Last night during our cooking school for people with diabetes, we discussed the importance of choosing foods made with whole grain. The current recommendation is to make half of your grain foods whole grain every day. Whole grains will help you feel fuller and will have a positive impact on your digestive system and protect you from heart disease.
It seems in food there is always a food trend that is going to be the cure for everything that ails you. Currently it is coconut. When I was a child it was wheat germ. Moms added spoonfuls of wheat germ to casseroles and meatloaves. Then we move to soybeans. They were toasted for a snack and boiled and mashed and added to hamburger. As I got older, I remember bran was the thing. It was added to muffins, cookies, meatloaves, and even yogurt. I even made bran muffins with applesauce instead of oil for my kids to have for a snack.
Whole grains contain the great fiber that is in the bran of the grain kernel. The germ of the grain kernel is the powerhouse of the seed. It is where the majority of nutrients are stored to sprout the seed when it is planted. There are many trace nutrients in the germ that we do not get in other foods. The largest part of the grain kernel is the endosperm. The endosperm is where the carbohydrate part of the kernel is. There are very few nutrients in this part of the grain kernel. When we eat products that do not have whole grains we are missing out on the germ and bran and all of the many nutrients in those parts, so it really does make sense to eat the whole kernel instead of parts like we did in the past.
To help you revamp your favorite pizza. Here is a quick whole wheat pizza dough recipe from the Tuff's Health and Nutrition Newsletter. You can have it ready in 20 minutes using your food processor.
Quick Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough - Recipes Article
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