[00:00:00] Jenn Trepeck: Welcome to Salad with a side of Fries. I'm your host, Jen Tpic, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. We're here to clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science and marketing to teach you how to eat and how to cheat. Are you ready? I'm having salad with a side of fries. This week we're talking about hero bread.

[00:00:26] I learned about this brand from, they were actually advertising on podcasts that I listened to, and I made a note and I was like, all right. Let's see what they've got. Are they really a hero? So they have breads and bagels, biscuits, rolls, tortillas. Frankly, all things bread. And I may be missing a couple, but you get the idea of what they offer.

[00:00:51] And for today, because August is national sandwich month, I figured let's focus on their sliced bread. And you know me, I'm [00:01:00] like, are you really a hero? You know, jury's still out. Let's decide for ourselves. So I'm always curious about the company and getting a sense of like their marketing claims before we look at the nutrition facts and the ingredients to decide for ourselves.

[00:01:15] So their site says. Why Hero bread? Then it has icons for zero to five grams of net carbs, more protein, high fiber, zero grams of sugar, fewer calories, and then to their credit, they say in slightly fine print per serving. Comparisons are to leading grocery store brands, see nutrition information for fat and sodium content, and then it says, excludes croissants, croissant rolls, pock lot, and cheddar biscuits.

[00:01:47] So before we get to their mission, I think I wanna give them credit here because a lot of places don't have the caveats of which products don't apply [00:02:00] to those claims. Right. And they're also telling us what they're comparing it to. So often we see these marketing callouts and we're like. Compared to what?

[00:02:11] Right. So I appreciate that they're just laying it out there and I don't know, people probably don't read all of that, just me, but it's there nonetheless. Right. Okay. Their mission, they say our mission is simple. Carb heavy foods are often the ones we love most, but are the worst for our health. We're here to make those same delicious products, free of consequences or compromises.

[00:02:37] Certainly marketing language, but I'm with them and I'm curious always who's behind the brand. They say we are hero and we are a team of bread headss cute, who believe that everyone should have the freedom to eat and enjoy foods we love most without negative health consequences. We've remade, carby, empty calorie products into fluffy, delicious versions [00:03:00] that include zero grams of net carbs, zero grams of sugar, and fewer calories with added benefits of protein and fiber.

[00:03:06] It started with a muffin, and then they go on to tell the founder's story of having severe food allergies. Like all through his life. And then in 2017 he cut out carbs to be healthier, but then couldn't find low carb options that he wasn't allergic to because of all the other stuff that those products tend to add in.

[00:03:27] He started with a muffin, tried tons of different recipes over two years, making hundreds of muffins a day, and finally he found something that tasted like the original but healthier. Where does this leave us? Okay. So far I'm a fan. What do you think? Are you with them?

[00:03:47] Phillip Pape: Yeah. I actually like this one. As far as processed foods go.

[00:03:50] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. And I also respect the fact that it's not a ton of marketing. It's not a ton of claims that they then have to substantiate [00:04:00] beyond what we could find in the. Label, right? So I respect it. Alright, let's look at the bread. They have white bread and seeded bread. I'm more likely to pick the seeded one. I don't really like white bread.

[00:04:13] I didn't grow up eating white bread. Philip, are you a white bread guy?

[00:04:16] Phillip Pape: I love everything. So one of the challenges of me is my stomach can handle everything and I like everything. So for better or worse?

[00:04:22] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. Alright, well I went with the seeded bread because you know that's what I It party nice and party right.

[00:04:27] Makes

[00:04:27] Phillip Pape: good french toast.

[00:04:28] Jenn Trepeck: Right? So then they say. The inviting texture and wholesome taste of a seeded bread is difficult to pass up, especially when topped with your favorite almond butter dressed up as a club, Sammy. Our delicious and fluffy wheat bread is baked with pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds to ensure a hearty flavor filled bite.

[00:04:47] Okay, cool. Again, not massive claims. Some of this is probably up to you and your taste buds if you agree, but here we go. They have a graphic that compares the net carb, sugar, calories, [00:05:00] protein, and fiber to top selling seeded bread. I've no idea which one that is. And what we really wanna know is what's in this bread.

[00:05:09] So moving along. Okay. Then, oh, they make a note now made with heart healthy olive oil. And then they say. Enjoy within 10 days of receiving or freeze for up to six months, allow to reach room temperature before eating for the fresh, fluffy taste you expect from hero bread. And in my head I'm like, do you ever freeze bread and then thaw to eat it?

[00:05:33] I feel like once it's frozen, it's only ever being toasted.

