White to Wheat, baby! I eat 2 sandwiches for lunch every day, so bread is one of my staples. It's also the largest source of carbs in the average American diet. I was first introduced to whole wheat when I was dating Melanye. I hate to admit that my first healthy choice was for a girl, but I started eating wheat bread because I thought she would like me more. Pretty soon all of my sandwiches were made with whole wheat bread and I would always choose that over white if given the option (and it did make her like me more).
Here's the skinny: It's all about whole grains vs. refined grains. The refining process sucks the health out of grains. Whole grains contribute to a lower risk of diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal problems, and possibly cancer (1).
Tip: Look at the ingredient list and make sure it says "whole wheat/grain." The front label can trick you and say wheat, but if you see the word "enriched wheat flour" in the ingredient list, it's been refined. It's tricky, because the fact that it says "enriched" makes it sound healthy. The fact that it's enriched just means that they add some nutrients back into the flour, but not nearly as much as they took out in the first place. For a full list of whole and partial grain ingredients, go to http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/identifying-whole-grain-products
1. Willett, W. Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Living.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Baby Steps
The idea for this blog has been brewing in my mind for quite some time now. To be honest, it would have been up and running months ago, but I couldn't think of a name for it. Now that I've accomplished that, I'm excited to start this project.
Now, I'm no health guru, and I'm not perfect about always making the healthiest choice, but that's the beauty of my blog. I was just as clueless as anybody about health when I started. After 4 years of small, simple changes (it all started when I met my hot, healthy wife) I have gone from making all of the poor choices the typical American makes to having a decently healthy lifestyle. Scientific research is telling us that the most common causes of death result from people not making healthy choices on a daily basis. So I'm blogging to tell you about the small steps I've made to change my bad choices to good ones and to share a little bit of the science to back it up. There is SO much information out there that it can be paralyzing and result in a person not taking action. That's a pity, so I want to try to break it down into simple, research-based suggestions to help make it easier to start being more healthy.
Now, I'm no health guru, and I'm not perfect about always making the healthiest choice, but that's the beauty of my blog. I was just as clueless as anybody about health when I started. After 4 years of small, simple changes (it all started when I met my hot, healthy wife) I have gone from making all of the poor choices the typical American makes to having a decently healthy lifestyle. Scientific research is telling us that the most common causes of death result from people not making healthy choices on a daily basis. So I'm blogging to tell you about the small steps I've made to change my bad choices to good ones and to share a little bit of the science to back it up. There is SO much information out there that it can be paralyzing and result in a person not taking action. That's a pity, so I want to try to break it down into simple, research-based suggestions to help make it easier to start being more healthy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
