What always puzzles me is why anybody who is interested in their diet eats white rice and other white products like white bread, white pasta etc. They simply don’t understand the importance of wholegrains. These white refined products acceptance are purely the result of commercial propaganda in the form of advertising. I guess as with milk and cheese people just don’t realise what they’re really eating. To be clear white rice has all of the bran and almost all the fibre and certainly all the germ removed. As the germ contains most of the micronutrients (used for the plant to start growing) that’s a major loss of nutrients. The bran and germ is often sold to people as a health food! Or it’s fed to animals – I confess I don’t really know the answer to that one. The same is true with flour. White flour is a 69% extraction of the ground whole grain – basically just the carbohydrate content of the flour so yes it includes protein but all the bran and all of the germ have been removed. So that 69% extraction means therefore that 31% of the whole grain has been taken and discarded or fed to animals. This is an awful lot of good nutrition to be throwing it away. So just posing the question – why the white rice and why the white pita or naan in so many vegan recipes on facebook and instagram? Oh I forgot to mention the white rice and white bread etc causes a much greater blood sugar spike than wholemeal versions which are more slow to release their effective sugar content into the bloodstream.
Wholemeal Pasta
Wholemeal Cous Cous – to cook, use 1.6 volumes of water to one volume of dry cous-cous. Add a tiny amount of oil, and the cous-cous heat on a low heat in a thick bottomed pan until it’s just starting to smell as though it’s browning. Meanwhile boil a kettle of nice filtered water, and once it’s boiling – pour it in the pan. Give it a quick stir, and then turn the gas off, put the lid on and leave for 5 minutes. It will be light and fluffy, and no-one will even know it’s wholemeal unless you tell them.
Whole grain brown rice: Long grain brown rice, needs less cooking time and less cooking water. It’s roughly 2 volumes of water to one volume of rice. I like to allow between 40 and 50g per person, though more often it’s around the 40g mark. There are lots of fancy ways of doing it. The easiest way though it to rinse the rice, put the rice and water into a thick bottom pan then bring to the boil, and simmer on the lowest heat possible for 25 minutes. Keep the lid on the pan, but prevent it boiling over by slipping a thin metal spoon under the lid, so steam can escape and not build up. Many of my recipes use brown rice: paella with an oriental twist; rice & beans; jambalaya; and I recommend it as an accompaniment to most of my curries.
Wholegrain Polenta
Wholemeal Flour
So, take note of the importance of wholegrains to your overall health and vitality.
