What It Means When Oprah Sheds 26 Pounds Eating Bread Every Day

                                                                    (Image Source)

Oprah gained a lot of something after losing 26 pounds eating bread every day.

Here’s what happened…

Oprah sent out a tweet on Twitter yesterday (January 26^th, 2016) and in a matter of minutes she made roughly $12.5 million or about $3 million an hour for 4ish hours.

What was the tweet heard round our Weight Watching world?

Check it out:

Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt? #ComeJoinMehttps://t.co/jUgpk9ToXYhttps://t.co/xtnB53EwSf

— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) January 26, 2016

Personally, I love Oprah, in fact I recently shared a picture of her on my Facebook page here:

https://www.facebook.com/fitwomenforlife/photos/pb.122942601198427.-2207520000.1453866251./532088260283857/?type=3&theater

She’s an entrepreneur and pioneer and obviously BRILLIANT.

So, this post (rant?) isn’t about hating on Oprah or even Weight Watchers really.

I have YOUR interest in mind and only yours. Always.

Oprah, being the entrepreneur she is, took 10% stake in Weight Watchers last year making her a cool $30 million.

Winfrey is the perfect for Weight Watchers, since we know from watching her show, she’s struggled with her weight her entire life.

It really frustrates me when the blind lead the blind when it comes to weight loss.

I’m all for support, accountability, and empathy based advertising and marketing, BUT there’s a point where it’s just a cycle of NOTHING.

Nothing, meaning no one gets healthy, no one is truly happy, but every one is saying how awesome XYZ program is, because well in this case, they’re getting paid to say that.

I just want to remind you, you do NOT need point-counting Weight Watchers or inspiring by making you cry Oprah to lose weight and transform your body to one you can be proud of.

We all know Oprah is a self-proclaimed yo-yo dieter and we all know Weight Watchers is a HUGE weight-loss company that has made millions using celebrity endorsements, because obviously IT WORKS.

If Weight Watchers is working for you or has worked for you, GREAT.

I’m happy you found something that (temporally) worked.

I don’t know about YOU, but I don’t want to be counting points (or calories) my entire life.

Let’s discuss Weight Watchers and how using it could just cause you to watch your weight….go up.

3 Reasons Weight Watchers Might Not Work For You

1.) Diet’s Don’t Work

Any weight loss program that forces you to count points or calories as part of the MAIN components of the program is a diet and diets DON’T work.

I’ve had clients come from Weight Watchers insisting they “lost weight, “ but somehow gained it back.

It’s never a shock to me WHY someone has gained weight coming off any diet, not just Weight Watchers.

Diets just aren’t sustainable.

The key to weight loss is to find an enjoyable way of eating that produces the results you want. If your happy with your current weight or enjoy yo-yo dieting, then by all means join Weight Watchers.

I’m speaking to the long-term, health focused ladies out there.

2.) Weight Watchers suggests too many (of the wrong) carbs.

Their current guidelines for macronutrient breakdown are:

Protein: 10-35%

Fat: 20-35%

Carbohydrate: 45-65%

I think that’s too many carbs and not nearly enough fat. In contrast, my healthy fat loss metabolism focused diet recommends:

Protein: 20-30%

Fat: 40-50%

Carbs: 10-30%

I’m not against carbs, in fact, most women probably aren’t eating enough of the RIGHT types of carbs.

Unfortunately, most women aren’t active enough to “afford” to eat that many carbs in a day.

Those unused carbs almost always turn into extra weight.

3.) Weight Watchers Blames YOU For Gaining Weight

Would you believe me if I told you Weight Watchers actually works. Recent studies show Weight Watchers help dieters lose an average of 10 pounds.

Here’s where the brilliance of Oprah really starts becoming clear.

It’s brilliant not because Weight Watchers works but because it doesn’t.

It’s the perfect business model.

People give Weight Watchers the credit when they lose weight. Then they regain the weight and blame themselves. This sets them up to join Weight Watchers all over again, and they do.

In fact, the company PLANS on you returning after you quit and gain all of the weight back.

Weight Watchers works not because it’s a good diet, it works because of a combination of making you more aware of your choices AND community.

We LOVE hearing feel good stories about people losing weight, because it inspires us.

