December is in full swing, and we hope you are enjoying a festive holiday season.  With an abundance of family gatherings, office parties and holiday events, there are lots of opportunities to share your culinary creations with the ones you love.  Whether you're baking breads and desserts or whipping up savory dishes, every table and plate has room for whole grains!  

If you're in need of ideas, we're here for you as always, with recipes for everything from Quinoa Corn Chowder to Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies.   And we'd be remiss not to mention December's grain of the month - Buckwheat - which makes a wonderful crepe batter, to be cooked and filled with an endless list of possible palate-pleasers.  

While you're spending time with friends and family, sharing meals and holiday cheer, you're likely to be reflecting on the past year.  We're doing the same here at the WGC, and would like to share some news with you.  Throughout the year we receive scores of emails with consumer questions on a broad range of topics, which got us thinking:  There must be tons of people out there who have the same questions, and would benefit from the answers we've been doling out privately, one by one.   

So this year, our holiday gift to you is the shiny, new Whole Grains Forum!  The forum joins other lively conversations happening in our sister programs' forums over on the Oldways website, and we invite you to get in on the fun.  The forums are a great place to visit when you'd like to ask a question, or share ideas and tips about whole grains; or about traditional Mediterranean, vegetarian/ vegan, or African Heritage foods.  

A.  There are many great whole grain choices with a low glycemic index. Intact whole grains are virtually all low on the glycemic index, for example barley (GI of 28±2), buckwheat (45), and wheat berries (30±9).  Another good choice is whole grain pasta (48±5).  Because of the way pasta is extruded, its starch structure renders it lower on the glycemic index; al dente pasta also has a lower GI.  Breads tend to have a higher GI. Sourdough breads and sprouted grain breads both have a lower GI, so the best combination of nutrients and low GI can be found in sourdough and/or sprouted whole grain breads, according to recent research.  Of course, one way to lower the Glycemic Load of any food is to eat reasonable-sized portions.  If you're eating the grain foods listed above, in reasonable portion sizes as part of a healthy diet, you should be fine.  A healthy pasta meal, for instance, includes a one-cup portion of pasta topped with at least an equal amount of vegetables, beans, fish, etc.