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FEATURED GRAIN
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FEATURED RECIPE
Sprouted wheat flour makes wonderful fresh pasta - or you can buy sprouted pasta ready-made. Either way, this dish will remind you of how a delicious dish can be created with just a few fresh, whole ingredients.
Recipe & Photo courtesy of Essential Eating
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Dear Friends of Whole Grains,
As the plants in our gardens begin to sprout (finally!), April is the perfect month to think about sprouted grains, the theme of this month's newsletter. Have you tried any sprouted grain products yet? Read on, to learn why this growing trend is something worth looking into.
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What IS a sprouted grain, anyway?
Grain kernels are the seeds of the grain plant, and all seeds have the same game plan: to stay intact until conditions are warm enough and moist enough to support the growth of a new plant. Once these conditions exist, and the seed starts to sprout, its nutrients are "unlocked" and made available to the growing plant.
Sprouting grains just a little - until the new plant barely begins to peek out of the kernel - makes many of the grain's nutrients more available to nourish our bodies, too. Research shows that sprouting can increase the fiber and folate in grains, as well as some vitamins and minerals. Plus, the sprouting process seems to make the grains easier for some people to digest.
Check out our recent blog, as well as our Grain of the Month feature on sprouted grains (which includes a new PowerPoint on sprouted grains), to learn all about sprouted grains. Then head to our Find Stamped Products page and look through our database to see the variety of sprouted grain products now available (simply click on Sprouted Grain under "Refine your search.") Just six months ago we had 103 sprouted grain products registered to use the Whole Grain Stamp, and today we have 178 -- a 73% increase in only half a year.
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Studies: Sprouts and Sourdough for Better Bread
While we were updating our pages on sprouted grains, we came across a recent study from scientists at the University of Guelph in Canada. These researchers fed five kinds of bread (white bread, two multi-whole-grain breads, sourdough bread, and sprouted grain bread) to overweight and obese men, then measured the impact of each bread on the men's blood sugar. They found that sprouted and sourdough breads had the lowest glycemic (blood sugar) impact - a good thing, because spikes in blood sugar can be harmful to your health.
Although the scientists didn't test this option, we're betting that sprouted sourdough whole grain bread would be the best choice of all - containing all the nutrients of the whole grain in a very bio-available form, and with low glycemic impact. Want to see more research on the benefits of sprouted grains? Go to our Health Studies search page, and select "sprouted grains." |
Whole Grain Sampling Day Success
The WGC staff traveled to nearby Cambridge, MA, where we organized a game of Whole Grain Trivia for employees at Google's local office. We brought along a slew of delicious whole grain products from WGC member companies, and a list of challenging whole grain questions. Everyone who answered a question right got a whole grain prize. The only rule: no fair Googling for the answers on your smartphone!
As you can see on our blog, and in the list of partners participating, the fun of Whole Grain Sampling Day is that every partner comes up with a different and special way to celebrate whole grains. What could you do next year - at home, at work, at school, in your community - to be a Whole Grain Sampling Day partner? WGSD is always the first Wednesday in April, so start mulling over ideas for 2015 now, while the inspiration from this year is still fresh.
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Oldways, our parent organization, created the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid in 1993 in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health. For two decades we've been spreading the pleasures and benefits of the Med Diet - and what better time to "Go Med" than during May, which is National Mediterranean Diet Month?
The health benefits of the traditional Mediterranean Diet -- which of course features whole grains! -- are backed up by hundreds of research studies, which you can find on the Oldways website. But we consider good health simply a bonus to the good taste from eating Mediterranean-style. If you'd like inspiration for typical dishes, search the Oldways recipe database for anything tagged Mediterranean.
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DEALS!
Speaking of winning great prizes, we have some very nice Deals and Discounts to share with you this month. Enjoy!
Baked Fresh SweepstakesRoman Meal is offering a top cash prize of $2,500 in their sweepstakes running through April 30, 2014 (plus you get a $1 coupon just for entering!)
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Best regards from all of us at Oldways and the Whole Grains Council,
Director of Food and Nutrition Strategies Oldways / Whole Grains Council
Stamp Program Manager
Oldways / Whole Grains Council
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