Eating Whole Grains
Require Healthy Diet Plan

It won’t be easy.

You might have to be sneaky to include eating whole grains into your family's diet. It will require a well-thought out healthy diet plan.

As usual, all they want to know is "What's for dinner?" and "When do we eat?"

It’s time to get crafty and try to figure out how to work in eating whole grains with the meal.

Below are some great tips not only for us moms but for anyone cooking in the kitchen.

Healthy Meals:

• To eat more whole grains, substitute a whole-grain product for a refined product-such as eating whole-wheat bread instead of white bread or brown rice instead of white rice. It’s important to substitute the whole-grain product for the refined one, rather than adding the whole-grain product.
• For a change, try brown rice or whole-wheat pasta. Try brown rice stuffing in baked green peppers or tomatoes and whole-wheat macaroni in macaroni and cheese.
• Use whole grains in mixed dishes, such as barley in vegetable soup or stews and bulgur wheat in casserole or stir-fries.
• Create a whole grain pilaf with a mixture of barley, wild rice, brown rice, broth and spices. For a special touch, stir in toasted nuts or chopped dried fruit.
• Experiment by substituting whole wheat or oat flour for up to half of the flour in pancake, waffle, muffin or other flour-based recipes. They may need a bit more leavening.
• Use whole-grain bread or cracker crumbs in meatloaf.
• Try an unsweetened, whole grain ready-to-eat cereal as croutons in salad or in place of crackers with soup.
• Try rolled oats or a crushed, unsweetened whole grain cereal as breading for baked chicken, fish, veal cutlets, or eggplant Parmesan.
• Freeze leftover cooked brown rice, bulgur, or barley. Heat and serve it later as a quick side dish.

Health Food Snacks:

• Snack on ready-to-eat, whole grain cereals such as toasted oat cereal.
• Add whole-grain flour or oatmeal when making cookies or other baked treats.
• Try a whole-grain snack chip, such as baked tortilla chips.
• Popcorn, a whole grain, can be a healthy snack with little or no added salt and butter.

Whole Grain Tips for Children

• Set a good example for children by eating whole grains with meals or as snacks.
• Let children select and help prepare a whole grain side dish.
• Teach older children to read the ingredient list on cereals or snack food packages and choose those with whole grains at the top of the list.

Check out the following links for additional information

Healthy Diets

Healthy Food

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