I chose a brand that is sold locally here in the Midwest, but the general principles will be the same for any brand of bread you prefer to purchase.

Whole wheat bread

Here is the ingredients list from Aunt Millie’s 100% Whole Wheat Bread:

The first ingredient is whole grain wheat flour, which means it is the most abundant ingredient in this bread. There are no other grains (whole or otherwise) listed, which is why this bread can be called 100% whole wheat.

Multi-Grain Bread

Here is the ingredient list from Aunt Millie’s Multi-Grain Wheat Bread:

Again, the first ingredient is whole grain wheat flour. But the only other whole grain listed here is whole grain oatmeal, and that one is pretty far down the list. There are other grains (enriched wheat flour, rye flour, and barley flakes)., but these are not whole grains.

So what about nutrition differences? There really aren’t that many between these two varieties of bread.

Wheat Bread

What about regular not-whole-grain wheat bread? Let’s take a look at the ingredients from Aunt Millie’s Wheat Bread:

This one does actually contain some whole grains (whole grain wheat flour and oatmeal), but the first ingredient is enriched bleached flour.

White Bread

Which takes us back to everyone’s favorite childhood staple, good old-fashioned white bread. Check out Aunt Millie’s White Bread ingredients:

No whole grains here at all.

But what about the nutrition? Surely white bread must be “nutritionally inferior” to wheat bread and 100% whole wheat bread, right?

Actually, there’s not all that much difference.

The difference does come in when you look at the “micronutrients” – things like Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, and Iron. The nutrition label lists these as a percentage of your recommended daily intake of each nutrient that you will get from this food (in our case, two slices of bread). Because the white and wheat breads are baked primarily with enriched flour, they actually have higher amounts of these micronutrients than the 100% whole wheat bread. (Remember, enriched means that some vitamins and minerals have been added back to the flour after it was processed.)

So what is better for you? That’s up to you, your taste buds, and your pocket book. The USDA dietary recommendations are that half of the grains we eat should be whole grains. Whole grains are the best sources for natural vitamins and minerals.

For me and my family, I choose whole grains when I can, but I’m open to the occasional PB&J on white bread. (Although I have changed which variety of peanut butter I buy most often.)

Do you choose whole grain bread? Why or why not? Check out this huge list of whole grain breads at the Whole Grains Council.

In the above photo, brown rice is in the bottom left corner; white rice is in the bottom right corner; and converted (parboiled) rice is on the top.

I had no idea there was such a thing as converted rice until a few of my food blogger friends were talking about it a couple of weeks ago. So I decided to dig in (so to speak) and figure out what was the difference between the three types of rice. I purchased all three types (the generic grocery store brand of each), and did a cooking and taste test at home.

Brown rice

Brown rice is a whole grain. This means it has the outer bran, the kernel, and the inner germ intact. The bran and the germ are where most of the vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber of the grain are. The bran is what gives the rice the brown color, and also what gives it a slightly nutty flavor, a little more texture, and why it takes longer to cook than white rice.

I put 2 cups of salted water and 1 cup of rice in a pot, turned the heat on, and covered the rice. Once the water was boiling, I turned the heat down to a simmer, and stirred the rice occasionally. The water stayed nice and clear throughout the cooking process, and the brown rice took a little longer than 30 minutes to cook. (I have a gas stove, and I used a little larger pot for the brown rice than was really necessary. Your cooking times may vary from mine.)

The brown rice still had a nice texture when it was cooked, and a good flavor. It was not quite crunchy, but definitely not mushy.

White rice

On the other end of the spectrum is white rice. It is a more processed grain – the bran and the germ have been removed from the whole grain, leaving only the starchy kernel behind. Unfortunately, this also removes most of the vitamins, minerals, protein, and fiber from the rice.

I cooked the white rice the same way that I cooked the brown rice (except in a slightly smaller pot). The water got cloudy as soon as I stirred the rice into the water, even before it started to get warm. The white rice cooked in about 10 minutes. I did have more problems with the water boiling over with the white rice than I did with either of the other types of rice.

While the cooked white rice wasn’t mushy, it certainly didn’t have the texture I am used to with brown rice (we mainly eat brown rice in our house). The flavor also left a bit to be desired. It’s pretty plain by itself, but with some added seasonings it does make a good quick side dish to many meals.

Converted (parboiled) rice

In the middle of the spectrum is converted rice. It is not technically a whole grain, because the bran and the germ have been removed. But, before that happens, converted rice is parboiled before the rest of the processing is performed.

Parboiling is a method of partially cooking a food in boiling water, then soaking the food in cold water to stop the cooking. It is also known as blanching, and is commonly used to lightly cook vegetables. Blanching tomatoes or potatoes helps to loosen the skins so they can be easily removed before further cooking. When rice is parboiled, some of the vitamins and minerals in the bran are absorbed into the kernel, so not all the nutrition of the whole grain is lost during the rest of the processing. This is also what gives parboiled rice a slightly yellow color.

