Almost everyone who talks with me about the dietary aspects of their health regimen mentions cutting back on or eliminating bread. They offer various reasons such as celiac disease, gluten intolerance, carb addiction, etc. In most cases, their reasons affect body weight, or what I’m calling here today a desire for skinny buns.
Years ago, someone taught me the best way to enjoy a hamburger – especially if trying to appear normal, was to remove the bun, and use your four fingers clinched together to scoop out most of the bready part, leaving the crust, and thus the appearance of a bun. Do this to both top and bottom pieces and you have a thin bun, about half the bread, and something to keep the mustard and catsup off your hands as you eat your burger.
If you’ve participated in burger eating while reducing or eliminating bread, you’ve probably also done the lettuce wrap. Realizing the best part of a burger – especially a veggie (vege) burger – is the condiments, pickles and mustard wrapped in lettuce around a burger make a pretty good meal, albeit a bit light.
Oroweat was first on the scene with a skinny bun for your skinny buns. Their Sandwich Thins come in multigrain, whole wheat and honey wheat. I prefer the flavor of multi-grain anything to whole wheat, and appreciate the additional micronutrients variety adds to my health. Sandwich Thins were so popular when they arrived in Sedona, most stores sold out before the entire Weight Watchers membership could buy them!
| Oroweat | Sandwich Thins |
|---|---|
| Calories | 100 |
| Fat | 1 gram |
| Fiber | 5 grams |
| WW pts* | 1 |
One slice of the bun is a bit thin, usually tearing in half before the burger is consumed. And of course they’re better lightly toasted.
I found this ingredient listing on kaboodle.com: Whole wheat flour, unbleached enriched wheat flour [flour, malted barley flour, reduced iron, niacin, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), folic acid], water, cellulose fiber, wheat gluten, yeast, sugar, cracked wheat rye, polydextrose, salt, ground corn, canola and/or soybean oil, preservatives (calcium propionate, sorbic acid), grain vinegar, guar gum, cultured wheat flour, brown rice, oats, mono-glycerides, soybeans, triticale , barley, flaxseed, millet, citric acid, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sucralose, soy lecithin.
A newcomer to the skinny buns category is by Earth Grains, a proud supporter of The Nature Conservancy. You can probably see where I’m going with this.
| EarthGrains | Thin Buns |
|---|---|
| Calories | 100 |
| Fat | 1.5 gram |
| Fiber | 4 grams |
| WW pts* | 1 |
I made my decision rather hastily when I picked up the Earth Grains. First of all, they’re a little bigger, at 4.25-4.38 inches across. (I don’t have a Sandwich Thin in the house to measure; do you? If so, post below.)
Secondly, there’s no white flour. Third, the ingredient list is 18 instead of 28 (plus the 6 ingredients added to the white flour after the bran and germ were removed – at least they left out the bleach!).
EarthGrains ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, sugar, wheat gluten, oat fiber, yeast, soybean oil, cultured wheat flour, salt, distilled vinegar, guar gum, enzymes, enzyme-modified soy lecithin, Raisin juice concentrate, Wheat bran, Milk, Soy flour, Sesame seeds.
Note: there is milk in the EarthGrains. And not as many different grains. But it appears to my unscientific eye there are fewer chemicals. No artificial preservatives, so refrigerate or freeze them! Plus, if you’re going to believe the EarthGrains website, they support individual farmers rather than mega conglomerates–but I haven’t found my way back to that page to recheck their statements.
Anyway, enough time on skinny buns! I love them, though I still limit myself to only one or two a week. You have to know your body and what it can handle as well as what makes it thrive.
All trademarks are owned by their respective registrants. *Weight Watchers Points Value was obtained by using my official Weight Watchers Points Finder and the nutritional information given by the manufacturers.