[00:05:36] Phillip Pape: Right. Or you thaw it and leave the whole package thaw. Right?

[00:05:40] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. I don't know.

[00:05:42] Phillip Pape: I think it's fine. I mean, the rate at which I eat bread, it wouldn't matter,

[00:05:46] Jenn Trepeck: right? That I mean the way

[00:05:47] Phillip Pape: eat food in general in my house is what I mean.

[00:05:49] Jenn Trepeck: Right? Yeah, yeah.

[00:05:50] Alright. Nutrition facts. Serving size. One slice, 60 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, zero grams of saturated fat, zero grams of trans fat, [00:06:00] 13 grams of total carbs with 12 grams of fiber and zero grams of sugar. Then six grams of protein on the micronutrients. There's really not much. It's like a tiny bit of iron, calcium, and potassium.

[00:06:11] So before we get to the ingredients, everything works with our old friend, the rule of fives, right? For reading labels. So by the way, you can go back to any of our episodes. I'm reading labels for that rule of five, but we have less than five grams of fat. More than five grams of five. More than five grams of protein, and single digit net carbs.

[00:06:33] So the six grams of protein is just shy of an ounce of protein, which is, you know. Cool. Cool. We have one gram of net carbs so far. I'm in. Right. The piece that I think is worth thinking about before we get to the ingredients is that serving size.

[00:06:50] Phillip Pape: Oh yeah. You gotta double it. Because you don't have a sandwich,

[00:06:53] Jenn Trepeck: right?

[00:06:53] And we know that with food labels, one plus one can equal three because of how they're allowed to [00:07:00] round. And then when you look at that fiber, we're talking like 24 grams of fiber. So that's for the average person. That's almost three times what the average person in America eats in a day for fiber. I know you, my friend, are not average, but still.

[00:07:19] That's a lot from a single food that's essentially a vehicle, right?

[00:07:24] Phillip Pape: Yeah. It's like your whole for female guidelines of like trying to get 20 or 25 a day at least. It's the whole thing.

[00:07:30] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. And so maybe this is better for like an open face sandwich or an avocado toast, or just realize that if you have two slices, you may end up with some gastric upset, especially if we're not used to that amount of fiber.

[00:07:46] In that span of time,

[00:07:47] Phillip Pape: we should see what the fiber is too, right? Yes, I know. We'll get there. Yeah.

[00:07:51] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. Okay, so perfect brings us to the ingredients. Water resistant wheat starch, wheat protein [00:08:00] yeast, wheat bran. Olive oil contains less than 2% of wheat germ inulin vinegar, salt, fava bean protein raisin juice, concentrate, flax seeds, sunflower seed kernels, millet, pumpkin seeds, Gugu milled flaxseed, sunflower lecithin as soic acid cultured wheat flour, wheat flour, natural flavors, and enzymes.

[00:08:24] Then they make a note on the allergens, which tracks because the founder started this whole thing because of allergies. So it says, contains wheat produced in a facility that also uses soy, eggs, milk, tree, nuts and sesame with the ingredients, the resistant wheat, starch, and the inulin are your primary sources of fiber in there.

[00:08:44] Phillip Pape: Okay. Yeah. Resistant starch. That's a good one actually. I mean, that's like, I know potatoes, you know. Yeah, I could see that being fairly easy on the stomach for a lot of people, you know?

[00:08:53] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. So for everybody, we have a nutrition nugget called Cool, your Rice. We talked about resistant starch with rice, [00:09:00] potatoes, cool them after they cook.

[00:09:01] Phillip Pape: Yeah.

[00:09:02] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. So. That almost also makes me think that eating two pieces is going to feel like a massive amount of food.

[00:09:09] Phillip Pape: This is a lot like, okay, so this sounds a lot like other breads, like old Smiths or old time, whatever it's called, that I've seen in my local grocery store. Yeah. And I've recommended those types of breads to clients and fat loss, especially,

[00:09:21] Jenn Trepeck: I know I'm almost in shock that there really aren't any.

[00:09:25] Giant red flags in here.

[00:09:27] Phillip Pape: Yeah. I mean you've got gorg gum, which is a thickener, and then what are the enzymes and natural flavors, I mean, honestly. Right. And they even have olive oil, which I'm not fear mongered over seed oils, but it sounds like they used to have seed oils the way you mentioned some language in there, maybe.

