This fitness influencer said you should stop eating the free rolls at Texas Roadhouse—the reason might surprise you.
People *love* Texas Roadhouse rolls—so much so that a friend duo sacrificed $5 of the $18 they had left in their bank account just to indulge in a dozen of the rolls.
The iconic rolls are made from scratch and served warm alongside the chain restaurant’s unique cinnamon honey butter. (What other chain do you know that’s basically serving up dessert before the meal even begins?)
The rolls are brought up to your table for free shortly after you sit down. Great, right? Wrong, says Brendan Oxford (@brendan.oxford5), a fitness influencer with 244,000 followers.
“Obviously, these rolls are pretty good, so everyone’s going to eat them,” Oxford says.
But he has a science-backed reason (we fact-checked, and it’s legit) why starting your meal off with carbs and sugar might backfire.
He explains that white bread—which is a simple carb that gets digested quicker than a complex carb like a sweet potato—gets quickly broken down by your body and turned into sugar. One of these rolls, without the special butter, has 24 grams of carbs, according to MyFoodDiary.
Sugar spikes your blood sugar levels which triggers insulin to help regulate your blood sugar. With this insulin released your blood sugar crashes back down, leading to cravings.
In a place like Texas Roadhouse, that may mean eating the rolls, then potentially overeating your meal, and then craving a dessert.
“It seems small, but this is how you lead to this vicious cycle of insulin resistance,” Oxford says. “And the cycle is how you end up with things like an expanded waistline, Type 2 diabetes, pre-diabetes, or even diabetic neuropathy.”
Oxford, who now talks about his fitness journey publicly online, says that learning this helped him improve his health and slim down without having to count calories.
@brendan.oxford5 ♬ original sound – Brendan Oxford
However, as the Daily Dot previously reported, there may be other reasons why restaurants give out free bread other than to make you crave more food. Here are some of those reasons.
To keep you calm
Chances are, when you arrive at a restaurant, you’re hungry already. Even if you put in your order immediately, it’s likely going to take a solid 10-25 minutes for your food to come out. If you don’t have anything to munch on, it could quickly lead to irritation and hanger. Having something to eat can help prevent those feelings. It can even give servers and the kitchen a longer grace period if they happen to be running behind.
Hopes of reciprocity
Getting something “free” makes people feel good, so they may be inclined to order more or get a pricier item.
Historical roots
Free bread allegedly started long ago in taverns, Food Republic reported. Early restaurants encouraged patrons to fill up on bread so that the restaurant didn’t have to buy as many of the expensive ingredients—mainly meat—for the main course.
People in the comments section had mixed reactions to Oxford’s information share.
“We can’t be friends anymore. Lol . Those rolls are so good. And BAD,” the top comment read.
“Not me. I get stuffed and can’t eat my food,” a person said.
“But seriously, you have taught me a lot, and I’m seeing progress again after a 6 month plateau,” another shared.
“That’s why i always skip the rolls,” a commenter wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Oxford for comment via Instagram and TikTok direct message as well as to Texas Roadhouse via email.
