FULL LIFE EATING GOAL: two or four servings a day
Say a permanent goodbye to white bread Steer clear of giving yourself or your loved ones a choice. When your current bag of white bread is finished, don't buy another one. Use wholewheat bread in all the same ways you'd use white. For french toast, with eggs for a sandwich and with dinner, wholewheat bread can replace all the white bread you've used in the past. It's that simple. Even in you love crusty French loaves or baguettes, there are whole-grain alterantives that have a lovely texture and mix well with Mediterranean foods.
Create a bakery habit You and your family deserve individually made, freshly baked bread. So why settle for a loaf made on an assembly line at a bread factory? Make it a habit to stop at a good-quality bakery, say hello to the proprietor and pick up healthy, whole-grain bread. Eat it over the next two days, then head back for a new loaf. Make it a never-ending cycle.
If you buy packaged bread, study the label Look for wholewheat flour as the first ingredient, then check the nutritional facts label for the fibre content. Your goal: buy a loaf with at least 3g of fibre a slice.
Another clue is to look for products that display this health claim: 'People with healthy hearts to tend to eat more whole-grain foods as part of a low-fat diet and healthy lifestyle.' Any product displaying this claim must contain at least 51 percent whole grains by weight.
What is the fibre's high, but the bread's not made from whole grain? Put it back and keep looking. some breads made mainly from white flour have added fibre, which can help with digestion (and prevent constipation), but the loaf won't have the phytochemicals and nutrients of real whole-grain versions.
Crunch it Look for whole-grain crackers that supply at least 3g of fibre a serving. Choose a lower-fat, low-sodium variety, such as Scandinavian-style crispbreads that taste great with hummous or peanut butter or as a bread substitute for open sandwiches. Five or six crackers count as one grain serving.
Make your own Replace the white flour in bread, muffin and quick-bread recipes with wholemeal flour. Start with half wholemeal and half white. If you totally replace white with wholemetal, for every 125g of plain flour use 115g wholemeal, since wholemeal flour has a heavier texture. In bread recipes, use a tablespoon to transfer the wholemeal flour to the scales instead of scooping or pouring: this introduces extra air into the flour, which makes the loaf lighter. You can also replace some of the liquid in baked goods recipes with orange juice to temper the sharper, tannic-acid taste of wholemeal flour.
Smart Ways
To Eat More Whole-grain cereal
FULL-LIFE EATING GOAL: have for breakfast at least three times a week
Make cereal your breakfast default That means starting most of your mornings with a bowl of whole-grain cereal, milk and fruit. You can't get much healthier than that. But don't assume that all cereals are automatically healthy. A recent survey by consumer watchdog which? analysed the content of 275 different types of processed cereals and reported that more than 75 percent were high in sugar. The two worst offenders had a staggering 55g of sugar per 100g, and some even contained as much sugar as a chocolate bar.
What's more, nearly a fifth of all cereals tested had high levels of salt - sometimes more per portion than a packet of ready-salted crisps - and 7 percent contained high levels of saturated fat, in the most extreme case, at 20.3g per loog, as much fat as sausages.
And to satisfy British tastes, some global manufacturers add more salt and sugar to the UK Versions of their cereals - even to supposedly healthy high-fibre products - than they do to the American versions!
So don't imagine that you're automatically improving your diet simply by swapping a greasy breakfast fry-up for a bowl of bran flakes - check the labels on your cereal packets before you buy. Look for less than 5g sugars 0.5g salt and 1.5g saturated fat per 100g (not per portion).
Use cereal as a topping Keep a small box of high-fibre cereal in the cupboard to use as a crunchy topping on yoghurt, oatmeal, fruit salads and green salads. It almost acts as a fibre supplement.
Be sure to finish the milk. The B vitamins added to cereals leach into milk quickly. Be sure to spoon up the milk at the bottom of the bowl to get the cereal's complete nutritional offerings.
