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Forum Name: Health & Wellness
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Whole Grain Deception? 
stephen
posted Mar 9, 2008 7:12:50 AMTo All
I was sent to a nutritionist by my doctor and we have had some success in weight loss and bringing my blood pressure down and my cholesterol in line by diet.   Along the way I have learned what it means to eat well, and to change my eating habits.  Or at least that is the goal and so far it's working.

I was very proud of myself for having a whole grain English muffin at breakfast with some healthy cereal and a little protein. And for switching to Whole Grain Breads.

On my last visit to the nutritionist she taught me a little trick that food manufacturers use.   They advertise a product as "Whole Grain" but then turn around and the primary flour (first one listed)  is "Enriched Flour" meaning that the whole grain is listed further down in with other ingredients and the primary flour is NOT whole grain.

Sure enough, when I got home I found out my Thomas English Muffins had a primary ingredient of "enriched flour".  I then looked at my Country Kitchen 12 grain bread which advertises the use of whole grain....again, the number one flour used was "Enriched Flour" not whole grain.   I did notice that my "Vermont" brand whole grain bread DID have as the number one ingredient...."Whole Grain".   I later discovered that both breads advertise the amount of whole grain within them and the Vermont bread had something like 3 or 4 times as much whole grain in it as the Country Kitchen bread.

Moral of the story is.....don't trust the label.   Look at the ingredients.   If the first flour listed is WHOLE GRAIN then you have the real deal.  It the first flour listed is "enriched" then it's over processed and is mostly likely not all the whole grain you are looking for.


These guys are tricky aren't they?   Even when you think you are doing good, you aren't.  And they KNOW what they are doing when they do this.  They take a batch of regular, over processed, "enriched" flour and mix in a little whole grain and then get to advertise their product as whole grain.  Read those labels.
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Whole Grain Deception? 
Cherre
posted Mar 12, 2008 11:34:10 AMTo All
If you want your grains as 'whole' as possible, try picking up whole wheat berries, oat groats, spelt, or kamut instead of packaged foods on occasion.

Labels meant to inform are often used as a marketing tool. While you're reading that fine print, be sure to notice sugar or forms of sugar in your packaged food items. Sometimes the food manufacturer will use many types of sugar (corn syrup, etc.) so they can be listed separately throughout the list instead of having "Sugar" as one of the main ingredients.
http://doesabodygood.blogspot.com
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Whole Grain Deception? 
stephen
posted Mar 13, 2008 1:30:43 PMTo All
Thanks.  This is a whole new world to me.   It does appear there are people out there trying to deceive us as to how healthy their products is.

I was noticing the other day the differences salt levels between breads.  I found one bread that looked very healthy but had higher levels of salt.  

I think one good thing today is that more and more people are demanding healthy foods and they are becoming increasingly available in the local stores.
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Whole Grain Deception? 
ERL
posted Mar 14, 2008 9:25:52 AMTo All

stephen


The best way to get whole grains is to do it yourself. I bake my own bread--It's not as hard as it seems. I buy the flour and yeast and I use at least half whole wheat or rye or oats. I also usually use less salt than the mix calls for. I don't know what kind of time you have or  what your support system is like, but a good practice is to cook as much as you can from scratch. That way you know what is going into everything that is going into you--just one more way to take charge. I am also in favor of homemade soups and one dish meals. If you are single like I am , a big pot of soup can feed you for a week. In between times there are cassorles you can make that will also make a couple meals. If you are a busy person this will save you time and you can still get the benifits of home made. Put meal size containers in the freezer and you can have a hot lunch at work--and break from the sandwich thing.

Edited by: ERL on Mar 18, 2008 9:52:30 AM
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