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Hi, my name is Melissa Dimpfl, and I'm a dietetics
grad student at EIU, and today I'm going to talk about
the importance of whole grains.
To start of with, what is a whole grain?
Well, a whole grain is a whole seed of a plant such as wheat,
barley, rice, oats, and there are many others.
A whole grain has three parts.
It has the bran, the endosperm, and the germ, and in the germ
there is good fat, B vitamins, and also phytonutrients.
In the endosperm, there are carbohydrates and also a
small amount of protein and phytonutrients.
And in the bran, there's lots of fiber and B vitamins.
Fiber is good for lowering cholesterol, it's also good
for digestion, and it reduces the risk for heart disease.
When whole grains are processed and they're no longer
whole grain, it's because the bran has been removed, and
when the bran is removed all the fiber and the
phytonutrients are also removed.
So when you eat products that aren't whole grains,
you're missing out on all those great health benefits.
It's really easy to incorporate whole grains into your diet.
It's just a matter of choosing the products that are made with
whole grains of the foods that you already typically eat
such as breads and cereals and crackers and pasta.
I have an example of whole grain pasta, and it says here that
it's whole grain and it also says that it's whole wheat.
Another way to check to make sure that a product is a good
source of whole grains is by looking at the ingredient list.
Whole grains should be the first or second ingredient on the
list, as ingredient lists are ordered by the most abundant.
Another way to check to make sure that it's a whole grain
product is that a lot of products now have these stamps.
And it lets you know that it's a whole grain and also
how many grams of whole grains are in a serving
for that particular product.
It is recommended that three of your grain servings
come from whole grains so that way you're getting
all of those health benefits that I talked about,
fiber and the B vitamins and the phytonutrients.
So try to include whole grains in your diet by eating foods
made with whole wheat or oats or popcorn or
brown rice and wild rice.
For more information to learn about whole grains, check out
wholegraincouncil.org and also kashi.com.