New to higher-fibre cereal? Mix it half and half with an old favourite You'll get loads more fibre than before, yet at the same time ease the transition to a new breakfast habit. The next week, fill your bowl with two-thirds higher-fibre brand and one-third old favourite. The week
after, try sprinkling a little of your old standby over your new favourite cereal as a topping.
Put oatmeal on your breakfast table at least twice a week - more often in chilly weather To eat more, start with old-fashioned porridge and add a little brown sugar or maple syrup, dried or fresh fruit, chopped nuts and skimmed milk. You'll get about 4g of fibre in 40g of raw oats.
Try this quick cooking method for old-fashioned oats Bring a saucepan of water to a rolling boil, the oats and bring the water back to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and take a shower. In 10 minutes, the oats will be ready to eat. Or use your microwave to make super-quick porridge.
Or try long-cooking Irish oatmeal This delicious, stick-to-your-ribs porridge takes 45 minutes to cook, unless you know this chef's secret: the night before, bring the oats and water to a boil, cover and turn off the heat. In the morning, simply simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the oats are as tender as you like.
Smart ways
To Eat More Whole-grain dinner dishes
FULL-LIFE EATING GOAL: two to four servings a day
Serve no-worry brown rice in place of potatoes tonight Yes, classic brown rice does require 45 minutes of cooking time, so you have to plan ahead a little. Make the cooking process easier by investing in a rice cooker (toss in rice and water and turn it on - no need to worry about a burned pot) or cook a big batch of brown rice at the weekend and freeze meal-sized portions in sealable freezer bags. Reheat in the micorwaveg on week nights.
Stock instant, boil-in-the-bag or quick-cooking parboiled brown rice, too These grains are cooked, then dried. They do lose some texture along the way, but they retain most for even all of brown rice's fibre and nutrients. Their star quality: they cook in 5-20 minutes, making this convenience food great as a once-in-a-while fallback. You can also cook up quick brown rice to use in place of the ubiquitous tub of white that comes with a Chinese takeaway.
Replace white rice in recipes with brown It works as well - or better - in chicken-and-rice dishes, stuffed cabbage, soups and casseroles. You'll love pudding made with brown rice, too, for its nutty flavour and chunky yet tender texture.
Shop for another great grain this weekOther whole grains you may find in your local grocery shop or healthfood shop include amaranth, barley, couscous, millet, quinoa and wild rice. Each has a unique flavour and texture. Try a new one each week. Give it the sniff test before purchasing to be sure the oils in the germ don't have a stale, rancid odour. Refrigerate or freeze grains to retain freshness.
keep a supply of fast-cooking favourites on hand Peal barley is great for its creamy texture, its 6g of fibre per 200g - inculding cholesterol - lowering soluble fibre - and its fast cooking time: just 30 minutes. It's a delicious side dish replacement for rice and give soups and stews a soft, thick texture. Bulgur is just wholewheat that's been steamed, dried and cracked. Think of it as a whole-grain convenience food; it cooks in 20 minutes. Traditionally used for Middle Eastern tabouleh ( a salad with bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber and parsley), it also makes a delicious side dish. Couscous is really a tiny-grained pasta made from wheat flour. The catch: some is refined, some is whole wheat. Your assignment: look for wholewheat couscous in the supermarket or healthfood shop. It's the fastest-cooking whole-grain product of them all:just add boiling water and cover, and in 5 minutes it's ready to serve. Swithcing to wholewheat couscous means getting 7g of fibre a serving, compared with just 2g in ordinary couscous.
Stir it in Add 60g of cooked bulgar wheat, brown or wild rice or barley (not pearl) to stuffings, soups, stews, salads or casseroles. Add a cooked whole grain or whole-grain breadcumbs to minced meat or poultry for extra body. Make risottos, pilaus and other rice-type dishes using grains such as barley, brown basmati rice, bulgur, millet, quinoa or sorghum.
Popcorn counts! Use a popcorn maker for a high-fibre, low-fat snack. Each 8g of air-pooped popcorn has 1.2g of fibre (and just 31 calories).
