Happy Friday! It’s almost the weekend, YAAAYYY! Remember your mom on Sunday, for Mother’s Day (hint, hint…) I’d give a shout out to my mom, but she doesn’t read this because she doesn’t even have a computer – LOL!

Today, I’m going to write about …Grains! I bet you didn’t get that from the title, heh heh. Just as with fats, there are good grains to eat and grains to avoid. You probably know what I’m talking about here. White bread, bagels and other overly processed foods will cause you to gain weight because they aren’t filling, so you tend to eat more.  Whole and sprouted grains are more nutritionally dense, meaning that they have more nutrients your body needs. This also means, that a slice of whole grain or sprouted grain bread will fill you up more than that piece of “Wonder Bread.” (Is it named Wonder bread because I wonder what’s in it? I’m just askin’….)

Grains

I disagree with the USDA Food Pyramid which says 6 – 11 servings of grains per day is healthy. It should be about three servings. People should eat more fruits and vegetables than grains.

So, what makes a grain healthy and what makes it unhealthy?

Processing!

Processing strips a whole grain of all the healthy nutrients it contains resulting in empty calories. Companies then put “enriched” on their products because they’ve added “nutrients”, however, these add-ins just aren’t as easily absorbed by the body as a natural nutrient, so your body will start craving more and more which leads to overeating all those empty calories and gaining weight.

This is an extremely simplified explanation, there’s a lot more to healthy carbs and their place in the diet.

Here are some tips that will help you to replace some of those unhealthy grains with the healthy grains:

1. Eat brown rice rather than white rice. This is a very simple change. Brown rice has a richer flavor than white rice, so you may be surprised at how easy it is to include this in your meals.

2. Buy Whole-Grain pasta and Breads. This is also a simple change. However, the “whole-grain” pastas are actually misleading. In order for a company to be able to market a product as “whole-grain” only 50% must be whole-grain. Pretty sneaky, eh? They are still a better choice compared to regular pastas and bread. At least you’re getting 50% more whole –grains. I recommend Alvarado St. Bakery’s Sprouted Multi-Grain bread. (It makes an excellent French toast!) There’s an awesome sprouted tortilla from Food For Life, Ezekiel 4:9 that can replace flour tortillas. They are more filling and more flavorful!

3. Buy cereals made with whole-grains. Oatmeal is a whole grain and the old-fashioned and steel-cut oats are less processed than the instant versions. Steel –cut oats are very satisfying and you can make them in a crock-pot overnight to have for breakfast in the morning: Put 1 cup steel-cut oats and 4 cups of water in a crock pot. (Add a cinnamon stick for more flavor.) Cook on low overnight 6 – 9 hours.) Serve with honey.

4. When baking try substituting whole wheat flour for a quarter to a half of the flour the recipe calls for.

5. Avoid (or at least limit) foods made from refined, white flour – white breads, bagels, pancakes, pasta.

I hope this was informative and helpful. Please leave a comment and share with your friends. Have a healthy weekend!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I am good at research and I will post information about nutrition that I’ve researched, either from someone I trust or things I’ve tried in my own life. I wholeheartedly believe that it’s up to an individual to take personal responsibility for their health – not your doctor, nutritionist or the government. That said, I will post information about health issues and things I’ve personally tried to improve my health. PLEASE, take everything into consideration for YOUR own health. If you have a trusted doctor, run it by him/her to get their opinion. Ultimately, don’t take my word or your doctor’s word for your health; it’s your health, make the most informed decisions you can.

Bob Bader’s Real World Personal Training provides group classes/bootcamps and one-on-one personal training in the North Colorado Springs/Tri-Lakes/Monument/Palmer Lake area. Please contact Bob at 719-232-4386 for a free consultation.