Healthy food choices are one of the best things we can do for ourselves to move toward wellness.
But in spite of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recommendations for Americans to eat six servings of grains a day, of which three should be whole grains, we still, on average eat only one serving daily.
But what exactly is a whole grain? Just what the term says...grains that are whole. That means they contain all three parts:
1. the bran: the tough outer layer that contains much of the grain's fiber
2. the endosperm: the carbohydrate filled starchy component that is often processed singly into white
flour
3. the germ: the grain's core, which contains fiber, minerals, antioxidants and vitamins.
Food labels can be very misleading. Look for the term "whole grains" as one of the first ingredients on the lablel. Beware of the terms "cracked wheat" or "wheat flour" which do not signify whole grains.
Now most nutritionists will tell you that breads and cereal products containing whole wheat flour count as whole grains...and technically that is correct, since whole wheat flour is made from whole grain. But this fails to take into consideration the fact, that even with whole wheat flour, the grain is finely crushed and pulverized into the final product. This grinding and processing of grains into the fine powder we know as flour, increases what is known as its glycemic index or G.I. The G.I. of a food measures how fast that particular food is absorbed into our bloodstreams. The higher the G.I., the faster the food is absorbed. The faster the absorption, the faster our blood sugar will rise after we eat that particular food and the more insulin our pancreas has to produce to get our blood sugar back to a normal level.
The thing to remember is this: whole foods are better for you than processed foods. And that goes for fruits and vegetables, as well as grains. Processed foods have a higher G.I., resulting in higher blood sugar spikes. This can ultimately lead to a condition known as insulin resistance, which means that our sugar levels don't respond as well as they should to the production of insulin from the pancreas. Increasing insulin resistance is a precursor to diabetes.
So add some whole grains to your daily food choices, such as:
-whole oats (as in oatmeal for breakfast, and skip the brown sugar and butter)
-quinoa (a wonderful, nutty tasting grain from the ancient Mayan culture that is easy to prepare)
-brown rice (brown basmati rice is wonderfully fragrant and tasty).
So don't be mislead by labels that say "whole grain". Even though they are better than foods that are made with wheat flour, and certainly better than those made with white flour, they are still highly processed. Whole is better.
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