White Bread, No Crust - How Bad?
Categories: Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Eating & Nutrition, Opinions
Are you spoiling your kids by cutting off their crusts? Credit: left-hand, Flickr
"But as I pack her 25th camp sandwich, I'm thinking: That's a lot of white bread. I envy friends who pack hearty 22-grain sandwiches for their kids. Is white bread with no crusts as bad as it seems and if so... how bad?"
To find out, I called up Mommy Advisor Christine Palumbo, R.D., a nutritionist in private practice in a Chicago suburb, who's an adjunct faculty member at Benedictine University.
"Cutting off the crusts, are you?" I was hopeful at her jokey tone, which implied: This isn't a big deal. "Moms cutting crusts off goes back many generations," she continued.
"This is a situation where picking your battles is the best way to go. When you cut crusts off you're missing out on some of the nutrition in the bread, but it's not enough to worry about.
"Most kids like white bread because it's soft," she added. And delicious! But wait, isn't all that soft deliciousness bad for them.
Try white-wheat. "Look for one of the newer white whole-wheat breads and serve that to your children -- don't make a big deal about it; just serve it. That way, the child gets some of the benefits of whole-wheat bread but it's still white and soft and will be appealing to them."
Avoid high-sugar breads. "Oftentimes, breads marketed toward children will have more sugar, so experiment to see what a child will eat." Sugars (including sugar by other names like sucrose and high fructose corn syrup) shouldn't be first or second on the ingredient list. Compare labels and pick a bread with lower grams of sugar on the nutrition facts panel.
Look for a short ingredient list. "If the list is short and includes mostly ingredients that you can easily pronounce and spell, that's a good sign," said Palumbo.
Get bread that's perishable. "Look for a bread that says on the label 'store in icebox' -- it most likely was made with fresh ingredients and without a lot of preservatives."
Try the bakery. "At a chain bread store or a grocery's bakery, those breads are so delicious because they are baked fresh with fresh ingredients."
Bottom line: How bad is it to feed a child white bread sandwiches with the crusts cut off? "This is not important at all," said Palumbo. Go forth and trim crusts.
Have you had a less-than-perfect parenting moment and you're wondering, "How bad"? Send it to Sabrina at PrincessLPink9@aol.com. She'll try to answer as many as she can.
Sabrina Weill is the founder of the pink, princess-y gift site: PrincessLovesPink. Many of the Mommy Advisors in this column are the writer's personal or professional friends."This is a situation where picking your battles is the best way to go. When you cut crusts off you're missing out on some of the nutrition in the bread, but it's not enough to worry about."
So is it totally fine to go crust-free white bread? "It's not a problem to cut the crusts off. Kids like soft bread and the crust is hard. Most kids like white bread because it's soft." And delicious! But wait, isn't all that soft deliciousness bad for them and let's face it, I'm not buying a different bread for us adults.
Palumbo stands by her "this isn't so bad" philosophy, and has some thoughts about how to make the healthiest-possible choices for bread that children will like:
Try white-wheat. "Look for one of the newer white whole wheat breads and serve that to your children -- don't make a big deal about it; just serve it. That way the child's getting some of the benefits of whole wheat bread but it's still white and soft and will be appealing to them."
Avoid high-sugar breads. Sugars (including sugar by other names like sucrose, high fructose corn syrup) shouldn't be first or second on the ingredient list. Compare labels and pick a bread with lower grams of sugar on the nutrition facts panel. "Oftentimes breads marketed toward children will have more sugar, so experiment to see what a child will eat."
Look for a short ingredient list. "If the list is short and includes mostly ingredients that you can easily pronounce and spell, that's a good sign," says Palumbo.
Get bread that's perishable. "Look for a bread that says on the label 'store in icebox' -- it most likely was made with fresh ingredients and without a lot of preservatives."
Try the bakery. "At a chain bread store or a grocery's bakery, those breads are so delicious because they are baked fresh with fresh ingredients."
Bottom line: How bad is it to feed a child white bread sandwiches with the crusts cut off? "This is not important at all," says Palumbo. Go forth and trim crusts.
Have you had a less-than-perfect parenting moment and you're wondering, "How bad"? Send it to Sabrina at PrincessLPink9@aol.com. She'll try to answer as many as she can.
Sabrina Weill is the founder of the pink, princess-y gift site: PrincessLovesPink. Many of the Mommy Advisors in this column are the writer's personal or professional friends.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sabs 8-13-2009 @ 3:29PM
I think Its time we all started to understand nutrition. Everyone is so mixed up. I know I have been trying to understand what I can and cannot eat. I think the first rule to food is that it is enjoyable. Dopamine plays a big role in instructing the body what and how to digest. I love cooking without a cookbook and just smelling different herbs and combining them with natural vegetables and fish. If it smells good tastes good and looks good it must be good for us.
