Whole Grains
May 19th, 2018Whole grains are amazingly good for you. They are high in fiber, which helps to lower cholesterol. They act like tiny sponges that can suck up cholesterols and fats that we eat and pass them out of our body. They are also very filling without adding many calories. Increased fiber in our diets has also been shown to reduce colon cancer. The thinking is that they keep things moving along in our digestive tract including some chemicals known to cause cancer, called carcinogens.
Types of whole grains include: quinoa, wheat berry, spelt, amaranth, farro, buckwheat, barley, and oats. These are great substitutes for rice in meals and go great with all sorts of seasonings. They keep for a long time in the pantry without refrigeration and are relatively inexpensive. Recently, I was making dinner and realized I didn’t have quinoa to make for dinner. However, I did find steel cut oats. Oats for dinner? It was actually quite good and I felt amazing the next day! I didn’t cook it into a porridge as one would have for breakfast, but I removed it from heat while it was still grainy, but slightly soft. I also added some fresh herbs and spices. As I have said in previous blogs, don’t let traditional concepts of what foods are “breakfast/lunch/dinner” foods guide your diet. I will definitely be cooking oats as a side dish for dinner in the future and maybe even incorporate them into salads for lunch. Look out for my posts in the recipe section in the near future!