I used the same cooking process as I did for the brown and white rice. When I first added the converted rice to the water, all the kernels stuck together (this did not happen with the brown or white rice), but once I stirred it I did not have any sticking problems. The water turned cloudy right away after stirring. This rice was cooked in about 15 minutes. (Again, I’m cooking on a gas stove, so your cooking time might be longer than mine.)

I was surprised that the converted rice still had a nice texture. Not quite a crunch, but definitely not soft. The flavor was similar to brown rice, but not quite as strong. The converted rice also seemed to be a little less sticky than either the brown or white rice. I was pleasantly surprised with the converted rice as an alternative.

Here are all three varieties of cooked rice – brown rice on the bottom left, white rice on the bottom right, converted rice on top.

I used the generic store brands of each variety of rice. Uncle Ben’s Original Rice is a common brand name of converted (parboiled) rice.

I have heard from some of my food blogger friends that converted rice is the type to use in crockpot dishes. Because it has a longer cooking time than white rice it won’t get soggy in the crockpot over a few hours. But, because it is easier to cook than brown rice it is more evenly cooked by the time the rest of the meal is ready. I will definitely be trying this in my next crockpot recipe that calls for rice, and will keep some on hand for the occasional side dish.

What did I do with all the rest of that rice? (Remember, 1 cup of uncooked rice makes about 2 cups of cooked rice.) I froze it in single-serving portions, so we can have a fast side dish anytime!

Which type of rice do you prefer?

Grain anatomy

All grains start out their lives as whole grains. When they are harvested, grains have four layers.

1. Husk. The husk is the outer protective coating of each individual grain. It helps protect the nutritious grain inside against pests and weather. It is inedible, and is stripped away in the initial processing.
2. Bran. The bran is another protective coating around the grain. It is high in fiber, antioxidants, and B vitamins. Think of the bran like the skin on an apple or a potato. (Or any other fruit or veggie that has an edible skin.)
3. Germ. This is the inner-most part of the grain. The germ is the part that has the potential to become a new plant, if the grain is planted in the ground next year. (All grains are seeds.) The germ is high in B vitamins, protein, minerals, and healthy fats.
4. Endosperm. This is also called the kernel. The kernel is the largest part of the grain. If the grain is being used as a seed, the kernel acts as the first food source for the germ, so the brand-new plant has enough energy to put out roots to get more nutrients and the first shoots to get energy from the sun. The kernel is rich in carbohydrates, and has lower levels of proteins and some vitamins and minerals.

Image from the Whole Grains Council.

What’s the difference between a whole grain and a “regular” grain?

In a word? Processing.

Whole grains are refined, or milled, to make “non-whole” grains. During milling, the bran and the germ are removed. This makes the part of the grain that is left (the kernel) easier to chew and digest. It also gives grains a longer shelf life. (If whole grains are stored without refrigeration, the fats in the germ can go rancid over time.)

So all that sounds good… easier on the body, easier to store. But, there’s a trade off. With the loss of the bran and the germ, we also lose a lot of the protein, fiber, and most of the vitamins and minerals that make whole grains a good choice.

Some refined grains are enriched. These will have some vitamins and minerals added back after the milling process (like we saw in some dairy products). But not everything is added back, and the nutritional value still is not the same as in the original whole grain.

What are some whole grains?

Some common whole grains that you might see in the grocery store or on food labels include:

• Barley
• Corn
• Millet
• Oats (including all varieties of oatmeal)
• Quinoa
• Rice (brown, wild, or other colors; not white rice)
• Rye
• Sorghum (milo)
• Wheat

How do I know if I am buying food with whole grains?

This is where reading your nutrition labels is important. The Whole Grains Council developed this label to let you know when a food is made with 100% whole grains. (To be honest, I don’t have any of these labels in my pantry right now.)

I do have this on a box of cereal in my pantry.

So I checked the ingredients label. While the first ingredient is indeed whole grain oats, the second ingredient is sugar. Remember, the ingredients are listed in order of the most to the least (by weight). A cereal with a whole grain listed as the first ingredient will probably have more whole grains than a cereal with a whole grain listed as the fourth or fifth ingredient.

Look for these ingredients

When you’re reading the ingredient labels, look for words like these:

• Whole wheat; whole oats; whole rice (or the name of some other grain)
• Stoneground whole wheat (or another grain)
• Brown rice
• Oats, oatmeal (all types of oatmeal are whole grains)
• Wheatberries

These are all types of whole grains. A cereal that contains whole wheat, whole oats, and whole rice will list these ingredients separately, so it can be a little hard to figure out what the total amount of whole grains in the cereal is.

Do you typically buy whole grains? Why or why not?

