sure you're not wasting it, which I think because we all find, don't we with loaf bread, we're often throwing it around, throwing it away a little bit.

going to toast it. So I do find that freezing it is a better option because you know, defrosts quite easily in the toaster. I've just looked up on wools dot com and the fiber con t is eleven point six grams, so it is actually incredibly high. And it just because one of those ingredients is bamboo fiber. And I'm going to say controversially, a Susi, I actually don't like the taste of this one. I think it's because of the bamboo fiber. It's something to do with the texture.

I just I've tried it a few times and I can't get my head around it. So for me, I'm much more of a fan of the Herman Brought one from a taste and a texture perspective, but this is all a really individualized sort of taste thing. You know, one person will enjoy it and another person won't, so really give it a well yourself, you know. From a cost perspective, it's a little bit lower. It's four dollars fifty.

Will listed this as a price drop option, so hopefully that's sort of a price that will stay a little bit lower, so it's a little bit more affordable than the hermane Brought one. But I don't know, SUSI I can't. I think it's a texture thing. For me, just the bamboo fiber. I'm not loving it as much as some of the other I really do like a nice dense bread, so for me it doesn't quite tick the taste sort

of box. But as you said, the ingredient list is you know, is excellent really but it is very low in carbohydrate and I think in terms of two slices, two hundred and sixty five calories for two slices, So definitely not a lower calorie sort of bread option, but a really really strong nutritional profile for a product like this and go wool is they really do have some great, you know, sort of better options in their ranges for people with specific health conditioners or specific I guess goals

in their life that some of their products really do tickboxes. We've done their pizza base on the podcast as well, very early on, and we really liked that one.

protein white loaf. Now I was so shocked by this nutritional profile that I actually contacted the Coals nutritionists to ask her if it was legit, and they have indeed formulated a flour, but I don't believe it's widely available, which is one of the reasons we didn't cover it today.

So I believe we will start to see even some white loaves that are higher in protein, but nutritionally as dietitians, we will generally, unless people cannot tolerate seeds and grains, we will generally prefer those both because of the nutritional offerings they have. And I'm always going to go back to a grain or seeded bread over a white loafe. I don't care how much fiber they pump back in it.

But watch this space because at some point we will come back and cover those growing range of sort of healthier white bread alternative once I'm sort of certain that those breads are widespread and not just being made for the city bakeries or on trial at coals at the moment.

just wouldn't enjoy it as a sandwich bread option. I very much will get a fresh, beautiful grain loaf from my bakery if I wanted to have a nice, fresh sandwich awesome rolls, I wouldn't use that brand as a I just think it's too dense for a sandwich loap. It is really nice as a toasted bread toast option for breakfast and freezing. I have no concerns about freezing bread.

So when someone had commented that, oh, it's frozen, I was like, I wouldn't bother me, because to me, that ensures the freshness is being retained a little bit like frozen veggies, because as I said, as soon as you get that high quantity of good fat in there from seeds in particular, they go rancid really quickly. So That's why when you go to the baking section in supermarkets and you buy like walnuts or pecans, they don't taste as crunchy and fresh because those fats are so unstable.

They go a little bit rancid really quickly, and you get that funny taste after taste. So the benefit for me with these products is that if they've been frozen, they've been snap frozen, so they're going to be is just good of quality when you consume them. So a bread that was frozen would be no concern to me, and I'm with you. I only suggest these breads be used as toast.

to many people today. But that brings us to the end of the nutrition Couch product review for another week. Please subscribe if you haven't. We love when you give us some reviews. We love when you post about listening to the potty because we drop every Wednesday and Sunday morning. We have our Facebook and Instagram sites running for any feedback or questions. And it's the Nutrition Couch Podcast and we're going to see you on Sunday morning. Thanks for listening.