Whole Grain Confession and Granola Bar Name Vote

I just woke up from one of the worst sleeping sessions ever. All of the ice on our trees outside melted last night, and the wind threw the water on to our roof all night. Let's just say it was LOUD and SCARY! I wanted my mommy....

Thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions on what to name my granola bar! Here are some of the creative names you came up with:

Andrea: GinaBar

Lindsay: Gina's Great Granola Bar

Anonymous: Cluster Bar

Jen: Ceres (which apparently means "Goodness of Agriculture and Grains" in latin!)

Dance, Love, Dine: NutriLicious

Eating RD: Complete (a "complete" meal in a bar!)

One Healthy Apple: Full Granola Bar or Whole Granola Bar (to emphasize how balanced it is)

Julie Go Lean: Busy Bar or Grab'n Granola Bar

Nutri-Savvy: The Candid Bar (a wholesome, nutritious granola treat!)

Happiness in Health: NourishBar (complete nutrition, developed by an RD)

Melinda: G.I.N.A bar (stands for....Granola I Need Always or Granola Inspires Nourishing Ability) or any other ideas??

QUESTION: Which of these is your favorite?

So I have a confession to make. I have been telling people that if something is 100% whole grain, such as oatmeal, and there are 30 grams of carbohydrates in each serving, than that means there are 30 grams of whole grains per serving. Well, I was WRONG!! So so sorry. After doing some research, I've figured out that the amount of whole grains in a product that is 100% whole grain, is the same as the serving size. For example, see the stamp below (created by the Whole Grains Council)

Let's just pretend the stamp above was on the package below (it would likely say "48 grams of more whole grain per serving", not 16 grams). Do you see the serving size? See how it says 27 biscuits, 55g? Well, since this product is 100% whole grain, this means there are 55 grams of whole grains per serving. Who knew?!?! Probably a lot of people, but I sure didn't. They never taught me that in school!


The Whole Grains Council actually provides a list of all the foods with whole grains, including the amount of whole grain per serving. I would highly suggest perusing the site, it's actually pretty interesting and easy to understand. They also have a list of gluten free whole grains.

By the way, 16 grams of whole grains is what you need for one full serving of whole grain. You should aim for 3 servings, or more, of whole grains per day.

Question: Did you know this was how you could tell how many whole grains are in a 100% whole grain product??

Ninety Percent of Americans are NOT Getting Enough Whole Grains!

Are you one of the 9 out of 10 people in America who are not reaching the minimum recommendation for whole grains (the minimum rec. is 48 grams of whole grain, or 3 servings, per day)? Are you one of the 4 out of 10 Americans who consumes less than one whole grain product in a two week period?! (Source: Today's Dietitian Magazine)

Why are whole grains so important? Check out this article to find out.




A while back I posted a day of my eats and I realized I wasn't getting enough servings of grains, according to MyPyramid, which recommends that I consume about 6 servings of grains per day. I was (and still am) getting closer to 4 servings of grain, which is fine with me, as I think 6 servings is too much for my needs, personally. I was reaching the minimum amount of whole grains (3), so I still felt confident that I was eating right.

*** If you go to MyPyramid and find out how many servings of grains you need, just take half of that and that's how many servings of whole grains you should consume each day. ***

Apparently in 2009 there were about 3000 new products released with whole grains, compared to year 2000, which had only about 164 new products released with whole grains. In addition, many restaurants (including fast food) are jumping on the bandwagon and including whole grains on their menus. So we no longer have an excuse to not reach our whole grain goal.

It's a fact that most American's consume a majority of their whole grains at breakfast. I know I do!

1.5 servings of whole grain (24 grams) in my morning oats

I always look for the Whole Grains Stamp on my grain products. If a food has 8 grams of whole grain, or more, it can bare this symbol. LOOK FOR IT!

I love buying whole grain tortillas (for Nick only, because they contain wheat).

And when we don't go through them fast enough, I make them into tortilla chips.

(Cut them into rectangles, spray with EVOO, sprinkle with a dash of salt and some garlic powder).

Bake at a low temperature (~200) for about 20 minutes, while continuing to watch them in order to prevent burning.

Something Nick has been doing lately (and I'm very happy about) is buying the burrito bowl at Chipotle......

Then when we get home he adds it to our whole grain tortillas! It definitely beats the tortilla at Chipotle, which has ZERO whole grains, and tons of lard (I don't do this because I can't eat our tortillas. Does anyone know of a wheat-free tortilla?!).

Other Favorite Whole Grains

Popcorn

Quinoa

Brown Rice

Oatmeal

Whole Wheat products

Wild Rice

Bulgar

QUESTION: What's your favorite whole grain and what are some ways you make sure to get them in your diet? While traveling for training I struggle to eat very healthy and I have found it hard to consume 3 servings of whole grain. An item I have been buying a lot is sushi made with brown rice. It's definitely helped me reach my 3 serving goal!

Coming Up/Training Update

I'm on my way back to Pittsburgh tomorrow morning, for my last week of training (well, sort of). As I said in my last post I will be starting at another store in Columbus (yeah!) at the beginning of August.

Thanks for reading everyone! Have a happy Monday :)