The Real Food Experience ~ Eat Whole Grains – Juggling Real Food and Real Life

Wow!  You’ve made it to week two of The Real Food Experience already.  Last week was all about eating more fruits and vegetables.  We are going to keep that up this week and add another step to our real food journey.  By the time we are done with our four weeks, we will be well on our way to living a real food lifestyle.

Our goal this week is all about Eating Whole Grains.

That’s right it’s all about dumping the processed white bread, rice, and, and pasta.  It’s time to switch your family to whole grains.  For some of you this week will be nice and easy and for others………..it will be quite difficult. My kids very easily switched to whole wheat pasta, but the teenager really had a hard time making the switch to white bread.  Maybe, that’s why so many of his sandwiches are made with whole wheat tortillas?

 

So what am I talking about when I say, “Eat Whole Grains?”  Well, there are obvious whole grains like oats and quinoa (keen-wah)…………even popcorn is considered a whole grain. When it comes to wheat, it gets a little bit more difficult.  The way we know that wheat is a whole grain, is when the ingredient is listed as, “whole wheat.”  Anything and everything other than “whole” is not considered to be whole wheat.  You will often see “durum” and “semolina”.  Nice words, but without “whole” it’s not whole wheat.  Also be aware that if it says 7-grain or something similar…….it doesn’t necessarily mean that any of those 7 are whole grains.  Read your labels carefully.  Look for the Whole Grain Council’s stamp.

Whole grains are more nutritious because they contain the entire grain.  There are three parts to the grain………the bran, the endosperm, and the germ.  Each carry nutrients, but when wheat is processed into white flour, it loses much of its nutrition.  This is why you will see so many white breads bragging about how they are “enriched” with vitamins and minerals.  All of the nutrition has been stripped away due to processing.

I also encourage you this week to try some new whole grains.  There are lots of them!  The Whole Grain Council has a great list to check out.  Whole Grains A to  Z.  Search your grocery stores for new grains to try.  I’ve noticed that I see more and more grains from Bob’s Red Mill at my regular grocery store.  My organic co-op has lots of different options available in their bulk bins.   Start thinking about how much nutrition you will be giving your body with each different grain.  What a treat for you body!

One last tip…………if whole wheat pasta is new to you, you may be surprised by its firmer texture.  I suggest you cook it a bit longer than the directions say.  Your kids may be more willing to eat it if it has the same texture as the pasta they are used to.

OK…..time to get to this.  I can’t wait to hear what you are eating this week?  Let me know what your favorite whole grains are.   Another fun thing to do is to come up with ways to combine your favorite fruits and vegetables (week 1) with your whole grains.

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