I’m sorry to tell you, feel good stories don’t help you lose long-term weight.

Now that you’re in love with Weight Watchers, let’s figure out this bread issue.

5 Reasons I Probably Follow Oprah’s Strategy of Eating Bread Every Day

1.) Whole Grain Bread Can Spike Blood Sugar Levels More Than A Twix

Whole grain bread does not actually have whole grains in it. Flour is formed in a process where grains are broken down into a powder form like flour.

Since it is in a powder form, the body can rapidly digest the bread and let it enter the bloodstream as glucose. This raises the fat-producing hormone known as insulin. Whole grain bread even has a higher G.I (Glycemic Index) score than most candy bars such as snickers.

The starches in bread get broken down quickly in the digestive tract and enter the bloodstream as glucose. This causes a rapid spike in blood sugar and insulin levels eventually increasing appetite. This causes a perpetual cycle of eating, getting hungry then eating again.

2) Bread Contains a Lot of Gluten

Wheat contains a large amount of a protein called gluten.

This protein has glue-like properties (hence the name gluten) responsible for dough’s “sticky” properties.

Evidence is mounting that a significant percentage of the population is sensitive to gluten.

The only way to really know if you’re gluten sensitive is to remove gluten from your diet for 30 days and then reintroduce it and see whether it affects you.

3) Processed Breads Contain Chemicals and Preservatives

Just like other processed foods, most commercial types of bread contain sugar or high fructose corn syrup.

Most grains also include the “anti nutrient” phytic acid and it’s one of the biggest problems with soy. Phytic acid is a molecule that strongly binds essential minerals like calcium, iron and zinc, preventing them from being absorbed. Most people stuck on the soy bandwagon are consuming far more phytate by the sheer volume through mass consumption of things like soy milk, tofu, cereals, and processed foods. Soy oil and soy lecithin are both common ingredients in many breads.

Dough conditioners such as azodicarbonamide are only now being exposed.

Maybe Mrs. Winfrey eats the finest bread, but here are common ingredients in many processed breads:

5) Bread Is NOT a Nutrient Dense Food

There is NO nutrient in bread that you can’t get from other foods in even greater amounts. Whole wheat bread will literally reduce the absorption of nutrients from other foods. By damaging the intestinal lining, gluten decreases the absorption of all nutrients.

Calorie for calorie, whole grain breads contain a low amount of nutrients compared to real foods like vegetables.

Wheat fiber may cause your body to burn through its Vitamin D stores much faster and contribute to vitamin d deficiency, which is associated with cancer, diabetes and death.

6.) Bread is a “gateway food.”

I don’t a lot of science to back this up, so bare with me here.

You sit down at a nice restaurant, what’s one of the first things they do?

Hand you a basket of bread or try to peddle you some breaded appetizer.

Question: Most fast food restaurant menus are dominated by?

You guessed it, bread!

So, you eat the bread at the restaurant, your blood sugar/insulin spikes causing more hunger, thirst (alcohol?), and eating more bread.

You order a burger and fries (with a diet coke, of course) at a fast food joint, same thing happens you aren’t giving your body adequate nutrition, so it’s going to crave MORE food.

Except it’s not food your body is craving it’s NUTRIENTS.

Most bread is just bad news.

So, what happens when Oprah losses 26 pounds eating bread every day?

1.) She makes 12.5 million dollars

2.) You think YOU can eat bread every single day and lose weight (you could, but you probably shouldn’t)

3.) The wheat industry probably did a few cartwheels, since millions of women signed up for Weight Watchers and then went to the store to by loaves of bread

4.) Nutritionists, personal trainers, and healthy fat loss bloggers like me are given material to educate you on the many weight loss programs out there promising fast weight loss by eating inflammatory foods, only to leave you frustrated, disappointed, and confused

I get it.

As a health and fitness professional who truly wants to see everyone succeed at weight loss, happiness, health, and everything in between I struggled to write this post somewhat “bashing” another company with intentions that probably wants the same.

My point is this, with millions and millions of women joining programs like this, why are we declining in health, have ever expanding waistlines, and continue to struggle with losing weight?

Have you tried Weight Watchers or do you have an opinion about Oprah and her history of yo-yo dieting? I’d love to hear about your experiences in the comment section!