Phineas Quinn was out playing ball when his mother called him in for lunch. What boy wants to stop playing ball? For lunch? For soup?

The book is filled with rhymes like this one… (who would have thought to rhyme “sugars” with “boogers”?)

How often have you said “Don’t put that in your mouth, you don’t know where it’s been!” Well, that was Phin’s plan. He wasn’t going to eat his soup until someone could tell him where it had been!

Lucky for Phin’s mom, a giant tomato balloon came out of the sky, and Mr. Mattoo took him flying away to find out!

They visited Farmer Hitchner, who grows the carrots. (Mr. Hitchner is a real person who grows vegetables on a third-generation family farm for Campbell’s soup.)

And they visited Farmer Perez who grows the tomatoes. (Mr. Perez is also a farmer who has grown tomatoes for Campbell’s soup for over 40 years.)

They traveled all over, to see where all the vegetables come from to make up one can of vegetable soup.

And guess what? When Phin got home, he finally tried the soup!

“…he knew he’d been beaten. That soup was the best thing that he’d ever eaten!”

Are your kids picky eaters? Pick up “Who Grew My Soup?” and you might just broaden their horizons a little bit!

Also try “How Did That Get In My Lunchbox?” (reviewed here) to go on a similar journey from the farm to the table.

{Affiliate links were used in this post.}

Cholesterol is a type of fat. The fats we looked at last time (saturated and unsaturated) come in straight chains. In your body, these fats join together in groups of three to form triglycerides. Cholesterol has a different structure, and is called a sterol.

Saturated and unsaturated fats	Cholesterol

All fats, including cholesterol, are important in our bodies. Our bodies can make most of these fats that we need, but we also get some from our diet. We can’t make the polyunsaturated fats, omega-3 and omega-6, so these need to come from our food. Fats are important for our energy, our brains, our skin, and the health of our cells. Cholesterol is actually one of the main ingredients that goes into making Vitamin D and hormones like estrogen and testosterone.

Lipoproteins

Just like oil and water don’t mix in your salad dressing, fat and water don’t mix in your body. Fats are made in your liver and need to be transported in your blood to other areas of your body. In order to do this they combine with proteins to form lipoproteins. There are two main types of lipoproteins, and you may have heard of them – LDL and HDL. HDL stands for high-density lipoproteins. These are made up of mainly proteins with some triglycerides and cholesterol. LDL stands for low-density lipoproteins. LDL are larger and heavier than HDL, and are made up of mainly cholesterol with some proteins and triglycerides.

You may have heard these lipoproteins called “good” and “bad” cholesterol. HDL is commonly called “good” and LDL is commonly called “bad”. This is because researchers think that LDL cholesterol gets deposited on the walls of arteries and causes plaques and clogged arteries, which can lead to heart disease and strokes. HDL is thought to keep LDL from sticking to the walls of arteries. When your doctor checks your cholesterol level, he is actually checking your levels of HDL, LDL, and triglycerides. Everybody needs to have some of all of these types of fats, and they should be in a certain ratio.

The American Heart Association recommends for adults that total cholesterol should be less than 200 mg/dL; LDL should be less than 100 mg/dL, and HDL should be at least 60 mg/dL or higher. Triglycerides should be less than 150 mg/dL. These are basic recommendations – be sure to check with your doctor for his recommendations for you.

How does someone get high cholesterol?

High cholesterol (the LDL or HDL type) can be because of two reasons – either you are getting too much in your diet, or your body is making too much. Cholesterol is in many animal products like meat, eggs, and dairy. People with diets high in these types of foods might have high cholesterol levels in their blood. But your genetics play a big role in regulating your cholesterol levels, too. Some people are very good at metabolizing cholesterol, or don’t make very much on their own. These people might have very low cholesterol levels even if they eat a diet very high in meat, eggs, and dairy. On the other hand, some people naturally make more cholesterol than they need, or store too much. Someone like this might have very high cholesterol levels even if they rarely eat foods that contain cholesterol.

How else can my diet affect my cholesterol level?

The American Heart Association recommends a diet that is low in saturated fats and high in unsaturated fats (both polyunsaturated and monounsaturated). Many foods that are high in saturated fat are also high in cholesterol, so this can increase your cholesterol level if you consistently eat foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. When you choose unsaturated fats over saturated fats (like substituting olive oil for butter), this may help to lower cholesterol levels in your blood.

The bottom line is we all need to have some fats in our diet, and everything should be eaten in moderation. Every type of fat has 9 calories per gram (compared to 4 calories per gram in proteins and carbohydrates). Eating too much (or too little) of any kind of fat can lead to weight gain and health risks.

It is important to follow the advice of your doctor if you are overweight, have other health risks, or are concerned about your heart health. Remember, I’m not a physician or a nutritionist, so please consult your doctor before starting a new eating plan.