The Benefits of Including Whole Grains in Your Diet

Americans are becoming more health conscious with our diets. We've been taught to read labels, and are more aware of the impact the foods we eat have on our bodies. What we're not always clear about is exactly what that impact is. Take whole grains. I've often heard that whole grain bread is healthier than white bread.

It turns out, there's a lot more going for whole grain bread, and whole grains in general, than just more fiber, although there is plenty of that. It has a host of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that your body needs to function at its best.

The USDA's Food Guide Pyramid recommends that we eat 6 to 11 servings of grain each day, and over half of those should be whole grains. While most Americans are meeting their total grain requirements, we fall well short of the amounts of whole grains. Most of the grains we do eat are in foods made with refined flour.

So what is the difference between whole grains and refined flour?

Whole grains are just what the name implies, the whole grain. It contains the bran, germ, and endosperm. This whole grain is then ground into whole grain flour. Refined flour goes through a milling process that removes the bran and the germ. This process makes for finer flour, and it also increases the flour's shelf life. However, the process also removes much of the dietary fiber, iron, magnesium, selenium, and many of the B vitamins from the grain. In order to counteract this, many flour manufacturers "enrich" their flour by adding iron and certain B vitamins like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid, back into the flour. So if you do use refined flour, at least make sure you are using enriched flour.

It is one thing to know what is in whole grains, but it's also important to know what the benefits are. The more we know about how our diet affects our health and the health of our families, the easier it is to stick to a healthy eating plan.

Let's start with the one we always hear about, fiber.