I guess I should be more specific about why whole grains are good. I'm sure many of you know this, but I'll say a couple of things about it anyway because I like to talk about this sort of stuff. In case you couldn't already tell.
Whole wheat flour is made from the wheat's whole grain, whereas white flour only contains the endosperm. Even fortified white wheat flour does not contain the nutrients that whole wheat does. The latter is a great source of protein and fiber, both of which are excellent at keeping you feeling fuller longer. Of course, this is great if you are trying to lose weight and consume fewer calories. So if you're going to eat bread, choose the 100% whole wheat or whole grain varieties.
Even better than whole wheat flour are whole grains. Whole grains are not ground up into flour, and therefore do not have as much of a starchy quality that the flour does (i.e. they don't give you the blood sugar spike that flours do). They are in their natural state. I recently just learned about the w.w. flour/blood sugar thing myself, so I am now on a quest to find some whole grain products for myself and my family to enjoy. Since I have always been a bread lover I could at least I could go about it in a healthier way. Diabetes runs in my family so that is more of a reason to pay attention to this. Do you have any whole grain products that you enjoy? I'll update soon on my quest for those foods. Until then, happy eating!
List of Whole Grains*
Amaranth
Barley
Buckwheat
Corn, including whole cornmeal and popcorn
Millet
Oats, including oatmeal
Quinoa
Rice, both brown rice and colored 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
Wild rice
*source: http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/definition-of-whole-grains
Here's some interesting reading:
Whole Wheat Flour
Whole grain vs. whole-wheat flour: It's all about blood sugar
Whole Grains Council
1 comment:
Google Faye Reeves. She lived in my old ward. Her grain mix is wonderful! I think she wrote a book "Cookies for Dinner".
Her mix contains groats, millet, rye, brown rice, and wheat.
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