• Find a Recipe
• Eating for Health
• How to Use the Nutrition Centre
• What Others are Saying
• Recipe Nutrient Table

• You are here:
• The Ismaili Home >
• Nutrition Centre >
• Eating for Health >
• Make the whole grain...

Make the whole grain a part of your healthy lifestyle

Anatomy of a whole grain kernel. Drawing: US Department of Agriculture

Once upon a time, buying a loaf of bread, a breakfast cereal, or a variety of pasta was quite straightforward — there wasn’t much of a choice. Today, there is a wide assortment of grain-based products, and a push to make the healthy choice by selecting whole grain foods. But what is whole grain, and what makes it healthy?

The whole grain and its benefits

Common whole grain foods include granary or seeded breads, whole grain cereals, whole grain pasta and brown rice. The whole grain consists of all parts of a grain, including the endosperm, germ and bran. Foods like whole grain cereals and pasta contain around 51% whole grain, whereas products such as white bread and white rice are not whole grain because they are made only from the endosperm part.

There are numerous benefits to consuming whole grain. Generally, people with a healthy heart tend to eat more whole grain foods, as part of a healthy lifestyle. The science behind whole grain shows that it can protect against and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. Also, the cereal fibre from whole grains will keep your gut functioning correctly and helps to maintain regularity.

Making whole grain part of your diet

The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) recommend that whole grain varieties of starchy foods should be selected wherever possible. The FSA suggests that one-third of our daily diet should come from pasta, bread, cereals and starchy foods, and where possible whole grain varieties should be chosen. The 2005 USA Dietary Guidelines echoes this, stating that three or more ounce equivalents of whole grain products should be consumed per day.

Try whole grain varieties of starchy foods like wholemeal or granary bread, wholemeal pita bread, a wholemeal tortilla wrap, a granary bread roll or a whole grain bagel. Photo: SXC.hu/elkfish

Even small changes in diet can make a big difference to your health and that of your family:

• Choose a whole grain breakfast cereal like porridge, muesli or breakfast cereals with a whole grain label.
• For lunch, try a sandwich made from wholemeal or granary bread, wholemeal pita bread, a wholemeal tortilla wrap, a granary bread roll or a whole grain bagel.
• Fancy some home-made chapati? Try making it with wholemeal flour, or use half white and half wholemeal and gradually move towards full wholemeal.
• Have some brown rice for a change. You can now get brown Basmati rice and it works just as well in pilau and other rice dishes.
• Time for a snack? How about some popcorn, a tasty, hasty whole grain snack. For a delicious variation, rather than using butter, salt or sugar, flavour it with chilli and lemon. If you like crackers, try rye crisp bread or wholegrain rice cakes with some low fat soft cheese or peanut butter.

The table below shows how products containing refined (white) flour can be substituted with whole grain or whole meal alternatives.