Wholegrains
Spelt, durum, quinoa and triticale. To many of us these could be exotic plants or deep sea creatures, but they are all types of wholegrains.
Wholegrains have shaped our eating habits since earliest times and health authorities recommend we include wholegrains as part of our daily food intake.
What is a wholegrain?
Wholegrain foods contain all of the layers of the grain - the outer bran layer which is fibre rich, the nutrient rich germ and the starchy endosperm. They are an extremely good source of fibre, vitamins & minerals, phytochemicals and carbohydrates for sustained energy.
When grain based foods are refined, one or more of these natural components is often removed. Think of white flour – both the bran and germ have been removed, losing up to 70% of the essential fibre, vitamins and minerals during the refining process. Its only when the three layers of the grain are included that we get all the benefits of wholegrains.
Why are wholegrains so important?
Research indicates that wholegrains:
- Protect against cardiovascular disease
- Assist with weight control
- Reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes
- Improve bowel health and regularity
- Offer the benefits of low glycaemic index, including slow release energy
- Protect against certain cancers
- Provide essential nutrients such as fibre, folate, vitamin E, magnesium, B vitamins, zinc and antioxidants.
Increasing wholegrain intake is easy – here’s how:
It is recommended that at least half of the grain foods that we eat are wholegrain. So, if we eat a minimum of 6 serves of cereal foods each day (as is recommended for good health), we need to make at least 3 serves of these wholegrain.
Single serve examples are:
- 1 slice of wholegrain/wholemeal bread
- 1 medium wholegrain/wholemeal bread roll
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 cup cooked wholemeal pasta
- ½ cup cooked porridge
- ½ cup muesli
What to look for
It can be confusing when faced with different terminology and names for various foods. When choosing wholegrains look for the following words in the ingredients list:
- Amaranth
- Barley
- Buckwheat
- Corn, including whole cornmeal and popcorn
- Millet
- Oats, including oatmeal
- Quinoa
- Rice, both brown rice and coloured rice
- Rye
- Sorghum (also called milo)
- Teff
- Triticale
- Wheat, including varieties such as spelt, emmer, farro, einkorn, Kamut®, durum and forms such as bulgur, cracked wheat and wheatberries
- Wholegrain
- Wild rice
It’s all about food exchange
It doesn’t take much to increase our intake of wholegrains. Making some of the changes below may be all we need to meet our daily requirements.
- Choose wholemeal or wholegrain breads where possible. You can gradually change from white bread by having a sandwich with one piece of wholegrain bread such as rye bread and one piece of white bread.
- Choosing a wholegrain breakfast cereal is an easy way to get one wholegrain serve into the day e.g. porridge or muesli.
- Use wholemeal flour for baking, when practical to do so.
- Snack on a handful of homemade popcorn instead of chips or salty crackers.
- Add unpearled barley to hearty winter soups.
- Snack on wholegrain crackers instead of plain varieties.
- Add rolled oats to biscuits, cakes and muffins for some extra wholegrain goodness.
- Serve brown rice with your favourite curry or stir-fry and wholemeal pasta with any pasta sauce. If brown rice is not your favourite try a mix of brown and white rice.
- Eat corn tortillas or taco shells with spicy beans.
Remember:
Drink plenty of fluids - Eating wholegrains will increase your fibre intake so it is important to drink enough fluids.