Say a permanent goodbye to white bread Steer clear of giving yourself or your loved ones a choice. When your current bag of white bread is finished, don't buy another one. Use wholewheat bread in all the same ways you'd use white. For french toast, with eggs for a sandwich and with dinner, wholewheat bread can replace all the white bread you've used in the past. It's that simple. Even in you love crusty French loaves or baguettes, there are whole-grain alterantives that have a lovely texture and mix well with Mediterranean foods.
Create a bakery habit You and your family deserve individually made, freshly baked bread. So why settle for a loaf made on an assembly line at a bread factory? Make it a habit to stop at a good-quality bakery, say hello to the proprietor and pick up healthy, whole-grain bread. Eat it over the next two days, then head back for a new loaf. Make it a never-ending cycle.
If you buy packaged bread, study the label Look for wholewheat flour as the first ingredient, then check the nutritional facts label for the fibre content. Your goal: buy a loaf with at least 3g of fibre a slice.
Another clue is to look for products that display this health claim: 'People with healthy hearts to tend to eat more whole-grain foods as part of a low-fat diet and healthy lifestyle.' Any product displaying this claim must contain at least 51 percent whole grains by weight.
What is the fibre's high, but the bread's not made from whole grain? Put it back and keep looking. some breads made mainly from white flour have added fibre, which can help with digestion (and prevent constipation), but the loaf won't have the phytochemicals and nutrients of real whole-grain versions.
Crunch it Look for whole-grain crackers that supply at least 3g of fibre a serving. Choose a lower-fat, low-sodium variety, such as Scandinavian-style crispbreads that taste great with hummous or peanut butter or as a bread substitute for open sandwiches. Five or six crackers count as one grain serving.
Make your own Replace the white flour in bread, muffin and quick-bread recipes with wholemeal flour. Start with half wholemeal and half white. If you totally replace white with wholemetal, for every 125g of plain flour use 115g wholemeal, since wholemeal flour has a heavier texture. In bread recipes, use a tablespoon to transfer the wholemeal flour to the scales instead of scooping or pouring: this introduces extra air into the flour, which makes the loaf lighter. You can also replace some of the liquid in baked goods recipes with orange juice to temper the sharper, tannic-acid taste of wholemeal flour.
Smart Ways
To Eat More Whole-grain cereal
FULL-LIFE EATING GOAL: have for breakfast at least three times a week
Make cereal your breakfast default That means starting most of your mornings with a bowl of whole-grain cereal, milk and fruit. You can't get much healthier than that. But don't assume that all cereals are automatically healthy. A recent survey by consumer watchdog which? analysed the content of 275 different types of processed cereals and reported that more than 75 percent were high in sugar. The two worst offenders had a staggering 55g of sugar per 100g, and some even contained as much sugar as a chocolate bar.
What's more, nearly a fifth of all cereals tested had high levels of salt - sometimes more per portion than a packet of ready-salted crisps - and 7 percent contained high levels of saturated fat, in the most extreme case, at 20.3g per loog, as much fat as sausages.
And to satisfy British tastes, some global manufacturers add more salt and sugar to the UK Versions of their cereals - even to supposedly healthy high-fibre products - than they do to the American versions!
So don't imagine that you're automatically improving your diet simply by swapping a greasy breakfast fry-up for a bowl of bran flakes - check the labels on your cereal packets before you buy. Look for less than 5g sugars 0.5g salt and 1.5g saturated fat per 100g (not per portion).
Use cereal as a topping Keep a small box of high-fibre cereal in the cupboard to use as a crunchy topping on yoghurt, oatmeal, fruit salads and green salads. It almost acts as a fibre supplement.
Be sure to finish the milk. The B vitamins added to cereals leach into milk quickly. Be sure to spoon up the milk at the bottom of the bowl to get the cereal's complete nutritional offerings.
