Podcast Episode 41 – The Goodness of Whole Grains

[00:00:00] Hi, it's Shonda, and today I want to bring your attention to a very interesting website, The Whole Grains Council. I never even knew that this council existed. The Whole Grains Council is a non-profit consumer advocacy group, working to increase consumption of whole grains for better health. Wow. I'm amazed!
[00:00:35] Hi, and hello. Welcome to the real food and drinks, lifestyle podcast. We are building a community to talk about nutrition, lifestyle choices, and just feeling better. This is Shonda and this is Patryce. Let's just be real.
[00:01:02] Here is our disclaimer, we do not professionally practice in any of the various subjects that we discuss. We are only sharing our personal experiences with you to a healthier lifestyle. Please do your own research before taking part in any of these practices.
[00:01:20] So first, you know, let's talk about what's the most popular grain. I did a quick Google search and I saw that quite naturally - you can probably guess yourself. The most popular grain is rice. Rice is the most popular grain in the world. Since half of the world's population relies on rice as a staple of their diet. Rice comes in long grain, short grain, and round varieties, as well as brown and white. But we know that white does not fit into this whole grain category and, you know, at real food and drinks we like to promote whole grains. So go for the whole grain.
[00:02:06] And so when we get over to this website, they have a lot information out there. One link that I found was what's a whole grain? What's a refined grain .A refined grain is a term used to refer to grains that are not whole because they are missing one or more of their three key parts. White flour and white rice are refined grains, for instance, because both have had their brand and germ removed, leaving only the endosperm. Refining a grain removes about a quarter of the protein in a grain. And half to two thirds or more of its nutrients, leaving the grain, a mere shadow of its original self only containing the starchy portion of the grain.
[00:02:50] So there's just all these good nutrients inside of a whole grain. So we really don't want to skip out on that.
[00:03:00] Another very interesting page is whole grains, A to Z. So on this page, it tells you about the origin of the grain, how it's prepared and where you can find the grain too. I just wanted really to invite you to try a variety of grains. There's always room to explore more. Buckwheat... I see millet on the list and there's oats and quinoa and different rices, spelt, teff...
[00:03:31] I just recently purchased some teff and I'm going to make some teff tortillas. And so I will be sure to let you all know how that turns out. And then, you know, at the end of the list, there's like wheat and wild rice, but this is an excellent page which they call 'the encyclopedia of whole grains'. I'm going to put links to all of these different pages out there, but it's all going to be leading you to the same website.
[00:03:57] There's even a section on health studies from different grains and why it's important to eat whole grains as opposed to refined grains. For example, switching to whole grains can improve cholesterol, blood, sugar, control, and inflammation. There are a couple of studies just released within the last year and the link to them can be found on this webpage.
[00:04:25] There's also a section that tells us how to identify whole grain products. Did you know that there is a whole grain stamp? Now, looking at this stamp, I have seen it before, but I never really thought about what agency or in this case, council, actually created this stamp and there are actually three stamps. So the one that we want to look out for.
[00:04:54] It says whole grain. That means it's 18 grams or more per serving of whole grain in this food product. But the key is to look for the hundred percent stamp. So the page with the whole grain stamp is listed in the show notes, along with a photo of the 100%, whole grain stamp.
[00:05:16] And the best part of this website is a page titled 'easy ways to enjoy whole grains'. They talk about making easy substitutions... also mentioned on this page is trying new foods. Some of the suggestions are to try whole grain salads, like tabouleh, whole grain pasta, instead of the normal refined pasta. And look for cereals made with grains like Kamut, Kasha, which is buckwheat, or spelt.
[00:05:52] At the bottom of this same page is a link to experiment with new recipes. This website rounds, all this out with a recipe section to help you discover new grain recipes, you can search the recipe section by keyword grain course or meal, whatever meal time it is, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks.
[00:06:15] And some of the recipes include videos too. This is a really helpful resource. So I want to invite you to follow the link and in the show notes to find new whole grain foods, to try out and learn about their health benefits.
[00:06:34] Thanks for joining me today. And I hope you will consider trying a new grain. And if you do, please send us a message and let us know what new grain you've tried. See you next time. Thanks for joining me today.
[00:06:52] Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed today's podcast. Remember you can catch show notes and additional details at realfoodanddrinks.com under the podcast menu. Also subscribe to our podcast if you aren't already a member of our community. And if listening through Achor, please send us a message of topics you would like to hear us have conversations about. Until next time. Let's just be real.