Also tomatoes should be cooked in a pan at low to medium heat for about an hour and then simmered on low with the lid off until it has a consistency that you like. Removing the jelly and seeds from the inside first keeps the sauce from being too sour and its much easier to digest and receive nutrients this way.
Peace, Love, and Happiness
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Glenn 8-13-2009 @ 3:55PM
Can someone please explain to me how bread CRUST will carry any more or less nuitrients than the rest of the bread? Palumbo R.D. states, "When you cut crusts off you're missing out on some of the nutrition in the bread..."
The crust has more nuitrition than the inside? HOW?! IT'S THE SAME BREAD!! It's just MORE COOKED because it is closer to the heat source. And aren't we taught that raw things have more nuitrients than cooked things? So how can the CRUST have more nuitrition than the inside part of the bread?
Sure, whole grain bread containd more nuitrition than white bread, but the crust compared to the soft part? THIS DOES NOT COMPUTE! Maybe the writer needs another subject matter expert and replace Palumbo R.D. Her advice sounds suspect.
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Kelly 8-15-2009 @ 11:52PM
Yeah, and "icebox"? How many people say, 'icebox'? How many people may not even KNOW that a refrigerator used to be called an 'icebox' because it was an insulated box that you put a giant piece of ice into to keep food cold? How OLD is this writer?
Uly 8-18-2009 @ 2:26PM
I know people my age (so in their mid-20s) who say "icebox". It seems to be a regional thing.
SKL 8-13-2009 @ 4:16PM
We don't stock white bread at our house. The only kind my kids have ever had at home is whole grain, so they are used to the way it tastes and they like it just fine.
I don't remove crusts because I don't believe in wasting food (as I teach my kids), nor do I believe it is my job to eat the parts my kids are "too good" to eat. They eat the crusts because it doesn't occur to them to do otherwise. I haven't had a complaint about it yet.
I wouldn't say that crustless white bread is a "big deal," but my point is that parents don't need to set themselves up for this kind of expectation. I made a decision 2 years ago that I wanted my kids' "comfort food" to be food that will contribute to good lifelong health. So far, so good.
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Michelle 8-15-2009 @ 11:53AM
You can make bread crumbs from the crusts. No waste. I have to make my daughter's bread, because she cannot digest gluten. The crusts are a little harder, so I always cut them off for her, put them in the freezer until I have enough to make bread crumbs for my meatloaf or chicken parm.
zeebeeton 8-13-2009 @ 6:47PM
What is the matter with "parents" these days ?Cutting Off Crusts ?!! That is ridiculous ! What do you do with all that "crust " from a whole loaf of bread ? Throw it away ? That is what is wrong , , Among other things,! that are thrown Away today ! !! And buying babys and Children Designer Shoes ! ETC . 200.00 for a pair of shoes .! That is part of what is wrong with our economy today !!!!!
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Maureen 8-13-2009 @ 11:20PM
My mom cut off my crusts and I cut the crust off of my childrens' sandwiches. I don't see the big deal. When it comes to wasting food... they can't really finish a whole sandwich anyway. I use whole grain bread or make my own. If my children receive a sandwich that has crust, they don't complain, they just eat the sandwich and leave the "bones" on the plate.
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Shirley 8-14-2009 @ 3:31AM
My now 15 yr old didn't eat the crust of the bread when she was little but she does now. I use buy the crustless white bread just for her. everyone else in our household ate wheat bread. No waist. I figured she needed to eat just like everyone else so why serve her something she wasn't going to eat anyway. She is a great kid and no worse for wear for not eating the crust. I beleive as parents we should be more concerned with the type of person we are rearing than what kids won't or will eat. Remember kids go through phases while they are growning up and this to shall pass. They need to eat so feed them what they will eat and supplement their meals if necessary. By the way she eats wheat bread now like the rest of us.
antcmanche 8-30-2009 @ 10:02PM
I remember when I was about 10 yrs old, (30+ yrs ago), and the Doctor told me that when people ate white bread it sat in their stomach like styrofoam and had just about as much "good stuff" in it. Then he handed me one of those small styrofoam cups. It made a lasting impression on me. As I got older and started to read about nutrition I found that he pretty much hit the nail on the head. When I had children I started them out eating whole wheat bread, and for a "treat" gave them other types of whole grain bread. I made home made bread as much as I could, but that is not always an option. Yes, I told them the same thing about white bread that the Doctor told me long ago and they repeat it to this day. All in all, if you start your children out eating correctly there will be no "spoiling" them rotten by cutting food into cute shapes. Save the cute stuff for special occasions. (my opinion)
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Melisa Humphrey 10-03-2009 @ 8:12AM
My 8 yr. old daughter never used to ask for the "crust be removed" until she saw her friend do it. Now she thinks it must be cut off.
Aaahhh peer pressure already =( What is a mom to do???
Thanks ~ Melisa
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