Pablo Ojeda on Bread: Why One Slice Leads to Another and How to Stop

The bread basket arrives at the restaurant, you take a piece while you wait for the first course and, without quite knowing how, ten minutes later the basket is empty. It is not a lack of willpower: there is a physiological explanation behind it.

The nutritionist Pablo Ojeda has summed it up in a sentence that many people recognise in themselves: “There is a rise, then a crash, and then the craving appears”. And what is interesting about his explanation is that it does not end in banning bread, but in learning how to eat it.

Let us look at what happens in the body, which part is well supported by evidence and what can be done in practice.

A country that loves its bread

Bread is much more than a food in Spain: it accompanies almost every meal and is part of the tradition of the Mediterranean diet.

The figures confirm it. According to the consumption data compiled by Mercasa, in 2024 each person ate about 27.4 kilos of bread at home, plus more than 5 kilos outside the home. In total, more than 30 kilos per head per year.

With consumption like that, understanding how it acts in the body makes a lot of sense.

The cycle Pablo Ojeda describes

Bread, especially white bread, is a concentrated source of carbohydrates that are digested quickly. Its starch soon turns into glucose and passes into the blood, which gives that feeling of almost immediate energy.

To bring glucose back to normal levels, the pancreas releases insulin. When the rise has been fast, the fall can be fast too, and in some people it leaves a feeling of hunger shortly after eating.

That is the cycle Ojeda refers to: rise, crash and craving. And the craving tends to aim at the same thing we have just eaten, because bread is a very pleasurable food and pleasure reinforces the desire for more.

It needs some nuance. Not everyone experiences it the same way, and the effect depends a lot on the type of bread, the amount and what it is eaten with. Bread is not bad; it is that, on its own and in large amounts, it tends to be not very filling.

You do not have to give up bread, just pair it well

Ojeda does not propose eliminating it. Prohibition is usually the shortest route to abandoning any change of habits and ending up with more anxiety about food.

His advice focuses on company. Eating bread on its own is what speeds up digestion the most and reactivates hunger sooner. If it is combined with protein, such as an egg, ham, fresh cheese or legumes, or with healthy fats, such as extra virgin olive oil or avocado, the absorption changes.

This happens because protein, fat and fibre slow down stomach emptying. Glucose enters the blood more steadily, the peak is lower and the later drop is gentler.

The practical result is a feeling of fullness that lasts longer and fewer temptations to raid the pantry in the middle of the afternoon.

• Toast with tomato and olive oil, better with an egg or a little ham.
• A sandwich with wholemeal bread, vegetables and a protein, instead of bread with cold cuts alone.
• At lunch, a portion of bread that accompanies the dish, not one that replaces it.
• If you nibble bread before eating, try waiting for the first course.

Which bread to choose: the degree of refining matters

Not all breads behave the same. Refined white bread is made with flour from which the bran and germ have been removed, so it provides mainly fast-digesting starch.

A wholemeal wheat or wholemeal rye bread keeps those parts of the grain. It provides more fibre, helps bowel transit and usually fills you up more with the same amount.

Many bakeries have gone back to sourdough and long fermentations. They produce breads with more flavour and better texture; there are fewer data on their advantages for glucose, so the most reliable thing is still to look at the flour.

How to read the label on wholemeal bread

Here the regulation helps. The Spanish bread quality standard, Royal Decree 308/2019, tightened the conditions for calling a bread wholemeal.

Only bread made exclusively with wholemeal flour can be sold as “wholemeal bread” or “100% wholemeal bread”. If it mixes flours, the name must state the percentage of wholemeal flour it contains.

When buying, read the full name and the list of ingredients. A dark bread is not necessarily wholemeal (the colour can also come from other ingredients).

Toasting or freezing: a real effect, but a small one

There is another trick that has become popular on social media. A study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition with ten people compared fresh white bread, frozen and thawed, toasted, and frozen and then toasted.

Toasting it, freezing it or combining both reduced the rise in blood glucose compared with fresh bread. This happens because part of the starch changes structure and is digested more slowly.

It is a modest effect, measured in a very small group and in a single meal. There are no data showing that it changes weight or long-term health, so it is best seen as one more detail, not as the solution.

If you have diabetes: the type of bread, the amount and what you eat it with affect your glucose. Adjust portions with your doctor, your nurse or your dietitian, and if you use insulin or medication that can lower blood sugar, do not change your regimen on your own. Also ask your pharmacist about any doubt with your medication.

The eleven o’clock signal

If you are hungry mid-morning after a breakfast of toast, check what went with it. Often a source of protein is missing to “anchor” that energy and make it last.

A plain yoghurt, an egg, a little cheese or a handful of nuts can make the difference without taking the bread out of breakfast.

Eating with common sense, bread included

The underlying message ties in with what many nutrition experts keep repeating: balance and quantities matter more than demonising foods. Living in fear of something that has been on the table for centuries makes little sense.

More useful than counting calories is asking what the food we eat provides and how filling it will be. A quality bread, in a reasonable amount and well accompanied, fits perfectly into a healthy diet.

Understanding the physiological circuit Ojeda describes helps you stop feeling guilty about being hungry and make better decisions at the table.

And you, what are you having with your toast today?