[00:09:39] Who knows? That says now. Yes. So they called out now with olive

[00:09:41] Jenn Trepeck: oil. I don't know what it was before. So interesting with the olive oil, that's sort of the light yellow flag, if you will, on this for me because Yes. The GU gum, the natural flavors, the enzymes, any kind of processed food, right? So then it becomes a question of how often are we having this [00:10:00] and how much are we having?

[00:10:01] But this olive oil of like the light yellow flag is this to me and for everybody, you can go back to our nutrition nugget on olive oil, right? We know the not all olive oil is the same. And when heated too high past the smoke point, we can damage the healthful properties of the oil. So my question is what type of olive oil are they using?

[00:10:26] And baking bread is typically like three 50 to four 50 degrees in an oven. Extra virgin olive oil has a smoke point around like three 50 to four 10 refined olive oil that we know doesn't have the same healthful properties, has a smoke point of up to like 470 degrees. So my guess is that it's refined olive oil, but I don't really know.

[00:10:53] And that's not the same health benefits.

[00:10:55] Phillip Pape: Yeah. I mean the devil's advocate to that is two things. Probably the, when you [00:11:00] dilute in baking it slightly changes the, the way that it Sure handles that. And then also what's the quantity?

[00:11:06] Jenn Trepeck: Pretty tiny,

[00:11:07] Phillip Pape: right? Yeah,

[00:11:07] Jenn Trepeck: it was right. And the total amount of fat, I think was like couple s, two and a half grams of fat.

[00:11:12] Yeah. So again, not a deal breaker, right? In scrutinizing this. That's the only thing that I could say. Maybe we wanna take a look at it. But even with that, like we said, how often are we eating this? How much of it's actually in there? I think this is a winner. Philip, what's your take?

[00:11:30] Phillip Pape: I think so too. It's a simple ingredient list as far as processed food goes even, especially when compared to bread in general,

[00:11:36] Jenn Trepeck: right?

[00:11:37] Phillip Pape: It has a nice ratio of the fiber and protein and calories, which is a great tool when you're trying to control your appetite and eat during fat loss. And who doesn't love sandwiches? Let me tell you. I, I cook chicken thighs. I'll slap up one chicken thigh on a sandwich, put some mustard, and you're good to go.

[00:11:53] Jenn Trepeck: Awesome. I mean, yeah, I think. They have a lot of products. We looked at one, [00:12:00] I'm impressed with the one, certainly curious to look at some of their other offerings too. But I'm with you. I think I'm in the camp of hero. Bread's a hero,

[00:12:08] Phillip Pape: I think so. Least it's definitely not a zero.

[00:12:10] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. At least the slice seeded bread.

[00:12:14] I mean, we,

[00:12:14] Phillip Pape: what did you say? You said wheat. Gluten as well, right? Which that's, that's like what's in Satan and stuff.

[00:12:19] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. Was it. There was wheat germ

[00:12:22] Phillip Pape: wheat. Wheat, wheat. Germ wheat. Wheat, wheat, starch, and then wheat flour. And wheat. Gluten. Wheat germ.

[00:12:25] Jenn Trepeck: I think early on you mentioned it. Wheat bran. Wheat protein.

[00:12:29] Wheat protein. So that is gluten.

[00:12:30] Phillip Pape: Yeah. Yeah,

[00:12:31] Jenn Trepeck: exactly. I'm a fan. Cool.

[00:12:33] Phillip Pape: I like it too.

[00:12:34] Jenn Trepeck: Awesome. Enjoy. Well, as always, everybody, I'm your host, gen Tpic. Connect with me on Instagram or all social media. I'm at Gen Tpic. J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K Website is a salad with the side of rise.com. Pick your platform, send a message I love hearing from you.

[00:12:48] Truly makes my day every time. It's also the easiest way about learning more and to work with me as your health coach. Philip Pap, thank you again for joining us,

[00:12:57] Phillip Pape: Jen Trewick. Thank you again for having me.

[00:12:59] Jenn Trepeck: [00:13:00] Appreciate you and friends. If you are not already join the Happy Healthy Hub, you'll go to a salad with the side of fries.com/membership.

[00:13:08] This shows your support for this podcast, this community, and most importantly, it supports your health. On top of this week's episode and full video with behind the scenes pieces, you'll get the 24 7. Ask Me Anything, and this week's recipe for the peanut butter cookie dough energy bites, and the article train like Olympian.

[00:13:23] No gold medal required. Well, friends, that's it for today's episode of Salad with a Side of Fries. Congratulations for making yourself and your health a priority. Thanks so much for joining us. Be sure to click subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform. Share us with a friend and we'll be back next week.

[00:13:41] Always remember you deserve it and you are worth it. Happy, healthy.