Take the Wholegrain Goodness challenge and you could win supermarket vouchers worth up to £250. NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by WholegrainGoodness.com to find MNers to take part in a 2 week wholegrain challenge starting Monday 20th January.

Here's what WholegrainGoodness.com, a not-for-profit campaign aiming to inspire people to eat more wholegrain, say about the challenge: "Most of us know it's important to eat at least five portions of fruit and veg every day, but did you know you should be eating more wholegrain to keep you healthy too?

Nutritionists encourage eating at least three servings of wholegrain a day. But despite the nutritional benefits, national surveys show that 95% of adults don't do this, and almost a third don't eat any at all. So try something different for your new year's resolutions this year - take part in our wholegrain challenge to help us inspire mums to get more nutritious wholegrain into their family's diet and we'll enter you into a prize draw."

Here's what's involved:

• This is open to all UK MNers with at least one child aged between 2 and 16 living at home.

• The challenge is to include wholegrain in at least ONE meal or snack for the family per day for two weeks and then to feedback by Sunday 9th February latest to be entered into a prize draw. You can use the variety of wholegrain foods available, such as wholegrain breads, breakfast cereals, pasta, rice, flour and even popcorn. And feel free to take part if you and your family already eat wholegrains.

• 100 MNers will be selected as 'official testers'. If selected, you'll be sent a £10 supermarket voucher to contribute towards the cost of buying wholegrain foods. This voucher will be for one of two supermarkets - you can submit your preference when you sign up. All 'officials' who post their feedback on the MN thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £250 supermarket voucher of choice.

• You can still take part if you don't get selected as an 'official'. All 'non-officials' who take part in the challenge and post their feedback on the MN thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £150 supermarket voucher of choice.

If you'd like to take part in the WholegrainGoodness.com challenge, please sign up here.

We'll be in touch with the 100 MNers selected to take part in the challenge next Monday 13th.

Thanks
MNHQ

Please note: comments made on this thread may be reproduced by Wholegrain Goodness (AHDB).

[chocolateshoes]

I need to do this. If only whole grain chocolate existed......

[unadulterateddad]

Signed up !

[Sparklezz]

My daughter isnt two yet so cant really take part but for my family in general we eat wholemeal bread already including the little one. its all part of our every day mealing planning too.

[GoingGoingGoth]

Signed up

[polly164]

Would love to do this. Just signed up.

[Bluecarrot]

Would love to get involved with this as dd starting to get more interested in what ingredients are in the food we eat.

[dizzydel]

Would love to try new products I never usually buy

[dublindee]

Just signed up but got no usual "thank you" message... Can you please check and see if I'm in???

Cheers xx

[BellaVida]

Done. Have 4 children including set of twins, so ticked just 3 ages. Be interested to see what whole grain products I could get for £10. Definitely looking to budget well this month!

[juebloggs]

Sounds like a good way to get over my kids fear of the unknown!

[verap]

Signed up, would love to try this

[Giflow]

Popcorn, an altenatives to our snack choices on the other hand we do love cornbread, I know one of the major stores sell them, so off to the shops with vouchers we will go.

Wholegrains, I will start thinking of meals to make that do not contain meat or tomatoe as my little pre-tennie is allergic...... not a vegan or vegaterian :-)

[CuttedUpGrape]

signed up! i'm really glad, last year i narrowly missed the signing up date and was a bit gutted

[AnnMumsnet]

dublindee - yep all ok, thanks

[JugglingBackwardsAndForwards]

Sounds like a good challenge for a New Year ... as I said in my "choose me!" bit we're a veggie family and have recently started using more beans and pulses as a step towards healthier eating. Adding this wholegrain challenge would be another good step for us.

As I have teens/pre-teens and they are hopefully up for broadening their tastes a little I think it's a challenge we could happily accept.

[JugglingBackwardsAndForwards]

Oh, will they know it's me as I put my "usual MN name" as JugglingFromHereToThere ?

[QueenStromba]

So a body funded by a levy on the sale of cereals wishes to perpetuate the unsubstantiated claim that whole grains are good for us thus ensuring their continued funding?

[JugglingBackwardsAndForwards]

Really, is it contentious QueenStromba? Genuine question BTW

[Faithless12]

Interesting QueenStromba would love to hear more as DS comes out in hives whenever he eats certain wholegrain foods, so hearing that it's no better for us would make me feel a lot better about avoiding them for him.

[QueenStromba]

They like to trot out stuff about increased fibre in wholegrains being a good thing for bowel health whereas actually there's evidence that it actually causes constipation and other bowel problems.

They talk about wholegrains being "heart healthy" when actually the only evidence for this is epidemiological studies which are notoriously unreliable - any link with wholegrains and reduced risk of heart disease could be explained by people who are conscious of their health eating them while doing other things that are good for them like exercise, not smoking, not drinking excessively etc. Intervention studies have shown no significant difference in markers for heart disease. Another Briffa link.

They also like to trot out the whole carbohydrates are necessary argument. The brain is perfectly happy running on ketones (derived from fat) and the heart actually prefers to run on ketones.

They also like to talk about how wholegrains have nutrients. They don't have a single nutrient that you can't get from other food and they also block the absorption of nutrients. You get less nutrients from the pasta and sauce or the sandwich than you would have gotten if you just ate the sauce or filling on its own.

Non-wholegrains aren't good for you either but in some ways they're better than wholegrains - less insoluble fibre and less phytates to block the absorption of nutrients.

[JugglingBackwardsAndForwards]

Thanks for putting forward the other side of the argument Queenie

[BIWI]

Well said, QueenStromba

[JugglingBackwardsAndForwards]

• Still I'm thinking the challenge of one portion a day wouldn't do any harm and might do some good if only because it might encourage other healthy things to go with it such as veg and beans.

[AnnMumsnet]

The team at WholegrainGoodness.com have asked us to post the below:

"Thanks to everyone who has signed up so far and for all the enthusiasm!

We've set up a wholegrain FAQs page (frequently asked questions) – and if you have any other questions please use our ask the nutritionist form. We're reading your posts and getting your questions answered as quickly as we can by an independent Registered Dietitian who is reviewing the science.

No one food provides all nutrients required for health, which is why nutritionists advocate a varied and balanced diet.

To understand more about the importance of fibre see this page on NHS Choices

To learn the truth about carbs see this page on NHS choices

UK guidelines such as these are established not off the back of single research studies, but on quality, published, peer-reviewed research and consultations"

[BIWI]

"The truth about carbs?"

Not sure everyone would agree about that ...