Whole-ly nutritious – the low down on wholegrains
Don’t believe any magazine ever again when they tell you all carbs are bad (trust me, I’ve been there, and it’s pointless). Less calorific gram per gram than fat or protein (4 kcal per gram), carbs often tend to be lumped together into a single category and associated with the nonsensical cult of sugar hating in the popular press.
Most nutritionists and nutritional scientists however are agreed that carbohydrates (which includes vegetables, fruits, and high fibre starchy foods) are an important part of a healthy diet, and that when it comes to carbohydrates it’s the type or quality of the carbohydrate that’s important. Wholegrains are a type of starchy carbohydrate particularly beneficial for a healthy diet, and jam packed full of vitamins and minerals.
Ok, so what actually is a wholegrain?
A wholegrain is an unrefined grain. The wholegrains council (what do you mean you didn’t know there was one?) define it as “the entire seed of a plant". This seed - also called a “kernel” - is made up of three edible parts – the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.
Examples include:
· Whole wheat bread, and other types of wheat including spelt, emmer, farro, durum as well as bulgur, cracked wheat and wheatberries
· Oats, including oatmeal
· Quinoa
· Rice, both brown rice and coloured or wild rice
· Amaranth
· Barley
· Buckwheat
· Corn, including whole cornmeal and popcorn
· Millet
· Teff
· Rye
Why are they the best?
Any white carbohydrates you eat, such as white bread or white rice, are known as refined carbohydrates. This means that they’ve been processed, which unfortunately results in the bran, germ, and endosperm being removed. It’s unfortunate because this is where most of the goodness usually lives!
Removing the bran and germ greatly lowers the nutritional density of the plant – removing much of the fibre and many of the B vitamins present. In fact, it’s estimated that wholegrains can contain up to 75% more nutrients than their refined siblings do.
The irony is that as a result, many of the large food companies and brands end up adding back in what they’ve removed during processing, by enriching or fortifying their foods afterwards with the very nutrients they’ve taken out…
Whether you choose these fortified products or not, aiming for regular portions of unrefined, brown, wholegrains when you can is a great way to make sure you’re getting enough fibre, and vitamin and nutrients.
References
https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/wholegrains.pdf
https://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/whats-whole-grain-refined-grain