Texas Roadhouse buns are an American institution, but health influencers claim to have exposed their dark side.
Brendan Oxford, who has 245,000 followers, warned that pre-dinner bites were a gimmick to trick you into ordering more food.
Eating highly processed, sugary bread can cause your blood sugar levels to spike and then crash rapidly, making some people feel hungrier after eating it.
The video has been viewed by more than 386,000 people, but the theory is not new.
Health and nutrition influencer Brendan Oxford has advised his followers to stay away from Texas Roadhouse buns. He warned that they contain simple carbs that make you order more food
A series of TikTok videos shared earlier this year issued similar warnings for people to stop eating bread.
This tactic is used by many restaurants and could be used to stimulate the customer’s appetite or could simply be a historical custom.
Bread before dinner has been a tradition for hundreds of years, when taverns would use a bread basket as an inexpensive way to help customers get full faster.
Texas Roadhouse said its buns are baked fresh every five minutes to give diners unlimited supply accompanied by its special cinnamon butter.
A single bun contains 227 calories, eight grams of fat and 28 grams of carbohydrates, which may not sound like much, but the numbers add up when you eat two or more.
Although butter, which is mostly fat, is supposed to counteract the insulin spike, diners typically consume more bread than spread.
Oxford explained in a TikTok video that Texas Roadhouse rolls are simple carbohydrates that turn into sugar in your body, which raises your body’s blood sugar levels.
“When your blood sugar level rises, your body releases insulin to lower it,” Oxford continues, noting that one of insulin’s main jobs is to regulate blood sugar.
This is true for diabetic patients, especially those with type 1 diabetes who need insulin injections to regulate their glucose levels.
When you eat carbohydrates, such as bread, your body breaks them down into sugar, which enters the bloodstream and increases levels.
Andy Daly, a nutrition specialist at Omni Health and Wellbeing Centre, echoed Oxford’s claims, telling Women&Home: “Eating bread, particularly refined white bread, can cause an insulin spike which, followed by a crash, can make you feel hungry again sooner.
“It can also disrupt your appetite regulation, which can lead to overeating during the main meal.”
Texas Roadhouse buns (pictured) turn into sugar in your body and when that spikes, your body’s insulin levels spike to try to regulate it and bring it back down.
However, Daly suggested that replacing any white bread with multigrain bread could prevent an overeating appetite.
Oxford went on to explain that once you eat buns before your meal, your body continues to crave more carbs and causes you to order dessert even after you’ve feasted on a prime rib and two side dishes.
But that’s not the case for everyone, as some people commented on the Oxford video saying they had no problem skipping the dessert menu at the end of their meal.
Daniel Amen, an American doctor who runs a mental health clinic, also explained that foods eaten before meals affect the brain and make it harder to control their cravings.
Amen claimed that eating bread releases serotonin in the brain, making you feel happier and calmer.
The level of the chemical gradually decreases, forcing people to seek out that euphoric state – and they do so by filling their stomachs.
All white breads can act in this way and have been linked to the risk of creating dependency, even addiction.
A 2013 study found that eating white bread stimulates regions of the brain involved in reward and craving, which “is also linked to substance abuse and addiction,” Dr. David Ludwig, lead author of the study, told The Sourdough School.
Research published in the journal Appetite found that people who ate white bread consumed 500 more calories at their next meal.
It’s important to note that everything is acceptable in moderation, according to Julie Jones, professor emeritus of food and nutrition at St. Catherine University.
“Carbohydrates are not the enemy,” she told the Washington Post, adding, “Overconsumption of anything is the enemy.”
So the next time you sit down at Texas Roadhouse, you might want to flat-out ignore and decline the dessert menu or avoid the bread basket altogether.
