Bread, pasta, rice – most of us love them. Then sometimes we are told they are the reason for getting fat, then we put them behind the red light and exclude them fully from our menu. Well, we shouldn`t, because they are very healthy and our body needs them.
But the ones I am talking about are the wholegrain ones. What does it mean exactly? It means that the bread, the pasta, or the rice contains every part of the grain, including the bran, which is the outer layer of the grain and the germ, which is inside the seed, it is in fact the embryo of the seed. These are removed when making white bread, pasta and rice, and used for other purposes. The bran is used mainly for animal feeding, and both the bran and the germ can be used for many other purposes, for example for making vegetable oil.
The sad truth is that these removed parts are the healthy parts of the grain and contain all the benefits, vitamins and minerals. When we eat white bread, white pasta, white rice, we eat just `empty` food, making no good for our body.
OK, but why they do it? Why they remove these parts? The answer is above. Let`s just think about it. Imagine one single wheat grain. You mill it, and sell it as one product (bread for example). Or if you want to make the most of it, you take the bran off, feed the pig, which can also be sold later as meat, and take the germ off making oil, which is another product for selling. If you are a businessman who wants only money, of course will do this. One grain used in three different ways! Who cares about health? Well, yes, we should care about our health not letting others fool us.
Let me tell you my favourite example for the miracle wholegrains can make. Mikkel Hindhede was a danish physician and nutritionist. He studied the minimum protein need and the minimum nutrition need for humans. The most important thing for us now is that he was food advisor to the Danish government during World War I. As you know, famine was widespread in Europe in 1918. His plan was voted unanimously. Humans or pigs – one of them will die from hunger – he said. They sold 80 % of the pigs to England and Germany, they decreased significantly the production of alcohol, all these steps to make sure that grains and potato can be kept for feeding people. It was him who introduced the whole grain bread, and people got used to it. He also promoted fruit and vegetable growing. There was no famine in Denmark, there was no panic among people, and most importantly the flu epidemic which was widespread in Europe and killed in 1918 more people than the World War, did not increase the death rate in Denmark, in fact it was the lowest number ever. It was the only country among the neighbouring countries whose citizens were not affected by the flu epidemic. For me it sounds like an unbelieveble story. But these are facts, this miracle really happened.
Well, the taste is the same wheather you eat a whole grain pasta or white pasta, and the same applies for the rice. Wholegrain is a bit chewy, but you will like it, I am sure. It is a big difference though when eating wholegrain bread, I can say that it is much much tastier. It is not that difficult to buy wholegrain pasta or rice in a regular store. So next time you go for shopping for your dinner, choose the wholegrain one and give it a try. You will never go back to the white ones, I promise. And you will feel the benefits: healthier skin, hair, nails, because of the vitamin E it contains, more energy because of the many types of vitamin B, stronger immune system because of the antioxidants they contain and many many more. You`ll see, and you`ll feel! To buy a whole grain bread is not that easy though. There are some options in stores, but if you check the label, you will find a very long ingredient list, many things which have nothing to do with a bread: additives, flavours, enhancers, etc. I am not talking about healthy seeds of course, they are welcome anytime in any bread. So if you really care for yourself, you buy a breadmaker. It is cheap, and it is not a bother to make a bread. All you need is a scale, and 10 minutes, then the breadmaker does the job. Ah, and 1 minute to clean it afterwards. It`s so easy!
So Girls and Guys, wholegrain – whole health!