Whole grain products youll want to know about

Basically, when it comes to whole grains in the supermarket, you’ll need to go no further than the cereal and bread aisle. Oh sure, there’s brown rice, barley, and such, but let’s face it most of us are going to be more likely to eat a whole grain bread or cereal product on an almost daily basis.

A whole grain has the bran and germ part of the grain intact. Each whole grain has its own set of phytochemicals though, and variety is the spice of life, so if you can find it in your recipe repertoire to work in some barley and brown rice occasionally terrific! There’s a fast and tasty recipe with brown rice in the recipe chapter to get you started.

• Barley was one of the first grains to be cultivated by man and is popular in Europe.
• Brown rice has the nutrient-dense bran portion of rice that is normally taken off to make white rice. I personally have been really happy with my recent attempts to substitute brown long grain rice for white.
• Buckwheat is the major whole grain in Japan used to make soba noodles.
• Millet is rarely used today but was once popular in Europe.
• Oats are one of the highest protein grains and one of the highest in soluble fiber too.
• Rye is a whole grain prized by German, Russian, and Scandinavian bread makers. Here we have two types of rye bread to choose from in our supermarkets and bakeries (dark and golden). Germany has more than one hundred different types of rye bread.

Whole grain breads and bagels

Buyer beware. Many of the breads that sound like they should have tons of fiber don’t. You’d think something called “multigrain” should be able to provide a couple of measly grams of fiber per slice. Even trickier, there are a few breads that list the nutrition info per two slices, and the rest use one slice.

Whole grain cereals

What really distinguishes one cereal from the next is not its fat and sodium content, but its grams of sugar and fiber. The cereals that have a lot more sugar are usually the ones that have a lot less fiber too.

Whole grain frozen waffles

There are three whole grain, frozen waffles on the market. Frozen waffles might not be your breakfast of choice, but topped with some fresh fruit and a little berry syrup, and they’re not a bad choice on a busy weekday morning.

Shopping for less sugar

In this country, we don’t just have a sweet tooth we have a sweet mouth! According to a recent USDA food consumption survey, the average adult is eating about 20 teaspoons of added sugar every day. That computes to about 320 calories. If we would just cut this amount (from 20 teaspoons of added sugar a day to eight teaspoons) we could potentially trim 3500 calories a month, which translates to about 1.5 lost pounds per month. If there is a dessert you really want, please enjoy it. People can refrain from overeating favorite foods if they give themselves the special foods they want from time to time. For all the days in between, here are some simple ways to cut some extra calories in the dessert department. Dessert can also be a great way to enjoy fruits. You’ll notice many of the suggestions below give you ideas on how to include fruits.

Top 10 big ticket sugar sources

The latest data from the USDA’s Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by individuals shows that the top food categories that contribute added sugar in women’s diets are:

1. Carbonated soft drinks: 22.9%

2. Sugar and sugar substitute blends (table sugars): 6.8%

3. Fruit drinks: 6.1%

4. Cakes: 4.4%

5. Cookies: 4.3%

6. Candy (included chocolate): 4.%

7. Frozen milk desserts (includes ice cream and frozen yogurt): 3.7%

8. Tea (includes bottled teas): 3.7%

9. Syrup, honey, molasses, and other sweet toppings: 3.%

10. Yogurt: 2.4%

Look to the nutrition label When it comes to sugar, almost all processed and packaged products are suspect. Read the labels. I usually look at both the ingredient list and the nutrition label. Between the two of them I get a good idea of whether a product is high in added sugar. The Nutrition Facts label generally lists the total amount of carbohydrate and the grams of sugar per serving. Definitely look at the label to get an idea of whether that food product is higher in sugar than you would like it to be.

Definitions:

• Total carbohydrate = how many grams of total carbohydrate (sugars and starches) you get in a serving of food (calculated as the difference remaining after measuring its amount of protein, fat, ash, and moisture).
• Sugars = includes the total amount of sugars per serving counting both added and natural sugars in the food. The grams of sugars are included in the total of carbohydrate listed on the label.
• Sweeteners = this term includes all types of sugar (raw, brown, powdered, granulated), honey, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, maple syrup, and fruit juice concentrates.