double trouble? dairy and grainsSome of you, like me, might be able to eat the whole baguette in
a sitting or by the time I get done grocery shopping! Even if the
calories and glycemic response were the same, you will eat more
of the refined grain product because they are less filling and can
cause more “carb” cravings.
What Exactly Is a Whole Grain?
There is no universally accepted definition of whole-grain
foods, and labels may be hard to understand. Labels like “wheat
bread,” “stone-ground,” and “seven-grain bread” do not guarantee
that the food contains whole grains. Color is not a good indicator of
whole grains either, because foods may be darker simply because
of added molasses or food coloring.^20 I tell patients to look at the
first words right after the word “Ingredients” on the label. If the
first words are “whole grain” or “sprouted grain,” it is a predomi-
nantly whole-grain product and you are good to go. If the bread
is enriched with vitamins or minerals, it is generally not a whole-
grain product or has only a small amount of whole grain and gen-
erally should be avoided.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines use the American Association of
Cereal Chemists’ definition, which is: “Foods made from the entire
grain seed, usually called the kernel, which consists of the bran,
germ, and endosperm. If the kernel has been cracked, crushed, or
flaked, it must retain nearly the same relative proportions of bran,
germ, and endosperm as the original grain in order to be called
whole grain.”^21
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on the other
hand, only requires foods that bear the whole grain health claim
to: (1) contain 51 percent or more whole-grain ingredients by weight
per reference amount and (2) be low in fat.^22