Genius Foods

yet a teenager, I became a lobbyist within my own family,
advocating for products with the red “heart healthy” logo on
them when I’d help my mom shop for groceries. They were
earthier and had more “stuff ” in them—like bran—which I
believed gave them more bang for the nutritional buck. I
even had a favorite bread growing up called Health Nut, the
name of which reassured me, as if every slice eaten was
another brick laid on the road to health for me and my
family.
I carried this appreciation for grains with me into my
adult life, and as I became more proactive about healthy
eating I thought, as many do, “More grains equal more
health.” My day would often look like this: In the morning,
I’d have a big bowl of granola with fat-free milk or a whole-
wheat bagel and a piece of fruit. By lunch, I’d usually find
myself starving, grabbing a sandwich or wrap (only on
whole wheat), or my favorite—a brown rice bowl. Post-
lunch “comas” became a common phenomenon, and as a
result, I’d need to have a few snacks to keep blood sugar up
in between lunch and dinner—usually a cookie or two, a
few whole-wheat crackers, or some dried fruit. (I didn’t
have an understanding of the dynamics of blood sugar that I
do now—and that you will soon—but I did notice that
carbohydrates tended to alleviate the lethargy I was
experiencing.) My dinner would usually involve more
brown rice, but on some nights, I’d switch it up and go for a
big bowl of whole-wheat pasta. If there was one rule I
followed, it was that meals always had to include a grain.
Even though my energy levels and food cravings often
felt like a roller coaster throughout the day, I never thought