I like Orowheat WW Master's best winter wheat. The label says that there are 90 calories per slice. I thought maybe my breadmaker recipe for ww bread might be less calories, but turns out it comes in at about 150 cal per slice. The slices are a bit bigger, but not that much. So I went on to check some more bread choices. It seems that some of them are astronomical calorie-wise. What's with this? I thought whole grain bread was a good thing. How can my beloved Orowheat which is full of seeds and nuts have fewer calories than a plain old loaf of bread? I guess I should just eat it an be grateful, but I am really surprised.

I've noticed great variation too. Start looking at the ingredients for some more info. For example, lots of breads contain high fructose corn syrup, and maybe that's adding calories. I've never mapped calories from bread to certain ingredients, though, so don't know for sure.

Another issue might be that some manufacturers don't count the calories from fiber, as it is indigestible. If you're looking at high fiber breads you may be able to see some discrepancies. What's the total number of carbs? If you multiply fat grms *9, carb grms *4, and protein grams *4, you should come up with total calories. If the total you come up with is a lot higher than the label, look at the fiber grams. If you multiply fiber grams *4 and subtract that from the total calories, now does it look like what the label says?

Or, I'm completely off base!!

Thanks, Heather, I will take a look at that.

I'd check your labels on that Orowheat, if you're at all concerned about high fructose corn syrup. I've heard on a Podcast I listen to that one of the first listed ingredients in Orowheat bread is HFCS. I'm not eating bread at the moment, but if I ever add it back in again, it's going to be sprouted grain bread. Just thought I'd put that out there Sometimes things denser in nutrients (like sprouted grain bread) are also higher in calories. I used to eat a "light wheat" store brand bread that was made out of crap and was 80 calories per two slices.

What is crazy to me is the paradox that so many whole wheat/whole grain breads are sooooo sweet. Whenever I see "Honey Whole Wheat" I don't even give it another look because to me it is going to taste like cake. (My sense of sweet is really sensitive.) Why do they have to make it so sweet just because it is whole wheat??? I understand a little more sugar may help to make a whole grain flour rise but there is no reason to make it taste sweet.

I don't know but maybe more yeast/less sugar? Would that work? Maybe it would make the bread more airy/less sweet/less caloric?

I switched from fresh whole grain bread to Toufayan Whole Wheat Pitas when I'm making a sandwich. For the whole pita it's, 140 calories, 0 fat, 31 carbs, 6 grams protein, 3 grams fiber. And they taste really good too. And NO HFCS! There's like 4 ingredients with the first being Stone Ground Whole Wheat.
However, I find it strange that some of Toufayan's other varieties (Oat Bran, Whole Grain) do contain HCFS and other stuff I can't pronounce. So I stick with the whole wheat.

I started buying Sara Lee Delightful 100% Whole Wheat. I started with the honey variety and ended up with the regular the second time. My son asked for the honey one again because he really liked it. (it is good) I thought why not because the kids will eat it. I like it too and it's only 45 calories a slice. I didn't see HFCS in it but did see brown sugar and honey. The brown sugar comes in sixth on the list and honey is 12th. I guess that's not too bad. Hey, it's better than the so called wheat bread I was eating before. It was basically just brown white bread.