Cheat Meal - Wheat or Flour?

[Steve Liberati]

Although its a cheat meal and I really shouldn't care to spend a minute thinking about it (only once a week), if given the choice between a whole wheat or regular bagel which one do you think is the lesser of the two evils?

Wheat with its hard to digest protein lectin and allergenic reactions just to name a few....(supposedly lower insulin response than white bread though)

or the white bleached flour which sends your insulin levels to the moon?

Thought about this one as I stopped at Dunkin Donuts this morning for a coffee roll donut and egg bagel sandwich. Decided to go with the regular bagel...why? I dunno

[Robb Wolf]

I'd throw my hat in with the bleached, de-nuded bagel. Live dangerously.

[Mike ODonnell]

f'it......full pizza.....wont matter much whole wheat or reg...as the mounds of fat and protein on top will kill most of the insulin response....yummy.....

[Garrett Smith]

I cheated with a Saturday bowl of oatmeal, and a Sunday XL biscuit and gravy. Was on vacation to Flagstaff to sit through the USAW club coach cert and felt like eating breakfast out.

I'm paying the price musculoskeletally either way. I'm cracking all the time and I just generally feel tight/sore.

I'd do the white, go for the hormetic effect of the insulin, and hope it gets out of your system quick...

[Scott Kustes]

I was just thinking about this over the weekend, only in a more expanded edition. If following Paleo, what is the "best" non-Paleo cheat: dairy, grains, sugar, or legumes? I don't really consider legumes to be much of a cheat, although they aren't a regular part of my diet, so I'd put them first. Dairy would be second as, even pasteurized, has some form of nutritive substance to it. Grains and sugar are a tossup, although it's probably unimportant since most cheat foods contain both. I'd go with sugar as it's a metabolic shock, but doesn't have the gluten and antinutrient issues. Also no n-6's to screw up your omega balance.

So my order is: legumes, dairy, sugar, grains. Thoughts?

[Garrett Smith]

I go with dairy and sugar first, since they always come together anyway, and at least I can get a hefty dose of protein with the insulin spike, so the cheat may actually be beneficial in a small way.

I'd go: Sugar, dairy, legumes, grains, nightshades.

Legumes just don't digest for me and I don't like them anyway, and grains and nightshades cause me physical pain/discomfort--so I do my best to really avoid them (except this weekend when I had grains, being stupid/lazy/human, and I'm reminded yet again of why I avoid them!)