How To Ensure You're Getting Real Whole Wheat Bread At The Store

While it's nice to have the choice from the wide array of long-lasting bread available at grocery stores, those hundreds of stacked loaves can also lead to a lot of confusion. With loosely defined labels dotting bread packages, it can be difficult to figure out what type of bread to buy, especially when it comes to picking out a loaf of whole wheat. 

To ensure you're getting real whole wheat bread at the store on your next grocery trip, you really just have to look for one term on the package: the word whole. Only proper whole wheat bread will say whole wheat instead of simply wheat. That's because bread manufacturers have to follow FDA guidelines that say they can only use the words whole wheat together if they use the entire wheat kernel. If it doesn't have the word "whole" in front of it, that means the loaf could come from a variety of different grains beyond whole wheat flour, such as corn or rice, or other components of wheat flour such as the germ or outer bran. This means wheat bread might be lacking in certain nutrients, which is often why shoppers opt for whole wheat bread in the first place. 

So, when in doubt, go for the package that reads whole wheat. And to be doubly assured your loaf of whole wheat bread is the genuine article, always check to make sure the whole grain is listed first on the package's ingredient list, too.

Checking for the word whole and reading a package's ingredient list first should lead you to a reliable package of fresh whole wheat bread. But if you're still confused, there's another way to verify how whole your whole wheat bread actually is.

In 2005, the Whole Grains Council created the Whole Grain Stamp, which tells customers whether a bread or other item contains 100%, 50%, or less whole grain, and the amount in grams per serving. Only bread made entirely of fully intact wheat flour can be classified as 100% whole grain. This is why you should be wary of any package branding with undefined terms such as plain wheat or multi-grain. So, whether you want a more nutritious sandwich bread or you're looking for a filling carb to stock up on before fasting, check your bread's packaging to make sure you get it right.