A healthy, balanced diet might include flatbread as a delicious option. With homemade flatbread, you have complete control over the ingredients and can choose healthy grains and low-fat ingredients. To add additional nourishment, you can as well add items such as flax seeds.
Usually, grains make up a healthy diet. The U.S. Department of Agriculture advises men to have 6 – 8 ounces of milk daily, and women should consume 5 – 6 ounces. The recipe you use significantly impacts the flatbread’s nutrient content. You can ensure you’re increasing your meals’ nutritional value by taking a piece of bread or whole-wheat pita flatbread.
Similar to ordinary bread, flatbread is equally wholesome and nutritious. In some diets, flatbread works better than traditional bread as a substitute for yeast-raised bread.
Types
Either bake your homemade flatbread or purchase a store-bought variety. When you make your food, it’s easy to regulate the contents and serving size, making it your safest alternative if you follow a highly tight diet. And also, give heed to the nutrition information and list of ingredients. For instance, a substantial piece of enriched white flour naan bread may have close to 350 cal and 12 g of fat or more. On the other hand, a tiny homemade roti might only contain 100 calories and 2 g of fat.
Benefits
The healthiest flatbread is prepared using whole grains and has minimum added fat or sugar. As per ChooseMyPlate.gov, whole grain bread is rich in fiber, an important ingredient that can effectively deter obesity. Your chances of constipation, heart disease, diabetes, and high cholesterol may all be decreased thanks to whole grain flatbread.
Basics of Nutrition
A big pita has 170 calories, whereas two slices of commercially made whole-wheat bread contain 161 calories. Wheat bread and flatbread both have similar calorie counts. Whole-wheat pita and whole-wheat bread increase your carbohydrate consumption by 35 and 27 grams per serving. Both pieces of bread get most of the energy from carbs.
They are also naturally low in fat, with only about 2 g per serving, and have a tiny quantity of protein (6 g per pita and 8 g each portion of bread). Compared to wheat bread, which contains 3.8 g of fiber per serving, whole-wheat pitas provide 4.7 g of fiber per big pita. Each pita includes 19 and 12 percent of the daily fiber requirements for men and women, respectively; thus, this contributes considerably to your fiber consumption objectives.
Flatbread and ordinary bread both have about the same number of calories. You will consume about 170 cals if you eat a large pita. Approximately 161 calories are contained in 2 pieces of whole wheat industrial bread.
Vitamin Content
B-complex vitamins, a family consisting of niacin and folic acid, are abundant in wheat bread and flatbread. These nutrients promote good blood circulation, boost metabolism, and moisturize skin.
Vitamin B-6, Pantothenic acid, and vitamin B-1 are all nutrients that you can find in abundance in bread and whole-wheat pitas. Pitas only contain 1.8 mg of niacin per serving, whereas whole-wheat bread contains 2.8 mg per serving. The daily niacin requirements are regulated at 16 mg for males and 14 mg for women; however, both foods considerably contribute to meeting these requirements.
Mineral content
Although their particular mineral contents vary, wheat bread and flatbread help you get your recommended daily allowance of minerals. Wheat bread has higher manganese than flatbread: 1.1 mg in whole-wheat pita flatbread has 1.4 mg or 61% of the required manganese intake for males and 78% for women.
On the other hand, wheat bread only has 16 micrograms of selenium, whereas flatbread has 28 micrograms or 51% of an adult’s recommended daily intake. Due to their antioxidant properties, manganese and selenium support healthy enzyme activity and defend your cells from oxidative stress.
You have the option of making flatbread yourself or purchasing store-bought varieties. When creating your bread, you have complete control over the ingredients and serving sizes.
Consuming homemade flatbread could be advantageous if you are on a strict diet. Using this technique, you should compare the nutritional values and keep an eye on the recipe’s component list.
Flatbread nutritional facts
| Nutrition facts | Trader Joe’s Middle Eastern Flatbread | Kangaroo White Greek Pita Flatbread | Flatout Multi-Grain Flatbread | Flatout Light Original Flatbread |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Units | 1 flatbread (56g) | 1 pita | 1 flatbread (53g) | 1 flatbread (53g) |
| Calories | 150 | 200 | 100 | 90 |
| Total Fat | 3g | 2g | 2g | 1.5g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg | 38mg | 0mg | 0mg |
| Sodium | 270mg | 380mg | 200mg | 230mg |
| Carbohydrates | 27g | 38g | 21g | 22g |
| Protein | 4g | 6g | 7g | 7g |
| Sugars | 1g | 2g | 0.5g | 0g |
| Fiber | 0g | 3g | 8g | 10g |
Flatbread ingredients
Acording to Recipetineats, the flatbread ingredients are:
- 2 cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 tbsp / 50g unsalted butter (1.75 oz)
- 3/4 cup milk.
Flatbread and Weight loss
It depends on more than simply the kind of bread you consume once you attempt to reduce weight. To shed one pound, the body must expend 3,500 calories. To lose weight and keep it off in the long run, you must regularly burn more calories than you consume. When considering weight loss, the quantity of calories you consume matters more than the source.
The National Institutes of Health advises increasing physical activity and eating a daily balance of low-calorie foods like veggies, fruits, lean meats, and whole grains, which help you lose weight safely and consistently.
Precautions when selecting flatbread
Check the nutrition information on the flatbread before making your choice. Choose a food that is high in fiber and low in salt. Not everyone considers sodium content while selecting their bread, yet some bread variants can have high sodium content. A portion of whole-wheat bread can have over 290 mg of sodium, whereas a whole-wheat flatbread can have over 280 milligrams or 12 percent of your daily sodium allowance.
Take away
People appear to believe that bread is just something they shouldn’t frequently be consuming due to the media and numerous health sites. However, bread products are a mainstay in most nations and could be a part of a healthy diet. One of the healthiest bread types available is flatbread. They often have fewer calories, more fiber, and little fat.
What you smear on it or load it with is what makes a flatbread less nutritious!
However, the flatbread is one of several healthful bread varieties that you can easily incorporate into a healthy eating diet.
A healthier and more nutrient-dense option to typically raised yeast bread is flatbread. You can incorporate flatbread into any healthy, low-calorie diet plan; however, some regimens are more forgiving than others. It would help if you learned to select a whole-grain type and keep to small amounts to reap the greatest health and weight-loss advantages.