Whole Grain Challenge

12 Healthy Habits 

I've written before about Cooking Light's 12 healthy habits for the year. This month's habit is making whole grains part of your diet.

Whole grains have many potential health benefits such as

• Assisting in management of weight 
• Positive effects on cholesterol levels and heart disease risk 
• Positive effects on blood sugars and diabetes risk 

This month's challenge is to get three servings of whole grains per day into the diet. 

Try a serving of whole grain oatmeal this month

What is a Serving of Whole Grains

• 1/2 cup of cooked brown rice 
• 1/2 cup of whole grain hot cereal such as oatmeal 
• 1/2 cup of cooked whole wheat pasta 
• 1 slice of whole grain bread 
• 1 cup of whole grain breakfast cereal 

What about Whole Grain Foods 

Figuring out whether a food is whole grain or not can sometimes be a challenge. A quick way to ballpark if a food choice is good on the whole grain benefit is to see how close to the top a whole wheat ingredient is listed - it should be in the top 5. Also, looking for the whole grain label on the package is a quick way to see if you are on the right track. 

16 grams of whole grain in a good is the bar set to qualify as a whole grain source. 

Final Advice 

It is important to remember that whole grain servings are small - 1/2 cup for the pastas. So, portion control must be kept in mind to avoid excess calorie trap.