Sorry not sorry: Kayla Itsines is absolutely pro-bread

Unlike keto-aficionados or J.Lo and A. Rod, fitness influencer Kayla Itsines wants you to eat bread. In fact, she wants you to eat as much bread as you damn well please.

The Sweat With Kayla founder follows a Mediterranean-style diet—featuring healthy fats and *gasp* carbs—and has stuck with it throughout her pregnancy. “I eat seafood, I eat meat, I have pasta, bread, a lot of olive oil, oregano; my standard dressing is that with lemon and olive oil on everything,” she tells me when I ask about her go-to eats.

For Itsines, eating like this isn’t necessarily a purposeful “diet” per se—it’s just what she’s always known. “I’ve eaten this way my whole life,” she says. “In Greek culture, we use food to bring people together. So if I’m going to meet you for the first time, or we’re going to do business together, you bring that person to your house and you feed them, you talk to them. I never looked at food as something that was scary or like, ‘I can’t eat that.’ Of course you can! We’re here to eat.”

Unlike so many other trendy diets (ahem, keto), the Mediterranean diet doesn’t treat bread like it’s a bad thing. When I ask Itsines how she personally feels about the controversial carb, she immediately tells me,  “Of course I’m pro-bread!”

“I never looked at food as something that was scary or like, ‘I can’t eat that.’ Of course you can! We’re here to eat.” —Kayla Itsines

Well, #same. But, uh, why? “It’s how you eat foods,” she explains. “People say, ‘I don’t want to have bread because bread is unhealthy.’ If you give someone bread with a little bit of olive oil, it’s not unhealthy. But if you’re going to put a chocolate spread on it, you just made it unhealthy. So it’s not the bread that’s unhealthy.”

Itsines adds that yes, that there are a lot of different types of bread, and some are admittedly better than others—rye or sprouted wheat bread are likely going to be higher on the “better for you spectrum” than, say, your regular old slice of processed white. But ultimately, she says bread in general is OK in her book. (Generally, most nutritionists would agree with this assessment—when you choose right, bread can be a good source of fiber, whole grains, and protein.)

The bottom line: “If you want to have a piece of toast, just have a piece of toast,” she says. “It’s not a big deal.” On that note, BRB, gotta hit the toaster. Kayla Itsines said so.

If you want to eat like Kayla Itsines, here are five recipes that make it super easy to follow the Mediterranean Diet. Plus, the most common mistake that she sees people making in their workouts.