New to higher-fibre cereal? Mix it half and half with an old favourite You'll get loads more fibre than before, yet at the same time ease the transition to a new breakfast habit. The next week, fill your bowl with two-thirds higher-fibre brand and one-third old favourite. The week
after, try sprinkling a little of your old standby over your new favourite cereal as a topping.
Put oatmeal on your breakfast table at least twice a week - more often in chilly weather To eat more, start with old-fashioned porridge and add a little brown sugar or maple syrup, dried or fresh fruit, chopped nuts and skimmed milk. You'll get about 4g of fibre in 40g of raw oats.
Try this quick cooking method for old-fashioned oats Bring a saucepan of water to a rolling boil, the oats and bring the water back to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and take a shower. In 10 minutes, the oats will be ready to eat. Or use your microwave to make super-quick porridge.
Or try long-cooking Irish oatmeal This delicious, stick-to-your-ribs porridge takes 45 minutes to cook, unless you know this chef's secret: the night before, bring the oats and water to a boil, cover and turn off the heat. In the morning, simply simmer for 5-10 minutes, until the oats are as tender as you like.
Smart ways
To Eat More Whole-grain dinner dishes
FULL-LIFE EATING GOAL: two to four servings a day
Serve no-worry brown rice in place of potatoes tonight Yes, classic brown rice does require 45 minutes of cooking time, so you have to plan ahead a little. Make the cooking process easier by investing in a rice cooker (toss in rice and water and turn it on - no need to worry about a burned pot) or cook a big batch of brown rice at the weekend and freeze meal-sized portions in sealable freezer bags. Reheat in the micorwaveg on week nights.
Stock instant, boil-in-the-bag or quick-cooking parboiled brown rice, too These grains are cooked, then dried. They do lose some texture along the way, but they retain most for even all of brown rice's fibre and nutrients. Their star quality: they cook in 5-20 minutes, making this convenience food great as a once-in-a-while fallback. You can also cook up quick brown rice to use in place of the ubiquitous tub of white that comes with a Chinese takeaway.
Replace white rice in recipes with brown It works as well - or better - in chicken-and-rice dishes, stuffed cabbage, soups and casseroles. You'll love pudding made with brown rice, too, for its nutty flavour and chunky yet tender texture.
Shop for another great grain this weekOther whole grains you may find in your local grocery shop or healthfood shop include amaranth, barley, couscous, millet, quinoa and wild rice. Each has a unique flavour and texture. Try a new one each week. Give it the sniff test before purchasing to be sure the oils in the germ don't have a stale, rancid odour. Refrigerate or freeze grains to retain freshness.
keep a supply of fast-cooking favourites on hand Peal barley is great for its creamy texture, its 6g of fibre per 200g - inculding cholesterol - lowering soluble fibre - and its fast cooking time: just 30 minutes. It's a delicious side dish replacement for rice and give soups and stews a soft, thick texture. Bulgur is just wholewheat that's been steamed, dried and cracked. Think of it as a whole-grain convenience food; it cooks in 20 minutes. Traditionally used for Middle Eastern tabouleh ( a salad with bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber and parsley), it also makes a delicious side dish. Couscous is really a tiny-grained pasta made from wheat flour. The catch: some is refined, some is whole wheat. Your assignment: look for wholewheat couscous in the supermarket or healthfood shop. It's the fastest-cooking whole-grain product of them all:just add boiling water and cover, and in 5 minutes it's ready to serve. Swithcing to wholewheat couscous means getting 7g of fibre a serving, compared with just 2g in ordinary couscous.
Stir it in Add 60g of cooked bulgar wheat, brown or wild rice or barley (not pearl) to stuffings, soups, stews, salads or casseroles. Add a cooked whole grain or whole-grain breadcumbs to minced meat or poultry for extra body. Make risottos, pilaus and other rice-type dishes using grains such as barley, brown basmati rice, bulgur, millet, quinoa or sorghum.
Popcorn counts! Use a popcorn maker for a high-fibre, low-fat snack. Each 8g of air-pooped popcorn has 1.2g of fibre (and just 31 calories).
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