52 small changes - week 15

[OddSocksHighHeels]

Choose whole grains over refined and aim for 3 servings per day. A serving is half a cup of barley/brown rice etc or one slice of wholegrain bread.

Examples of whole grains (most of which I have never heard of!) are: Amaranth, barley, buckwheat, bulgur, corn, farro/emmer, grano, kamut, millet, oats, quinoa, brown rice, rye, sorghum, spelt, teff, tritical and wheat.

If you don't like the taste of whole grains then try substituting half refined with half whole grain for a while to get your taste buds to adapt.

last week

[8FencingWire]

:) thank you odd!

[Sirona]

Tried to post on this earlier but computer wasn't playing ball.

I rarely eat wholegrains, never mind three times a day. Actually three times a day is quite laughable for me. Actually tell a lie, I eat bags of wholegrain popcorn quite a lot Very occasionally brown rice but since dd won't touch rice I rarely make it.

Found myself face to face with quinoa yesterday at the supermarket and had a brief thought of buying it before I realised I have no idea what to do with it. Knowing it would languish alongside the cous cous and wholewheat pasta that I've bought and rarely eat.

No idea where to start with this one, maybe swopping my bread?

[OddSocksHighHeels]

I quite like quinoa but only in soup or stew type things. I hate brown rice though. And, as I said, I have no clue what most of the things on that list are!

Do normal porridge oats count?

I'm off to a great start tonight and am eating Super Noodles now
Have we got anybody good with whole grains here that might share some recipes?

[Sirona]

Also have no clue about most of that list.

Quick google, all forms of oats count, including porridge. I have oatmeal biscuits quite a lot too (slathered in humus or stilton usually). Also looking closer I have do make broth with barley in it sometimes.

Going to have to research this one a bit I think.

[BewitchedBotheredandBewildered]

Um, pearl barley is nice in soup, buckwheat is a nice coarse texture but needs more cooking than rice, have only cooked it mixed with rice.
Bulgur wheat is a really nice substitute for rice, more texture and flavour, same cooking time.
Spelt and rye are nice in bread, have only bought, not home made.

Millet is what budgies eat, and I'm fairly sure sorghum is slimy and disgusting

Oats, yes porridge.
Brown rice and quinoa, just a matter of preference.
The others I've never heard of.

Thanks Socks

[OddSocksHighHeels]

That makes you the resident grains expert then Bewitched

I might try bulgur wheat and buckwheat if it isn't a ridiculous price. I'll stay away from budgie food though.

I might go for a wander around Holland and Barratt or Whole Foods and see if I can spot any of the others. I'm not buying tiny packets of things that cost a months wages just to find I don't like them though.

[Tartyflette]

I trained myself to like brown rice by adding a few things in before serving, for example a squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped spring onion and/or parsley if i was serving it with fish, coriander and a few cumin seeds if served with dal or curried meat/veg, a few drops of soy sauce and sesame oil if the meal was far eastern. Now i lreally ike the chewier texture and slight nuttiness.
But wholemeal pasta -- now that's a crime against Italian cuisine. Cardboard toilet roll inners are similar in taste and texture, IMO.

[Tartyflette]

Bulgur wheat, or burghul, might be a more reasonable price at a Middle Eestern or North African ethnic store, if there are any near you.
I cook it in stock rather than plain water and you can add finely chopped onion and other vegetables , lightly fried, at the start of cooking. A tablespoon of tomato purée is also a nice addition, when the stock is added..

[OddSocksHighHeels]

Oh that's a good point Tarty thanks! I have Turkish shops nearby so I'll have a look in there and see what they have.

[NightWanderer]

I actually prefer wholegrains but I live abroad and they can be hard to find here. I'll have a think about this one.

[DrDiva]

Oh dear, I somehow don't think this one is compatible with lc! I will look back over the weeks and see which one I need to revisit instead.

[Pointlessfan]

Thanks for new thread.
Quinoa and grated root veg make excellent burgers and buckwheat pancakes are delicious. I use them both a lot as they are complete proteins and I am veggie.
I have to be careful with a lot of wholegrain products though as bran in particular flared up my IBS. I can't eat completely wholemeal bread for instance but I make loaves with half wholemeal and half white flour.
This is a good change to get me back on track after all my holiday treats!

[margaritasbythesea]

Hello everyone.

Thanks for thread.

We're away on holiday so just checking in.

I don't really eat many carbohydrates so will struggle with this. I think I will just make sure the ones I do eat are wholegrain. I used to be much better at this than I am now so a good reset for me.

[gingercat02]

Thanks OddSocks Morning everyone
This is a difficult one. DH and DS are "brown food" refusers! I try to take wholegrain stuff to work for lunch, mostly as salady things along the lines of Tabbouleh
Will see how we go.........

[JapanNextYear]

M and s and Waitrose do packets of ready to eat mixed who leak grains, in the pouches like the microwave rice. So lentil, quinoa and wild rice or similar. Find them quite handy...

[Sirona]

Thanks for all the ideas. You are all far better at this one than me.

I think I'm going to try and aim for once a day as a stepping stone. I've had porridge oats for breakfast this morning and will get to the supermarket today or tomorrow and have a look.

Don't mind buying smaller packets of something to try it. Our Tesco has a section at the back of the fruit and veg where you can normally buy their own branded whole stuff far cheaper than in their other aisle. For instance the likes of flax seeds and chia seeds are only £1 a packet compared to the £5 in the proper aisle. If I like I can take a trip to the Asian supermarket in the next town.

Ordered a few vegetarian cookbooks the other day - bought for ideas of what to cook for dsis as she has turned veggie. I'm very much considering cutting down on the meat majorly myself. Hopefully they will arrive soon and there will be some good ideas in them.

[quirkychick]

Oh dear, I low carb, so no grains here!

Will look at something else to revisit... might look at food generally, especially after Easter excesses! I have some lovely new cookbooks to look at.

[Pointlessfan]

Just realised my morning shredded wheat is a wholegrain, it's so much of a habit I hadn't really thought about it!

[DrDiva]

japan I read that at first as m and ms and thought, don't think those are whole grain!!

[Sirona]

Now that would be a diet I could get down with!

Made up my second portion with a bag of wholegrain popcorn last night. Feeling virtuous

[Pointlessfan]

Is normal popcorn a wholegrain or do you have to buy a particular sort?

[BewitchedBotheredandBewildered]

I'd like to know the answer to that too Pointless

I don't even really eat three times a day so one crack at this would be as much as I can manage.

I ran out of multi vits and bought some more today, flinking things are huge, they're a meal by themselves.

They "contain nutrients that contribute to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue".

On timed release.

Stand back everyone, blue touch paper is lit

[NightWanderer]

According to Google "Popcorn may be the perfect snack food. It's the only snack that is 100 percent unprocessed whole grain. All other grains are processed and diluted with other ingredients, and although cereals are called "whole grain," this simply means that over 51 percent of the weight of the product is whole grain."

I also struggle with the vitamins repeating on me.

[Pointlessfan]

I never knew that about popcorn! I sometimes make it and toss in a tiny bit of butter and some cinnamon, I thought it was a naughty treat, turns out it's quite healthy!

[Pointlessfan]

Oh yes, and yesterday I had shredded wheat for breakfast, a slice of wholemeal bread with soup for lunch and brown rice with my curry for tea, 3 portions!