Go with the whole grain

[Guest guest]

>

> Go with the (whole) grain on a carb-smart diet

> By Kathleen Purvis

> Knight Ridder News Service

>

> We're missing a grain of truth.

>

> In our rush to embrace the health darling of the moment, the

> low-carbohydrate mantra of the " ABZ " diets - Atkins, South Beach and Zone -

> we may be throwing the baby out with the bread basket.

>

> " Carbohydrates are not evil, " says Elisabetta Politi, director of

> nutrition at the Duke Diet &Fitness Center in Durham, N.C.

>

> " The public has somehow misunderstood the message, " Politi says.

>

> Consuming a lot of refined carbohydrates leads to weight gain. But the

> other part of the equation - replacing refined flour with whole grains - may

> not be getting through.

>

> Jeff Ganoung, co-owner of Great Harvest Bread Co. in Charlotte, N.C.,

> has degrees in microbiology and chemistry and a master's degree in food

> science. His wife and partner in the bakery, Janet, is a biologist with a

> master's in nutrition. These days, they spend almost as much time explaining

> chemistry as they do grinding flour and baking bread.

>

> " The carbohydrate message needs to be refined, " Ganoung says. " What we

> hear is 'low carb.' What they mean is low sugar and less refined flour. It's

> like saying, 'Motorcycles are dangerous, so don't drive motor vehicles.' "

>

> The message that dietitians want to convey: Increase the whole grains

> in your diet. Even the diet books, such as Arthur Agatston's South Beach

> Diet, recommend them.

>

> Only 7 percent of Americans eat the suggested three servings of whole

> grains daily, according to Nutrition News Focus, a daily newsletter by

> Klurfeld, chairman of the nutrition department at Wayne State University in

> Michigan. Many of us probably get no more than one serving a day, if that.

>

> So what are whole grains, and why are they so good for us?

>

> " A whole grain is any grain with all the constituent parts there, "

> Ganoung says.

>

> White flour - even unbleached, unbromated flour - isn't a whole-grain

> flour. Whole-wheat flour includes the bran and the germ.

>

> " How the flour is made, that's the key, " Ganoung says. " [Whole-wheat

> bread] doesn't need to be multigrain, it doesn't have to be rough-textured,

> it doesn't have to be chewy. "

>

> There are 400 trace components in wheat, Ganoung says, including

> barium and vanadium, essential to heart health, and appreciable amounts of

> selenium, Vitamin E and the full range of B vitamins. " If you refine wheat,

> you're going to lose that. "

>

> Politi especially wants us to get the fiber in whole grains.

>

> " There's a lot of evidence that fiber has health benefits, " she says.

> Foods that are high in fiber stay with you and help you feel full longer -

> this is what dietitians call satiety - and help your blood sugar stay

> steady, keeping you from the " zoom and crash " of high-sugar foods.

>

> Brown rice, bran cereal, and whole-wheat pasta are all examples of

> whole-grain foods. But Politi also wants people to know there are other good

> " whole " foods - a baked sweet potato, for instance, isn't a grain, but it's

> whole in the way it is served.

>

> " Whole has a meaning of not being altered by the food industry, " she

> says. " You find an amazing number of foods that have been altered, because

> it's easier to prepare and preserve them. Unfortunately, we're losing a lot

> of nutrients in the processing. "

>

> It's not difficult to get good carbs in your diet, Politi says. " Start

> with oatmeal or bran cereal in the morning and then a slice or two of

> whole-wheat bread at lunch, " she says. That's a base of 5 to 10 grams of

> fiber.

>

> The ideal, Politi says, would be 24 to 30 grams of fiber a day: " If

> you were to eat your five servings of fruits and vegetables, and eat them

> with the skin on, you'd get 10 to 12 grams of fiber right there. "

>

> All you need then is one high-fiber serving - beans, brown rice,

> whole-wheat pasta, even peanuts - to meet your goal.

>

>

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